AJC.com > Blogs > Get Schooled > Archives > 2005 > April > 18 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USBig School, Small School
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
My colleague Chris Reinolds reports that schools in some metro Atlanta districts are just plain huge. Cherokee County builds elementary schools for 1,200 kids, as does Gwinnett.
And when you add the trailers to house the overflow, school enrollments can exceed 1,500 in some elementary schools. In Gwinnett County, Jackson Elementary School has 1,691 students, Dacula Middle School has 2,927 and Collins Hill High School has 3,556.
I know of no evidence that larger schools lead to low test scores. Some of Gwinnett’s largest schools are also its highest scoring. And large schools are frugal. In Gwinnett, mega-schools are largely responsible for the district’s comparatively low per-pupil spending.
But many researchers, parents and teachers say they prefer smaller schools where students can get personal attention. I’m told a small school can help with that familiar boondoggle, discipline, and it can help teachers and other staff members pick up on students’ family and emotional problems.
Yet there are problems with small schools, too. They get less money. That makes it harder to afford music and art teachers and offer a variety of programs.
What’s the best way to go on school size?
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Swan
April 18, 2005 02:04 PM | Link to this
In my humble opinion, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to school size. A lot of it depends on if the school’s size is creating a problem for students.
In my work, we hear a lot of students in large schools saying that they feel like a number, that they don’t count. This can be especially true for freshmen who may have come from a smaller middle school. Suddenly they’re dumped into an ocean compared to their small pond. They have no idea what to do.
To address that issue, some schools have gone to the small learning communities (SLCs) or academy route. Students are grouped into an SLC or academy according to their grade or even future career interest. Grants are even available for this kind of thing.
I think one of the best approaches for a large school with a large freshmen population is a freshmen academy. They’re often housed in a separate wing of the school with the same teachers, even their own administrator. The teachers are trained to work with freshmen and are chosen because they WANT to work with freshmen. These students get the intensive help in mathematics and reading that they need. Some schools even continue this on into a 10th-grade academy. Forsyth County has a freshman academy and a summer “bridge” program that eases eighth-graders into the freshman experience.
As for the small schools that may lack resources, they might want to partner with a larger school. Some rural Midwestern schools partner with a nearby college to take advantage of their resources, too. Another possibility is tapping into parent skills. Lots of parents are eager to be a part of their child’s school and sharing their skills (be it music or art or even tutoring) can be a way to do that.
By Ernest
April 18, 2005 03:38 PM | Link to this
Another classic case of ‘large & few’ or ‘small & many’. I would like to see smaller elementary schools (400-600) but given land acquisition requirements and availability along with construction costs, it doesn’t make sense to construct small schools. Because many counties do not have comprehensive growth plans and/or do not communicate with school boards regarding residential building plans, many communities around the metro area have schools with far more children than should be accomodated. In DeKalb, we’ve got Fairington ES that was built for about 750 that has close to 1500 kids. This excludes the close to 400 being sent to a local Theme school. If impact fees were in place, this situation may not have happened.
Swan mentioned the SLC philosophy with larger high schools. Is this the same as the ‘schools within a school’ philosophy we see in other parts of the county?
By lynn
April 18, 2005 04:15 PM | Link to this
In Dekalb, there are too many small schools next door or close to schools with tons of trailers and students. To add insult to injury, the system has to spend extra funds to make sure these schools (under 450) have an assistant principal, music etc. All to avoid redistricting….
By LISA
April 19, 2005 10:17 AM | Link to this
I want to express that it really don’t matter about the quanity it’s the quality within the school that count!!! My daughter was at a High School in Atlanta Public School that only had 350 plus children,the school was horrible!!! the leadership was not qualified to even be a principal!!! YET!! Atlanta Public School Continue to hire people who have the paper work but not the potential with intention to empower the students to there full potential.Size really don’t matter!!! just give the first a leader!! Someone who truly care about the kids.You can’t LEAD THE PEOPLE! IF YOU DON’T LOVE THE PEOPLE!!!
