Given the widening achievement gap between whites and students of color in US schools, Small Learning Communities have emerged as a reform measure claimed to boost achievement in general and among racial minorities. This article examines this claim by reviewing the major policy documents and literature on SLC and analyzing SLC using Frank's (1972) policy assessment criteria. The SLC program was found to be theoretically grounded in social capital theory, to be feasible politically and financially given strong federal and private foundations' support, and to have strong ethical merit given its aims of raising achievement, closing the racial achievement gap and personalizing learning. Analysis of multiple standardized data sets on 193 SLC schools showed that despite modest achievement gains, the racial gap was found to still be wide, although SLC schools located in large cities where students of color predominated made consistent gains, and Hispanic students showed significant yearly gains. Implications for research and policy are reviewed.
Allen, L., Almeida, C. & Steinberg, A. (2001) Implementing small learning communities in five Boston high schools. Online: http://www.alliance.brown.edu/pubs/LABWorkPaper/Wall2Wall.pdf, [accessed 11 May 2006].
2.
Blau, P. (1977) A macrosociological theory of social structure . The American Journal of Sociology, 83, 26—54.
3.
Bourdieu, P. (1986/2002) The forms of capital. In A. H. Halsey, H. Lauder, P. Brown & A. S. Wells (eds) Education: Culture, Economy, Society, pp. 46—58. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4.
Bryk, A.S. & Driscoll, M.E. (1988) The School as Community: Theoretical Foundations, Contextual Influences and Consequences for Students and Teachers. Madison: Center on Effective Secondary Schools, University of Wisconsin.
5.
Bryk, A. & Schneider, B. (2002) Trust in Schools: A Cored Resource for Improvement . New York: Russell Sage Foundation .
6.
Carter, G. (2004) A call to close the gap. Online: http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/ [accessed 1 February 2005]. Coleman, J. (1988) Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 95—120.
7.
Coleman, J.S., Campbell, E.Q., Hobson, C.J., McPartland, J., Mood, A.M., Weinfeld, F.D. & York, R.L. (1966) Equality of Educational Opportunity. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.
8.
Cotton, K. (2001) New small learning communities: findings from recent literature? Online: http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/nslc.pdf [accessed 4 May 2006].
9.
Cronholm, S. (2005) Multi-grounded theory in practice: a review of experience from use. Paper presented at Qualitative Research in IT, Brisbane, Australia. Online: http://www.ida.liu.se/~stecr/publikationer/publikationer.html [accessed December 2006].
10.
Fordham, S. & Ogbu, J. (1986) Black students' school success: coping with the `burden of ``acting White'”. The Urban Review, 18(3), 176—206.
11.
Frank, A.G. (1972) Sociology of development and underdevelopment of sociology. In J. D. Cockroft et al. (eds) Dependence and Underdevelopment: Latin America's Political Economy, pp. 321—97. Garden City, NY: Anchor.
12.
Fryer, R. (2006) Acting white: the social price paid by the best and brightest minority students. Education Next, 6(1), 53—9.
13.
Fullan, M. (2001) The New Meaning of Educational Change. New York: Teachers College Press.
14.
Goddard, R.D. (2003) Relational networks, social trust, and norms: a social capital perspective on students' chances of academic success. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 25(1), 59—74.
15.
Goldsmith, P.A. (2004) Schools' racial mix, students' optimism, and the Black-White and Latino-White achievement gaps. Sociology of Education, 77(2), 121—47.
16.
Grissmer, D., Flanagan, A. & Williamson, S. (1998) Why did the black-white score gap narrow in the 1970s and 1980s? In C. Jencks & M. Phillips (eds) The Black-White Test ScoreGap, pp. 182—226. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.
17.
Howley, C. (1994) The academic effectiveness of small-scale schooling . Online: http://www.eric.ed.gov (ED 372897) [accessed 22 April 2006].
18.
Howley, C., Strange, M. & Bickel, R. (2000) Research about school size and school performance in impoverished communities. Online: http://www.eric.ed.gov (ED 448968) [accessed April 2006].
19.
Jencks, C. & Phillips, M. (eds) (1998) The Black-White Test ScoreGap. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
20.
Kahne, J.E., Sporte, S.E. & Easton, J.Q. (2005) Creating small schools in Chicago: an early look at implementation and impact. Improving Schools, 8(1), 7—22.
21.
