Rebecca Unterman, MDRC senior associate, was a recent guest on the Innovations in Education podcast, hosted by David Adams, CEO of the Urban Assembly.

In “The Power of Small Schools,” Unterman and Adams discuss the results from MDRC's long-term evaluation of New York City’s small high schools and what lessons the reforms offer for other educators.

Some key takeaways from their conversation:

• The success of small schools is not based on size alone. MDRC’s research identifies a mix of high-quality school leadership, data-driven instruction, and intentional relationship-building as the primary drivers of positive student outcomes.
   
• Relationships and academic rigor are interdependent. Teachers in successful small schools use a "warm demander" approach, where knowing a student deeply provides the necessary leverage to push them toward higher academic standards.
   
• Nonselective schools can produce elite results. Small schools in NYC did not screen out difficult students. In fact, two-thirds of the students in the study entered below grade level, yet the schools achieved a 9.5 percentage point impact on four-year graduation rates.
   
• Graduation success is cost-effective. While small schools may have a higher cost per pupil than large schools, they actually cost less per graduate because they are significantly more effective at moving students through to a diploma.
   
• Targeted support is required for the highest-need students. While small high schools worked well for many, students entering high school far below proficient levels require even more intensive, targeted interventions both before and during high school to overcome barriers like the Math Regents exams.