Long-term effects of school size on students’ outcomes

Abstract

We estimate the e¤ect of school size on students'long-term outcomes such as high school completion, being out of the labor market, and earnings at the age of 30. We use rich register data on the entire population of Danish children attending grade 9 in the period 1986-2004. This allows us to compare the results of di¤erent …xed e¤ect and instrumental variables estimators. We use the natural population variation in the residential catchment areas and school openings and closures to instrument for actual school size. We …nd a robust positive but numerically fairly small relationship between school size and alternative measures of long-term success in the educational system and the labor market. The positive impact of school size seems mainly to be driven by boys and students from families with a low educational level.JEL classi…cation: I21; I28; J24

Making Sense of Georgia School Leader Evaluation: Climate, Engagement and the District Office

“…A possible explanation for the discrepancy between this study and Nelson's study is the large size of the participant schools. In such large schools, school leaders and staff may not engage in daily collaboration and communication, resulting in a sense of alienation among staff (Humlum & Smith, 2015). Departmentalization by content area may contribute in teachers working in silos, particularly at middle and high schools, affecting staff perception of school climate.…”

“…This finding is in agreement with the Sarikaya and Erdogan (2016) study which concluded that teachers perceive high school leaders to be adequate in setting and sharing goals; and least adequate in supporting and developing teachers. According to Humlum and Smith (2015), the alienation effect caused by a large school size can be another contributor to this phenomenon. Student enrollment data available at the school system website shows that elementary schools in this district are often smaller in size when compared to their middle and high school buildings.…”

“…This provides leaders and staff opportunities to frequently interact and understand each other's perspective. According to Humlum and Smith (2015), large school size can prevent leaders from frequently connecting with individual staff, and understand their needs and aspirations. This may have contributed to the differences in staff perceptions of school leaders at the larger middle and high school buildings.…”

The Short-Term Effects of School Consolidation on Student Achievement: Evidence of Disruption?

“…(forthcoming) and Humlum and Smith (2015a) seem to suggest that larger schools (in countries where the average school size is small) do not harm students.…”

“…Berry and West (2010) exploit variation in the timing of school consolidation across the U.S. and find that students educated in states with smaller schools obtain higher returns from education. On the other hand, Liu et al (2010) Humlum and Smith (2015a) exploit registry data on the total population and school catchment areas in order to apply multiple estimators and instruments.…”