Charter-Free PS15: Cloning A Charter School From Connecticut (Gotham Gazette, August 2004)

Monday, March 17, 2008

Cloning A Charter School From Connecticut (Gotham Gazette, August 2004)

Cloning A Charter School From Connecticut (Gotham Gazette, August 2004)

Charter schools are nice, but some public schools with dedicated staff are just fine, too, thanks - and if we respect our unionized teachers, should we support charter schools who don't have to use them? And the privatization issue is still very much there....

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DOE class size reduction memo to principals

DOE class size reduction memo to principals
Leonie Haimson
Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 10:57 AM
To: emilyholiday@gmail.com, dmainie@aol.com
Cc: Leonie Haimson

See below and attached --especially:

“It is important, however, to be clear that the DOE will not place a new school or program in a building at the expense of those schools and programs already operating within the building. The current use of space, and the implementation and maintenance of reduced class size, will be considered as we make decisions to co-locate schools and programs…..

The DOE uses the NYC DOE Instructional Footprint (The Footprint), attached to this memo (see Appendix C), as its guiding document for determining the instructional space that any given school is allocated. While The Footprint does not prescribe a class size – it is predicated on the number of sections served per grade and does not assume a class size – it does assign supplemental specialty rooms (art room, science lab, etc.) based on over all school enrollment. Therefore, in using The Footprint to make decisions about the co-location of programs, the DOE will honor a school’s current class size – or the plan to reduce class size in the case where a principal has not previously been able to do so – but we will also expect that the school is making full use of specialty rooms consistent with The Footprint.
If you have questions about The Footprint or its application, please contact the ISC.”
·
· Appendix C: DOE Instructional Footprint

http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/66F06927-78D8-43C2-9873-F9427F44FAD4/0/class_size_memo.doc

To:

All DOE Principals
Date:
May 28, 2008
From:
Garth Harries, Chief Executive for Portfolio Development
CC:
SSO and Network Leaders, ISC Leaders and Staff, Superintendents and Senior Achievement Facilitators

Re:
2008-09 Class Size Reduction Guidance Memo

Dear Principal,
This year, the DOE continues its effort to empower and enable principals to prioritize personalization in the classroom through class size reduction or reduced teacher-student ratio. The following memo outlines a variety of class size reduction and personalization strategies given the resources available to principals, as well as system-wide resources that can you help to plan for and implement class size reduction.
As you establish your goals for next year and decide how to align resources, class size is a key consideration. Class size is one of the fundamental elements that determine how your teachers spend time with students- and resides at the intersection of complex decisions around staffing, scheduling, and facilities use.
Implementing reduced class size requires complex tradeoffs and decisions. The purpose of this memo is to help you to weigh these tradeoffs as your school conducts its comprehensive planning (i.e. your CEP and budgeting process this spring), direct you to available resources, as well as to make clear some of the ways the DOE will respect and accommodate your class size decisions. While you may already be implementing some of the strategies outlined in this memo, we hope that you find the following to be a useful framework for weighing the benefits and constraints associated with class size reduction as you develop your overall education plans and priorities.
The attached Class Size Planning Template (see Appendix A) provides a set of guiding questions to help you and your SLT assess and plan for class size reduction. This Planning Template may be included as an addendum to your CEP if class size reduction is one of your stated priorities. Please note that all schools identified for the 2008-09 Class Size Coaching Program must complete the Class size Planning Template. In addition, all schools using C4E resources to reduce class size must complete the CEP addendum on Contracts for Excellence expenditures. _____________________________________________________________________________
The primary approaches to increasing personalization that we will address in this memo are:
Class size reduction through the creations of additional classes/sections
Increased personalization through reduction of teacher-student ratio (co-teaching)
Increased personalization through reduced teacher loads, particularly at the MS and HS levels[1]
The following questions can help organize your thinking on class size reduction, and serve as the framework for the remainder of this memo:
· What does my class size data look like currently?
· Where can I target class size reduction or other personalization efforts to impact the highest need populations?
· How can I optimize my budget to achieve class size reduction?
· How will class size reduction impact my staffing plan?
· How can I use my current space to open additional classes?
· Would creative scheduling of staff and space allow me to reduce class size or teacher-to-student ratio?
· What kinds of professional development/support will my staff need to ensure that students receive the full instructional benefits of reduced class sizes?
· If I plan to reduce my class sizes, how can I ensure that my smaller class sizes will be preserved in light of enrollment and facilities policies?

