Small School Information Center

Copyright © 1999 by Architecture Research Institute, Inc.

CONTENTS

Small Schools Definition
Founding Principles of Small Schools
Benefits
Sponsoring Organizations
Bibliography
Examples of Existing, Exemplary Small Schools
Publications
Educational Associations & Organizations
Architectural Organizations
Website Links

SMALL SCHOOLS DEFINITION:

A Small School is part of the public school system. It is constructed (or renovated) and operated with public school funds. It does not charge fees or tuition. Any student can attend. However, a Small School is typically sponsored by a community group or reform minded local or national organization. That organization may set certain, but inclusive, admissions criteria eg., parental involvement.


Independent, for-profit private schools are typically, but not always, small. They are not part of the public school system and charge tuition for enrollment. The principal is the academic leader with complete control over the curriculum and budget. Parents hold the principal fully accountable and may withdraw their children if the educational effort fails.


While there is no universal agreement about the numerical limits of small and large schools, on average the research indicates that an effective size for an elementary school is in the range of 200-400 students and that 250-600 students is appropriate for a secondary school. These figures should be regarded as pushing the upper limits, since many investigators conclude that no school should have more than 250 - 500 students.


The school downsizing movement is only a decade old, and still small, but the evidence is strong that small schools benefit the entire school community: teachers, students, and parents.


Over the last 30 years research and experience have suggested that students benefit in many different ways from attending small schools, as opposed to larger ones. Many existing schools, however, and even most under construction accommodate 2,000-4,000 students.


Some small schools are quite different from large ones in all areas of operation, while others differ mainly in the fact that they serve fewer students. In addition, some schools are limited in their ability to fully implement the small school concept, because of their relationship to the school district and other schools within it, or decisions and regulations imposed by the administrators of the building where they are located.


The public school systems of different cities and school districts design their small schools very differently, and to different purposes. Although labels differ, broad types of schools are distinguishable:

          ALTERNATIVE SCHOOLS:

The word "alternative" is used in different ways in various cities. In New York, it differentiates "small schools" from the other traditional schools organized and constructed by the New York City Board of Education. Currently there are 75 "alternative" schools in New York. Their mission of personalized education is to adapt the curriculum to students, instead of students adapting to school's. The schools serve specific types of communities. The European network is modeled after New York's small schools, changing its focus from traditional trade schools to academic instruction like that at Manhattan Village Academy High School, New York. In Chicago, an "alternative" school usually is not part of the public school system. It is community based, usually sponsored by a group of parents and run by the community.

          CHARTER SCHOOL:

Typically but not always small, a charter school operates under a contract. It is funded with public school funds provided by the taxpaying public, like other small schools within the public school system. For example, in New York the state grants the contract, in Chicago, the Reform Board. In a charter school, the principal has a degree of management freedom from the uniform regulations of the city's school board. In return for the opportunity to independently manage the school, the principal is held accountable for its success.

          PILOT SCHOOLS:

Eleven pilot small schools have been established within the Boston Public School System. Freed from union and school district work rules, their mandate is to be innovative. They are not charter schools. However, they have full control over curriculum, staffing, and school calendar. Funding is supplied by public school funds. Their objective is to provide successful new models, and if successful, influence the entire Boston school system.

          HOUSE PLANS:

In a house plan students and teachers may remain together for some or all coursework. A house can be organized on a one year or multi-year basis. It is usually overlaid upon the development structure of the traditional middle or high school that hosts it, which restricts the amount of change the arrangement can create.

          MINI-SCHOOLS:

This arrangement has some of the properties of a house plan and is also dependent on its larger host school for its existence. But mini-schools almost always serve students over a several-year period, and they usually have their own instructional program, giving them more distinctiveness from one another than other "houses" usually achieve.

          SCHOOLS-WITHIN-SCHOOLS:

These are separate and autonomous units with their own personnel and program, authorized by the board of education or superintendent. They are still part of a larger school, sharing resources and reporting to the school principal on matters of safety and building operation. Both students and teachers "choose" to affiliate with such a school.

