Consortium on Chicago School Research, various studies on Chicago public elementary schools, 1992 to 1996.
Found that schools with fewer than 350 students fare better in many areas, including school safety, classroom behavior, school leadership, parent involvement, teacher collegiality, positive school-community relations and trust among faculty members. Small schools also were found to have fewer incidents of adversarial politics.
Losing Local Control, H.J. Walberg and H.J. Walberg, III, 1994
Examined various studies dealing with achievement, school and district size, and school funding sources. Found that students in small schools had higher achievement than their counterparts in large schools, especially at elementary levels.
School System Size and Performance: A Contingency Perspective, N.E. Friedkin and J. Necochea, 1988
Found that students from high socio-economic back-grounds benefit from large schools, while those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds do not. The latter group are more likely to have special needs and problems that large schools cannot address.
Big School, Small School, Roger Barker and Paul Gump, 1964
A much-cited study of small schools that examined the effect of size on participation in extracurricular activities. Found that proportionately more students in small schools take part in after-school activities.