What is a small school?

At our last Small School Leaders meet-up, an interesting question arose. 🤔 What is a small school? 🤨

"I'm not sure this gathering is for me,'" said a colleague from a school with 400 students. This came after a school with 75 students commented that a school of 300 seemed large. 🧐 Another colleague wondered, "Maybe my school is too small. We only have 47 students." And so the conversation went on.

What defines a small school? 🏫 After working in the field for almost 20 years, I think this is a complex question. I've worked with schools with 450+ students that believe they are most definitely a small school compared to the nearby competition of bigger independent schools. They struggle to match the resources - both staffing and budgets - of the larger schools in their area. 💰💵 🏦 

And then there are the "classic" small schools, with enrollment between 50 and 300 students. Yet, when we have a dialogue between the limited-resourced school with an enrollment of 450 and a school with 100 students we find that these two share common challenges and opportunities. ⚖️ 

And I think this is intriguing and something to consider. 🤔 

We live in a time where "small schools" have been disrupted, with schools seeing record enrollment (sometimes doubling a school's size) and shifts in resources and expectations. So, isn't it time we redefined what a small school is? Or maybe the better question is, isn't it time to let schools define themselves?

What do you think? 😉 👋 

Email me @ [email protected], connect with me on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/aubreybursch/, or join me at our next Small School Leaders Meetup!

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