          MULTIPLEX:

Several teacher-led small schools operate inside a single facility and under the legal umbrella of a shared principal. In Chicago, the Cregier Multiplex houses three small schools: Best Practice High, Foundations Elementary and Nia Middle.

          SCATTERPLEX:

Several schools operate in different facilities but under the legal umbrella of a shared principal. In Chicago, Ariel Community Academy, located in Kennicott Park Fieldhouse, and Woodlawn Community Academy, located in Wadsworth Elementary, form the city's only scatterplex.

          SMALL SCHOOLS OR SCHOOLS-WITHIN-A-BUILDING:

These have the properties of a school-within-a-school, but differ in that each is an entirely new, separate, and independent school- as opposed to one carved from an existing larger school. They have their own organization, instructional program, budget, and staff.

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FOUNDING PRINCIPLES OF SMALL SCHOOLS

• COHESION: Aside from their size, many schools differ from larger ones in that their creation was based on a particular philosophy or a distinctive set of organized principles or pedagogy.
• AUTONOMY: To the extent possible, usually through the permission or authorization from host schools or school districts, subschools and small schools develop their own organizational structure, environment, and school calendar. They represent a continuum with respect to autonomy and control over their own instructional programs, budget, and personnel.
• FOCUS: Many small schools have an agreed-upon focus or theme. Some are created specifically to provide students with a specialized curriculum, such as a career magnet, or to provide a certain student population with a program tailored to its unique needs. A school's focus may also be its instructional approach. It can be either broadly defined, such as use of inquiry learning or project teaching techniques; or based on specific strategies, such as cooperative learning. The usual function of the focus is to attract and sustain learner engagement across a full curriculum.
• CONSTITUENCY: A self-selected staff and constituency results in a school community that is cohesive and committed to common goals. Ideally, therefore, small school teachers must volunteer to work in the school. Similarly, students benefit most when they elect to enroll, and when the student body is assembled on the basis of shared interests instead of on the basis of ability or achievement levels. Because they choose the school, presumably because of a special affinity for its program, and to be successful, parents must be more involved in its operation and in their children's performance there.

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BENEFITS

STUDENT BENEFITS: Small schools are particularly beneficial for disadvantaged students. Specific benefits already documented for these and other youngsters include: better attendance and retention; better behavior, attitude, and engagement; enhanced academic performance; and increased involvement in extracurricular activities. The extra attention that students get from the staff affords them greater educational, psycho-emotional, and social services, and also makes them feel part of a community. This sense of belonging, as well as academic performance, are further enhanced when students can choose their school, and make their selection based on the school's focus.

TEACHER BENEFITS: Teachers, especially those who are able to choose their school, frequently experience the same growth in commitment to it as students do. The result is that they willingly participate in planning and analyzing practice, and they are likely to expend extra efforts to ensure that the students achieve and the school succeeds.

INSTITUTIONAL BENEFITS: Downsizing frequently improves school organization and provides more effective and appropriate governance, stronger student support, improved staff effectiveness and satisfaction, better advisement, and enhanced curricula. The benefits to the school increase along with its autonomy and separation from other school districts, since there are fewer time and energy draining bureaucratic hurdles to overcome. The ability to develop its own distinctiveness is empowering. Further, small schools are easier to "restructure" than large ones and "reform" strategies are easier to implement there, so models for successful change can emerge. Creating several small schools from a large, failing school is a solution to the problem of what to do with such a school, as well as an effective way to improve education without incurring construction costs, since the new schools are housed together in the old building. Because the principal and teachers are able to know each student and the family, problems that can lead to violence can be anticipated and avoided.

