Sizing Up School Choice. The Blum Center from Parental Freedom in Education. Aside from the fact that there is such proof, and ample practical experience, this might carry more weight if they would first apply this standard to the present system. Few activities in schools, government or independent, are based upon research, and the older they are the less evidence there is that they are justified. Worse yet, much schooling directly contradicts research findings.
Some large schools have a long history.
Santa Monica, California high school was reported to have 8,000 students as far back as 1961. Generally, consolidation of schools, and school districts, has taken place in the past 40 years, since the appearance in 1959 of James B. Conant's The American High School Today , in which he said schools should be bigger. He didn't specify how big, but he suggested high schools have graduating classes of about 100. A school should be small enough that students are not redundant. A Minnesota study a generation ago concluded that the most economical high schools were those with 38-175 seniors which, again, averages out to about 400 students in a four year school.