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Class Size Matters is a non-profit, non-partisan clearinghouse for information on class size and the proven benefits of smaller classes.
We also advocate for class size reduction in NYC, where our students continue to suffer from being crammed into the largest classes in the state and some of the largest in the nation.
NYC ballot proposition to reduce class size
NYC children vote Yes! for smaller classes on the steps of City hall.
New! Check out the report on the rising numbers of students discharged from NYC public schools over the last seven years, yet not counted as dropouts, here.
The city finally has released data on class sizes, nearly a month past the legal deadline, revealing that this fall, average class sizes increased in all grades -- for the first time in ten years -- despite a legal mandate to reduce class size, and nearly $400 million in state funds to do so.
Check out the protest letter from Class Size Matters, the UFT and the Hispanic Federation to Commissioner Mills.
New! Leonie Haimson, Executive Director of
and sign up as a supporter!
Read our report, "A Better Capital Plan" on what the city must do to relieve school overcrowding and provide enough space for smaller classes and a well-rounded education.
Unfortunately, the proposed capital plan contains only about 35% of the necessary seats.
Read our letter to Obama, urging the president-elected to adopt common-sense education reforms that would make a difference in millions of kids lives; read the press coverage here.
New! See this letter, signed by 30 members of Community Education Councils and other parent leaders, protesting the lack of parent input into the decisions to site charter schools; and the way these decisions are inequitable and disadvantage students at existing schools.
Find our the results of our principal survey on overcrowding, safety and class size!
Read the new report, showing the DOE is misusing $153 million meant to reduce class size -- in one third of schools receiving these funds, class sizes increased!
testing and Mayoral control.
The Bloomberg/Klein administration
continues to violate the law on class size
In Sept. 2008, the NY State Education Department reported that despite a legal mandate to reduce class size, and millions of dollars in new state aid to do so, the city had misused these funds, and in 53.9% of public schools, class size or pupil-to-teacher ratio increased last year More details here.
This follows a 2006 audit, in which the State Comptroller found that only 20 additional classes were created in NYC schools over the baseline figure, despite $89 million in annual state funds specifically meant to reduce class size. The audit concluded that “while the [NYC] DoE was receiving State funding… it was reducing its own support for early grade class size reduction and using it for other purposes.” The NY State Comptroller proposed a number of recommendations to improve compliance with the law– all of which the Chancellor rejected.
Read our Daily News op-ed, showing how the school grading system is a fiasco!
Find out the six ways the Mayor and Chancellor are blocking progress towards reducing class size, as published in the Gotham Gazette..
Charter Schools and Class Size
The city's misuse of state class size funds underscores how we need more public oversight and accountability..Sign our letter to the NY State Legislature, asking that the additional funds owed our schools be provided, but with more transparency, accountability, and public input required in the spending of these funds.
What lessons should be learned about the small schools initiative, from a recent independent evaluation leaked to the NY Times?
Testimony before the NYC Council on the no-bid contracts granted by the Department of Education.
How smaller classes in grades K-3 have improved our schools, but how the city has failed to add the required number of classes.
Why experts agree that the Mayor's policy to retain 3rd, 5th and 7th graders on the basis of their test scores is doomed to fail and will cause our dropout rates to rise even higher.
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