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SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS

New York Network for School Renewal
1573 Madison Avenue, room 425
New York, New York 10029-3899
212 369-1288
Director, Lucille Renwick


Center for Collaborative Education
1573 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10029
212 369-1288
Directors, Heather Lewis and Prisilla Ellington


Center for Collaborative Education
1135 Tremont Street
Boston, Massachusetts, 02120
617 421-0134
Director, Dan French


Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform
407 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, IL 60605
312 322-4880
Executive Director, Anne C. Hallett


Coalition of Essential Schools
Brown University
One Davol Square (1st floor)
Providence, RI 02903
401 351-2525
Executive Director, Amy Gerstein


City University of New York
Graduate Center
33 West 42nd Street, Room 613
New York, NY 10036
212 642-2509
Michelle Fine, Professor


Small Schools Coalition
21 South Clark Street, suite 3120
Chicago, IL 60603
312 853-3696
Mia Barricini


Small Schools Workshop
College of Education
University of Illinois at Chicago
115 South Sangamon Street
Chicago, IL 60607-2615
312 413-5882
Dr. Michael Klonsky


Business & Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI)
17 E. Monroe Street, Suite 212
Chicago, IL 60603
312 641-5570
Executive Director, Jeanne Nowaczewski


21st Century School Fund
2814 Adams Mill Road, NW
Washington, DC 20009
202 745-3745
Mary Filardo


ACORN ( N.Y. Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)
88 Third Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
718 246-7900
Bertha Lewis, Head Organizer


Center for Educational Innovation
28 West 44th Street -9th floor
New York, NY 10036
212 302-8800
Sy Fleigel, Senior Fellow


New Visions for Public Schools
96 Morton Street
New York, NY 10014
212 645-5110
Sara Schwabacher, Vice President


The Center for Educational Outreach & Innovation
Teachers College, Columbia University
Box 132
525 West 120th Street
New York, NY 10027-6696
212 678-3987
Fax 212 678-8417
Director, Peter Cookson


New York State
Office of Innovative Programs ( Charter Schools)
State Education Dept. Room 464EBA
Albany, NY 12234
518 473-7155
Coordinator, Laurie Rowe


Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
52 Vanderbilt Avenue
New York, NY 10017
212 599-7000
Fax 212 599-3494
Director of Development, David DesRosiers


New York Charter School Resource Center
41 Robbins Avenue
Amityville, NY 11701
516 598-4426
Jerry Vazquez, President


Coalition for Essential Schools
1814 Franklin Street, Suite 700
Oakland, CA 94612
510 433-1451
Contact, Helen Ortiz

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books
Articles

Books

Brubaker, C. William, Planning & Designing Schools: Architecture & Education, McGraw Hill Text, Chicago, 1998.

Bryk, Anthony S., and Perrone, Dr. Vito, "Standardized Tests: Do They Measure Success or Corrupt Classrooms?", Chicago Schools Policy Luncheons Series. BPI, Chicago, May 27, 1998.

Byard et al, eds., New Schools for New York, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1992.

Cahill, Michele, Schools and Community Partnerships: Reforming Schools, Revitalizing Communities, Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform, Chicago, October, 1996.

DeYoung, Alan J., "Parent Participation, School Accountability and Rural Education: The Impact of KERA on School Consolidation in Kentucky", 1998.

Educational Spaces: A Pictorial Review of Significant Spaces, Images, New York, 1999.

Finn, Jr., Chester E. and Ravitch, Diane, What Do Our 17 - Year-Olds Know?, Harper Collins, New York, 1987.

Fuller, Howard et al., "Vouchers, Charters, Privatization and "Choice": Is Competition Good for Public Education?", Chicago Schools Policy Luncheons Series, BPI, Chicago, June 17, 1998.

Ben Joravsky, From Dream to Reality: Three Chicago Small Schools, Small Schools Coalition, Chicago, August, 1997.

"Making Connections, Building Communities", Proceedings of the Annual Rural & Small Schools Conference, October 1997.

McQuade, Walter, ed., Schoolhouse, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1958.

Monroe, Dr. Lorraine and Chapman, Warren K., "How to Create Successful Schools: Building a System of Leaders", Chicago Schools Policy Luncheons Series, BPI, Chicago, May 8, 1998.

Mulcahy, Dennis M, "Rural Education Reform: The Consultation Process", 1997.

Ravitch, Diane, The Schools We Deserve, Basic Books, 1985.

Ravitch, Diane, The Revisionists Revised, Basic Books, 1978.

Ravitch, Diane., ed., with Viteritti, Joseph, New Schools for a New Century, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1997.

