Safe, rigorous, personalized
Rhode Island Small Schools

by Dan Corley

THE FACTS are now in: Small schools have indisputable benefits for student achievement, attendance and safety, as well as for teacher collaboration, teacher morale and a school-wide sense of community. A recent report by the Northwest Regional Educational Lab surveys all of the major research of the last 15 years on the relationship between school size and school quality. Author Kathleen Cotton finds the following: "Students take more responsibility for their own learning in small schools and units, learning activities are more frequently individualized, classes are smaller, and scheduling is much more flexible. The learning needs of students, not the organizational needs of the school, drive school operations."

Another synthesis of the research, published in Educational Leadership, cites national studies showing that "youngsters learn more in math, reading, history and science in small schools than in large ones especially disadvantaged students." Beyond effects on student academic achievement, the studies show that small schools are significantly more likely to be violence-free than large ones, and that students are less likely to drop out of small schools.

Rhode Island has more than 250 schools with enrollment under 400 students. About 150 of these schools are public, and the majority are elementary schools. Ten principals from these schools have joined together to increase public awareness about the educational value of small schools.

The mission of the Small Schools Network of Rhode Island is to share resources and support among small schools and to foster the opening of new small schools in Rhode Island. The principals believe in small schools not just for the sake of size, but because small schools invite effective educational practices and arrangements. The network recognizes that a school does not have to be defined by its building. Hope Essential High School, a member of the network, is a small school community housed on the third floor of one of Providence's largest high schools. In accordance with the national research findings described above, the principals of the small schools network find that the small size provides their schools with many important advantages:

First, small schools are readily able to innovate and make changes. By avoiding the bureaucracy that develops naturally with size, small schools can generally be flexible employing innovative ways to meet students' needs efficiently. For example, the staff of Hope Essential High School is able to work together each semester to match scheduling and course offerings to the most current needs of the students.

Second, working in a small school helps teachers to build a professional community. At Community Preparatory School in Providence, the faculty sits around a conference table and discusses student achievement biweekly. In my role as principal of Community Prep, I believe that within these discussions, a 7th-grade teacher can get help working out a student problem from the 4th-grade teacher who had the student years earlier. A small teaching community empowers staff to share ideas and solve problems in collaboration.

Third, small schools allow education to take place on a "human scale," with consideration for the needs of each individual student. The personalized environment in small schools contributes to student achievement, to students' personal and academic confidence, and to their greater sense of belonging. Denise Jenkins, principal of School One, explains: "School One's enrollment is 100 students. Although our facility could handle a