The sections outlined below are intended to help answer these critical questions by providing strategies and resources to design an effective class size reduction plan.

What does my class size data look like currently?
Class size is one of many critical school characteristics, and it is important that you look at class sizes in conjunction with other performance metrics. The following ATS report will allow you to see your class size data:
i. Report RAVG: This report provides school-level class size data
1. For schools serving grades K-9 (where 9th grade is the terminal grade), this report will show three types of information: the school’s average class size, the official class list and the official class register. Data is reported separately for General Education/ Collaborative Team Teaching classes and for Self-contained Special Education classes.
2. For schools serving grades 9-12, this report will show the average class size by core course (English, math, social studies, and science) for classes marked as “Core” in HSST. Core class size data will be reported for General Education/Collaborative Team Teaching classes and for Self-contained Special Education classes. This report will show three types of information: number of core course sections, course register, and average class size.
Consider your class sizes against the following subpopulations:
i. Class sizes by grade (and course for high schools)
ii. Class size by grade and service level (Special Education vs. General Education)
iii. Class size by student population (Level I & II, ELL students)

Where can I target class size reduction to impact the highest need populations?
Across the board class size reduction can often be difficult to achieve given limited resources and space, but to the extent that you have the power to do targeted class size reduction, be deliberate about when and how you reduce class size to ensure that the staff, facility, and financial resources have the greatest impact. Possible target areas may include:
i. Transition grades: Target students enrolled in transition grades (i.e. early grades of elementary, middle or high school) for class size reduction in core and critical subjects.
ii. Target particular subjects for all grades (i.e. literacy, math, or theme based courses) and reduce the size of those classes.
iii. Early grades: Empirical evidence supports class size reduction in kindergarten through grade two as a successful strategy if the class size reduction is significant, with improved student performance that is maintained as students continue on in school.

