In August of 2014, a journalist from Saegyoyuk, the educational magazine in Korea, contracted Stuart Grauer for a feature interview on the topic of Small Schools. Saegyoyuk is published by Korean Federation of Teachers’ Associations, the largest coalition of teachers nationwide. Below is the transcription of the interview.
1. What caused you to start the small school movement?
For over 100 years, schools have consistently gotten bigger: bigger schools, bigger classes, and bigger districts. Working in seven schools and accrediting schools for many years, I started noticing that the students and teachers were happier in the small school than other schools, and so I began researching. The more I learned, the more alerted I became: there is almost no research to back up the efficacy of larger schools, and yet billions of US dollars are spent to develop them every year.
2. What are the merits or advantages of small schools?
A small school is a real community. Small schools are not “less” by virtue of their size: they are more. We have now been formally been researching small schools for 4 years, consistently. What we have found is clear and unequivocal regarding: safety, achievement, connectedness, dropping out and happiness. Small schools are safer physically. There is almost no violence, but also students “feel” safer and less threat. Small school students show higher standardized test scores. Teachers do not quit as often—they stay in the profession. Teachers, students and parents all feel more connected in and across groups.
3. Some say that the success of the school is up to the teacher competency, not the size of it. They don’t agree with the insistence that small schools achieve good results in terms of educational effectiveness. What do you think of this opinion?
First we have to look at school and organization size and secondly, we must examine class size.
Since there are few small schools, the Small Schools Coalition studies organizations of all kinds. There is a great deal of research on the dynamics of small organizations and groups. We now know that in groups of around 150 (we’ve found up to 230 or so, but not more), people are more connected to one another. They are tribe-like. There are relatively few cliques—there is a sense of inclusiveness. One of the worst problems we have found in small schools research is that districts have created schools of over 400 students and not found them to be significantly different. Then, they declare that “small schools don’t work.” The problem is that once you are over 230 students, and most definitely once you reach 400 students, the small school advantages drop off. At 400, it is not a small school. We have found that you can preserve many of the advantages up to this size, however.
Of course, teacher competency is not only determined by school size, it is determined by class size. We know from research that small schools tend to have smaller classes. The research that we have found on class size is terrible. Typically, a district will reduce class size from 35 to 25 and it won’t work. So, they declare that “small classes don’t work.” This is ridiculous! This is why I have stated: Don’t throw out a great theory because of poor implementation. Class size reduction always brings significant change if you are under 15 students in class.
4. Some point out that the students from small schools are not motivated enough to study and show low performance on sociability development. What do you think about it?
There is absolutely no research anywhere which points to this. A high performance environment is high-trust and low-threat. Without question, the sense of safety and connectedness characteristic in small schools is a great motivator for students and teachers. Motivation is a function of quality of relationships students develop at school. In small schools, students and teachers spend much more time developing those relationships. They feel personally responsible and committed to one another. Small school students are accountable, connected, and motivated.
5. Teachers from small schools have even more works to deal with compared to those who work at bigger schools. What do you think of it? And how do you cope with this issue in the Grauer School?
Teaching is one of the hardest jobs in the world. People routinely underestimate the complexity of the job. It is true that small school teachers might have more “Preps”—they might have 3 different courses to teacher rather than one or two. However, it is much easier to assess your students in a small school because of the closer relationships teachers can form with students. The quality of life at a small school is preferable because of the close relationships we develop. At The Grauer School, we have 35 fulltime teachers and not a single one of them left over the past year. Our faculty just voted The Grauer School “one of the top 10 places in the country to work” in an anonymous, nationwide survey. People don’t mind hard work if they feel they are making a real difference and it is leading them to a high quality of life. Our teachers and administrators have close, caring relationships and that more than makes up for the additional “preps.”
6. Do you think school management should be different depending on where the small schools are located: in big cities or rural places? If you think they should be treated differently, what would be the differences?
I am not aware of management differences from city to country. Obviously, cities have to deal with more people, more crowds. For this reason, it has traditionally been more of a temptation to create larger, more comprehensive schools in cities. Naturally, some small or large schools have longer distances to travel, creating transportation challenges. Either way, it’s all about building a real community.
7. Korean government carries forward the merger and shutdown of small schools to save the national expenditure on operating and personnel expenses. What would be the breakthrough to this financial issue?
This is going to be a long answer, because it is extremely important:
Shutting down small schools does not save money unless you leave out the following questions: What is the cost of retraining new teachers who leave the profession? What is the cost of higher drop-out rates? What is the cost of increased depression, suicide, violence, and gangs. There is absolutely no question that all these are game-changing issues that make small school costs more attractive.
Our reviews of the scholarly research indicate that larger schools with enrollments in excess of 1,200 have not produced expected economies of scale that result in better results for less money when compared to true small schools. Comparing small schools (less than 300) with big schools (1,000 or more), research reveals that big schools have:
· 825 percent more violent crime
· 270 percent more vandalism
· 378 percent more theft and larceny
· 394 percent more physical fights or attacks
· 3,200 percent more robberies
· 1,000 percent more weapons incidents
(Source: U.S. Department of Education, 1999)
The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future has developed a “Teacher Turnover Cost Calculator” so that districts can compute the added costs of replacing teachers who leave the profession—far more large school teachers leave the profession than small schools teachers.
