Data from the High School and Beyond study were used to investigate the comprehensiveness of programs in mathematics, science, and foreign language in large and small high schools. Large schools offered more comprehensive programs than did smaller schools, but there was substantial variation in comprehensiveness at any school size. (SLD)

High School and Beyond data for 175 rural high schools suggest that creating larger institutions will increase student misbehavior. However, for small rural high schools, this increase will border the trivial. Decisions to consolidate schools should rest on criteria other than equity, efficiency, and its effects on student behavior. (RLC)

Higher-order thinking skills in science and mathematics were compared for high school students in large and small schools, controlling for SES, number of advanced courses offered, and enrollment rate in those courses. School size, number of advanced courses offered, and rurality had no effect on high-order thinking skills. (KS)

Relationships between high school structural characteristics and curricular offerings are examined using data from the High School and Beyond Survey, with an emphasis on school size. Findings are consistent with the hypothesis that effects of size are differentiated within high schools. Implications for equality of education are discussed. (SLD)

The persistent net loss of young people from rural areas has potentially contradictory implications for educational policy. Believing that youth migration to urban areas is inevitable, one school board might feel obligated to prepare students for urban jobs. Another board might view such actions as community suicide and attempt to slow…

A review of the literature indicates that, compared to larger, urban schools, small, rural secondary schools have limited course offerings in mathematics and science; the review also indicates, however, that the achievement of students in small, rural schools is equivalent to or even higher than, that of students in larger, urban schools. Such an…

This paper examines the degree to which high-school course offerings are unequally distributed across schools, paying attention to relationships between school size and the incidence of new course titles in various curriculum areas. The inquiry is based on the presumption that economies of scale play a role in educational opportunity. The study is…