How can I optimize my budget to achieve class size reduction?
If Class Size Reduction is one of your top priorities, be sure to indicate this to your ISC Budget Officer or ESO Business Manager who should be able to help you prioritize resources for class size reduction and optimize dollars to meet your priorities. Please refer to the CRAFT budget planning documents for more detailed guidance. To the extent that you want to prioritize class size reduction, you should come prepared to answer the following questions with regard to your staffing plan when you meet with your Budget Officer or ESO Business Manager:
i. Do I want to hire an additional teacher to help reduce class size?
1. Where additional rooms can be made available to open an additional class/section (see section below), hiring a new teacher to teach additional sections can significantly reduce class sizes.
2. Hiring resources:
a. Open Market System for Transfers- The Open Market Hiring System allows teachers to apply to transfer to your school. You can access the Open Market System through the Principals’ Portal or by going to http://www.nycboe.net/Applications/transferplani/login.aspx. The system will allow you to:
i. View detailed profiles of teachers who have an interest in transferring to your school- you can see their cover letter, resume, state certification / city license information, probation status, rating history, seniority, and service history
ii. Filter and search among teachers who have applied to transfer to your school.
iii. Add a detailed description of your vacancies (that are declared in Galaxy) so that prospective transfer applicants can see if a particular position is a good fit for them.
iv. Finalize the transfer of teachers through the on-line system.
b. New Teacher Finder- The New Teacher Finder is an easy-to-use online tool that helps you search for new teacher candidates who have passed a rigorous application pre-screen. The New Teachers Finder includes new applicants from all pathways, including Teaching Fellows and local and national recruits. You can access the new Teacher Finder through the Principals’ Portal or by going to: http://nyc.teacherssupportnetwork.com/Home.do. (Your user name and password will be the same as your current LAN user ID, e.g. jsmith4. You can change your password when you login for the first time.) Through the New Teacher Finder, you can:
i. View the profiles (including resumes and essays) of interested candidates and potential matches.
ii. Use advanced search criteria to find candidates.
iii. Highlight your school for prospective candidates.
iv. Create requests for applications.
c. Job Fairs
i. Throughout the spring and summer, the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality will be hosting career and hiring fairs where principals and other hiring representatives can meet new pre-screened teacher candidates, including traditional candidates and NYC Teaching Fellows. For Career Fair details or to register to attend, go to the Hiring page on the Principals’ Portal
d. General Assistance
i. Your HR partner in the ISC can provide support in your search for new or transferring teachers including use of the on-line tools.
ii. For additional assistance regarding new teacher applicants, contact the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality at (718) 935-4080.
ii. Do I want to hire an additional teacher to reduce teacher-student ratios through co-teaching?
1. Where additional rooms are not available, adding a second teacher to a class can be a powerful means to increase personalized attention. Most often, co-teaching combines two teachers of different experience levels, and it can be implemented in two ways:
a. Two teachers licensed in the same content area (i.e. an English class with two English teachers).
b. Two teachers licensed in two different content areas (i.e. a Humanities class with an English teacher and a history teacher).
2. If you are using Contracts for Excellence (C4E) resources to reduce Teacher-Student ratio, you must hire a full time teacher and implement a true co-teaching model, as described above. Part-time/Push-in teachers are not an allowable expenditure of C4E resources.
iii. How can I optimize use of my existing staff?
1. By assigning teaching responsibilities to all staff with a teacher title, you may be able to reduce teacher-student ratio, teacher load, and/or reduce class size. Examples include:
a. General example:
i. Utilize the 6th Period Coverage Provision whereby current staff in shortage license areas can be assigned an additional class in lieu of preparation periods. Teachers approved and scheduled to teach an additional five periods per week are compensated at a “special per session” semester rate of $5,660. Any school interested in this option should consult with their Human Resource Partner at the ISC for the procedure and application. Approval is required prior to the commencement of service.
b. Elementary School examples:
i. Move specialists into classrooms so that they support a smaller group of students daily rather than an entire student body a few times per week.
ii. Combine two classes into a single cluster with two teachers and a specialist.
b. High School examples:
i. Cut back on compensatory time positions.
ii. Increase instructional load for supervisors, coaches, etc. Assigning assistant principals to teach at least one or two classes. (This can only happen within CSA contractual limitations)
iii. Utilize advisories and peer mentoring to support students’ emotional and developmental needs. This should not be understood as a replacement to crisis or mandated counseling, but advisories will allow guidance counselors and social workers to focus their energies. It will also reduce the need for staff who have non-instructional (more guidance, social work or deans) functions.[2]

How can I use my current space to open additional classes?
Evaluate your school’s space against the DOE’s Instructional Footprint (See Appendix C - The Footprint). The Footprint document describes the minimum space allocation used by the DOE in facilities evaluations. The Footprint prescribes a space allocation based on a school’s total enrollment and number if sections and assumes a high programming efficiency for each room. Particularly if your school is at or over the classroom allocation prescribed by the Footprint, you may have significant opportunities to repurpose space for instructional use; however, all schools may benefit from considering strategies for increased space efficiency. The following suggestions may enable you to move towards greater building efficiency as described in the Footprint:
i. Program rooms throughout the day as a way to maximize classroom space:
1. Open a new class in a new classroom: Where space allows, the easiest way to reduce class size is to open a new class in a new room.
2. Use one room for multiple subjects. Depending on both the function of the room, and the number of periods a day it is scheduled, there may be potential to use one room for multiple subjects. It is important to consider the following:
a. Which subjects or teachers can travel?
b. Which subjects or teachers can share rooms?
1. Use common and small group instructional spaces for pull-out instruction when practical.
2. Where feasible, offer specialized instruction in shared rooms, as opposed to dedicating a room for it, especially if your school already has its requisite number of other cluster rooms and/or the specialized instruction does not occur throughout the entire school day.
ii. Add classrooms by repurposing non-instructional space:
1. Use all full-sized classrooms in the building as classrooms rather than as offices and for other non-instructional purposes.
2. If you are having trouble locating classroom furniture in order to facilitate this use, please talk with your custodian; many buildings have spare classroom furniture.
3. If facilities work is required to convert an administrative suite back to a classroom, please contact your Integrated Service Center (ISC) to schedule a meeting with facilities staff who can assess and approve office conversion projects. The DOE Facilities Portfolio Committee, which involves the School Construction Authority (SCA), Division of School Facilities (DSF), and other DOE offices and determines what projects are approved, generally places a priority on projects that increase the number of instructional classrooms in a school building by converting offices. This work is contingent on funding availability and efficient use of existing classrooms per the Footprint.
iii. Allocate private office space only to those administrators who require confidential space (i.e. guidance counselors, social workers, psychologists) and use a shared space model for other administrators. Small private conference rooms can be made available for sign-up for other staff.
iv. If Community Based Organizations (CBOs) or other non-DOE groups are housed within your building, work with them to ensure that the space they are allocated is effectively used through the school day and does not interfere with your ability to plan for reduced class sizes. If you have questions or concerns about such groups in your building or would like to learn more about the minimum Footprint allocation for CBOs and Beacon programs, contact your ISC.
Note: While there are advantages if every teacher (including specialized teachers) has their own classroom, in most buildings that is not possible, and so there are trade-offs between dedicated teacher rooms and class size reduction. If teachers do not have their own room, be thoughtful about creating space where they can work during prep periods, particularly in ways that encourage collaboration.

