The California research, however, had the virtue of demonstrating that this disadvantage was exaggerated as school size increased. Each time Bickel and Howley conducted another study, the results were very similar. Howley and Bickel did not base their findings on a definition of what constitutes a large or small school but looked at school size on a continuum. They found that poor students from relatively smaller schools outperform poor students from larger schools. Dropout rates are significantly lower.
Students have higher grade-point averages.
Students have better attendance records. Fewer students fail courses. Fewer students are retained at the elementary level. Students achieve higher standardized test scores in reading. In Georgia, achievement scores in schools serving children from poorer communities fell on 27 of 29 test scores as the school size increased.