Small schools foster personalized learning environments where all students are known well. In small schools, students develop sustained relationships with teachers and other caring adults.
Teachers adapt their instruction to meet the needs of individual students. Advisories and student learning plans are two effective and creative tools being used to personalize small schools.
Below are publications that describe the benefits of personalization in small schools:
This report, from the Rural School and Community Trust, identifies ten research-based attributes of small schools that are proven to have an impact on students and their learning. One of these attributes is personalization. The author found that small schools foster close relationships that not only help students feel connected to the school, but also lead to increased student learning.
Mary Beth Lambert and Louise K. Lowry with Mike Copland, Chrysan Gallucci, and Catherine A. Wallach, 2004
This report includes observations from the first year of a three-year study of seven small high schools in Washington State. It discusses the results schools are beginning to see from knowing students and their learning needs more deeply. Progress to date includes teachers recognizing the need for personalization, designing structures to support personalization, perceiving (along with students) positive differences in relationships, and beginning to talk about and implement changed instructional practices to meet the needs of individual learners.
Tom Vander Ark and Tony Wagner, Education Week, June 21, 2000
This commentary describes high schools that work—small high schools designed around relationships—relationships between students and their work, relationships between the students and teachers, and relationships among the adults in the school.