Raywid, Mary Anne, Small Schools - A Reform That Works: An Occasional Paper of the Small Schools Coalition, Chicago, July, 1997.

Reid, Kenneth, ed., School Planning: the Architectural Record of a Decade, F.W. Dodge Corporation, New York, 1951.

Sizer, Theodore R., Horace's Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High School, Harvard, 1997.

Sizer, Theodore R., Horace's Hope: What Works for the American High School, Harvard, 1996.

Sizer, Theodore R., Horace's School: Redesigning the American High School, Harvard, 1997.

Sizer, Theodore R., and Wagner, Tony, How Schools Change: Lessons from Three Communities, Harvard, 1994.

Sizer, Theodore R., Places for Learning, Places for Joy; Speculations on American School Reform, Harvard, 1973.

Sizer, Nancy Faust and Sizer, Theodore R., The Students Are Watching: Schools and the Moral Contract, Not yet published, 1999.

Small Schools = Safe Schools, An Equation That Makes Sense for Chicago, Published by Small Schools Coalition and Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, Chicago, September 1998.

Stevens, Ken, and Mulcahy, Dennis, "The TeleLearning and Rural Education Center: Macro and Micro Dimensions of Small School Research", 1997.

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Articles

"Changing Faces of Reform", Proceedings of the Annual Rural & Small School Conferences, October, 1996.

McCormack, Maureen, "The Tragic Flaw of Educational Administration", 1996.

Ravitch, Diane, "Student Performance Today", Brookings Policy Brief #23, September, 1996.

Ravitch, Diane, "50 States, 50 Standards: The Continuing Need for Voluntary Standards in Education", The Brookings Review, Summer 1996.

Cotton, Kathleen, "School Size, School Climate, and Student Performance", Close-up # 20, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, Portland, Oregon, 1996.

Anderson, Veronica, "Smaller is Better", School Reform, sixth in a special series by Catalyst: Voices of Chicago School Reform, Chicago, May, 1998.

Fine, Michael, and Somerville, Janis I., eds., Small Schools, Big Imaginations: A Creative Look at Urban Public Schools, Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform, Chicago, May 1998.

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EXAMPLES OF EXISTING, EXEMPLARY SMALL SCHOOLS

• Manhattan Village Academy High School, New York, NY
  
• School for the Physical City, New York, NY
  
• Rocky Mount Charter School, Rocky Mount, NC
  
• Phoenix Advantage School, Phoenix, AZ
  
• Mystic Valley Advantage Regional Charter School, Malden, MA
  
• Abby Kelley Foster Regional Charter School, Worcester, MA
  
• Jersey City Golden Door Charter School, Jersey City, NJ
  
• Kalamazoo Advantage Academy, Kalamazoo, MI
  
• Octavio Paz Charter School, Chicago, IL
  
• New Frontiers Charter School, San Antonio, TX
  

For Profit Companies - Providers of School Management Services Alternative Educators
[Typically, For-Profit Companies do not provide services for small schools, concentrating on large schools (over 1,000 students) which offer a better opportunity for profit.]

Advantage Schools
60 Canal Street
Boston, MA. 02114
617.523.2220
617.523.2221 fax
http://www.advantage-schools.com

Beacon Education Management
Westborough, MA
508.836.4461

Charter Schools, USA
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
954.561.7560
http://www.charterschoolsusa.com

Edison Project
New York, NY
212.419.1600
http://www.edisonproject.com

National Heritage Academies
Grand Rapids, Michigan

Nobel Learning Communities
Nobel Education Dynamics, Inc.
Media, Pennsylvania
610.891.8200
http://www.nobellearning.com

Sabis Educational Systems
Eden Prairie, Minnesota
612.829.9352
http://www.sabis.org

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PUBLICATIONS

      CATALYST: Voices of Chicago School Reform
      http://www.catalyst-chicago.org/index

CATALYST is an independent new magazine created in 1990 to document, analyze and support school-improvement efforts in the Chicago Public Schools.

