Feb. 10, 2022 Accurate data on class size is nearly impossible to find in many districts across the country. The Office of Civil Rights of the US Dept. of Education is asking the public what additional data they should collect, with a deadline of tomorrow Friday Feb. 11 at 5 PM. If you’d like to […]
January 26, 2022 Today the state budget hearings are being held for education. Below are the testimonies submitted by Class Size Matters and the Education Law Center, mostly focused on class size. Clearly the Contracts for Excellence process is broken, with non-compliance by DOE and lax enforcement by the State Education Department. This probably needs […]
January 13, 2022 Check out the letter below and here from the Education Law Center, Alliance for Quality Education and Class Size Matters on the inadequate DOE proposed Contract for Excellence plan for the current school year, which is not aligned with the law, as well as the faulty schedule of hearings and public comment […]
December 29, 2021 Dear friend – As a historian, I have studied reform in NYC and in cities across the nation. Reform usually means shaking up the system. Centralize, decentralize, recentralize. Reorganize the bureaucracy, put the mayor in control, change the decision-making structure. Hire consultants, hire data analysts, hire coaches. Or reform means outsource the […]
December 14, 2021 Despite the crying need for smaller classes in NYC public schools, and the fact that Int. 2374 had 41 co-sponsors, the class size bill is still being blocked by Speaker Johnson and will not come to a vote this session. When asked about this last week by NY1 reporter Jill Jorgensen, the […]
November 29, 2021 1. Only about two weeks remain before the Council adjourns and a new City Council takes office. Please send a letter TODAY to Council Speaker Corey Johnson by clicking here— demanding that he schedule a vote for the class size reduction bill, Int 2347. When Johnson was running for Speaker, he […]
On Saturday, 11/20/21, I gave the following presentation to participants at the Queens parent conference on why we must reduce class size in NYC schools and how you can help. Also downloadable at https://tinyurl.com/Queensclasssize. If you’d like to invite us to your meeting, please email us at [email protected]. thanks!
November 17, 2021 Este mensaje está en español aquí. The good news is that with your help, 39 Council Members out of 49 have now signed onto Int. 2374, the bill that would require class sizes be reduced in NYC schools. This is a veto-proof majority, so that if passed, the Mayor could not block […]
Oct. 28, 2021 1. Check out the compelling testimony including videos from yesterday’s hearings on Intro 2374 and the importance of lowering class size, from Regent Kathy Cashin, Diane Ravitch, Elsie McCabe Thompson and others. Diane Ravitch testified that lowering class size would be the most powerful education reform the Council could enact. My written […]
Oct. 28, 2021 Much of the testimony yesterday at the City Council was compelling about the importance of lowering class size and the need to pass Intro 2374 for the sake of NYC students. Class Size Matters testimony is here. Testimony of Michael Mulgrew, UFT President, is here. An article about these hearings is here. […]
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 .
