Class sizes keep increasing in all areas of the city, despite the Contracts for Excellence (C4E) law passed by the state in 2007, requiring the DOE to reduce class sizes in all grades. We are now in the fifth and final year of the city’s class size reduction plan, only class sizes in the early […]
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 […]
July 26.2011 Yesterday, along with the NYC Parents Union and many individual parent plaintiffs, we filed a lawsuit against DOE regarding their policy of co-locating charter schools in DOE buildings. Our decision to sue the city was not taken likely, and was based upon two principal concerns: 1. According to NY state law, districts are […]
Check our NYC Council testimony about the unconscionable budget cuts that the mayor has proposed, that would led to the elimination of 6,000 teaching positions and the sharpest increases in class size in over thirty years. Also check out our proposals as to where more than $1 billion in resources can be found to prevent […]
Recommendations on School Governance by the Parent Commission NYC • March 2009 The only good thing to come out of the governance debate and well worth reading for anyone interested in the problems with mayoral control. https://classsizematters.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/parent_commission_Final_Report.pdf These recommendations were endorsed by: Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence Brooklyn Society of Ethical […]
The Independent Parent Survey: Views of New York City public school parents and parent leaders on class size, testing, and Mayoral control February 2008
How to make the city’s new five-year capital plan for school construction…. A Better Capital Plan October 2008 A Report from: Class Size Matters/The Campaign for a Better Capital Plan/The Manhattan Task Force on School Overcrowding The Center for Arts Education/The United Federation of Teachers https://classsizematters.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/A_Better_Capital_Plan_final_final.pdf
How Crowded Are Our Schools? New Results from a Survey of NYC Public School Principals Prof. Emily Horowitz (St. Francis College) & Leonie Haimson (Class Size Matters) October 3, 2008 Click here to download the report [PDF]
High School Discharges Revisited: TRENDS IN NEW YORK CITY’S DISCHARGE RATES, 2000-2007 By Jennifer L. Jennings and Leonie Haimson, April 30, 2009 https://classsizematters.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/High_School_Discharge_Report_FINAL.pdf Here is a NY Times article about our findings: Number of Students Leaving School Early Continues to Increase, Study Says. This report led to a 2011 audit from the NY State Comptroller’s […]
Testimony of Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of Class Size Matters Hearing on Int. 354 requiring reporting of student discharge rates and Int. 364 for reporting of student outcomes at closing schools Before the NYC Council Education Committee January 25, 2011
Sign here to urge NYC to implement a real, multi-year strategy to lower class size, as the law intends, without exempting up to half or more of all students.
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 .
