Project MUSE®: Brookings Papers on Education Policy - Latest Articles
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/155
Project MUSE®: Latest articles in Brookings Papers on Education Policy.daily12026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00text/htmlen-US2000 - 2007Latest Articles: Brookings Papers on Education PolicyTWOProject MUSE®Brookings Papers on Education Policy1533-44571096-2719Latest articles in Brookings Papers on Education Policy. Feed provided by Project MUSE®School Consolidation and Inequality
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/214675
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Christopher Berry and Martin West, “Growing Pains: The School Consolidation Movement and Student Outcomes,” Working Paper (University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy, 2005).
Berry
Christopher
and
West
Martin
Growing Pains: The School Consolidation Movement and Student Outcomes
Working Paper
University of Chicago, Harris School of Public Policy
2005
The discussion in this paragraph is based on David Tyack, The One Best System: A History of American Urban Education (Harvard University Press, 1974). The discussion in this paragraph is based on
Tyack
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/155/image/coversmallSchool Consolidation and Inequality2007-05-09text/htmlen-USSchool Consolidation and Inequality2007-05-092007TWOProject MUSE®333762026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002007-05-09High School Size, Organization, and Content: What Matters for Student Success?
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/214676
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In recent years, the large comprehensive high school has been a subject of growing critique by researchers and reformers. "Factory model" schools have been criticized for their impersonal structures, fragmented curricula, segregated and unequal program options, and inability to respond effectively to student needs.1 Some studies have found that, other things equal, smaller schools appear to produce higher achievement, lower dropout rates, lower rates of violence and vandalism, more positive feelings about self and school, and more participation in school activities. These outcomes appear more pronounced for students who are traditionally lower achieving.2 In addition, the belief that large schools are necessarily
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/155/image/coversmallHigh School Size, Organization, and Content: What Matters for Student Success?2007-05-09text/htmlen-USHigh School Size, Organization, and Content: What Matters for Student Success?2007-05-092007TWOProject MUSE®2882612026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002007-05-09The Effects of School Size on Parental Involvement and Social Capital: Evidence from the ELS: 2002
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/214677
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Nahal Toosi, “Small Schools Changing Shape of Nation’s Largest School System,” Associated Press, May 13, 2006.
Toosi
Nahal
Small Schools Changing Shape of Nation’s Largest School System
Associated Press
05
13
2006
Anne D. Lewis, “Washington Commentary: High Schools and Reform,” Phi Delta Kappan 85, no. 8 (April 2004): 563; Tom Vander Ark, “The Case for Small High Schools,” Educational Leadership 59, no. 5 (February 2002): 55–59.
Lewis
Anne D.
Washington Commentary: High Schools and Reform
Phi Delta Kappan
85 no.
8
04
2004
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/155/image/coversmallThe Effects of School Size on Parental Involvement and Social Capital: Evidence from the ELS: 20022007-05-09text/htmlen-USThe Effects of School Size on Parental Involvement and Social Capital: Evidence from the ELS: 20022007-05-092007TWOProject MUSE®352592026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002007-05-09Class Size and School Size: Taking the Trade-Offs Seriously
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/214678
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Small classes and small schools appear to have educational benefits for students. In small classes, children experience fewer disruptions and receive more personal attention and individualized instruction. Likewise, in small schools, students appear to feel safer and less likely to get "lost in the crowd" and teachers are able to provide a more coherent curriculum. There is a large research literature, including many of the papers in this volume, suggesting that these qualities of the learning environment translate into actual gains in student achievement and attainment.1 But nearly all previous studies on the benefits of small classes and schools ignore the other element that is of equally great interest to
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/155/image/coversmallClass Size and School Size: Taking the Trade-Offs Seriously2007-05-09text/htmlen-USClass Size and School Size: Taking the Trade-Offs Seriously2007-05-092007TWOProject MUSE®1136522026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002007-05-09The Relative Influence of Research on Class Size Policy
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/214679
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Social science research suggests that reducing class size has its largest effects on the achievement of minority and inner-city children during the first year of formal schooling.1 Despite scholarly disagreements about the implications of specific studies on class size, economists generally agree that targeted class-size policies rest on stronger evidence than untargeted policies. For example, economist Eric Hanushek contends that "surely class-size reductions are beneficial in specific circumstances—for specific groups of students, subject matters, and teachers."2 Similarly, economist Alan Krueger notes that the "effect sizes found in the STAR experiment and much of the literature are greater for minority and
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/155/image/coversmallThe Relative Influence of Research on Class Size Policy2007-05-09text/htmlen-USThe Relative Influence of Research on Class Size Policy2007-05-092007TWOProject MUSE®1496832026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002007-05-09Introduction: What Do We Know about School Size and Class Size?
