As two Greater Cincinnati school districts break up their large high schools into smaller schools, a national survey released Tuesday indicates that small class size is a higher priority for teachers.

        When given a choice between small class size and small schools, seven of 10 teachers said class size was more important.

        Nearly half of parents — 47 percent — said smaller classes are most important, while 43 percent said class size and school size are equally important.

        The study was conducted by Public Agenda, a New York-based, national opinion research firm.

        The reason small schools didn't rate higher may be that few people know about the emerging national trend, said Deborah Wadsworth, Public Agenda'spresident.

        Cincinnati Public Schools and the West Clermont School District, which enroll 10,000 and 2,500 high school students respectively, are restructuring their large high schools to include several smaller schools within each building.

        A Glen Este High School teacher said she likes the small-schools concept because students are less likely to fall through the cracks.

        “You have a lot of students with a great potential to get lost in the proverbial shuffle,” said Katie Hauer, a social studies teacher at Glen Este, which has 1,153 students in grades 9-12.

        In West Clermont, Glen Este and Amelia high schools will offer 10 smaller schools within their walls next fall. Teams of teachers will stay with the same group of students throughout high school. No school will top 450 students.

        “It's hard for me to develop a learning style for students if I don't know who they are,” Ms. Hauer said.

        Nationally, half of teachers in schools of at least 1,500 students say too many students fall through the cracks. In schools with 500 students or less, 31 percent of teachers say the same. Results of the national survey are based on interviews with 902 public high school teachers and 801 parents of high school students.

        The study was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which promotes smaller high schools.

        The study has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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