The Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) program was established in response to growing national concerns about students too often lost and alienated in large, impersonal high schools, as well as concerns about school safety and low levels of achievement and graduation for many students. This brief report presents highlights from the Final Report,…

With the financial support of several large foundations and the federal government, creating small schools has become a prominent high school reform strategy in many large American cities. While some research supports this strategy, little research assesses the relative costs of these smaller schools. Data on over 200 New York City high schools,…

This article tracks recent developments in the debate about secondary school size. It looks at the growth of the small schools movement in the United States and at initiatives currently underway in the United Kingdom. The article explores various strategies for reconfiguring secondary schools into smaller learning communities or "schools…

Implementing a complex business intelligence (BI) system at a small school or one with limited resources can seem daunting. For small to midsize schools and community colleges, a strategic BI initiative may still be an elusive goal. This article discusses how schools with limited resources are making the dream a reality.

This review examined 57 post-1990 empirical studies of school size effects on a variety of student and organizational outcomes. The weight of evidence provided by this research clearly favors smaller schools. Students who traditionally struggle at school and students from disadvantaged social and economic backgrounds are the major benefactors of…

This study investigated the management of education in primary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria. As a correlational research, the study population comprised all the 694 primary schools in the State. Out of this, a sample of 320 schools was selected through the stratified random sampling technique. Two instruments were used to collect data for the…

The study explores the ways in which school size influences two important student outcomes commonly used in school effects research: growth in mathematics achievement and dropout rate. Past research suggests that smaller high schools can lead to increased benefits for students. In this study, multilevel analytic models of the first two waves of…

With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, CRESST conducted a multi-year evaluation of a major school reform project at Alain Leroy Locke High School, historically one of California's lowest performing secondary schools. Beginning in 2007, Locke High School transitioned into a set of smaller, Green Dot Charter High Schools,…

For the last decade, small learning communities (SLCs) and small schools have dominated the education landscape as cures for large comprehensive high schools' failings: high dropout rates and graduates unprepared for postsecondary careers and college. Recently, redesign efforts have begun to falter in light of evaluations showing stalled…

Districts and states that have begun to get traction in improving their graduation rates are pursuing a reform agenda that includes both the redesign of failing high schools and the development of multiple alternative pathways that help young people get back on track to graduation and to postsecondary education. Unlike traditional alternative…

In attracting a good staff, one should stress the characteristics of a small district that might be attractive to recruits: a low teacher-pupil ratio, more opportunities to take leadership roles, opportunity to give more individual attention to students, a greater oppportunity to be part of the community, ability to be closer to one's own…

Background/Context: Though cast in many styles and given different labels, the notion that one can improve schools by improving or changing the social context of learning is a common thread that runs through the arguments of many education reformers and scholars. Indeed, a common assertion in education reform is that one needs to create school…

In many ways, Roxbury Preparatory Charter School is typical of Boston's Mission Hill area: the student body is composed entirely of students of color, most of whom live in single-parent households. More than 68% of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. What is not typical is that for the fourth consecutive year, Roxbury Prep, which…

This study focuses on an evaluation project that served as a powerful professional development experience for teachers and leaders in a network of Chicago small schools. The network of small schools led by the Chicago High School Redesign Initiative is based on the Authentic Intellectual Achievement (AIA) framework originally conceived by Fred…