Academic Achievement and Parental School Involvement as a Function of High School Size

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to examine academic achievement, absenteeism, dropout rate, and parental school involvement as a function of high school size. Previous studies indicated that, generally, students of small schools exhibited greater extracurricular participation, greater satisfaction, lower absenteeism, and lower dropout rate. In terms of academic achievement, findings have been mixed. Academic achievement was measured by scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), while parent participation was measured by membership in the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) or other parent organization(s). Absenteeism and dropout rate were measured using data provided by the California Department of Education. Sixty-seven randomly selected large California public high schools (enrollments over 2,000) were compared to sixty randomly selected small California public high schools (enrollments between 200 and 600 students). The t-tests and analyses of covariance were employed to determine the differences between the large and small high schools. Contrary to several hypotheses, the large schools exhibited higher academic achievement on total SAT score, verbal SAT score, and math SAT score. In addition, this cohort had a higher proportion of students taking the SAT. Confirming other hypotheses, the small school cohort displayed lower absenteeism, lower dropout rate, and higher parental school involvement. The results of this investigation indicate the need for further research, both in size and scope. In addition, the findings carry implications for educational policy decisions. Standard procedures for reporting absenteeism and parental school involvement should be established. In the last half century, Americans have witnessed the advent of large public high schools. During this time, the average per-school enrollment increased 414 percent, from 127 pupils to 653 pupils. The number of school districts decreased from 117,108 to 15,367, an 87 percent decline. Further, the number of schools declined by 69 percent, from approximately 200,000 to 62,037 (Wynne & Walberg, 1995). Every state in America has experienced these changes. In California, for example, few public high schools have enrollments under 500 students, while it is not unusual for enrollments to reach in excess of 3,000 students, with some as high as 5,000. This movement toward large high schools has resulted from the construction of new mega-schools and the consolidation of existing schools. Small schools have faced continuing pressures to join with other small schools to achieve presumed economies of scale and to provide enriched curricular offerings. Research by James Conant (1959a, 1959b, 1967) pushed the drive for larger schools. According to Conant, small high schools could not offer the kind of comprehensive programs required for high quality education in contemporary society. Several other researchers followed Conant's lead, finding academic superiority in larger high schools. This success is generally attributed to the greater resources, specialized services, and better facilities found in big schools. The 1978 research by Downey examined the American College Test (ACT) scores of 3,452 high school students from Kansas. His findings indicated a statistically significant difference in test scores by school size, with students from larger schools receiving higher scores. Similarly, Ornstein (1990) noted higher achievement on standardized tests in students from larger high schools in the State of Illinois. Conversely, the 1964 research by Barker and Gump was one of the earliest studies in defense of small high schools. This research examined, among other variables, student participation in extracurricular activities and student satisfaction. Barker and Gump determined that small schools were superior to large schools on all the attributes they examined. Years later, Lindsay (1982) replicated their research, finding higher extracurricular participation, higher levels of satisfaction, and higher attendance rates among students of small high schools. …

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 49 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.