Agenda - 03-11-1985 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I g�sit�4ixe „actors One of the variables in the debate about what makes a good school and produces quality education is the size of the abhool and school district* Certainlyg as our three communities xitnessss declining school enrollments, we wonder how important this issue of size and organizational structure is to our unique situation. As was stressed in the Great Plains School District Organisation Project* "Suer in and of itself# will not provide quality educa- tion.eeSize becomes significant when related to the tasks for which numbers are important to meet educational objectives ad*- quately# efficiently and economically." over the past fifty yearsg much research has been done on the question of optimum size. There is a wide range of suggestions, with various definitions -of large and emalle and encompassing many different kinds of communitiese � In terns of much of the research done on this subject# our three school districts taken separately can be classified as small or : medium sired. Although a consolidation of any kind would obvious- ly bring larger schools and a larger school district# the combined student population would still not fit the description of large used in many studiese (See graphs on page 9. ) literature generally favors the elementary The professional g school with 200 to 800 students=our three elementary schools all fall within this range. 'Very little research on optimum size for i n middle schools has been done. Tn'the fiv e studies went on ed i - Sutem r 1�ese rch on Size of Schools and Sch DI--- .cts 600 to 800 was the range of students recommended for the middle •schoole� Discussion here will concentrate on the hi.gh, sehool level ss this area affects us most immediately and is the subject of most stud- ies. The factors often related to high school size that are role vant to our villages are curriculum efferingse• staff utilization# . . extra-curricular activities# student a�ievementtand relationships such as student-teacher relationships* In looking at the issue of 'size and quality education on the high school ievei, we wi11 first consider curriMJ= ipffe . It is generally agreed that the larger high schools suffer a richer curriculum. There is more variety and depth in course offerings in the basic academic fields as well as in the elective Be In a larger school there ig also the possibility of more variety in teaching .. aethods and learning envirorsmontse Along with a greater flexibility