Would thoughtful scheduling of staff and space allow me to reduce class size or student-to-teacher ratio?
Consider the following scheduling solutions that can help you free up additional teaching staff or reduce teacher load:
i. Middle School/High School Examples:
1. Consider programming large student sections in lunch and physical education in order to program smaller classes opposite those blocks – as these are times that allow for a large number of students to be covered outside of academic classrooms – to maximize use of classroom space.
2. At the secondary school level, a principal can reduce teacher load by scheduling teachers for longer instructional blocks with fewer distinct sections of students. This may not reduce class size, but it does increase the individualized attention that students receive. It can be particularly effective when combined with teacher teaming (i.e. teachers across disciplines responsible for the same group of students)
3. Where necessary, lengthen the school day by scheduling teachers on overlapping schedules and programming smaller classes at the beginning and end of the school day.
4. Offer credit-bearing, after-school classes
5. Offer internships, community service and external learning: Where appropriate in your school’s sequence, foster out-of-school supervised learning experiences for high school students that count as credit bearing coursework. This will reduce the number of students on site and allow you to maximize the use of classroom space and teachers
6. See Appendix B: Scheduling for a general scheduling resource and planning guide. For additional support around scheduling issues, contact your SSO. Each SSO should have dedicated scheduling support staff to assist Principals with the development of innovative scheduling and staffing models.

What kinds of professional development/support will my staff need to ensure that students receive the full instructional benefits of reduced class sizes?
The structural decisions you make about how to organize classes reflect the priorities of the schools. You should use your professional development opportunities to ensure that teachers are supported within whatever structure you choose to organize their classrooms and time.
Co-teaching: This model is typically successful if – and only if – all three of the following supports are in place:
i. Targeted professional development is made available to the co-teachers.
ii. Time is created to allow those teachers to plan together
iii. The majority of the instruction will be small group work that takes advantage of having two teachers in the room,
Targeted instruction: If class size reduction is intended to help a particular population of students, you need to make sure that your teachers are learning strategies that address the needs of those students to maximize the benefits of more personalized learning environments.
i. For example, if reduced class sizes are intended to help teachers give individual attention to struggling readers, teacher professional development should be aligned to ensure that teachers are prepared with skills and strategies to work with those readers.