By Ellen
April 19, 2005 11:31 AM | Link to this
Size doesn’t seem to be a real issue IF the school is built to accommodate the number of students attending that school. If an elementary school doesn’t have enough restrooms to take care of the number of students, then instructional time is less effective because of children waiting to use the restrooms. Also, some small schools have small cafeterias, leading to lunch being served from 10:00 to 1:00 each day. All of these issues impact children’s learning. Redistricting is difficult for parents, children, and teachers, but often it is the best solution to serve the needs of students.
By Ernest
April 19, 2005 11:56 AM | Link to this
Lynn:
I hope your blood pressure didn’t go up when you saw this blog topic :). Redistricting (if a viable option) is the obvious and most cost effective solution to addressing shool population stresses. Unfortunately, many have strong feelings about this, for a variety of reasons.
As Lisa says, it’s not the size of the school but the quality of instruction and leadership you have at that school. You will still need involved parents to make it work for the children.
By Brittney
April 19, 2005 03:33 PM | Link to this
In 1999 I started high school at a brand new high school(we did not even have a cafeteria when we started!) we also had only 9th grade(freshman) and 10th(sophomore) classes. The school was only big enough to house those two classes. Maybe the county did not realize this or something but when the years went by we were having teachers float from room to room-some teachers were teaching outside while other teachers conducted classes in the same room. The halls were overpopulated-the parking lot was over crowded with faculty and students beginning to drive. My point is- the size of the school has to matter. There was so much chaos that it was hard to get anything done. We were constantly interrupted during class because the teachers outside needed to come back in for what ever reason…Why they did not just get trailors is beyond me…If a school has been “big enough” for years and it just becomes overpopulated because of new subdivisions and what not then I could understand and the right adjustments could be taken. I would say as long as the teachers taught properly and the students learned just as well then there would not be a problem. But in this case the school started out too small and once you were in there you realized it. they have finally built an extra building on but it is for freshman only. So what about the other three classes. Do they just get to be over crowded still?
By T. Barrett
April 19, 2005 03:48 PM | Link to this
Concerning Big Schools/Small Schools, Overcrowding, and REDISTRICTING…
One thing people have to remember is that redistricting is a part of life in a booming metropolitan area like Atlanta. I grew in in East Cobb when it was booming in the 1980´s. Our subdivision was districted to four different middle schools between 1982-1993 (our subdivision was first zoned to Mabry, then was redistricted to McCleskey in 1983, to Simpson in 1988, and finally to Hightower Trail in 1993). My older brother and sister attended Mabry, while I attended McCleskey for 6th grade and Simpson for 7th and 8th. People during this time basically accepted the changes and there were really no protests. Redistricting was a part of the growing process. People were actually satisfied that something was being done about the overcrowding. New schools also offer a chance for a new beginning. However, I do think redistricting should not happen more than once during a 5-year “mini-generation� period per school level (elementary, middle, or high). I also think that parents and students do have a right to gripe if redistricting leaves an area isolated or marginalized…meaning a very small part of a district feeds into a different middle or high school (which is the case with a part of the McCleskey school district that feeds into Sprayberry, when the overwhelming majority of the McCleskey district now feeds into Kell). A school district should never have less than 20-25% of its area feed into a different middle or high school.
By Connie Jenkins
April 29, 2005 02:24 PM | Link to this
The main problem in today’s schools is Lack of Discipline! This is being allowed by the whinner generation. I graduated in 1955 from Tuscaloosa, Ala. highschool that had 1300 students. In the 4 years I was there, only one student behaved bad enough to get expelled. He threw 2 dynamite caps in the school. His father then sent him to a military school in Tenn. We knew we were not allowed to missbehave in any way, either to teachers or other students. I raised 10 children who attended Georgia schools and I told them they went to school for one reason only—that was to learn. School is NOT a social club. School personel are afraid to correct students because parents are allowed to sue for anything. You cannot raise children to be good, productive citizens if you allow them to always be in control. One reason so many parents are choosing to home school their children is due to the lack of discipline in public schools. Teachers are quiting at an alarming rate due to lack of discipline. We are all paying for the public school system and we are NOT getting our money’s worth!