Which size high school is better? Big or small? (SAT, university, public school)

[Couggirl03]

My family has relocated to a new area. My children are small now, but we're trying to make the decision of what school district to live and buy a house within. There are several districts to choose from with different size schools.

In area #1, our children would be in a high school of 1400-1800 students.

In area #2, our children would be in a high school of 1000 students.

In area #3 our children would be in a high school of 300 students.

Is size the only thing that matters? Areas 2 and 3 are known to be poorer and less educated areas and the schools aren't known as being as good. Plus, they offer less in the way of electives, activities, and sports.

At the same time, I grew up in a high school of 300 students in a tiny, rather poor town. It was not known to be a good school. Classes weren't terribly challenging and I ended up valedictorian and received scholarships that almost paid my way through my 4 year degree. I'm sure if I had gone to a school with 1800 students I would have been no where close to being valedictorian and wouldn't have gotten my college paid for.

Also, at my small school, I could play whatever sport I wanted and take part in whatever activity I wanted (no matter how limited they might have been). I did ok in sports. I'm sure in a big school, I wouldn't have even made the team.

I don't know much about big schools so I'm hoping for some insight. We're leaning toward buying a house in a district with a large school (1800 students). I'd like my kids to be able to take more challenging classes and have more opportunities, but will they get lost in the shuffle?

[hoffdano]

I have been involved in school funding and bond issues as a citizen for a number of years. And I am a parent of three, just recently the last has graduated from high school.

Our school district has been growing rapidly for some time and faced the decision a few years ago of whether to expand the existing high school or to add another.

There are lots and lots of opinions on this and very few facts. I'll list a few of both, based on both research and conversations with educators (teachers and administrator), parents, and finance types.

1. larger schools are cheaper to operate than multiple smaller schools. This is simply an issue of economy of scale. Land, buildings, maintenance staff, transportation, etc.

2. there appears to be some correlation where smaller high schools have less violence, but it is not definitive and highly sensitive to the demographics of the student body. In spite of incidents like Columbine, schools are safer today than they were 20, 30, or 50 years ago. The internet makes it too easy for bad news to spread instantly.

3. many educators prefer smaller campuses; fewer students to get to know, a more personal relationship, etc.

4. smaller schools tend to have less course selection. A high school with 500 students might never have enough kids that want to take Latin so they can't afford to have a Latin class with ten kids in it.

5. very large schools have just one club, sports team, etc. of each type. Your child might never get to participate in some of these sports (especially) if they aren't really good. Two 1500 student high schools have two soccer teams while a 3000 student high school has only one.

6. 1500 is not a large high school by national standards. 3000 and up might be large. Some areas have high schools with 4000 or more kids.

My own preference is for medium-large (1500-2500 students) high schools. Enough size to offer a full variety of classes, yet not so large that kids are disconnected from their teachers and feel lost.

[smokingGun]

It really all depends on your child. If your kid is very bright & self-motivated and in the top 1% of his/her class, it really doesn't matter because s/he will end up at a top-tier college with scholarships no matter what kind or size of hs. The cream will always rise to the top. But if yours is just above-average or middling choose one with a safe/wholesome/Christian environment with lots of nerdy students. I know plenty of ppl who've become successful researchers/doctors/lawyers who were strictly average academically and given the wrong crowd in high school may have strayed into drugs or just slacking, slaving away at a regular office or sales job today. When you surround yourself with highly motivated kids it pushes you to reach further & plan ahead, whether it's SAT prep or college choices or internships. You aren't just satisfied working for minimum wage at the GAP when other ppl are conducting research experiments in local college test labs or shadowing district attorney's.

[ovcatto]

I went to one high school with 700 students and one with a student body of 2600. One was a parochial prep school and the other, public. Ironically the class sizes at the larger public school were smaller and more specialized. So what can be taken from the disparate experiences, not much. My personal experience, number of friends was about the same both prepared me for college which as strange as it may sound mirrored both high school experiences. The university that I attended had a student body of 16,000 students but the college in that university had a student body of 700 plus. There were classes at the University that had 1,800 students and classes within my college with as few as 15. So now that I think about it, I don't think that I'm adding anything of importance to the thread. Oh well.

[Sean-a-thin]

I went to a HS with a little under 400 students and I loved it.

Small class sizes, everyone knows everybody, just a great time.

Downside would be lack of variety in clubs and classes due to small turnouts.
Ex. I was a member of the last French class, after my class, the only language option was Spanish because too few people were interested in French.


My cousin went to a HUGE city school with like 800 people per grade, he said even during his senior year he was still noticing people that he had never seen before. That is just soooo weird to me, lol. The larger schools seem to be more cliquey as well. People find their group that suits them, then they never seem to venture out of it.


