Smaller, Safer, Saner Successful Schools. - National Clearinghouse ...

Summary of Researchon Small Schools and Shared FacilitiesSchool buildings are getting moreattention and they should. Aschool’s size and the groups withwhom a school shares space canmake an enormous difference for students,families and the broader community.Whether located in an urban,suburban, or rural area, small schoolsare safer and, in general, students insmall schools learn more. Moreover,school buildings that share spacewith other organizations can provideyoungsters with a better educationand use taxes more efficiently. Theseare some of the key lessons peoplethroughout the United States arelearning. This report shares their stories.Given the enormous sums of moneybeing spent on schoolconstruction, this is a critical time todiscuss how the money will be spentand what type of buildings will beconstructed. Public school districtsare spending billions of dollars onschool construction. A survey ofabout 16 thousand public school districtsfound that they spent about $23billion in 2005, and $25.3 billion in2006. An estimated $51 billion will bespent between 2007 and 2009.Meanwhile, colleges and universitiesspent more than $11 billion in 2006.Estimated higher education institutionspending will be more than $45 billion2007-2009 (Agron, 2007).Moreover, these figures do not includeconstruction expenditure forthe more than 4000 chartered publicschools in the U.S., some of which areconstructing new buildings (Agron,2007b)Imagine a small, inner city publicsecondary school deeply interestedin the best ideas of Asian andAmerican education that starts everyclass with teachers and studentsbowing to each other, praising eachother for their efforts. The school beginsevery day with a 20-minute assembly,during which students are rewardedfor persistence. This publicschool produces students who haveamong the state’s highest test scores,even though this inner city school isopen to all.Imagine a rural secondary schoolthat begins the school year with anindividual family-student-teacherconference, asks students to make8a8