If the high school students who dropped out of the class of 2011 had graduated, the United States economy would likely have benefitted from nearly $154 billion in additional income over the course of their lifetimes, (Alliance for Excellent Education). Over a lifetime, a high school dropout will earn $200,000 less than a high school graduate and almost $1 million less than a college graduate.
Researchers at New York University’s Institute for Education and Social Policy examined 128 high schools using school-by-school budget information for 1995-96. They found that schools with fewer than 600 students spent $7,628 per student annually, $1,410 more than was spent by schools with more than 2,000 students. The cost per graduate, however, at the small schools was $49,553, slightly lower than the per-graduate cost of $49,578 at larger schools. This is because dropout rates at the small schools were much lower—64 percent of small-school students graduated in four years compared with 51-56 percent of the students in large schools with 1,200-2,000 or more students. (Stiefel, L., et. Al)
And finally, Smaller schools provide benefits of reduced discipline problems and crime, reduced truancy and gang participation, reduced dropout rates, improved teacher and student attitudes, improved student self-perception, student academic achievement equal to or superior to that of students at larger schools, and increased parental involvement.
The only way to have an economy of scale in education is to not have kids!
8. The number of small schools in Korea is increasing rapidly because the population of students decreases. It is said that schools need some strategies for their own to attract students to enroll in. What advice would you give to teachers and principals?
The most effective small schools seem to have themes. If each small school offers a theme such as high-technology, the arts, sports, vocational education, etc, then the school becomes like a magnet to many people. Large schools try to be all things to all people. I tell principals and school designers: if you try to be all things to all people, you cannot succeed. What great corporation operates like that!!! Each school can be unique and engage the local community.
9. In the case of Japanese education policy, there are schools which have ‘the only student’ or are closed for a while when there are no students. What do you think about this system or policy?
I am not familiar with this issue.
10. Students from the Grauer School show higher performance on advancing to the universities. What are the keys to improve the academic ability?
There are three keys to high performance: relationships, relationships, and relationships. Our students get into 89% of all universities they apply to. They average over $300,000 each in unsolicited merit scholarship offers—this is data that most people would not even think is possible. Every graduate of ours will tell you the same reason: great, trusting relationships with teachers. Our students learn the most important thing of all: the reason to study is not to get into a university. We learn because it is a beautiful thing to do, it gives us choices in life, and it enables us to engage in meaningful relationships. Who cares about the name of the university!
11. What is the education system the Grauer School introducing as a small school? Could you tell Korean teachers the distinctive policies or systems which only small schools can adopt?
Small schools teachers can know their students better, so there is mentoring going on. The lines between student and teacher break down more than in large schools. With this trust, we can try more things in the classroom. For instance, there are chances to go outdoors with the students, maybe travel places together. We can get out of the “race.” If a lab is not working well, we can focus on the negative experiment rather than the prescribed finish. We can allow for deeper discussions. Most important, we can be curious about our students. The Socratic Method was introduced 3000 years ago and it is still unsurpassed in developing intrinsic motivation among our students.
In addition to all this, small schools can tell their teachers that they will be evaluated not just on the test scores of their students, but on how much they and their students are team players. Maybe you think these things are hard to evaluate, but does that mean we should ignore them?
12. Are there any special aspects in operating the curriculum from the Grauer School?
The small school curriculum is not much different. What is mostly different is the methodologies teachers use. At The Grauer School, our motto is “Learn by Discovery.” We can listen more. We can work on empathy and creativity—these two qualities are in grave risk in a new era pushing technology and mass produced, online learning at all cost.
13. What advice would you give to parents who are wondering if they let their kid go to a small school or not?
Parents today often parent out of fear. They think that their child has to pass all the tests and score high or they will have no future. They put their fears in front of their child’s happiness. Here is what I have to ask parents: Why is your child sleep-deprived and what is the long-range impact of that? Do you really want a “standardized child?” Why are you so afraid that your child might find his own, personal passion that is not on the test?
Parents: I know you say that you prefer your child to be helpful, kind and a good team member, but your kids don’t believe it.
Parents cannot hide their true feelings from kids. Why are parents today so fearful?
14. Please make any comments if you have any other advices to teachers, principals, and policy makers in Korea.
You do not need to close large, comprehensive schools. All you need to do is break up the large schools into units of 200 or 300 students each. Give each unit it’s own theme and its own graduation requirements. If your school has three floors, make each floor a “school within a school.” Smaller learning communities, even if they are just parts of larger learning communities are safer, more connected, more entrepreneurial, and happier.
Check the Small Schools Coalition (SSC) website for excellent data. I am available for consulting with schools districts and corporations and am easy to reach through the Small Schools Coalition. My book, Real Teachers, is an entertaining and extremely eye-opening picture of what the teacher-student relationship can look like.
Stuart Grauer is a teacher, founding head of The Grauer School in Encinitas, Calif., and founder of the Small Schools Coalition. He accredits and consults for schools worldwide. He is the author of “Real Teachers” and is launching his newest book, “Fearless Teaching: Collected Stories” through Aero Press in November 2015. Visitwww.fearlessteaching.com for more information his newest book.