      The Education Week Web
      http://www.edweek.org

This site features a full-text version of the current issue of Education Week and Teacher magazine, plus a searchable archive of all past issues.

      Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC)
      http://www.ael.org/eric

ERIC is a federally funded, nationwide information network designed to provide you with ready access to education literature. ERIC is a program of the National Library of Education.

      Phi Delta Kappan
      http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kappan.html

Phi Delta KAPPAN is the nation's most-read education magazine. Published since 1915, it addresses policy issues for educators at all levels.

      Rethinking Schools
      http://www.rethinkingschools.org/index.html

Founded in 1986, Rethinking Schools is a non-profit publisher of educational materials. They advocate the reform of elementary and secondary education, with a strong emphasis on issues of equity and social justice.

      School Reform News
      http://www.heartland.org/education/whatis.html

A project of the Heartland Institute, this monthly newspaper reports efforts nationwide to improve schools by empowering parents and rewarding success with market-based reforms.

      http://www.edexcellence.net

Published by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, this publication compiles various articles and excerpts that pertain to school reform efforts today.

      Middle Web
      http://middleweb.com

A website exploring the challenges of middle school reform, and brimming with resources for educators and parents.

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EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS

American Association of School Administrators (AASA)
American Educational Research Association (AERA)
American Federation of Teachers
American Society for Engineering Education
Architecture Research Institute, Inc.
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
Consortium for School Networking (CoSN)
Council of Chief State School Offices
Council of Great City Schools
Education Commission of the States
Education Policy Analysis Archives
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
Mouse
National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE)
National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP)
National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP)
National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges
National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE)
National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities
National Council for the Social Sciences
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
National Education Association (NEA)
National Parent Teachers Association (PTA)
National School Boards Association (NSBA)
National Science Teachers Association
Juvenile Justice Distance Learning Consortium (JDLC)
National Association of Alternative Schools

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ARCHITECTURAL ORGANIZATIONS

Architecture Research Institute, Inc.
119 E. 35th Street
New York, NY 10016
Beverly Willis, FAIA, Director
http://www.architect.org


American Institute of Architects
1735 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006-5292
Tel. 202 626.7453
Fax 202 626.7399
Ellen C. Czaplewski, Director, Professional Practice
http://www.e-architect.com


National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities
NCEF at National Institute of Building Sciences
1090 Vermont Avenue, NW, #700
Washington, D.C. 20005-4905
Tel. 202 289.7800 Or 888 552.0624
Fax 202 289.1092
http://www.edfacilities.org


Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
1735 New York Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20006
Tel. 202 785.2324
Fax 202 628.0448
http://www.acsa-arch.org

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WEBSITE LINKS

Alternative Schools Network - http://members.aol.com/altschools

Small Schools Coalition - http://www.smallschools.org

NCEF ( Eric information) - http://www.accesseric.org

Dept. of Education - http://www.ed.gov/

Center for Collaborative Education - http://www.cce.org

Center for Educational Outreach & Innovation - http://www.tc.columbia.edu/~academic/ceoi/

Coalition of Essential Schools - http://essentialschools.org/

New York Network for School Renewal - http://www.nynetworks.org/

National Building Museum - http://www.nbm.org

Columbia University Education Department - http://www.columbia.edu

National Academy of Science - http://www.nas.edu

Manhattan Institute - http://www.manhattan-institute.org

New Visions for Public Schools - www.newvisions.org

World Wide Web Virtual Library - http://www.nasa.gov

Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI) - http://www.bpichicago.org

The Consortium on Chicago School Research - http://www.consortium-chicago.org /home

Leadership for Quality Education - http://www.lqe.org

The Chicago Panel on School Policy - http://www.chicagopanel.org

Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform - http://www.crosscity.org

Designs for Change - http://www.dfc1.org

Chicago Education Alliance - http://chicago.ncup.org

Small Schools Workshop - http://www.uic.edu/depts/educ/ssw

Quest Center (Chicago Teacher's Union) - http://www.ctunet.com

The Annenberg Institute for School Reform - http://www.aisr.brown.edu

Small Schools Network - http://www.ssta.sk.ca/research/small_schools/