If I reduce my class sizes, how can I ensure that my smaller class sizes will be preserved in light of enrollment and facilities policies?
We know that there can be factors outside of principal control that make it difficult to implement and maintain reduced class size. In this section of the memo we reiterate recent DOE policies that, when adhered to, will support your implementation of reduced class size.
If I plan for reduced class size based on my projected register, how can I ensure that students will not be enrolled over the number projected?
A school’s October 31 Register Projection guides enrollment for the school. This number drives budget allocations, space planning, and, perhaps most importantly, subsequent admissions to the school. When assigning students at all grade levels, The Office of Student Enrollment (Student Enrollment) honors overall grade-level enrollment projections to the extent possible. That is, rather than enrolling students based on the number of students in a class (at the elementary and middle school level), enrollment happens based on the projected register, so that schools can plan their program based on those projections.[3]
In general, as long as schools serve their overall projected enrollment, and admit and accept students in accordance with approved enrollment policies, schools can and should organize in whatever class size they can achieve given their budget, space, and schedule, and the DOE will make a good faith effort to honor and protect class size decisions made by schools based on their projected registers.
The caveat, which is significant, is that Student Enrollment must also ensure that all students are enrolled in an appropriate program and school, no matter the projected register. The implications of this caveat are as follows:
i. Zoning:
1. A zoned school has a responsibility to serve all children who live within its attendance zone in accordance with policies outlined in this regulation. Therefore, in no case may a zoned school cap a grade to achieve or maintain reduced class size in any grade. Only the Office of Student Enrollment may close a grade to further enrollment.
2. Further, if a zoned school reaches maximum class size in one or more grades, and no classrooms are available to form new classes, then classes in grades with reduced class size must be consolidated, to the extent possible, before zoned students may be diverted to other schools.
3. Enrollment policies regarding zoning and admission are outlined in Chancellor’s Regulation A101. In particular:
a. Students zoned for an elementary or middle school have priority for enrollment in those schools and must be accommodated before assignments are made to non-zoned students.
b. Zoned schools are required to register zoned students and must accept zoned students subject to available seats as determined by the Office of Student Enrollment.
c. Students seeking admission to a non-zoned elementary and middle school or to an elementary or middle school for which they are not zoned may only be assigned/registered by the Office of Student Enrollment.
d. In other words, a school should only enroll students who:
i. are zoned to the school (if applicable)
ii. otherwise participate in the established admissions or choice processes
iii. were assigned by the Office of Student Enrollment.
If a school admits students outside of established enrollment procedures, then it may not be possible to honor projected registers and reduced class sizes.
ii. Instructional Programs
1. A school cannot consolidate or eliminate targeted instructional programs in order to achieve or maintain reduced class size. This includes Pre-Kindergarten classes and special education classes.
2. Furthermore, a school cannot lower class size at the expense of other schools and/or programs in the building.

iii. Register Fluctuations and Planning for your October 31 Register Projection
1. Please note as part of the Register Projection Process, we anticipate that prior to October 31, the date that registers are “frozen” for budget purposes, your registers will fluctuate. In other words, sometimes your register will be above the October 31 target and at other times it may fall below. The reason for this is as follows:
a. Your school’s register will include Long Term Absences[4] (LTAs). The October 31 register projections which drive your budget do not include LTAs and thus you do not get budget for LTAs.
b. Each school will experience attrition. Each school’s attrition rate is taken into account in determining a school’s register projection including the number of students that are enrolled over-the-counter.
c. Attrition occurs gradually, so at times registers may appear higher as attrition has not yet been fully realized.
d. “Seats” are identified when “live registers” fall below the October 31 targets. You therefore may continue to receive students even when your register is above your October 31 target because you have LTAs and/or because attrition is still occurring.
Schools are responsible for planning for their full October 31 target register. To the extent that school plan for reduced class size at their target enrollment, and operate in accordance with the caveats above, Student Enrollment will endeavor to honor class size reduction efforts.
How does the DOE make decisions about Co-location of schools? If I choose to reduce class size in my existing space, how do I know that I will be able to maintain space for reduced class size?
We wish every school could have its own building, but in a city with limited space, we have to make good use of our infrastructure to support the creation of new programs, traditional public schools, and charter public schools. There are currently more than 600 schools operating in a shared space setting around the city, and that number will continue to grow as we strive to create more and better school and program options for New York City schools and families. It is important, however, to be clear that the DOE will not place a new school or program in a building at the expense of those schools and programs already operating within the building. The current use of space, and the implementation and maintenance of reduced class size, will be considered as we make decisions to co-locate schools and programs.
The DOE uses the NYC DOE Instructional Footprint (The Footprint), attached to this memo (see Appendix C), as its guiding document for determining the instructional space that any given school is allocated. While The Footprint does not prescribe a class size – it is predicated on the number of sections served per grade and does not assume a class size – it does assign supplemental specialty rooms (art room, science lab, etc.) based on over all school enrollment. Therefore, in using The Footprint to make decisions about the co-location of programs, the DOE will honor a school’s current class size – or the plan to reduce class size in the case where a principal has not previously been able to do so – but we will also expect that the school is making full use of specialty rooms consistent with The Footprint.
If you have questions about The Footprint or its application, please contact the ISC.

