Editorials

Making things crystal clear

Feb 28, 2008 2:36 PM

Not that there was ever any real doubt — despite an attempt at obfuscation by the Department of Education — but a newly released survey showing that parents overwhelmingly want the classes their kids attend to be smaller should be the final word. (Unfortunately, we know it won’t, which makes the March 19 “Keep the Promises” rally [see below] doubly important.)

The new survey, by the organization Class Size Matters, found that well over 70 percent of the parents of students in the city’s school system said that cutting class sizes is the single most important improvement that the DOE should make.

Parents have sent this message before. In fact, reducing class size was the most important improvement cited by parents in the DOE’s own survey last spring, the Learning Environment Survey. But the DOE then proceeded to muddy the waters by lumping together four other improvement options and claiming that parents preferred “enriching programs” two-to-one over reducing class size. That was at a time when the department still tried to sweep class-size reduction under the carpet. Subsequent events, most notably the introduction of Contracts for Excellence — that school districts must sign in order to receive additional education funding from the state — which require the reduction of class size, have caused the DOE to see the light.

Still, the new survey, as the article on page 2 explains, has some impressive numbers. In the telephone part of the survey, 73 percent of parents said the best way to improve student achievement is to reduce class size while in the online part of the survey, 79 percent of parents cited reducing class size.

The Class Size Matters survey also looked at some other questions. A majority of the parents polled said they opposed the DOE policy of holding back students because of low scores on standardized tests and a majority said that the emphasis on standardized tests caused “too much stress” for their children.

Parents also had doubts about mayoral control of the school system with most wanting the current system to be ended or changed. As Class Size Matters Executive Director Leonie Haimson said in announcing the survey results, parents believed the theory makes sense but the practice was flawed.

But the key aspect of the survey was class-size reduction. Parents clearly want it. So do educators. Now that there is no confusion on that point and now that the DOE has agreed to effect it, everyone needs to get on the same page to achieve that goal in the best way as quickly as possible. As we have pointed out before, class sizes need to be reduced at every level in every school, not just on average across the city. Using citywide averages — as the DOE has proposed — means that in some districts classes will be small but in crowded districts kids will still be packed into oversized classes. That won’t do. That, too, is crystal clear.