Researchers believe that teenagers who feel "connected" at school are less likely to be violent or suicidal, to abuse drugs or to get pregnant. A major study released last week tried to identify features of schools where teenagers are likely to feel connected. Their conclusion: class size and teachers' experience and degrees have no bearing on school connectedness, but school size and what the analysts call "classroom management" do. In smaller schools, and those in whose classrooms students get along with each other, pay attention, and hand in assignments on time, teenagers report stronger feelings of connectedness. (Of course, this last variable may be picking up much more than the teacher's classroom management skills.) The study relied on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which includes written surveys filled out by 75,000 students.
In articles about the new research, some reporters alluded to studies that have linked school size to academic achievement, but that connection is not well understood or documented. A new study by two professors at Teachers College has found that many of New York City's small high schools teach "a diluted version of social studies that does not adequately prepare students for citizenship's demands." While the small high schools do have a more caring atmosphere, their handling of social studies has been hurt by a "less is more" curriculum philosophy, in which teachers focus on big themes that they deem relevant to minority students (e.g. slavery and civil rights) and skip important events in history like the American Revolution. New York Times reporter Anemona Hartocollis notes that the study comes at a time when many of the small schools are also fighting the state's requirement that they administer Regents exams in history and other subjects, arguing that these exams are too sweeping and fact-based.
"Classroom Management-but not Class Size or Teacher Experience-Linked to Lower Levels of Teen Alienation from School," Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, University of Minnesota, April 11, 2002 (press release)
"Connectedness Called Key to Student Behavior," by Michael Fletcher, The Washington Post, April 12, 2002
"Study Faults Small Schools on Social Studies," by Anemona Hartocollis, The New York Times, April 10, 2002