As principal, you know best what your school community needs in order for your students to succeed, and these policies are designed to support you as you make decisions for your school. We hope that the information in this memo and its appendices is helpful to you as you plan for the coming school year.
If you would like help implementing any of these strategies, or if you have other good ideas you can share, please contact your School Support Organization (SSO), who can help you consider the trade-offs implicit in planning class size and programming your school.

ATTACHMENTS:
APPENDIX A: Class Size Reduction Planning Template
APPENDIX B: MS/HS Scheduling
APPENDIX C: DOE Instructional Footprint

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
212-674-7320
leonie@att.net
www.classsizematters.org
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/

Please make a tax-deductible contribution to Class Size Matters now!

[1] Please note, only the first two personalization strategies listed above – addition of a class or co-teaching - qualify as acceptable uses of C4E resources.
[2] Note UFT contractual limitations: Where Advisory is run by a teacher, it counts against Teaching Time.
[3] For more details information about the Register Projection Process and the Appeals Process go to: https://www.nycboe.net/AdminOrg/Finance/budget/dbor/dbor_intranet/REGPROJ_INTRANET/Reg_Proj_Default.html

[4] For enrollment purposes, an LTA is generally defined as a student who is absent for 20 consecutive days or more.
[0,"\u003ctable class\u003datt cellspacing\u003d0 cellpadding\u003d5 border\u003d0\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd\u003e\u003ctable cellspacing\u003d0 cellpadding\u003d0\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd\u003e\u003ca target\u003d_blank href\u003d\"?ui\u003d1\u0026attid\u003d0.1\u0026disp\u003dattd\u0026view\u003datt\u0026th\u003d11a49c8d76814ef6\"\u003e\u003cimg width\u003d16 height\u003d16 src\u003d\"/mail/images/doc.gif\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003ctd width\u003d7\u003e\u003ctd\u003e\u003cb\u003eHarries class size memo to principals 2008.doc\u003c/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e810K \u003ca target\u003d_blank href\u003d\"?ui\u003d1\u0026attid\u003d0.1\u0026disp\u003dvah\u0026view\u003datt\u0026th\u003d11a49c8d76814ef6\"\u003eView as HTML\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href \u003d\"?ui\u003d1\u0026attid\u003d0.1\u0026disp\u003dattd\u0026view\u003datt\u0026th\u003d11a49c8d76814ef6\"\u003eDownload\u003c/a\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/table\u003e","11a49c8d76814ef6"]
DOE class size reduction memo to principals
Leonie Haimson
Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 10:57 AM
To: emilyholiday@gmail.com, dmainie@aol.com
Cc: Leonie Haimson

See below and attached --especially:

“It is important, however, to be clear that the DOE will not place a new school or program in a building at the expense of those schools and programs already operating within the building. The current use of space, and the implementation and maintenance of reduced class size, will be considered as we make decisions to co-locate schools and programs…..