The neat thing was all the different clubs they had, not to mention a team for like every sport you can think of.

They had a LGBT club, Ballerina club, film club, even like a fricken Wicca Pagan thing club, lol. Stuff that you simply won't see at small schools.

[uptown_urbanist]

How is the big school set up? My school had about 1,200 students (I think), but there were several different programs within the school. The majority of my core classes drew from the same group of about 100 or so students, which was a small enough group that you all knew each other. Some of the other classes (health, PE, some electives) drew from a larger student body, which was actually kind of nice because it provided a little variety. I never felt lost in the crowd, and felt that the teachers knew all the kids. It felt big enough not to be stifling, small enough that it still felt nurturing. You may want to look into how your potential big school is structured and see if it's a similar scenario, either informally or formally. One potential negative: in many cases, I think this kind of "school within a school" is essentially tracking. I was in with the college-bound, AP/IB crowd, and had a great experience, but I don't know how the school experience was for kids who were mostly in the regular classes. I would imagine there's a bit more danger to getting stuck in a rut, which is probably fine if you enter ninth grade as a motivated student, but could be a problem if your child has an off year or semester in ninth grade. Big schools offer more course variety, but you'll want to make sure that they offer adequate mobility to take full advantage of their offerings.

I think much also has to do with both the individual student as well as the culture of the school itself.

[Momma_bear]

It is very difficult to choose a school for a high school student when the student is still very young. Academics matter, but only if the differences in academics will matter to your child. The school's academic strengths have to match your child's or they are not really strengths. If academics are equal then you move to the next level.

I think the best way to choose is to look at a child's specific strengths, needs and wants. If you have a child who excels at sports you may want a school with a well developed program in the child's sport. If you have a child who likes sports, but does not excel you might make the choice that allows the child to participate regardless of whether the team excels. The same goes for drama, music and art, debate. If your child is a standout you might be looking for a top program. If your child just likes to do the activity you would look for a place where your child will be able to participate. Often average kids do not get a chance to participate in schools with top programs.

Even though smaller schools do not always have the same number of programs as larger schools they may have very well developed programs in certain areas. The best way to choose is to look at the child and make a choice with respect to that child.

It is impossible to know exactly what your children will want when they are in high school. However, I would try to make an educated guess as to what their interests might be and match the high school to those interests.

[redwolf fan]

I attended a school that had 42 kids in the graduating class

All my children graduated from a school that had 35 per graduating class( different school)

I am glad my grandkids all go to much bigger schools as they will have many more options on class options and on activity options that their parents and grandparents never had

[HappyTexan]

The larger a school gets the less sense of community it has.

Just like living in a small town vs a big city.

[greenvillebuckeye]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

I have been involved in school funding and bond issues as a citizen for a number of years. And I am a parent of three, just recently the last has graduated from high school.

Our school district has been growing rapidly for some time and faced the decision a few years ago of whether to expand the existing high school or to add another.

There are lots and lots of opinions on this and very few facts. I'll list a few of both, based on both research and conversations with educators (teachers and administrator), parents, and finance types.

1. larger schools are cheaper to operate than multiple smaller schools. This is simply an issue of economy of scale. Land, buildings, maintenance staff, transportation, etc.

2. there appears to be some correlation where smaller high schools have less violence, but it is not definitive and highly sensitive to the demographics of the student body. In spite of incidents like Columbine, schools are safer today than they were 20, 30, or 50 years ago. The internet makes it too easy for bad news to spread instantly.

3. many educators prefer smaller campuses; fewer students to get to know, a more personal relationship, etc.

4. smaller schools tend to have less course selection. A high school with 500 students might never have enough kids that want to take Latin so they can't afford to have a Latin class with ten kids in it.

5. very large schools have just one club, sports team, etc. of each type. Your child might never get to participate in some of these sports (especially) if they aren't really good. Two 1500 student high schools have two soccer teams while a 3000 student high school has only one.

6. 1500 is not a large high school by national standards. 3000 and up might be large. Some areas have high schools with 4000 or more kids.

My own preference is for medium-large (1500-2500 students) high schools. Enough size to offer a full variety of classes, yet not so large that kids are disconnected from their teachers and feel lost.

Very well thought out and presented. 10 years ago Dublin City and Hilliard City (2 suburban school district outside Columbus, Ohio) went about expanding their districts from 1 high school in the early 90s to a second by mid decade and then in both cases a 3rd by the turn of the century. (quick growth yes i know haha). all 3 buildings were designed to never incorporate more than 1,500 kids. According to the Dublin super at the time this was done due to research claiming than anything above 1,500 kids is too much. Something about 1,500 being the optimal number for maximizing a school's finances, operations, staff, etc......