The Benefits of Small High Schools
Traditionally, large high schools have been considered to be superior to smaller high schools. Larger schools have the ability to offer a wider variety of specialized classes. They tend to have more higher level math and science offerings, including Advanced Placement or dual credit classes that allow students to begin taking college courses in high school. They are able to have an assortment of specialized history and English classes, and they are also able to offer a wider variety of arts, vocational, and physical education classes. Although one would presume that the increased resources and fuller curriculum would lead to higher academic achievement, many studies have shown that is not necessarily the case. Overall, attending a small high school can have significant academic and social benefits for students, particularly in the case of disadvantaged students.
Striving towards the supposed ideal of larger schools has led to the consolidation of schools and school districts across the country. In 1951, there were 71,117 school districts in the United States. By 1981, only thirty year later, this number has dwindled down to 15, 987 school districts (Pipho, 1987). Although many of these closings were due to the fading out of the one-room country schoolhouse in favor of consolidated districts that allowed for the separation of elementary, junior, and senior high schools, many more were the result of state mandates to consolidate schools in
Smaller class sizes are a pivotal reason as to why parents should send their children to private school. Private schools have smaller class sizes, which allow for more individualized instruction on various subject matters, and they improve student-teacher relationships. For instance, “Small classes allow teachers to give students more individual attention and lighten the teacher’s workload, and therefore are generally considered desirable” (Choy 14). Subsequently, by having a smaller class size, a student
Towards the end of their high school careers, many teens will ask themselves what they will do after they graduate. Some will take a year off to travel, some will enlist in military school, and most will enroll in college. There are many criteria that a school must have in order to be the perfect school for a high school student. Students look at the price of tuition, the distance from home, and the prestige of the university. Students pick universities they think they will thrive the most in. Many students pick colleges that they know has easy classes and so therefore they can get a higher grade point average. This will result in grade inflation and devalued degrees.
High School is an incredibly important period of life. It influences your social, academic, and personal life for four years, and prepares you for college and a career. This is the reason County Prep High School is my school of choice. County Prep's thriving social environment, challenging academic curriculum, and wide variety of electives will help me successfully carry out my plans for the future.
I am providing an analysis of “School Consolidation and the Politics of School Closure Across Communities” by Zorka Karanxha, Vonzell Agosto, William R. Black and Claudius B. Effiom (2013). The principal at Roosevelt Neighborhood School, Brian Jones, faced a state wide economic recession, which led to the merge of his school with Scott Magnet School of choice,
Class sizes can be very important once you get to college. It is a drastic change going from a room with a few rows of desks accompanied with many classmates that have been in the rooms with you over the past few years. You were able to raise your hand and have a question answer usually within a few minutes. Large classes do not present you with that simple luxury. Most of the time, you sign the role and the professor does not know which name belongs to which face, making it harder for means of communication. Community colleges are focused on having strong teacher/student relations. They allow students to ask questions and are there to visualize the problem a
Community college classes focus on putting knowledge into practice. A community college usually has intimate learning environments which would help students. Teachers at these colleges usually are able to connect with students because of the smaller classes. It is so important to have small classes, as it helps the students adjust from high school into college and also gives them the opportunity to connect with the teachers. A community college can be easier to get accepted into, and it also gives one the opportunity to raise their GPA while attending. Community colleges cost a fraction of what a
Attending high schools should be more than just exposing students to a structured curriculum. High school should also be a place where students are allowed to think outside of the box. Schools should inspire creativity, sparks curiosity, and fuels ambition.
Researchers studies on the class size have differed. Some have found no significant impact; others have discovered that student achievement declines slightly as class size increases. More recently, others have found that students in a smaller class learn more because of the size and one-on-one time. Medium classes have
When it comes to school size, there is no right size that works for every student. Some students thrive in a smaller environment where they get lots of attention, while others prefer the variety of activities and peer groups available in a larger school. Certainly, small and large schools each have their pros and cons. There are many reasons why this statement is true. One of the reasons why is if there are smaller schools they are gonna have smaller class sizes so there is more one on one with the students and teacher. Smaller schools are more lenient with test days and focus more on every student understanding the content.
Local control of school districts has proven to have mixed results. Local control allows districts to experiment and keeps problems from one district affecting another. At the same time however, local control keeps good ideas from spreading quickly. Local districts have produced a diverse range of possible solutions to the problems that public schools face. Unfortunately, the huge amount of diversity that is present from district to district has also made progress harder to measure.
Many people argue that bigger schools are better than smaller schools because they allow more students to be taught and a better variety of classes but that's not necessarily true. Smaller schools offer many other things that the bigger schools do not. There are many reasons why smaller schools are more productive and more beneficial compared to bigger school. They offer a more one-on-one experience, the students are more connected, and the school system is more advanced than others.
It is pretty apparent that in America, and elsewhere, most parents and general adults want what is best for their children in terms of education. This mindset can be seen reflected in the legislative aspects of our education system; there are many incentives pushing through the school boards and legislatures of our nation in order to attempt to further refine the education system. This is important as it allows us to refine traditional American education in order to improve upon it, and one of these attempt refinements and improvements has to deal with the subject of class size. For many people, large classroom sizes are a spawning ground for many issues with the education system: high distraction in the classroom, teacher inefficiency, among a plethora of others. Although it may seem regressive to favor small classes over bigger, more potentially diverse classes, small class sizes are more beneficial for education in that it is less distracting for the students and raises the possibility of staying focused, it potentially raises teacher-student relationships, and it allows for better results and better statistics coming from these smaller classes.
We know that shutting down schools are a budget tactic within districts and according to Scholars Strategy Network an article published by Vontrese R. Deeds Pamphile, with uprooting students they loose what they value the most and that is familiarity, stability and comfort in their school. Reformers who favor performance-based school closures assume that families will choose a better school performance wise for their children and sometimes this is not the case due to parents not being fully informative on academics at other schools. According to Pamphile studies indicate that many students experience social disruptions as well as adverse academic effects after schools close and in many instances closures can undermine the very student outcome that administrators and policymakers are trying to improve. However according to the Philadelphia Research Initiative the long-term effect of school closings on student performance appears to be minimal and Kansas City;s was the best received by
Private schools also prepare the student for the business world. There are many strategies to becoming a successful businessperson. One of these traits is the ability to work as a team. In private schools the students have more chances to grow in that area because of the class size. However, public schools are more centered on the idea that students must fend for themselves, and teachers “are accountable to multiple constituencies, while needing to respond to the varying capabilities and needs of their students” (Benveniste 52). Another large part of being successful in the business world is the communication skills. In a private school the class size is
Many parents feel their children are not being challenged enough in public schools. Some of these children are doing well but clearly could do more, could be stretched intellectually. From their parents' point of view, they spend far too much time watching television, wandering around the mall, or playing games on their computers. Many parents are consequently drawn to private schools because of the academic rigor that comes with smaller classes, more personal attention, and teachers who nurture and promote each child's talents. There is no question that private schools offer smaller classes than most public schools in the country. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 1998-99 the median student-teacher ratio in NAIS schools was 9 to 1 while that in public schools was 17 to 1. Smaller classes make it difficult for a student to hide or slide. In a room with only 14 other students, it is difficult to remain uninvolved or consistently unprepared. Teachers can get to know 15 students much better and faster than 30. Smaller classes promote more faculty member-student interaction, and most kids