Why smaller classes pay off...

Smaller class sizes will pay big dividends
Be Our Guest
BY LEONIE HAIMSON
Monday, March 26th 2007, 4:00 AM
In Albany, the Legislature is considering requiring that the city use a portion of the additional state aid our schools will receive to phase in smaller classes over four years. This would guarantee that the new dollars from the state go straight to the classroom, where they belong.
The federal government has listed smaller class sizes as one of only five educational strategies proven to work. The state's highest court concluded that our students are deprived of their constitutional right to an adequate education, in part because of large classes in all grades.
Despite the fact that we have the greatest number of poor, minority, and immigrant students who need the individual attention that only small classes can bring, our classes remain up to 60% bigger than elsewhere.
In some key subjects, such as Regents Math, class sizes have actually risen over the last few years - and average 32 students, compared with only 20 in the rest of the state. And yet our students have to pass the same high-stakes tests to graduate.
In New York City, many middle and high schools have classes of 32 or more, with each teacher responsible for around 160 students. Just spending five minutes a week with each student after class, and five minutes to correct weekly homework assignments, would take almost 30 hours a week - a near impossibility.
We will never improve our stagnant middle school scores or lower our huge dropout rates without reducing class size. And as research shows, poor and minority students benefit the most from class-size reduction, as they need the greatest instructional support.
Despite claims to the contrary, class-size reduction would actually lead to a more effective, experienced teaching force over time.
The major problem we have is not a lack of applicants - there are more than 10 candidates for every opening. But we suffer from extremely high attrition rates as a result of our large classes, which rob teachers of any chance of success.
While the idea of giving principals more flexibility to reduce class size on their own may sound appealing, the reality is that many principals who were permitted to hire additional teachers to lower class size reported that they were simply sent more students by Tweed - erasing the potential gains they hoped to achieve. And many overcrowded schools have no room for smaller classes, even when this might be the principal's highest priority.
The city plans to create only half as many seats in new schools as new seats in sports stadiums over the next five years. We need to build more schools in this city, which cannot be accomplished by any principal alone.
Class-size reduction must be phased in slowly. The first schools to get smaller classes should be those that are currently failing. Many failing schools close and then reopen under new names, but continue to have classes of 30 students or more. This is unacceptable.
Nearly all our middle and high schools are low-performing compared with the rest of the state. Here is a tragedy calling out for common sense and bold action. Another generation of New York City children should not lose out on their chances of success simply because we lacked the political will to provide them with the smaller classes they deserve.
Haimson is executive director of Class Size Matters and a founder of the city parent blog, nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com.