Description

In recent years, smaller learning community high
schools have emerged as an answer to the disparity
in academic achievement between ethnicities of
students in large high schools. Smaller learning
community high schools are usually implemented
within large high schools through federal or state
grants that are allocated to divide the large high
schools into smaller, more personalized learning
environments. This study compared 12 smaller
learning community high schools with 12 traditional
high schools and examined student academic
achievement at both schools. Small schools generally
outperform large schools on numerous academic
performance indicators, however; this analysis
revealed that there were no significant differences
in student performance between smaller learning
community high schools and traditional high schools.
Math and English assessment scores were utilized and
disaggregated by ethincity to examine student
performance for all students. This study did reveal
and confirm the achievement gap that still exists
between Caucasian students and their minority
peers.