Core Knowledge and Class Size

by Clay Burell

categories: Charter Schools, Education Politics, Parent Voices, Standardized Tests

Published April 28, 2009 @ 03:14AM PT

I've been meaning to point this out ever since reading the Core Knowledge blog announce that the Carl C. Icahn Charter School is NYC's "toughest charter to get into."

Robert at the Core Knowledge blog points out:

The school had spots for less than 3% of its 868 applicants, the Daily News reports.  On last year’s state ELA test, 85.1% of students were proficient, more than double the rate of the surrounding district–as good an argument for the efficacy of a content-rich curriculum on reading achievement as one could want.  Math proficiency is even higher–over 97%.

Robert also points out that the school uses the Core Knowledge curriculum, and implies that curriculum is a factor in much of the school's success at those test scores (and has the school taken the more respected NAEP tests, instead of the easier NY state tests?).

I'm not going to dispute that possibility. I can get behind Core Knowledge in this respect, at least: if I understand it correctly, it pushes content-rich reading in a coherent, historically-grounded framework, instead of pushing scripted lessons and test-prep "reading" instruction. (I've already written about what I can't so easily get behind with CK.)

But there's another factor of Icahn charter that separates it from NYC public schools: class size.

From the NYC Public School Parents blog:

All classes at the school are capped at 18, according to its website and an article in the NY Sun. Classes run to 4 PM, with Saturday help for any child who needs it.

And yet this administration, which promotes charter schools at every opportunity, allowed class size to rise in our regular public schools in all grades this year but 4th – despite $150 million in state aid that was targeted specifically to reducing class size. More than 66,000 students-- or about one quarter of all NYC public school children in grades K-3 are now in classes of 25 or more– an increase of more than 11, 000 students compared to last year. There are nearly 14,000 students in grades 1-3 in classes over 28 – a 36% jump.

The size of Kindergarten classes increased so much that average class size is now as large as in 2002 – when the mayor was first elected. Next year will likely be worse – with hundreds of parents on waiting lists for their zoned neighborhood schools. See articles about waiting lists in Chelsea, Upper East side, and Greenwich village – even after increasing class size to 25 – the union contractual maximum -- in all these neighborhood schools.

The administration says it will provide 100,000 seats for charter school students by 2012 – though there are only 25,000 new seats in the entire proposed five year capital plan. This means that they are planning to take at least 75,000 seats from our already overcrowded regular public schools – with more closing of neighborhood schools to make way for charters, and higher class sizes for those kids sent elsewhere.

Everything's complicated.

Update: This blog has an interesting comparison/contrast of the Icahn school and other big-brand charters like KIPP and Green Dot. Especially noteworthy is that the teachers at Icahn aren't Teach For America naifs - and don't seem worked to the bone like KIPP's TFA-ers - but instead are professional teachers from NYC schools. Also noteworthy: the school days, weeks, and year aren't radically longer, as Arne Duncan is convinced they should be (and as they are with KIPP):

a) Nearly every charter school I've seen has a young leader (usually a TFA alum), whereas Litt is a grizzled veteran.

b) There's only a slightly extended school day -- 8:30-4 -- and no Saturdays or summer school (though maybe school started a week early in August?).

c) There are no TFA teachers on staff -- most of the teachers appear to have been recruiting from the NYC public schools (see below for one teacher's story).

d) There were few posters with slogans on the wall ("Work Hard.  Be Nice.", "Climbing the Mountain to College", etc.).

e) I didn't observe any of the teaching techniques that involved all the students chanting vocabulary words, doing multiplication with "oom-pop-drop" and the like.

I wonder how the compensation and benefits work here, compared to traditional public schools?