The DOE uses the NYC DOE Instructional Footprint (The Footprint), attached to this memo (see Appendix C), as its guiding document for determining the instructional space that any given school is allocated. While The Footprint does not prescribe a class size – it is predicated on the number of sections served per grade and does not assume a class size – it does assign supplemental specialty rooms (art room, science lab, etc.) based on over all school enrollment. Therefore, in using The Footprint to make decisions about the co-location of programs, the DOE will honor a school’s current class size – or the plan to reduce class size in the case where a principal has not previously been able to do so – but we will also expect that the school is making full use of specialty rooms consistent with The Footprint.
If you have questions about The Footprint or its application, please contact the ISC.”
·
· Appendix C: DOE Instructional Footprint

http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/66F06927-78D8-43C2-9873-F9427F44FAD4/0/class_size_memo.doc

To:

All DOE Principals
Date:
May 28, 2008
From:
Garth Harries, Chief Executive for Portfolio Development
CC:
SSO and Network Leaders, ISC Leaders and Staff, Superintendents and Senior Achievement Facilitators

Re:
2008-09 Class Size Reduction Guidance Memo

Dear Principal,
This year, the DOE continues its effort to empower and enable principals to prioritize personalization in the classroom through class size reduction or reduced teacher-student ratio. The following memo outlines a variety of class size reduction and personalization strategies given the resources available to principals, as well as system-wide resources that can you help to plan for and implement class size reduction.
As you establish your goals for next year and decide how to align resources, class size is a key consideration. Class size is one of the fundamental elements that determine how your teachers spend time with students- and resides at the intersection of complex decisions around staffing, scheduling, and facilities use.
Implementing reduced class size requires complex tradeoffs and decisions. The purpose of this memo is to help you to weigh these tradeoffs as your school conducts its comprehensive planning (i.e. your CEP and budgeting process this spring), direct you to available resources, as well as to make clear some of the ways the DOE will respect and accommodate your class size decisions. While you may already be implementing some of the strategies outlined in this memo, we hope that you find the following to be a useful framework for weighing the benefits and constraints associated with class size reduction as you develop your overall education plans and priorities.
The attached Class Size Planning Template (see Appendix A) provides a set of guiding questions to help you and your SLT assess and plan for class size reduction. This Planning Template may be included as an addendum to your CEP if class size reduction is one of your stated priorities. Please note that all schools identified for the 2008-09 Class Size Coaching Program must complete the Class size Planning Template. In addition, all schools using C4E resources to reduce class size must complete the CEP addendum on Contracts for Excellence expenditures. _____________________________________________________________________________
The primary approaches to increasing personalization that we will address in this memo are:
Class size reduction through the creations of additional classes/sections
Increased personalization through reduction of teacher-student ratio (co-teaching)
Increased personalization through reduced teacher loads, particularly at the MS and HS levels[1]
The following questions can help organize your thinking on class size reduction, and serve as the framework for the remainder of this memo:
· What does my class size data look like currently?
· Where can I target class size reduction or other personalization efforts to impact the highest need populations?
· How can I optimize my budget to achieve class size reduction?
· How will class size reduction impact my staffing plan?
· How can I use my current space to open additional classes?
· Would creative scheduling of staff and space allow me to reduce class size or teacher-to-student ratio?
· What kinds of professional development/support will my staff need to ensure that students receive the full instructional benefits of reduced class sizes?
· If I plan to reduce my class sizes, how can I ensure that my smaller class sizes will be preserved in light of enrollment and facilities policies?

The sections outlined below are intended to help answer these critical questions by providing strategies and resources to design an effective class size reduction plan.

What does my class size data look like currently?
Class size is one of many critical school characteristics, and it is important that you look at class sizes in conjunction with other performance metrics. The following ATS report will allow you to see your class size data:
i. Report RAVG: This report provides school-level class size data
1. For schools serving grades K-9 (where 9th grade is the terminal grade), this report will show three types of information: the school’s average class size, the official class list and the official class register. Data is reported separately for General Education/ Collaborative Team Teaching classes and for Self-contained Special Education classes.
2. For schools serving grades 9-12, this report will show the average class size by core course (English, math, social studies, and science) for classes marked as “Core” in HSST. Core class size data will be reported for General Education/Collaborative Team Teaching classes and for Self-contained Special Education classes. This report will show three types of information: number of core course sections, course register, and average class size.
Consider your class sizes against the following subpopulations:
i. Class sizes by grade (and course for high schools)
ii. Class size by grade and service level (Special Education vs. General Education)
iii. Class size by student population (Level I & II, ELL students)

