Big School or Small School? What Decades of Research Say

If you are a parent, you have probably asked yourself this more times than you can count: would my child be better off in a big school?

I asked the same question years ago — and I confess I had a bias, because I believed in the answer before I had looked for it. So I went looking for what the research actually says.

What one major review found

One of the most widely cited reviews on the subject is Kathleen Cotton's report, School Size, School Climate, and Student Performance, published by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in Portland, Oregon. After examining decades of studies, Cotton concluded that small schools came out "superior to larger ones on most measures and equal to them on the rest" — for elementary and secondary students alike, across ability levels and settings.

The report found that students in smaller schools were more likely to take part in activities, attend regularly, and view their teachers positively, and less likely to drop out or engage in risky behaviour. On academic achievement, smaller schools did at least as well as larger ones, and often better.

Why it works

The researchers pointed to a simple reason: in a smaller school, children are less likely to be overlooked. Every student is needed for the clubs, the teams, and the student government, so more children get real responsibility. Teachers and students come to know each other well, and that sense of being known builds confidence and a willingness to try.

Not just one study

Oregon is not the only place that noticed. The Chicago Public Schools, one of the largest school systems in the United States, adopted small schools as a district-wide improvement strategy, citing decades of research linking them to higher attendance and graduation rates.

What it means for your child

None of this means large schools are a poor choice — many children thrive in them. But it does mean that a grand gate and a sprawling campus are not, by themselves, evidence of a better education. The more important question is whether your child will be known, noticed, and given room to grow.

For a closer look at more recent studies, read our companion article, What the Research Says About Small Schools.