School Size, Characteristics, and Outcomes

Abstract

To investigate school size effects for secondary schools, 18 school outcomes, including the average scores on state-developed and college attendance school characteristics, low-income families; school size and number of schools within each district; and teacher characteristics for 293 public secondary schools in New Jersey were regressed on 23 school characteristics including district tests, student retention, suspensions, socioeconomic status and percentages of students from low-income families; school size and number of schools within each district; and teacher characteristics encompassing salaries, degree status and years of experience. District socioeconomic status and the percentage of studetns from low-income families in the school were influential and consistent factors related to school outcomes. School size was the next most consistent and was negatively related to outcomes. This finding corroborates research conducted primarily on public elementary districts and smaller schools, regardless efficient at enhancing educational outcomes