NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
A COMPARISON OF SMALL SCHOOL AND BIG SCHOOL SIZE SETUPS Until the mid- 1960 s, there was considerable agreement among sociologists and educational reformers that a substantial part of the differences in school performance by different students could be attributed to differences in the quality of schools they attended. Not only did the argument seem intuitively obvious, it also had considerable impressionistic evidence to support it. Students who attended run-down inner city schools, often with inexperienced or demoralized teachers, did perform worse on tests on educational achievement than students who attended well-run suburban schools with higher morale and more experienced teachers. Although few were so naive as to believe that these differences in school quality explained virtually all differences in achievement, it was agreed that an unknown but significant fraction of this difference could be so explained. Such an argument had especial force in the United States with its tradition of locally financed public schools. Per pupil expenditures varied a great deal from locality to locality, corresponding in a general way to the wealth and social status of a community's inhabitants.
The claim that such unequal resources, including the size of the school, caused differential achievements, therefore, was used to justify expenditures by federal and state governments to compensate for inequalities in the local tax base and to provide schools of more equal quality across the whole country. Small schools concept is based on the premise that they can create a more conducive learning environment that is cognizant of the needs of the smaller students. The students as well as the teachers, are better served if the school is small in size since there is a constant flow of communication and the opportunities for communication is fostered well. (Small Schools by Design from Catalyst). Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan, as well as parents and educators at the Du Sable High School on Chicago's South Side all are in agreement that there is a need to emphasize a small schools concept as part of the plan to reform the plight of schools. The Chairman of the ISBE, Chairman Ruiz succinctly states that Small schools can provide a more focused and personalized education for students, especially those who can most benefit from such a learning environment. In small schools, parents of students who may be struggling can work more closely with teachers and administrators to design a plan to help that student. (Illinois State Board of Education).
Small schools can be free-standing small schools with their own facilities and administration. They are formed like schools within schools and develop within a larger host school. They can also be in the form of a scatter plex where two or more schools at different sites share a principal. There can also be charter schools which are independent public schools operated by parents, community leaders and entrepreneurs. Even the U.
S. Department of Education regard small school structure as complementing the strategies being used in effective student learning. They contend that it is the best way to improve the educational environment. (Terry, 2007). In an ideal world designed for the convenience of the social scientist, theories of the effects of school size on students could be tested in the following ways: Different kinds of schools would be created, student would be randomly assigned to these different experimental treatments, and then the students could be followed over the years with numerous measurements of their relative academic performance. Such a study would be impossible, though. Jencks, however, has a collection of data that permits reasonable inferences about the effects of different school resources on student learning some derived from longitudinal studies of the same students over time, some derived from observations of students at one time period only.
These data provide a crude estimate of the quality and size of the school, as measured by per pupil expenditures, teacher qualifications, class size and so on. Jencks also has data on a number of measures of school achievement that give an indication of the amount of learning that has occurred in the school. Finally, the Jencks study, gives us data about the characteristics of students: their socioeconomic status and, in some cases, their IQ scores. The crucial question then becomes: What is the relative importance of school size and characteristics compared with student characteristics in predicting student achievement? Is there any relationship at all?
Does the school size affect the students learning? Many contemporary educators still have difficulty in reconciling such data with what seems to them to be obvious that better, more personalized schools will teach students more than big, detached schools and that if poor children attend these better-managed schools, the gap between their performance and that of the higher-status, big school students will sharply diminish. Some educators have such difficulties with this research that they simply reject the findings out of hand. The findings are inconsistent with common sense, they undermine a considerable part of the rationale for liberal education reform, and therefore, they must be wrong. But the findings of the research prove this otherwise. (Jencks, 1979). The results of research on the effects of school size should not therefore, be dismissed by those who find the results disconcerting or uncomfortable.
If we wish to reduce inequality in school performance and see the real results of school size effects, there must be a more open mind on the issue. The bigger the size of the school, the lesser that students are able to communicate their needs to the administration. Small school setups are now gaining more prominence and support because of the positive effects that ensue in these small-size arrangements. REFERENCES Illinois State Board of Education. ISBE Board Chairman Jesse Ruiz joins Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan, parents and educators to highlight advantages of Small Schools concept. Retrieved Sept. 27, 2007 at: web Jencks, C. (1979).
Who Gets Ahead? New York: Basic Books. Small Schools by Design from Catalyst. Retrieved Sept. 27, 2007 at: web Terry, Drew. Small groups, big school? Northwest Arkansas Times, Sept. 26, 2007.
web
Free research essays on topics related to: school performance, learning environment, student learning, small schools, public schools
Research essay sample on Small Schools Learning Environment
