FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 4, 2000
CONTACTS: Kathy Westra, (703) 243-1487

Montana's Small Schools and Districts Counter Poverty's Harmful Effects on Student Achievement
New Research Points to Benefits of Smaller Schools for Poorer Communities

Washington, DC, February 4 -- New research released today shows that Montana's smaller schools and school districts reduce the harmful effects of poverty on student achievement. The research results, which reflect data from nearly all of Montana's urban, suburban, and rural public schools, were released by the Rural School and Community Trust, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving rural schools and strengthening the relationship between schools and the communities they serve.

Poverty is generally understood to have a negative effect on student achievement. Researchers Craig Howley of Ohio University and Robert Bickel of Marshall University sought to discover whether smaller schools can weaken this relationship. The clear conclusion is that they can.

The researchers analyzed the test scores for grades 4, 8, and 11 in 889 schools in 457 districts -- nearly all the schools in the state. The poverty level in the schools was measured by the percentage of students in the school district who receive free or reduced-price lunches. The researchers did not compare school performance based on absolute definitions of "small" and "large," but rather on relative size: how relatively smaller schools perform compared to relatively larger ones.

Howley and Bickel also calculated the proportion of the variance in test scores that can be explained by the level of the poverty in the communities served by schools. This statistic -- called "poverty's power rating" -- was calculated for larger and for smaller schools (those above and below the median size). They found that:

• Smaller schools significantly reduce poverty's power to dampen student achievement in two of the three grades in which tests are given.
• Overall, academic achievement scores in Montana's smaller schools was as high or higher than in larger schools for all grades, despite the fact that the poverty level in the smaller schools averaged between 15 and 52 percent higher.

The researchers concluded that Montana has derived "substantial benefits" from its historic decision to maintain small schools and districts. "This study reveals that Montana's commitment to small schools has worked well to cultivate academic excellence in its least affluent communities," said Marty Strange, the director of the Rural School and Community Trust's policy program. "If improving student scores on standardized tests is a policy goal, Montana's policy-makers should continue to support smaller schools and should resist school consolidation, especially in less affluent communities. Consolidation of smaller schools would likely produce lower achievement scores."

The Rural School and Community Trust (Rural Trust) is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to enlarging student learning and improving community life by strengthening relationships between rural schools and communities and engaging students in community-based public work. Through advocacy, research, and outreach, the Rural Trust strives to create a more favorable policy environment for rural community perspectives on schooling, for student work with a public audience and use, and for more active community participation in schooling. Founded as the Annenberg Rural Challenge in 1995, the Rural Trust today works with more than 700 rural elementary and secondary schools in 33 states.

Note to editors: A more complete summary of the research findings is available upon request, or can be downloaded from our website. The full research report also is available.