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Parents have a rosier picture of small schools than teachers, according to a nationwide poll released Tuesday by Public Agenda, a nonpartisan public opinion agency based in New York. 

“Small school parents are considerably happier on issues ranging from academic performance to student alienation,” said Deborah Wadsworth, president of Public Agenda in a statement. “High school teachers, however, did not in many instances share a similarly positive reaction.” 

The poll, commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, also found that teachers in large and small schools have equally dim views of teacher morale and student achievement. However, small schools teachers reported fewer problems with students dropping out or falling through the cracks. 

The poll re-ignited the local debate about dividing Berkeley High School into a series of wall-to-wall “small learning communities.”  

Kalima Rose, a parent activist who supports the move, focused on poll figures demonstrating that small schools parents are more satisfied with attentiveness to student needs.  

According to the survey, three quarters of small schools parents are confident that teachers identify and help struggling students, compared to less than half of large school parents. Fifty-five percent of large school parents reported problems with students falling through the cracks, compared with 30 percent of small schools parents. 

Rose said these figures reflected the opinions of parents at the handful of existing small schools at BHS.  

“Parents who have children in small learning communities feel like it’s easier to find teachers and sort out what’s happening with their children,” she said. 

School board President Shirley Issel, who voted last year to delay the consideration of the small schools proposal put forth by Rose and other activists, said the poll did point to certain small schools advantages. 

“Parents want to feel they have access to someone inside the school who knows their kid,” she said.  

But Issel focused on data from the teachers’ poll which showed little difference between small and large school teachers on several issues. 

Only 19 percent of small schools teachers and 18 percent of large school instructors reported high teacher morale. Likewise, only 19 percent of small school instructors and 21 percent of large school instructors say their students learn to speak and write well. 

“I think teachers are concerned with where they can be successful,” Issel argued. “They’re concerned with job satisfaction and effectiveness, and they’re saying size doesn’t matter.”  

“It isn’t just about small,” Rose replied. “The practices that go along with small are the key thing.” 

Rose said it is vital to give teachers more planning time and allow instructors from various disciplines to coordinate their work. 

She added that teachers should work in consortiums, sharing lesson plans and discussing how to meet the needs of students of varying ability. 

Superintendent Michele Lawrence is scheduled to visit several small schools and report back to the school board on her findings this spring.