Classic On Class Size

A year ago in the NY Daily News I pointed out that class size reduction isn’t the silver bullet its touted to be and can carry real costs. Top-line is that all else equal it’s a good idea but all else is rarely equal in urban schools today.

Now, Michael Rebell, hardly a grinch, says the same thing — tied to the current class size debate in New York — in a very important NY Daily News op-ed about the ongoing CFE issues there:

As co-counsel for those who brought the landmark Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, I know how important class size reduction ultimately will be. But improving the quality of our teachers and principals must be priority No. 1. And a premature class-size reduction mandate is likely to lower the general quality of the teaching staff at a time when we desperately need to be raising it.