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Study finds signs of progress in Philadelphia's small schools

A new study of small high schools in Philadelphia urges that district to stay the course with efforts to provide students with small-scale schools, but it also cautions that size alone won't transform student outcomes. The schools need more support, the study says, to fully capitalize on the promise of small size.

Researchers found early evidence of success in Philadelphia's small-school effort which includes 10 schools that are available to all students living in specific neighborhoods and 21 schools with different levels of selectivity. The study, Going Small, Progress & Challenges of Philadelphia's Small High Schools, reports indicators of a more positive climate in the small schools than in the city's larger high schools and preliminary data pointing to better student achievement.

For example, the study notes that students at all small high schools were less likely to be suspended and more likely to pass algebra than students attending large high schools.

"There are indications that small high schools are moving towards increasing student engagement and creating more rigorous teaching and learning environments," the study said. And in one subset of the city's small schools, those available to students citywide, fewer students were chronically absent, late or truant compared to large schools with similar admissions policies. The study was conducted by Research for Action, a Philadelphia-based policy and research group focused on urban education.

Teachers at small schools also reported better conditions for effective teaching and learning, the study said, than at larger schools. Teachers were more likely to report that their school leadership set high standards for teaching and learning, that they collaborated with other teachers and that all teachers were focused on improving instruction.

But the study also found the schools face significant challenges in their efforts to reduce dropout rates and improve student readiness for post-secondary education. Educators in the schools acknowledge more work is needed to boost rigor in the classroom. But they were also able to point to the conditions that would help foster rigor: creating a shared school culture, having a strong school leader and a staff committed to the school's mission and sufficient autonomy at the school level for critical decision making.

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