Interrelates school and district data files from the National Center for Educational Statistics with county demographic files and county typologies from the Economic Research Service. Explores the usefulness of cross-tabulating rural versus urban status with metropolitan versus nonmetropolitan status as contextual categories for understanding the…

School or district size was found to interact with socioeconomic status to influence student achievement in West Virginia; small schools facilitated the achievement of impoverished students, whereas large schools facilitated the achievement of affluent students. Addresses implications for educational policy and future research into effects of…

Analysis of National Education Longitudinal Study data found that students attending small high schools (less than 800 students) had higher extracurricular participation than students attending large high schools (more than 1600 students). Participation was significantly related to 12th-grade self-esteem but not to academic achievement. However,…

Analysis of data from the 1989 Alaska Statewide Student Testing Program for grades four, six, and eight shows that, given similar school resources, school climate, and student academic background, the negative effect of a disadvantaged background on student achievement was significantly less in small than in medium or large schools. (KS)

Reviews research on the association between school size and educational outcomes and considers policy implications of that research. Suggests a shift of value from large size to small size. Describes current state finance formulas, with an emphasis on sparsity and geographical isolation factors. Identifies policy considerations relative to the use…

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)

The West Virginia School Building Authority has arbitrarily emphasized economies of scale as a requirement for statewide facilities funding. This requirement has forced consolidation in sparsely populated areas with resultant "diseconomies of scale" related to transportation costs, increased dropout rates, and decreased parental and…

Research reveals that high school students in small schools participate more in extracurricular activities than their peers in large schools; that a high degree of student participation provides opportunities for enhancing leadership, responsibility, and motivation; that students in small schools feel needed; and that the benefits of…

Two viewpoints criticize the views of DeYoung and others by claiming that the middle school movement came about as a result of research documenting the developmental needs of children. Rejoinder by DeYoung and others maintains that this trend has led to the loss of rural communities and had more to do with economic factors and rural elementary…

Using standard data sources, information is presented for each state on the importance of rural education to the state's overall educational performance and the urgency for state policymakers to develop explicit rural education policies. The 8 importance and 11 urgency indicators for each state are presented in table and graph form, and…