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Small Schools : The Benefits Of Small High Schools

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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

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