Can Small High Schools of Choice Improve Educational Prospects for Disadvantaged Students?

Does creating small high schools have a beneficial impact on daily attendance? This question was addressed using time series analysis to examine the case of one urban transfer high school that serves students who previously dropped out of school. This analytical approach is uniquely suitable to examine the dynamical processes characterizing stability and transformation in the system. This school reduced its size from enrolling approximately 900 students up to and through the 2009-2010 school year to about 250 students afterward. We looked at whether attendance was higher after the intervention and whether it was more stable. It turns out that the attendance trajectories over a seven-year period show high volatility prior to the reduction in school size but are more stable afterward. The initial increase in daily attendance at the onset of the intervention is not maintained, but increases are observed later. The study illustrates the relevance of time series analysis for educational policy research as well as the use of complexity theory to fully appreciate the nature of the post intervention changes.

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Small High Schools: Myth, Reality, Potential

The bulletin of the National Association of Secondary School Principals ◽

10.1177/019263656705131713 ◽

1967 ◽

Vol 51 (317) ◽

pp. 89-95

Author(s):

Paul Ford

Keyword(s):

High Schools ◽

Small High Schools

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Implementing Small Theme High Schools in New York City: Great Intentions and Great Tensions

Harvard Educational Review ◽

10.17763/haer.76.3.l023217qm45m35x6 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 76 (3) ◽

pp. 401-416 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

JACQUELINE ANCESS ◽

DAVID ALLEN

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

New York City ◽

High Schools ◽

School Reform ◽

York City ◽

Small Schools ◽

Academic Quality ◽

Small High Schools ◽

Wide Range

In this article, Jacqueline Ancess and David Allen use New York City as a case study to examine the promises and the perils of the small high school reform movement that is sweeping the nation. They analyze the varying extent to which New York City's small high schools have implemented curricular themes in order to promote academic quality and equity. After identifying a wide range in the level of theme implementation in the city's small schools, Ancess and Allen suggest that small theme high schools have the potential to boost student engagement and achievement. However, the authors also express concern about the manner in which curricular themes may serve as socioeconomic, academic, or racial codes that threaten to merely repackage old patterns of school stratification and segregation.

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

International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership ◽

10.22230/ijepl.2012v7n1a309 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ronald A. Lindahl ◽

Patrick M. Cain, Sr.

Keyword(s):

High Schools ◽

School Size ◽

School Quality ◽

Medium Size ◽

Public High Schools ◽

Highly Qualified ◽

Small High Schools ◽

Internet Connections ◽

Standardized Exams ◽

Education Performance

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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