Is Small Really Better? Testing Some Assumptions about High School Size

Wyse, Adam E.; Keesler, Venessa

doi:10.1353/pep.2007.0008

Cited by 27 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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Mentioning

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“…This supports the findings of five of the studies reviewed by Leithwood and Jantzi (2009), as well as the studies of Gardner et al (2000) and Ornstein (1990). However, it is in contradiction to 14 of the studies reviewed by Leithwood and Jantzi and to the findings of Johnson (2006), Lee and Smith (1997), Schneider et al (2007), and Werblow and Duesbery (2009). The correlations in this study between high school size and student performance on standardized tests were highest for students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds and for students not in special education programs, in contrast with Lee's (2000) findings.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Lee and Smith (1997) examined data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study: 1988 (NELS:88), whereas Schneider, Wyse, and Kessler (2007) and Werblow and Duesbery (2009) used data for the National Educational Longitudinal Study : 2002, andGardner, Ritblatt, andBeatty (2000) examined scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Leithwood and Jantzi (conducted a meta-analysis on 18 studies; unfortunately, they did not specify which examinations were used in those studies.…”

Section: St Ude Nt Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

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A Study of School Size among Alabama’s Public High Schools

Lindahl

Cain

2012

IJEPL

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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the size of Alabama’s public high schools, selected school quality and financial indicators, and their students’ performance on standardized exams. When the socioeconomic level of the student bodies is held constant, the size of high schools in Alabama has relatively little relationship with 11th grade student (both regular and special education) performance on the reading and math portions of the AHSGE. High schools’ average daily attendance rates and pupil-to-computer (and computer with Internet connections) ratios do not vary in accordance with school size. Higher percentages of highly qualified teachers are found in Alabama’s largest high schools. There was very little difference in the percentage of teachers with a master’s degree or above across school size categories. Very little difference exists across size categories in regard to mean expenditures per pupil (range = $7,322 to $7,829). However, districts of the large high schools exert over twice the effort of those with small high schools (3.2 mills to 1.5 mills) and approximately 50 percent greater local effort than the districts of the medium-size high schools.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: St Ude Nt Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

A Study of School Size among Alabama’s Public High Schools

Lindahl

Cain

2012

IJEPL

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“…A very entrenched claim by program designers and education system decision makers is that small establishments are better than bigger one for the students (Schneider et al (2007) for a discussion of this point). Despite the pedagogical arguments to that effect, for economists this problem is directly related to the scale efficiency.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Small is not that beautiful after all: measuring the scale efficiency of Tunisian high schools using a DEA-bootstrap method

Essid¹,

Ouellette²,

Vigeant³

2013

Applied Economics

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“…The success attained by small schools was not solely a function of their size but was also related to the support and the social capital of parents and other stakeholders, which reinforced the norm of college attendance (Schneider et al, 2007). Large urban schools were reported to lack many parents with such capital, but those schools had other desirables.…”

Section: In Defense Of Smaller Is Better As Well As Larger Is Bettermentioning

confidence: 98%

“…However, there was no assurance that merely converting large schools to smaller ones automatically improved their achievement scores, or that small schools worked for all students (Lee & Smith, 1997;Schneider et al, 2007). Nonetheless, such a change was found to improve school climate (Goldkind & Farmer, 2013).…”

Section: Support For Small Schoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On Meeting NCLB School Improvement Mandate

Green¹

2015

Sage Open

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This descriptive study used nonparametric (Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney U) tests to determine the efficacy of New York City (NYC) small school initiative. A sample of 369 NYC high schools was tested on various performance indicators. The results: Large schools generated statistically significant higher performance scores and were more effective at preparing students for college and careers. On the New York State (NYS) English language arts (ELA) test, a Mann–Whitney U found statistically significant difference between scores for small school (median = 2.62, n = 213) and large school (median = 2.81, n = 58), U = 3200.00, z = −5.63, p = .001, r = −.34. On the state’s math test, a Mann–Whitney U found statistically significant difference between scores for small school (median = 2.76, n = 213) and large school (median = 3.12, n = 58), U = 3086.00, z = −5.84, p = .000, r = −.35. On NYC Department of Education (NYCDOE)–assigned college and career readiness scores (CCRS), a Mann–Whitney U found statistically significant difference between CCRS for small school (median = 3.00, n = 213) and large school (median = 3.00, n = 58), U = 4705.50, z = −2.90, p = .004, r = −.018. The evidence suggests the city reconfigured large failing schools into smaller ones, resulting in the concentration of poverty (through the placement of mostly low socioeconomic status [SES] and underperforming Black and Hispanic students) in those schools. Recommendations include future studies exploring the effect of mediating and moderating factors.

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Is Small Really Better? Testing Some Assumptions about High School Size

Cited by 27 publications

References 17 publications

A Study of School Size among Alabama’s Public High Schools

A Study of School Size among Alabama’s Public High Schools

Small is not that beautiful after all: measuring the scale efficiency of Tunisian high schools using a DEA-bootstrap method

On Meeting NCLB School Improvement Mandate

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