RELATION BETWEEN SIZE OF HIGH SCHOOL 

 AND PROGRESS IN COLLEGE 



'^1 "'HE registrar at the University of New Hampshire prepared a tahle 

 to show the progress of college students classified by the size of their 

 high school graduating class. Tahle 10 summarizes this material. A much 

 smaller proportion of students from small high schools graduate from 

 college with honors than from larger high schools. Also, the proportion 

 of college students who experience academic failure is relatively larger 

 among students from the smaller high schools. Voluntary withdrawals 

 for non-academic reasons are about the same for all groups — about 

 one-third. The difference between small and large high schools are be- 

 yond the chance level and cannot be attributed to random factors. 



The reasons why college students make poorer progress when com- 

 ing from a small high school can not be identified here. However, it 

 seems safe to assume that quality of secondary education is an important 

 factor. Small high schools cannot offer as broad a j^rogram of studies, 

 and they do not have a teaching staff of sufficient size so that each teach- 

 er is a specialist in the subject matter for which he or she is responsiljle. 



AN ANALYSIS OF SOME AREAS CURRENTLY 

 CONSIDERING REORGANIZATION 



T7 IGHT areas were pointed out by the Deputy Commissioner as having 

 given some evidence of interest in organizing a cooperative school 

 district. Using available material selected figures were tabulated to de- 

 termine the possible results of such reorganization. Tabulations include 

 population trends, enrollments and average-daily-membership (ADM) 

 in residence, per-pupil costs, valuations and tax rates, transportation 

 costs, and other relevant material. A summary of these extensive tabula- 

 tions follows, giving special attention to secondary education. 



The eight areas involve 52 school districts. Nineteen are currently 

 experiencing a decline in population, but in only two areas as a whole 

 has such a decline occurred. Sixteen of the 52 districts maintain a high 

 school. The distribution of these 16 districts by ADM follows: 



Range in High School Number of 



Pupils in Residence Districts 



1 to 50 1 



51 to 100 8 



101 to 200 5 



201 to 300 1 



301 to 400 1 



Fourteen of the 16 high schools have fewer than 200 pupils in resi- 

 dence — much too small for a comprehensive high school program. 



16 



