No matter how you look at it, student achievement in small schools is at least equal, and often superior, to student achievement in large schools. This includes such things as grades, test scores, honor roll, subject area achievement and higher-order thinking skills. Size of graduating class makes no difference in college GPA or the likelihood of graduating with a degree. Further, student attitudes in small schools are more positive. Students in small schools have higher attendance rates, are less likely to drop out, and express a much greater sense of belonging than do their counterparts in larger schools.
Small schools have fewer incidents of negative social behavior.
Part of the explanation for this is that students who engage in extracurricular activities tend to behave better and student participation in such activities is significantly higher in small schools than in large ones. These benefits are not limited to small rural schools. They cut across settings. Certainly larger schools can, and do, offer more varied activities than small ones, but the average student in a large school does not take advantage of these opportunities. The research reveals several answers.