Secondary school size and curriculum comprehensiveness

If economies of scale are important in secondary education, it ought to be possible to observe fewer problems with input indivisibility and greater degrees of resource specialization in larger compared to smaller secondary schools. Moreover, it ought to be possible to observe some evidence of greater curriculum comprehensiveness in larger schools since this is one of the possible consequences of scale economies. The present study examines these phenomena using data collected in New York State schools. Results indicate that the sources of scale economies are largely exhausted by the time enrollments reach relatively small levels and that beyond these modest enrollment levels, gains in curricular comprehensiveness are trivial.