Today the Manhattan Borough president’s office released the results of a survey to which over 1000 education stakeholders responded, including parents, teachers and principals. As a group they confirmed that class size and school overcrowding remained their greatest concern.
Reducing class size is the top priority of parents, year after year, on the DOE’s own parent surveys. And yet class sizes have risen sharply the last three years, and now in the early grades are larger than they have been at any time in more than a decade.
Cathie Black said she intends to take the concerns of parents seriously. She also sent her own children to schools where class sizes average 12 students per class.
Research is clear that class size is a major determinant in a child’s success in school and in later life. This is especially true for poor and minority children, who benefit twice as much from small classes.
If Cathie Black cares about improving opportunities for NYC children, and narrowing the achievement gap, she will make absolutely certain that class sizes do not further increase under her watch.
Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
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