Decades of research shows us that students thrive in small-group environments, where their teachers know them and have the resources to support their individual needs. Smaller schools have historically delivered this kind of learning model, driving continual improvements in student experiences and outcomes—particularly for students of color, students living in poverty, and students with high needs.

A projected 6% decline in public school enrollment by 2030, however, is leaving many leaders questioning the financial viability of the small schools in their districts. These increasing resource challenges are putting a difficult question on the table: Do we need to close schools? 

In many districts, however, enrollment decline means that schools have become small and were not designed to be small. And so, while school closures can save money, district leaders have an opportunity to balance school consolidation with the optimization of small schools through intentional design: an approach that can result in more sustainable schooling models and more equitable student experiences. 

The Small School Conundrum 

It’s virtually undeniable that small schools can deliver significant benefits to teacher and student experiences. New York City’s small schools for choice program—designed specifically to serve the most disadvantaged and underserved students—increased teacher empowerment, personalized learning, and teacher/student respect, ultimately contributing to higher graduation rates. In Chicago, small schools fostered more collegial teaching collaboration and more personally supportive learning environments. Texas’ small schools proved to be safer for students, with significantly fewer incidents of fights occurring. 

Too often, small schools are formed by default, not by design. But in New York, Chicago, Texas, and other areas, leaders were able to make small schools work by strategically designing them and investing in personalized learning, targeted interventions, and teachers’ professional learning. This intentional design created the foundation for financial viability and significant learning benefits.

Despite their proven benefits, however, small schools also present unique and difficult district-level challenges. When districts experience sustained periods of enrollment decline, it’s increasingly hard to support the schools that are too small to operate through traditional staffing and scheduling models. 

These difficulties arise largely because of the resource challenges small schools pose, including: 

• Service delivery constraints. Though cost alone is often a driver when it comes to rethinking small schools, the biggest challenge comes from the resource constraints that make it difficult to give students an effective and enriching education. Leaders of small schools often face challenges managing class sizes, creating opportunities for teacher collaboration, and offering a breadth of enrichment—all things that contribute to a high-quality educational experience. 
• Inequitable student experiences. We often see that students who are Black or are living in poverty are disproportionately enrolled in smaller schools with these (and other) resource constraints, particularly in urban districts. 
• Higher per-pupil costs. Our ongoing analysis from more than 10k school districts nationally finds that, on average, small schools cost 20-30% more to operate on a per-pupil basis. For districts with large proportions of small schools, this cost represents a significant financial investment and can often lead to wide funding disparities, even for schools serving students with similar levels of need.  

In some cases, these resource challenges make school closures unavoidable. But research has shown that closures often negatively impact students’ learning, mental health, and psychosocial development and exacerbate the underrepresentation of Black teachers in the teaching force. 

By balancing necessary school consolidations with strategic school redesign, district leaders can optimize the small schools in their districts to ensure they work for students, staff, and the district budget. 

Making Small Schools Work 

Small schools offer opportunities for fostering individualized learning for students and creating structures that deepen student and adult relationships. But enabling these experiences and realizing these benefits requires leaders to organize small schools in fundamentally different ways than they traditionally have. 

Leaders should consider making the following resource shifts, which—when done well—have the potential to reduce costs and, more importantly, improve student supports and experiences. 

Group Students and Educators More Flexibly 

The traditional one-teacher-one-classroom model doesn’t allow for the flexibility that small schools require. By shifting from this model to a multiclassroom cohort model, district and school leaders can create individualized learning opportunities at the right moments. 

For example, a school might adopt a multigrade classroom model in which a team of educators, including a special education teacher, group and regroup students throughout the school day. In this model, all students receive small-group learning experiences from a variety of teamed teachers, students with high needs get personalized instruction tailored to their needs, and educators have more flexible schedules that allow for teacher collaboration and planning. 

Leverage Technology and Outside Provider Partnerships 

While small schools might not inherently have the teaching staff to support a wide breadth of course offerings, leaders can rely on a range of external and virtual learning opportunities to enable these experiences.  

School leaders can partner with a virtual learning provider, a local university, or tutors, for example, to offer advanced elective courses or credit-bearing internships that don’t require a dedicated teacher. This kind of flexibility enables small schools to provide a wide breadth of coursework options without putting extra strain on teachers or adding more time onto the school-day schedule.  

Since students of color and students living in poverty often lack access to advanced coursework and are disproportionately impacted by the small-school resource constraints, leveraging virtual or outside learning partners can help create more equitable student experiences.