Reviews educational changes in Sweden since the 1962 Education Act, which expanded educational opportunities through introduction of comprehensive schools. Discusses the effects of Swedish reforms on educational policy debates in Great Britain and West Germany and on comparative education research in Europe and the United States. Contains 32…

The movement toward school consolidation was triggered by James Bryant Conant's contention that larger schools are more efficient and offer more comprehensive programs. Many studies seem to support the claim that larger schools are cheaper to operate. Yet problems with these studies include wide variation in the minimum, optimum, and maximum sizes…