Klonsky, S. & Klonsky, M. (1999) Countering anonymity through small schools. Educational Leadership, 57(1), 38—41.
22.
Lareau, A. (1987) Social class differences in family-school relations: the importance of cultural capital. Sociology of Education , 60, 73—85.
23.
Lee, J. ( 2004) Multiple facets of inequality in racial and ethnic achievement gaps. Peabody Journal of Education, 79(2), 51—73.
24.
Lee, V.E. & Croninger, R.G. (1994) The relative importance of home and school in the development of literacy skills for middle-grade student. American Journal of Education, 102, 286—329.
25.
Lee, V.E. & Smith, J.B. (1995) Effects of high school restructuring and size on early gains in achievement and engagement. Sociology of Education , 68(4), 241—70.
26.
Lee, V.E., Ready, D.D. & Welner, K.G. (2002) Educational Equity and School Structure: School Size, School Overcrowding, and Alternative Organizational Structures. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, & Access (IDEA).
27.
Louis, K.S. (2006) Organizing for School Change. New York: Routledge.
28.
McWholter, J. (2005) Winning the Race: Beyond the Crisis in Black America . New York: Gotham Books.
29.
Madyun, N. (2005) The utilization of social disorganization as an explanation of the variance in performance of African American students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Minnesota.
30.
Madyun, N. & Lee, M. (forthcoming) Community influences on EBD achievement. Education and Urban Society.
31.
Monzó, L.D. & Rueda, R.S. (2001) Professional roles, caring, and scaffolds: Latino teachers' and paraeducators' interactions with Latino students. American Journal of Education, 109(4), 438—71.
32.
Ogbu, J.U. (1994) Racial stratification and education in the United States: why inequality persists. Teachers College Record, 96(2), 264—98.
33.
Oh, H., Chung, M. & Labianca, G. (2004) Group social capital and group effectiveness: the role of informal social ties. Academy of Management Journal , 47(6), 860—75.
34.
Paige, M. (2001) Criteria for assessing educational reform. Unpublished document.
35.
Perry, T. (2003) Reflections of an African American on the small schools movement. Voice ofUrban Education, 2, 4—11.
36.
Pittman, R.B. & Haughwout, P. (1987) Influence of high school size on dropout rate. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 9(4), 337—43.
37.
Portes, A. (1998) Social capital: its origin and applications in modern sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 1—24.
38.
Putnam, R.D. (1993) Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
39.
Raywid, M.A. (1999) Current literature on small schools initiative . Online: http://www.eric.ed.gov (ED 425049) [accessed 23 April 2006].
40.
Roach, R. (2004) The great divide. Black Issues in Higher Education, 21, 22—5.
41.
Sander, T.H. & Putnam, R.D. (1999) Rebuilding the stock of social capital. School Administrator, 56. Online: http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/informark/ [accessed October 2005].
42.
Southwest Educational Development Laboratory ( 2006) Online: http://www.sedl.org/work/projects/slc.html [accessed 11 April 2006].
43.
Sparger, T.J. (2005) An investigation of implementations of smaller learning communities in Florida high schools. Unpublished doctoral thesis , University of Central Florida.
44.
Stiefel, L., Berne, R., Iatarola, P. & Fruchter, N. (2000) High school size: effects on budgets and performance in New York City. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis , 22(1), 27—39.
45.
Thernstrom, A. & Thernstrom, S. (2004) No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning. New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks.
46.
Uekawa, K., Aladjem, D.K. & Zhang, Y. (2005) The role of social capital in comprehensive school reform. Online: http://www.air.org/news/documents/AERA2005Role%20of%20Social%20Capital%20in%20CSR.pdf [accessed 11 October 2005].
47.
US Department of Education (2001) An overview of smaller learning communities in high schools. Online: http://www.ed.gov/programs/slcp/resources.html#PUBLICATIONS [accessed 2 April 2006].
48.
US Department of Education (2004) Smaller learning communities program: notices. Online: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/14mar20010800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2004/pdf/04-5818.pdf [accessed 23 June 2006].
49.
US Department of Education (2005) The condition of education 2005. Online: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005094.pdf [accessed 27 October 2005].
50.
Winter, N. (2003) Social Capital, Civic Engagement and Positive Youth Development Outcomes. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates. Online: http://www.policystudies.com/studies/community/social%20capital.html [accessed 11 October 2005].
