Abstract

LEE, Valerie E.  and  SMITH, Julia B.. Tamanho da escola: qual é o mais efetivo e para quem?. Est. Aval. Educ. [online]. 2002, n.25, pp.77-122. ISSN 0103-6831.

The study described in this article investigates the relationship between high school size and student learning. We used three waves of data from NELS:88 and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) methods to examine how students achievement growth in two subjects (reading and mathematics) over the high school years is influenced by the size of the high school they attend. Three research questions guided the study: (a) Which size school is most effective for students’ learning? (b) In which size high school is learning most equitably distributed?, and (c) Are size effects consistent across high schools defined by their social compositions? Results suggest that the ideal high schools, defined in terms of effectiveness (i.e., learning), enrolls between 600 and 900 students. In schools smaller than this, students learn less; those in large high scholls (sepecially over 2100) learn considerably less. Learning is more equitable in very small schools, with equity defined by the relationship between learning and student socioeconomic status (SES). An important findind from the study is that the influence of school size on learning is different is schools that enroll students of varying SES and in schools with differing proportions of minorities. Enrollment size has a stronger effect on learning in schools with lower SES students and also in schools with high concentrations of minority students. Implications for educational policy are discussed.

Keywords : High School Size and Learning; Hierarchical Linear Modeling; Achievement In Reading And Mathematics; Social Composition; Socioeconomic Status.

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