INDIANAPOLIS – Academic performance in the state’s smallest schools — where a fifth of Hoosier students are enrolled — significantly lags behind larger schools, according to new research.
The analysis lends support to a push to consolidate at least some of the state’s rural schools and increase district sizes, despite criticism by local and statewide policymakers.
A recent Ball State University’s Center for Business and Economic Research report shows that students enrolled in school districts with less than 2,000 students scored lower on state-standardized exams and lacked the same amount of access to high-level courses.
The findings also indicated lower college enrollment rates at smaller schools.
Those school districts additionally are getting smaller, exacerbating the challenges facing their students, researchers said.
The study was commissioned by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and follows up on a similar one done in 2017. The Chamber’s recently released Indiana Prosperity 2035 plan calls for a reduction “by half the number of very small school districts with enrollments below 2,000 students.”
President/CEO of the Indiana Chamber Kevin Brinegar said, “When an entire K-12 school district is very small, the research clearly shows a significant negative difference in student learning, course offerings, and post-graduation educational opportunities. It’s an uncomfortable reality and problem. We are not only hurting these kids and their economic prosperity, but also small communities and our state’s future.”
The smaller districts constitute 56% of Indiana’s 290 school districts and are mostly concentrated in small communities.
About 20% of the state’s K-12 students are enrolled in districts of less than 2,000 students and almost 5% of Hoosier kids are in a school district with less than 1,000 students.
According to Indiana Department of Education data, Indiana’s smallest school corporation, Medora Community School Corporation in Jackson County, had a K-12 enrollment of 144 students during the 2021-22 school year. The largest K-12 corporation, Fort Wayne Community Schools, had more than 27,800 students.
View the complete Indiana Captial Chronicle story by Casey Smith, here.
