A letter from a reader in Los Angeles:
Hi Diane. I thought your readers would be interested to hear that the light might be shining in Los Angeles.
Could it be that there is some good news on the horizon for Los Angeles public schools? This Tuesday the school board will vote on a resolution to reduce class size. Parents throughout LA are thrilled that such a sound resolution is being proposed. Board member Bennett Kayser is sponsoring the measure with Richard Vladovic and Steve Zimmer co-sponsoring.
The resolution includes a commitment to “creating the most enriching academic environment for all students, which includes a reduction in class-size.
Class size reduction yields:
– Reduction in the achievement gap
– Early identification of learning disabilities
– Improved high school graduation rates
– Increased college entrance rates
– Improved student behavior”
They’re even proposing to bring back librarians. We hope parents, educators and advocates for public schools will contact their school board member and urge the school board to take this first step out of the dark ages of public education. Coming to the board meeting is even better. Tuesday, June 4, 9:00am at LAUSD headquarters.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What a concept. Reduced class sizes for “all” children and early identification of learning disabilities. Can someone who cares please move MI children and especially those languishing with unidentified learning disabilities to Californis?
This is why the billionaires want MAYORS to run the school districts! When board members are elected they want to do crazy things like add teachers and librarians which makes the budgets “unsustainable”— the new buzzword for those who favor austerity, low taxes, and deregulation over progress.
Although, I am thrilled with this good news, I am just a little apprehensive as well. If memory serves me well- the last time California attempted to implement lower class size, a wise and proven strategy for ensuring academic achievement for all students, there was chaos in terms of staffing and inadequate planning for space for classrooms. So while the proposal was a noble effort and certainly founded on quality research, in the eyes of the public (and those who might possibly have another agenda for public education) the concept of lower class size did not appear to work for LA or many California students. The research on the success of lower class size is solidly predicated on high-quality instruction. Lower class size as we all know is but one factor in school improvement and we all know that it will work if implemented properly.
I am ever so hopeful that there were lessons learned from past experiences and that LAUSD will get it right this go around and in doing so will serve as a shining beacon for the rest of country and leading the way for improved quality education for all children. America became a great nation because of its public education system, inspiring great thinking, learning, and leaders that continue inspire and hold hope as models for much of the world. This bold venture on the part of the LAUSD is certainly providing many of us with continued hope for the future and inspiration to hold on to our dreams for our children that we have been waiting and longing for during these past couple of turbulent decades. Thank you for sharing this news, Diane!
Linda Kauffmann: a good reminder that [in general] the posters on this blog don’t believe in magic feathers, single-shot panaceas,or silver bullets.
It’s not just about “lower class size” but also about doing it right.
If this gets passed, the [hopefully] more responsive and responsible LAUSD Board will implement it properly.
Fingers crossed.
Perhaps in the past LAUSD had problems with overcrowding but that is not the case now. Due to the construction bonds, LAUSD has an abundance of classrooms.Certainly more than they are using now. Lower class size is the right step to improving student achievement at this time. Maybe this elected board will see the light and start voting for proven ways to improve student achievement. In additiion it will utilize the thousand of displaced teachers who need their teaching jobs back.
Now the timing for class size reduction is right. LAUSD has an abundance of classroom space, an abundance of teachers who are displaced waiting for their classrooms. This is a positive and really no brainer. Let public schools experience what publicly funded charters do, low class sizes=higher levels of achievement.
What does that matter when they do not care if over 117,000 do not come to school everyday and the truancy is even worse. What about all those students they do not care are on the streets. This also cost LAUSD last year over $1.3 billion in lost revenue last year and over $6 billion over the last several years especially under the rule of Cortines, Deasy and Garcia, board president. I just ran the numbers on Mayor Villaraigosa’s schools PLAS and almost all of those schools have lower API gains/year after PLAS took over than before PLAS took over. What a mess. When are they going to do something about these students? Concerning the construction bonds and such. Yes there are a lot more seats since students do not come to school. Almost every lost teacher can be accounted for by the loss of students in fact it is within .7%. LAUSD is constructing for 2-3 times the average for constructing schools in the LAUSD area according to their records compared with the California Office of Public School Construction (OPSC) this means of the $27 billion bond fund over $13 billion was wasted and disappeared into the pockets of the construction firms and their owners. When I produced my spreadsheet on this in 2003 there has never again in the Strategic Execution Plan (SEP) the numbers to analyze just pretty color pictures. The Citizens Bond Advisory Committee is a joke beyond words. They are a rubber stamp for the fraud and waste. When you build for 2-3 times the estimate you can only build 1/2-1/3 of your projects as you run out of money. Now they also want to illegally use bond construction money for about a billion in tablets. You cannot buy equipment with that money unless it will last 10 years. Do you really think these tablets will last longer than a couple of years? LAUSD is an organized crime organization, RICO, which operates in a lawless manner. Maybe with Monica Ratliff being elected and going into office in July along with the change of board president we will see some changes. We will see. LAUSD always lies about its budget. An example, recently both superintendent Deasy and board president Garcia lied while testifying before an Assembly Select Committee on Preventing School Districts from going into Receivership or Bankruptcy that LAUSD only had $4,800/student when it was really $11,233/student. What they did not know at the time was that the committee members had the data to show they were lying. This is very common such as in their 2012-13 budget they show only 4.7% special education when according to the Chanda Smith monitor it is 11.47% and 24 % of all revenue to LAUSD is catagorical special education money which with the Governor Brown proposal for “Education Realignment” and “Flexibility” will allow school districts to spend that catagorical money any way they want to for anything but special education. Is this what we want? Do not forget that also with the Realignment and Flexibility there will be no state oversight as 80% of the budget for CDE is from the Feds to monitor NCLB and RTTT not for anything else. Think about it.
Students don,t go to overcrowded classrooms because they do not get the attention they need, especially the students who are the truant type. They usually need that little something more to motivate them and to improve comprehension. Betcha attendance will rise with smaller classrooms
as my mother always says when it’s a no-brainer…
‘It [smaller class size] can’t hurt.”