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Letters 97
EPP August 1997 Letter on Class Size Reduction

August 11, 1997

The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036-3959

To the Editor:

Jacques Steinberg’s front-page article in the Sunday, August 10 edition, "Wanted Now in New York: 3,000 (or 9,000) Teachers," has added more misinformation to the already poorly understood class size reduction provision of the recently adopted state budget. Basically, the state has agreed to provide grants beginning in the 1999-2000 school year to reduce class sizes to no more than 20 students in kindergarten through third grade in low to moderate wealth school districts, including New York City. These class size reductions would be phased in over 3 years, so that it would not be fully implemented until the 2001-2002 school year.

This agreement to cap early grade class sizes represents a major breakthrough in efforts to drive resources to the classroom and improve instruction. Research has shown that smaller class sizes can result in significantly higher student achievement. In New York City, with the largest class sizes in the state, students have historically been denied access to the more individualized instruction that smaller classes allow. This initiative is all the more critical in light of Chancellor Crew’s oft-stated goal of having all New York City public school students reading at grade level by third grade.

Steinberg’s article also left the impression that the initiative to reduce early grade class sizes would further exacerbate an already serious teacher shortage. However, shortages exist for certain specialties, such as math, science and bilingual education, but not for regular elementary school teachers. Moreover, given the long lead time before this program is fully implemented and planned improvements in the Board of Education’s teacher recruitment program, there should be ample opportunity to fill the needed positions. Cries that New York City’s schools are too overcrowded to allow for smaller class sizes also ring hollow. In fact, overcrowding is mostly prevalent in high schools and in certain districts with high rates of immigration. Many districts’ elementary schools are underutilized, offering a logical starting place for phasing in class size reductions. Capital funds are also starting to become available to reduce overcrowding in the most densely populated districts which will begin the process of planning now to reduce all early grade classes four years down the road. Thanks to this positive change in state education policy, which has long neglected urban schools, New York City’s children will finally be able to benefit from the advantages of small class sizes which most other districts take for granted.

Sincerely,
Noreen Connell, Executive Director

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