Affective and Social Benefits of Small-Scale Schooling (continued)

School Size and Educational Equity

We know that the states with the largest schools and school districts have the worst achievement, affective, and social outcomes (Jewel, 1989; Walberg, 1992). We also know that the students who stand to benefit most from small schools are economically disadvantaged and minority students. To put it another way, these students experience the greatest amount of harm from attending large schools (Cotton, 1996; Fowler, 1995; Howley, 1994; Lee & Smith, 1996). Yet, these are the very students who are primarily concentrated in large schools within large school districts (Jewell, 1989; Lee & Smith, 1996). Jewell writes,

"If minority students must struggle more to achieve a solid publiceducation and if large districts and large schools find it increasingly difficult to achieve solid educational results for their students, we may be acting contrary to the interests of all concerned by organizing our public education system in a manner which assigns high proportions of minority youngsters to large schools within very large school districts." (p. 152)

School-Within-a-School Plans

In an attempt to reap at least some of the benefits of small schools, some educators and parent groups have launched school-within-a-school arrangements, in which large schools are divided into two or more subunits. In vertical house plans, students in grades 9-12 or 10-12 are assigned to groups of a few hundred each within a large high school. In ninth grade house plans, the ninth graders in large high schools have their own "house" with various support services to ease the transition into high school. In special curriculum schools, students are organized into houses based on special interests or needs. In charter schools, groups of parents and/or teachers spearhead efforts to provide a special curriculum focus for which they have recognized a need. And there are other school-within-a-school variations.

A growing body of research suggests that school-within-a-school plans have potential for producing results like those associated with small schools provided they are distinct administrative entities within the buildings that house them. "The major challenge to schools within schools," writes Mary Ann Raywid, "has been obtaining sufficient separateness and autonomy to permit staff members to generate a distinctive environment and to carry out their own vision of schooling" (1985, p. 455).

Conclusion

Although the professional literature supports educating children in small schools, the consolidation trend continues to create large schools. This is because factors other than student results--political, economic, social, and demographic factors--typically drive decisions about school size. While such a trend would be difficult to reverse, the research indicates that it would be well worth the effort.

References

Cotton, K. (1996). School size, school climate, and student performance. Close-up #20. Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

Fowler, W. J., Jr. (1995). School size and student outcomes. In H. J. Walberg (Series Ed.), & B. Levin, W. J. Fowler, Jr., & H. J. Walberg (Vol. Eds.), Advances in Educational Productivity: Vol. 5. Organizational Influences on Educational Productivity (pp. 3-25). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, Inc.