ERIC Number: EJ879147
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 27
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0034-6543
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
A Review of Empirical Evidence about School Size Effects: A Policy Perspective
Leithwood, Kenneth; Jantzi, Doris
Review of Educational Research, v79 n1 p464-490 2009
This review examined 57 post-1990 empirical studies of school size effects on a variety of student and organizational outcomes. The weight of evidence provided by this research clearly favors smaller schools. Students who traditionally struggle at school and students from disadvantaged social and economic backgrounds are the major benefactors of smaller schools. Elementary schools with large proportions of such students should be limited in size to not more than about 300 students; those serving economically and socially heterogeneous or relatively advantaged students should be limited in size to about 500 students. Secondary schools serving exclusively or largely diverse and/or disadvantaged students should be limited in size to about 600 students or fewer, while those secondary schools serving economically and socially heterogeneous or relatively advantaged students should be limited in size to about 1,000 students. (Contains 6 notes.)
Descriptors: Secondary Schools, Disadvantaged, School Size, Evidence, Educational Policy, Small Schools, Elementary Schools, Outcomes of Education, Policy Analysis, Literature Reviews, Educational Research, Research Reports, Educational Environment, Instructional Effectiveness, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Education; Elementary Secondary Education; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia; Canada; Iceland; Israel; Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; United Kingdom; United States
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A