Larger classes at NYC traditional public schools
due to charter schools
2000-2005
Check out what happened to class sizes in schools that share space with charter schools, by clicking on the excel file here:
Increases in class size are in yellow.
This data, provided by the Department of Education, reveals that of the 22 schools that currently share space with charter schools, in every borough of the city except for Staten Island, only two schools did not experience a significant increase in class size in at least one grade level, and usually several grades after charter schools were placed within their buildings.
Class Size Matters and many other parent groups oppose the placement of charter schools in existing New York City public school buildings, because in an overcrowded system, this will make it even more difficult to reduce class size or keep classes small at the public schools which currently have them.
Each new charter school, because it replicates administrative, specialty and cluster spaces, takes up considerably more space per student within a building – making it inevitable that average class sizes will increase for students at our traditional public schools if the DoE continues to cram new schools into existing structures.
Smaller classes have repeatedly been shown to improve student achievement, lower dropout rates, cut down on teacher attrition, reduce disciplinary problems and increase parent involvement.
Putting charter schools that have the ability to cap enrollment and limit class sizes into existing school buildings will also lead to sharp inequities, which is likely to fuel resentment and tensions between both sets of schools.
In PS 154 in Harlem, where the Department of Education has announced it will put a charter school next year, students will lose their cluster rooms, and the following year, they will lose classrooms, so that their classes will grow unacceptably large, from 20 to 25 in grades K-3 and to 32 in 4th and 5th grades, according to sources at the school.
According to the capital plan, the Mayor intends to place at least 30 more charter schools inside traditional public school buildings over the next four years, more than doubling the number that share spaces with existing schools. A far more cost effective, more certain and more humane method of improvement would be to simply reduce class sizes across the board at every school in the city where there is space.
What does the data posted above reveal? Before the Brooklyn Charter School was placed in PS 23’s building in D14 in 2001, Kindergarten class sizes at PS 23 were 16. Last year they had risen to 23.5. First grade classes were originally 19, last year they were up to 24.5. In fact, class sizes have grown in every grade through 5th since the school began to share space with a charter school.
Take PS 92 in D5 in Harlem. According to “Inside schools,” the school was already on the SURR list in 2003, with more than half of its students receiving special services, and most of them at level one. Yet instead of reducing class sizes, they placed a charter school in its building in 2004, and class sizes rose in every grade through sixth.
At PS 242 in District 3, where two charter schools were placed last year, average class sizes in 3rd grade rose from 23.5 to 28 students, and in 4th grade from 24.5 to 29.
There are many such examples. Moreover, even in the few cases in which class sizes have not significantly grown, classes remain unacceptably large in many of the extremely low-performing schools that share space with charters.
Take IS 151 in District 7 in the Bronx. Here is the description of the school from “Inside Schools”:
"In some respects, IS 151 represents the downside of school choice: gifted programs in the district have drained off most of the top students, and IS 151 has disproportionate numbers of kids who struggle both academically and socially. "Attendance has been a challenge," said Principal John Piazza, who took the reins of MS 151 in February, 2002. "We have a lot of overage kids, a lot of kids with special needs, and kids who are homeless”…..The school, like many in the South Bronx, suffers from high teacher turnover."
Yet last year, at IS 151, there was an average of 27 children in 5th grade classes, and 33.7 students in 6th grade classes. Instead of putting a charter school within the building, as they did in 2000, the administration could have lowered these class sizes and improved the school --which would also have likely reduced teacher turnover rates.
Class sizes are up at MS 53 in District 27 in Queens since the Peninsula Prep Academy entered the building. MS 53 was put on the SURR (failing) list in the fall of 2004; nevertheless, in the same year, a charter school was put inside the building, and last year, class sizes had risen to 28.2 in 6th grade and 30.8 in 7th. What hope do we have for children at failing schools, if the officials in charge don't care enough about their future to reduce their class sizes below these ridiculous levels?
Even in high-performing schools like NEST on the Lower East Side, where class sizes may grow as a result of the Ross Charter School sharing its building, its students should be able to receive a high-quality education that only smaller classes can provide.
Instead of forcing its way into the NEST building, the Department of Education, NYU and the Ross Charter school should seek more appropriate space, for example, in one of the numerous parochial schools that is closing or in the former PS 64 building sitting vacant on the Lower East Side.
Some caveats as to this class size data :
1- This list of charter schools sharing space with public schools is not complete, though it was purported to be by the DOE. Another list, provided by the NYC Center for Charter School Excellence, shows 27 charter schools that share space with DOE facilities, including several that opened in 2001-3. This list contains only 21 charter schools, all of which opened in 2000 or in the years 2004-5. The class size data is also unconfirmed; in the past, we know that DoE has reported incorrect class size data.
2- The data leaves out any class size information for inclusion, special ed and bridge (multi-year) classes; at these schools,. As we know from the Independent Budget Office, there are a growing number of such classes across the city over the last few years.
3- The charter schools established in 2004 and 2005 probably have not reached their full size, so that their impacts owill likely grow in coming years.
4- Some of these public schools are closing and/or have had their enrollment limited, so that student overflow may be having an impact on overcrowding and class size in schools elsewhere in the district. In fact, we know that class sizes K-3 in D5 grew dramatically last year, where several of these schools are located.
5- If the Mayor is successful in his attempt to lift the cap on charters, the number of charter schools sharing space with traditional public schools will more than double over the next few years, and we will likely see the impact on class sizes in traditional public schools grow even more severe.
