INDIANA — A new Ball State University study reveals substantial differences in academic performance and opportunity for students enrolled in the state’s smallest school districts versus districts with even modestly higher enrollment. Small school districts with under 2,000 total students are also getting smaller, exacerbating their students’ challenges.
School Corporation Size and Student Outcomes: Ball State University’s Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) produced an Update and Extensions. The Indiana Chamber of Commerce Foundation commissioned the project and followed up on a similar study done in 2017.
“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,” says Kevin Brinegar, president and CEO of the Indiana Chamber. “It’s an uncomfortable reality and problem, but when one in five Hoosier students are enrolled in these very small districts, we are not only hurting these kids and their economic prosperity, but also small communities and our state’s future.”
For every K-12 school district in Indiana, the study analyzed various student performance data, graduation rates, postsecondary education enrollment, advanced course offerings, and more. This was an examination of school districts or corporations, not individual schools.
Notable research findings include:
- In school districts with enrollment levels below 2,000 students, substantial, negative differences exist in student performance, access to critical higher-level courses, college preparation, and college enrollment rates.
- Average ILEARN and IREAD exam passage rates for the state’s smallest school districts are significantly lower. For instance, average ILEARN scores are more than eight percentage points lower (20% lower) than in schools with enrollments of 2,000 to 2,999 students.
- A majority (56%) of the state’s 290 school districts have less than 2,000 students enrolled in the K-12 school district. These districts are concentrated in small communities and rural areas of the state.
- One-fifth (20%) of Indiana students are enrolled in small school districts with less than 2,000 students, and almost 5% are in a school district with less than 1,000 students.
- Small school districts are only getting smaller: 74% of the 162 districts with less than 2,000 students saw declining enrollments over the last decade.
“Indiana is operating a two-tiered public education system. Students in very small school corporations are being held back without access to vital educational opportunities because the economics of providing for a quality education don’t work,” Brinegar explains. “Indiana must get serious about increasing the size and course offerings available to Hoosier students in the smallest school districts. Regardless of their ZIP code, all children have a right to an education to help them succeed.”
What’s encouraging is the study projects that even modest increases in student enrollment in the state’s smallest school districts – those with less than 1,000 students – lead to significant improvements. Just a 1% increase in enrollment is associated with almost a 9% increase in SAT composite scores or over 90 points on average.
And increasing district size to at least 1,000 students is associated with a 13-percentage point increase in students passing the eighth-grade ILEARN test, a 10-point increase in IREAD exam passage rates, and a 17-point increase in the number of high school graduates going to college.
The full Ball State CBER study, produced by Dagney Faulk, Ph.D. and Michael J. Hicks, Ph.D., is available at www.indianachamber.com/education.
This updated research is tied to the Indiana Chamber’s new Indiana Prosperity 2035 economic vision plan, which includes goals to improve student performance and course offerings through proposals such as combining very small school districts (not necessarily individual schools), shared services between districts, as well as increased remote/online access to higher level STEM courses.