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/214680
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The world of education is never hurting for new reforms. For decades, one new proposal after another—in areas ranging from pedagogy to governance to school finance—has been championed by enthusiastic backers. The most successful of these have been embraced by researchers, policymakers, or influential philanthropists and become part of the fabric of schooling. Unfortunately, the track record of most reforms has been disappointing. Many highly touted proposals—site-based governance, whole language, alternative schools, and mastery learning, just to name a few—had their brief moment in the sun, then receded into the background with little evidence that they had improved education. Today, two of the more prominent
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/155/image/coversmallIntroduction: What Do We Know about School Size and Class Size?2007-05-09text/htmlen-USIntroduction: What Do We Know about School Size and Class Size?2007-05-092007TWOProject MUSE®412082026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002007-05-09Optimal Context Size in Elementary Schools: Disentangling the Effects of Class Size and School Size
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/214681
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Young children's learning—and how their learning is distributed by social background—may be influenced by the structural and organizational properties of their school. This study focuses on one important structural dimension of these educational contexts: size. Over the past several decades, various elements of the size of educational contexts have become a major focus of researchers, politicians, and corporate leaders. Billions of public and private dollars have been invested in reforms to reduce the size and scope of both classrooms and schools. Unlike many educational reform initiatives, these downsizing efforts have found support from virtually every quarter. A united front of stakeholders has coalesced behind
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/155/image/coversmallOptimal Context Size in Elementary Schools: Disentangling the Effects of Class Size and School Size2007-05-09text/htmlen-USOptimal Context Size in Elementary Schools: Disentangling the Effects of Class Size and School Size2007-05-092007TWOProject MUSE®1419032026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002007-05-09What Have Researchers Learned from Project STAR?
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/214682
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Elizabeth J. Word and others, Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR): Tennessee’s K–3 Class Size Study (Nashville: Tennessee State Department of Education, 1990); Frederick Mosteller, “The Tennessee Study of Class Size in the Early School Grades,” Future of Children 5, no. 2 (Summer-Fall 1995): 113–27.
Word
Elizabeth J.
and others
Student/Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR): Tennessee’s K–3 Class Size Study
Nashville
Tennessee State Department of Education
1990
Mosteller
Frederick
The Tennessee Study of Class Size in the Early School Grades
Future of Children
5
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/155/image/coversmallWhat Have Researchers Learned from Project STAR?2007-05-09text/htmlen-USWhat Have Researchers Learned from Project STAR?2007-05-092007TWOProject MUSE®498862026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002007-05-09Is Small Really Better? Testing Some Assumptions about High School Size
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/214683
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Roger G. Barker and Paul V. Gump, Big School, Small School: High School Size and Student Behavior (Stanford University Press, 1964).
Barker
Roger G.
and
Gump
Paul V.
Big School, Small School: High School Size and Student Behavior
Stanford University Press
1964
James Coleman and Thomas Hoffer, Public and Private High Schools: The Impact of Communities(New York: Basic Books, 1987).
Coleman
James
and
Hoffer
Thomas
Public and Private High Schools: The Impact of Communities
New York
Basic Books
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/155/image/coversmallIs Small Really Better? Testing Some Assumptions about High School Size2007-05-09text/htmlen-USIs Small Really Better? Testing Some Assumptions about High School Size2007-05-092007TWOProject MUSE®382542026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002007-05-09Policy from the Hip: Class Size Reduction in California
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/214684
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California was, and remains, the largest "experiment" in class-size reduction (CSR) in the country's history. Its sweeping program to reduce the state's classes in kindergarten through the third grade covered nearly 2 million students and dropped the average class size from almost twenty-nine students per class, and often a great many more, to twenty or fewer, and it sought to do so virtually overnight. It is a fascinating and instructive story: Did CSR improve student achievement or realize other gains commensurate with the sizable investment it required? Could far more impressive gains have been made if the program had been concentrated on disadvantaged and other at-risk students? But the California story—much of
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/155/image/coversmallPolicy from the Hip: Class Size Reduction in California2007-05-09text/htmlen-USPolicy from the Hip: Class Size Reduction in California2007-05-092007TWOProject MUSE®846742026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002007-05-09International Evidence on Expenditure and Class Size: A Review
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/214685
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In the United States, evidence abounds on the effects of expenditures and class size on student achievement, but often it is controversial.1 In other parts of the world, hard evidence is not as easy to come by, mostly because of data limitations. But over the years, testing agencies have started to collect data on student performance and family background and on school resources in countries around the world, allowing a look at the association between school resources and student achievement in different international settings. This paper reviews what can be learned from international student achievement tests such as the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Programme for International
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/155/image/coversmallInternational Evidence on Expenditure and Class Size: A Review2007-05-09text/htmlen-USInternational Evidence on Expenditure and Class Size: A Review2007-05-092007TWOProject MUSE®1314512026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002007-05-09