All the schools in the Chicago study had outside partners that supported the school. The central administration also needs to support the creation of small schools. Small schools succeed only when teachers and administrators have enough time to plan the vision and mission of the school. They must act as a unified team to build the school's structure, rules, and consequences for parents and students. School systems must supply ongoing staff development to help teachers identify and use best practices.
Schools do better if they rely on data rather than educational trends.
Being small isn't enough to improve student achievement. Small schools are a key ingredient, not a panacea for improvement. Understand that small schools are fragile and need commitment from staff members to hang in there when times get tough. One way of creating smaller schools is redesigning large schools to house schools within schools, Wasley said. I think we are going to have to have some of these great big buildings refitted for a bunch of small schools.