Smaller school size doesn't boost quality, study finds

A university study of Jordan District schools found small schools do not result in higher academic achievement, contradicting what some might call conventional wisdom.

The state's largest school district, where some elementary schools enroll more than 1,200 students, commissioned the $15,000 study last year.

"You're making a huge error if you walk down the street and say, 'Here's a large school, it's terrible; here's a small school, it's great,' " said University of Utah educational leadership associate professor Patrick Galvin, who conducted the study over the past year with graduate students who work in Utah public schools, districts and colleges.

"School size in and of itself is not a very powerful predictor of school achievement . . . but it may interact with instruction, leadership and resources" and perceptions of them.

The study was tailored to apply to Jordan only. It did not examine class size.

Often-cited national research proclaims schools with as few as 300 students are optimal for learning. Salt Lake City School District looked at such studies a few years ago to determine its elementaries ideally would enroll 500 students.

The "smaller is better" concept is derived from national studies that look at public and private school scores on the National Assessment for Educational Progress, Galvin said.

But national studies use general sample data from the National Assessment for Educational Progress. That data does not reflect individual school districts in Utah, or look at test scores for the same group of students over time, Galvin said. Also, more than half the national studies find no correlation between school size and achievement, but those are seldom reported.

The U. study looked at Stanford Achievement Test data in 47 district elementary schools. Individual student scores were tracked over four years.

The study is complex. But basically, schools' average test scores vary, but not in relation to school enrollment. And when statistically analyzed, enrollment makes less than 1 percentile point difference in achievement.

For instance, some of the greatest test score gains showed up in a school with more than 1,200 students and another with 650 students. And, some of the least gains were posted by 550-student and 1,050-student schools.

Further analysis shows smaller schools may slightly help white and regular-education students, but have no relation to minority students' success. Special education students tend to do a little better in larger schools.