Two researchers who examined the effect of school size on student performance concluded that the ideal size for a school appears to be between 600 and 900 students (Lee & Smith, as cited in Arnold, 2000).
Research suggests that large schools tend to have wider gaps in achievement between disadvantaged students and their peers, presumably because they result in less communication, interaction, and coordination throughout the school, which contributes to lower student achievement and graduation rates (Chambers, 1981, as cited in Arnold, 2000).
On the other hand, small schools (those with fewer than 600 students) tend to have lower overall academic achievement presumably because in small schools, the curriculum is more limited and directed to average students, rather than the full range of students (Lee, Smerdon, Alfeld-Liro, and Brown, 2000, as cited in Arnold, Gaddy, and Dean, 2004).
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