Leonie Haimson has long insisted that the single most effective intervention for children who are struggling in school is reduced class size. She has assembled an impressive body of research showing that class size gives teachers the time that they need for each child.

She has long been a critic of Mayor de Blasio’s Renewal Schools. The Mayor wanted to show that he could create a model of school improvement that differed sharply from the Bloomberg administration’s policy of closing schools in large numbers without any effort to help them.

Following the announcement that the city is closing or merging 15 of the Renewal schools, in addition to the 18 already closed, Haimson has written a scorching critique of the city’s refusal to reduce class size.

“Chancellor Fariña announced yesterday that the closure or merger of 15 more Renewal schools, to add to the 18 that were previously closed or merged.

“This means 33 Renewal schools of the original 94 have failed to improve sufficiently since the program began in 2014. Forty six of the Renewal schools will remain in the program for another year. The list of schools, including an additional five to be closed that were never in the Renewal program, is here.

“This record of failure is no surprise to many of us who have criticized the DOE’s plans for the Renewal schools since the program began in 2014. Despite the city’s promise to the state to focus their efforts on reducing class size in these struggling schools, only three of the Renewal schools capped class sizes last year at the appropriate levels designated in the city’s original Contract for Excellence plan — no more than 20 students per class in grades K-3, 23 in grades 4-8 and 25 in high school.

“Moreover, 70 percent of the Renewal schools continued to have maximum class sizes of 30 or more, and about half did not reduce class size by even one student per class. The DOE’s failure to take any demonstrable steps to reduce class sizes in the Renewal schools was cited in our class size complaint filed in July with the State Education Department, demanding that the CFE law be enforced…

“Instead of capping class sizes in these schools, the DOE spent about $40 million per year on consultants and bureaucrats to oversee the Renewal program, many of them with records marked by scandal and incompetence, as well as millions more on wrap-around services to create “community schools.” Though perhaps of value in themselves, these services do little to improve students’ opportunity to learn or teachers ability to teach…

“The contrast with an earlier NYC school reform effort is stark. When Rudy Crew headed DOE, he created a special program called the Chancellor’s district for the city’s lowest-performing schools. He consulted the research and used common sense by capping class sizes in these schools at no more than 20 students per class in K-3 and 25 in the higher grades, as well as taking other measures. The program was widely hailed as a success, but when Joel Klein took over as Chancellor, he disbanded the district. Lessons learned? Apparently none to this day– to the tragic detriment of NYC children.”