Kokomo — Howard County’s school superintendents were not surprised by a study showing few benefits to school consolidation.
The Center for Evaluation and Education Policy, a non-partisan education policy and program evaluation center based at Indiana University, recently released the study, concluding that despite some legislative interest in mandating school consolidation, “the results wouldn’t benefit students and would have minimal impact, if any, on state spending on public education.”
They recommended tracking expenses to see how schools might operate more efficiently, consideration of virtual learning to expand curriculum at smaller schools, and examining joint summer school programs, open enrollment or half-day or flexible scheduling.
The researchers said if consolidation is considered, there needs to be a balance among costs, achievement and social and political considerations.
Eastern Superintendent Tracy Caddell said the study “just validates that when we make decisions like this with respect to consolidation, it’s best to focus on the data and not emotion.”
Study authors Terry E. Spradlin, Fatima R. Carson, Sara E. Hess and Jonathan A. Plunker investigated research on the effects of school consolidation on cost efficiencies and student achievement. They reviewed data from a mandated consolidation in Maine and also consolidation feasibility studies from several Indiana school corporations. Those studies were funded by the Indiana Department of Education
“Some of the proponents for consolidation argue that the smallest districts are inefficient, that there’s too much overhead to operate those small districts, and that they’re spending too much on administration,” said Terry Spradlin, associate director of education policy at CEEP. “This data suggests otherwise.”
Caddell said area superintendents have looked for ways to make purchases together to save money, by joining insurance consortiums, buying through the Wabash Valley Educational Cooperative and other consolidated purchases.
He said, though, while saving money is important, “unlike most companies, which are trying to make a profit, which I understand, our focus is always on student achievement.”
Caddell said the data shows that small schools do just as well as larger schools in terms of achievement, and often do better.
“A lot of research suggests that building relationships is important to student achievement. Common sense would tell you it’s a lot easier to build relationships with small schools than with large school corporations. You just get to know the kids better.”
Caddell has proposed working to get all the county schools on the same calendar, to make it easier to offer opportunities together. He said, for example, he doesn’t have enough students to merit hiring a Chinese language teacher, but if all the schools were on the same calendar, the schools could share that teacher.
Northwestern Superintendent Ryan Snoddy recalled a study from the National Association of Secondary School Principals about ideal size for a high school. It concluded that with more than 600 students, resources were available to provide the programs the students need, up to about 1,600 students.
“I think what’s important is, regardless of school size, are you offering programs that meet our students’ needs? If you are, and the outcome is good, people are happy, regardless of the school size,” Snoddy said.
He said he is willing to discuss ways to save money, “as long as we’re talking about maintaining achievement. If dollars are driving the decisions, I’m not sure that is critical. What is critical is achievement.”
Indiana’s General Assembly has not mandated school district reorganization since 1959, but started discussing the issue because of a provision in the 2005 state budget bill calling for studying school corporation central office consolidation.
Legislation to mandate consolidation has failed in sessions since 2005, including two senate bills in 2009.
The data showed little difference in student achievement between larger and smaller districts.
Noting that small districts may lack diversity and be required to report scores for fewer student subgroups under AYP, Spradlin said virtually all the small districts meet the federally approved accountability requirements. The analysis showed statistically insignificant differences in ISTEP achievement between the districts, but offered one other counter to potential consolidation plans.
“The one grouping of school districts that had a statistically lower outcome on ISTEP is those districts greater than 20,000 students,” Spradlin said, adding that the data actually makes a case for deconsolidation, or larger districts dividing into smaller ones.
Another finding was that small districts do as well, if not better proportionately, in driving dollars to the classroom for instruction compared to all other expenditures. One area where smaller schools did lag behind is in Advanced Placement testing.
“When we looked at all of these measures, again a compelling case could not be made for wholesale or mandated consolidation in the state of Indiana,” Spradlin said.