After last week's post of comments made to The Chalkboard by Vanderbilty University professor James Guthrie regarding the reliability of the high $5.6 billion payout figure he helped develop for the Campaign for Fiscal Equity case, several readers cried foul. They were thrown by Guthrie's suggestion that paying to lower class sizes doesn't necessarily translate to student achievement.

The issue of class size is important to many readers of tbis blog, particularly many charter schools where organizers say they don't wait for court cases to create the kind of class sizes they think are best (within a larger context of budgetary tradeoffs) they just do it.

But this note represents the sentiments of several readers who complained about Guthrie's comments:

Dear Chalkboard,

I would appreciate any opportunity to respond to Monday's guest on Chalkboard, James Guthrie, who asserted that smaller class size is not associated with higher levels of student achievement.

A few points in response:

1) Research has repeatedly shown lower class size to be associated with higher achievement. See the ClassSizeMatters web site for a specific studies. http://www.classsizematters.org/research.html

2) Based on the strength of this research, the US Department of Ed considers class size reduction as one of only four evidence-based strategies for improving school performance. 3) NY's highest court, the Court of Appeals found "evidence of the advantages of smaller class sizes supports the inference sufficiently to show a meaningful correlation between the large classes in City schools and the outputs."

4) The NY State Legislature has funded programs to reduce class size in grades K-3, although a State audit found the Bloomberg administration was not spending these funds as intended.

5) Private schools and charter schools routinely cite lower class size as a key element of their success.

6) Even the Bloomberg administration, while they have made no progress in reducing class size, has stated it ought to be a goal. Here's what they told the Panel for Educational Policy about their capital plan: "For all kindergarten through third grade classes throughout the city, reduce the capacity from 25 seats to 20 seats....The first time the SCA is building with class size reduction as the goal." Contrary to what Mr. Guthrie would have us believe, there is wide agreement on the efficacy of class size reduction.

We simply need the political will to deliver smaller classes for our children.

Patrick J. Sullivan
Parent Member and District 2 Captain
Class Size Matters


Also, for a good overview on the CFE case and especially some of what is left to settle, see the Gotham Gazette.