Is Smaller Better?

The Gates Foundation gave grants to big schools in order for them to become small schools. Was it the answer?

The experiment - an attempt to downsize the American high school - has proven less successful than hoped. The changes were often so divisive - and the academic results so mixed - that the Gates Foundation has stopped always pushing small as a first step in improving big high schools. Instead, it's now also working directly on instruction, giving grants to improve math and science instruction, for example.