Speaker Quinn’s push for mandatory Kindergarten in NYC, now being considered in the NYS Legislature, is likely to send thousands of new children into a schools system that is already struggling with Kindergarten waiting lists, overcrowding, and increasing class sizes. Our analysis here and below suggests what the impact may be, and proposes that the […]
Last week at the Save Our Schools conference, Robin Hiller of Voices for Education and I presented a workshop on class size reduction vs. Race to the Top. The room at American University was standing room only. I learned that Robin became involved in class size issue when her daughter was in a class of […]
Jeremy D. Finn, “Small Classes in American Schools: Research, Practice, and Politics,” Phi Beta Kappan, March 2002. A summary of the research by one of the premier STAR investigators.
Jan O’Neill and Deborah Mercier, “Incredible Shrinking Class Size,” National Staff Development Council, 2003 . Describes how one school in Wisconsin reduced class size without additional funding.
SERVE, “How Class Size Makes a Difference,” 2002. One of the best and most readable summaries of the research, prepared by the Regional Educational Laboratory for the Southeast, funded by the U.S. Department of Education. and “A Parent’s Guide to Class-Size Reduction,” 2003. A useful introduction, including suggestions on actions parents can take to encourage […]
Institute of Education Sciences, US Department of Education, “Identifying and Implementing Educational Practices Supported by Rigorous Evidence: A User Friendly Guide,” Dec. 2003. Class size reduction is identified as one of only four education reforms proven to increase learning.
Jeremy D. Finn et.al., “Small Classes in the Early Grades, Academic Achievement, and Graduating From High School,” Journal of Educational Psychology, 2005. http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/edu972214.pdf Summary at http://www.apa.org/releases/smallclasses.html
Fatih Unlu, “California Class Size Reduction Reform: New Findings from the NAEP,” Princeton Univ., Nov. 2005; Study showing large gains from smaller classes in California.
Douglas D. Ready and Valerie E. Lee, “Optimal Context Size in Elementary Schools: Disentangling the Effects of Class Size and School Size,” Brookings Papers on Education Policy,- 2006/2007, pp. 99-135. Study finds that class size rather than school size makes a positive difference, and suggests that”if children remained in the same elementary school for five […]
Elizabeth Graue, et.al. “The Wisdom of Class-Size Reduction,” American Educational Research Journal, September 2007, Vol. 44, No. 3. “SAGE in particular, and CSR in general, allows teachers the space to create meaningful learning opportunities for students. Giving teachers support to develop new strategies for teaching smaller groups makes it more likely.”
On Oct. 23 at 7 PM, learn how the DOE is sharing student data with unscrupulous ed tech vendors, social media companies, charter schools & more and how you can help protect your children’s privacy. Register via Zoom today!
Talk out of School radio show and podcast airs Sunday night at 7 PM on WBAI 99.5 FM or online at www.wbai.org when Leonie Haimson and Daniel Alicea interview guests and discuss issues affecting public schools in NYC, the state level and nationally. You can stream or subscribe to the podcast here; or at iTunes, Spotify or Google.
We held our annual Skinny award dinner Wed. June 28, 2023, honoring Rep. Jamaal Bowman, former Bronx principal and now a progressive trailblazer who is fighting in Congress to protect and improve our public schools. More photos on Facebook .
