Which size high school is better? Big or small?

[TheYO]

I went to a big high school (by Ohio standards), about 1700 total students and a graduating class of 420. It was the largest school in the area, and I loved it. We had the most extracurricular activities, and the school offered a lot of classes outside the basic curriculum that I loved taking. I'd highly recommend sending your children to the largest school since it would give them the best selection of classes and extracurricular activities to prepare them for college/"the real world"

[Prof2000]

They both have their advantages and disadvantages. Having taught in a small school and a large school, I can mention that the main advantages to a larger school is more classes and more extracurricular activities. However, it is easier for a student to slip through the cracks academically. In a small school the students are less likely to slip through the cracks and the small class sizes make it easier for the teacher to spend more individual time helping a student. However, the small schools have slimmer pickings with classes and activities. Keep in mind these are generalizations based on my experiences.

[Katarina Witt]

I once asked a school superintendent what his idea of the ideal size high school was (excl, and he said "1000 students". Anecdotal, yeah, but certainly an educated opinion.

[Oogax3Girl]

I went to a small private high school with about 120 students. My graduating class was the largest in school history (and still is) with 43.

I loved a lot of things about it. Sports wise, I could play any sport I wanted to and the only sport we didn't offer that was a staple at most schools was football, but I'm a girl so that didn't matter. Otherwise we had cross country, volleyball, baseball, soccer, basketball, cheerleading, lacrosse, swimming, tennis, track, field hockey, and maybe a few others.

We had a really good music program, although our band was extremely small. That being said, I had the advantage of being able to play in jazz band for six years which at most schools is an audition-only group and because it was so small, my band director was always looking for new instruments and had no problem with allowing a high school student learn a new instrument. At most high schools, if you don't start band the first year, then the band director won't allow you to join band. Ours was opposite and he would work with students individually to bring them up to speed. I know one girl started band two years later than everyone else and she's now on a scholarship at a good music school. It wouldn't have been possible if she went to a larger school that didn't allow late-starts.

I knew all of my teachers really well and I often had them for multiple years. I never repeated a math or English teacher, but I had my band teacher for eight years, my French teacher for 5, and my history teacher for 3 years. That overlapping is really helpful.

Since I was at a private school, we offered 16 AP's, the same amount as any of the local public schools (including one with 400 students), so the selection of classes was never a problem for me.

I used to think that kids who went from my school to huge universities would be overwhelmed, but I found myself adjusting to college relatively easily. I go to a college with 30,000 students now and I really haven't had any problems adjusting to the change in size. I definitely don't think that going to a small school negatively impacted me. If anything, it was just a bunch of positives that made getting into college easier and me a more well-rounded person. (I mean how many people can say they were a Varsity cheerleader captain while being a major band geek at the same time?)

[Jazzii]

I go to a HUGE high school 4000 students in 2 campuses, graduating class of about 1000. My school has programs that other schools for miles don't have- one being that it is like a vocational school, It gives the OPTION of taking classes in a trade (auto mechanic, cosmetology, cooking, welding, construction, etc). We have every sport under the sun (including golf, ping pong, and tennis), we have a communications lab, daycare center, and nursing suite. All of these things would cease to exist in a small school setting (from what I've seen in surrounding districts)

Size is not the only thing that matters there are a lot of other factors that play into choosing a school, some thing you may want to look at

~ # of guidance counselors, my school has about 20, so about 200 per counselor- which allows for counselors to have a personal relationship with (I go to my counselor everyday just to say hi)

~ Ratio of teachers to students (It could be a big school, but if there are 200 teachers the classes aren't big)

~ Average students per class (despite the size of my school, average class size is 23)

~ Number of Adavanced classes/ Advance opprotunities

~Accessibility of extra services if you need it (ESL, AIS, etc.)

[ckhthankgod]

It depends. I know of schools with 600 kids in the HS, but have as many sports as schools 2-4 times the size. There is a suburban HS with about 1200 kids in my area with a credit union, carpentry classes(including building a home), cosmetology classes and a TV studio. So, it depends on what you are looking for.

[toobusytoday]

I think class size matters more then school size and also how well a school is funded and run. In PA, our schools are mostly funded locally so a school in an affluent area may have smaller classes while a school of the same size in a poor area may have less choices, worse teachers (because they can't pay them as much) and larger class sizes. I would compare the schools on this site - SchoolDigger.com - School Rankings, Reviews and More - Public and Private Elementary, Middle, High Schools looking at test scores, class size and teacher to student ratio, etc.

When we were looking at school districts, we were looking for a HS around 1,000 where students because that seemed like the right size for us but we also wanted them to have AP classes and activity choices. Each family has to decide for themselves what their priorities are and it's often hard to decide that when children are young.

[villageidiot1]

I graduated from a rather large HS. I had almost 600 in my senior class. My kids went to a smaller HS, but it is still large for our area. In a larger HS, you have more opportunities for different types of classes, sports, etc. Academically, it is a big advantage for kids going on to college. My son took as many AP math and science classes as possible, scored 5s on all but one, and is now in med school. There were enough bright kids in the school to offer and fill these AP classes with qualified students. He was in class with kids who went on to Ivy League, military academies, and some top engineering and science schools. Could he have done it at a smaller school? Probably, but there is an advantage to taking AP chem or AP bio with 15 other students who are planning a medical or science career. He would have been at a disadvantage when starting college and would have had to work harder to catch up.

The downside to larger schools are the opportunities to participate in extracurriculars such as sports, musicals, plays, etc. At a HS with over 2500 students, they are not begging kids to try out for football or basketball. Larger schools cut kids from virtually every sport or at best you sit the bench. At some of the smaller schools in my area, they get 25-30 boys out for football team. One team had to cancel their last game of the season because they didn't have enough players. Another school had a girl join the football team because they didn't have enough players.

BTW, in my area, I have not seen much of a difference in class size between larger and smaller schools.

[michgc]

In this case, I wouldn't care about school size. Buy in the best school district. Go for #1.