REPORT ON THE OCTOBER 19 HEARINGS ON CLASS SIZE
On Tuesday, October 19, the Commission on CFE held its second day of hearings, this time focused on class size. For over five hours, the Commissioners sat, wrapped up in the fervent comments and observations of parents, teachers, and students who all pleaded for smaller classes in their schools.
The afternoon began with the only elected official who spoke, Councilmember Eva Moskowitz, who said that since she had never been in a parent meeting where the class size issue wasn’t raised, and since parents were the school system’s customers, something must be done to reduce class size. She also spoke about the possibility of using more teaching assistants or student teachers in the classroom.
Three UFT VPs of elementary, middle, and high schools followed: Michelle Bodden, Richard Farkas, and Frank Volpicella. Farkas was especially eloquent about how DOE ignored its own promise to reduce middle school class sizes to 28, even though all the research on middle schools showed that vulnerable adolescents need more contact with their teachers, to do well. Volpicella said that while the classes in the smaller high schools are limited to 25 or 27, it is common to have 34 or more in the classes in the larger high schools. (The inequities of this bifurcated system was a repeated theme of many speakers) Both Volpicella and Farkas recounted specific examples of schools where class sizes had been reduced in the past, with higher achievement as a result, only to see those programs eliminated.
I testified about the voluminous research showing that smaller classes have huge benefits in all grades, including better student achievement, lower dropout rates and disciplinary problems, more parental involvement, and higher teacher morale, effectiveness, and retention rates. (For my full testimony, click here.)
Lillian Rodriguez, chair of our coalition, New Yorkers for Smaller Classes, then presented our two five year plans to reduce class size in all grades. Plan A, with classes of no more than 15 in grades K-3, 18 in grades 4-8, and 20 in high school. These class sizes would provide the extra instructional support needed by our high-needs student population, and the same goals that NC now has for its low-performing schools.
Plan B would provide class sizes that at least are comparable to the average in the rest of the state: no more than 18 in grades K-3, 22 in 4-8, and 25 in high school. In her testimony, full cost estimates for both staffing and facilities and suggestions for where the funding would come from were also included. The commissioners all asked good questions, and we got a big round of applause from the audience. (For Lillian's full testimony, click here).
April Parks, UPA VP and three articulate students from Truman HS in the Bronx then spoke about how a system of separate and unequal conditions had developed in our high schools. While the students in the three new smaller schools in their building were given smaller classes, and received laptops and full wireless internet access from day one, the students and teachers at Truman have been asking for internet access for their school for over five years, with no success. The Truman students also talked about the fact that the crowding is so severe that it takes them up to an hour to enter the building in the morning and get to their classrooms, often causing them miss one or two classes.
Others who spoke and were especially eloquent about the need for smaller classes in our schools included Larry Wood, President of D3 President’s Council and AQE board member, Jose Davila of NY Immigration Coalition, and Mary-Powel Thomas, President of CDEC 13. Marge Kolb from CDEC 24, as well as Robert Caloras and Samuel Freedman, parent leaders from Queens, spoke about the need to reduce class size and overcrowding in that very overcrowded borough. Rodney Deas of CDEC 15 described how at MS 113, his child’s school in Bed-Stuy, classes had grown from 25 to 35 this year, with disastrous effects.
James Nurse and his wonderful granddaughter, middle schooler Lakeia Varner, testified. Lakeia described how in large classes, otherwise good kids sometimes act up are disruptive when they do not receive the attention from teachers that they need.
Chuck Achilles, one of the world’s academic experts on class size research, pointed out persuasively how the opportunity to learn and the opportunity to teach were both improved in smaller classes, and that he had new research coming out soon about the importance of class size in the middle school grades as well. Josh Karan of D6 talked about how the official capacity figures of DOE underestimated the amount of overcrowding in their schools.
Three high school teachers described conditions of inhumane and educationally destructive overcrowding. Peter Lamphere of Columbus HS in the Bronx told how there were three or more classes being held in the school's ibrary at one time, and since the school was in split sessions, little tutoring for struggling students could be offered. The message to the students? They didn’t count, especially compared to those at the smaller schools, who were valued more highly since they were offered more help and more resources.
James Eterno of Jamaica HS spoke about how it was impossible to give full feedback on homework etc. when you have a teaching load of 170 students or more, and the one time that they had limited Math A and ELA classes to 25, many more students had passed their Regents that year. Larry Pitlis described how Bergtraum had turned from a good school to a failing one over the last two years, as it was forced to accept more, and that there were over 200 suspensions in the past year.
Jan Atwell, long time parent activist, described how her grandson had gone from a class of 18 in 1st grade last year to a class of 33 in 2nd grade, and now he had gone from loving school to hating it; his mom had even received notes home from the teacher as a result. Kathleen Gomez and her son Diego Vlasik described that it was so crowded in his fourth grade class that kids had to take tests on the floor, and his teacher told him he couldn’t ask her any questions. The administrators at Kathleen’s school in D2 recommended that she should send him to a private school if she wanted his questions to be answered.
By the end of the day, the Commissioners and the new staff director Tony Alvarado, seemed to have gotten the message. However, there are still more hearings to come, so their attention will now turn to teacher retention and recruitment, afterschool, preK and facilities. Because of the overwhelming demand, they have also scheduled another session on class size, to take place January 13.
I urge those of you who didn’t make it to this heating to testify in January. Tell the Commissioners why your child needs smaller classes for a better chance to succeed. I know that so many of you have compelling stories to tell, because you’ve told them to me. To sign up for the hearings on January 13, click here, or call 212.788.0123.