Where can I target class size reduction to impact the highest need populations?
Across the board class size reduction can often be difficult to achieve given limited resources and space, but to the extent that you have the power to do targeted class size reduction, be deliberate about when and how you reduce class size to ensure that the staff, facility, and financial resources have the greatest impact. Possible target areas may include:
i. Transition grades: Target students enrolled in transition grades (i.e. early grades of elementary, middle or high school) for class size reduction in core and critical subjects.
ii. Target particular subjects for all grades (i.e. literacy, math, or theme based courses) and reduce the size of those classes.
iii. Early grades: Empirical evidence supports class size reduction in kindergarten through grade two as a successful strategy if the class size reduction is significant, with improved student performance that is maintained as students continue on in school.

How can I optimize my budget to achieve class size reduction?
If Class Size Reduction is one of your top priorities, be sure to indicate this to your ISC Budget Officer or ESO Business Manager who should be able to help you prioritize resources for class size reduction and optimize dollars to meet your priorities. Please refer to the CRAFT budget planning documents for more detailed guidance. To the extent that you want to prioritize class size reduction, you should come prepared to answer the following questions with regard to your staffing plan when you meet with your Budget Officer or ESO Business Manager:
i. Do I want to hire an additional teacher to help reduce class size?
1. Where additional rooms can be made available to open an additional class/section (see section below), hiring a new teacher to teach additional sections can significantly reduce class sizes.
2. Hiring resources:
a. Open Market System for Transfers- The Open Market Hiring System allows teachers to apply to transfer to your school. You can access the Open Market System through the Principals’ Portal or by going to http://www.nycboe.net/Applications/transferplani/login.aspx. The system will allow you to:
i. View detailed profiles of teachers who have an interest in transferring to your school- you can see their cover letter, resume, state certification / city license information, probation status, rating history, seniority, and service history
ii. Filter and search among teachers who have applied to transfer to your school.
iii. Add a detailed description of your vacancies (that are declared in Galaxy) so that prospective transfer applicants can see if a particular position is a good fit for them.
iv. Finalize the transfer of teachers through the on-line system.
b. New Teacher Finder- The New Teacher Finder is an easy-to-use online tool that helps you search for new teacher candidates who have passed a rigorous application pre-screen. The New Teachers Finder includes new applicants from all pathways, including Teaching Fellows and local and national recruits. You can access the new Teacher Finder through the Principals’ Portal or by going to: http://nyc.teacherssupportnetwork.com/Home.do. (Your user name and password will be the same as your current LAN user ID, e.g. jsmith4. You can change your password when you login for the first time.) Through the New Teacher Finder, you can:
i. View the profiles (including resumes and essays) of interested candidates and potential matches.
ii. Use advanced search criteria to find candidates.
iii. Highlight your school for prospective candidates.
iv. Create requests for applications.
c. Job Fairs
i. Throughout the spring and summer, the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality will be hosting career and hiring fairs where principals and other hiring representatives can meet new pre-screened teacher candidates, including traditional candidates and NYC Teaching Fellows. For Career Fair details or to register to attend, go to the Hiring page on the Principals’ Portal
d. General Assistance
i. Your HR partner in the ISC can provide support in your search for new or transferring teachers including use of the on-line tools.
ii. For additional assistance regarding new teacher applicants, contact the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality at (718) 935-4080.
ii. Do I want to hire an additional teacher to reduce teacher-student ratios through co-teaching?
1. Where additional rooms are not available, adding a second teacher to a class can be a powerful means to increase personalized attention. Most often, co-teaching combines two teachers of different experience levels, and it can be implemented in two ways:
a. Two teachers licensed in the same content area (i.e. an English class with two English teachers).
b. Two teachers licensed in two different content areas (i.e. a Humanities class with an English teacher and a history teacher).
2. If you are using Contracts for Excellence (C4E) resources to reduce Teacher-Student ratio, you must hire a full time teacher and implement a true co-teaching model, as described above. Part-time/Push-in teachers are not an allowable expenditure of C4E resources.
iii. How can I optimize use of my existing staff?
1. By assigning teaching responsibilities to all staff with a teacher title, you may be able to reduce teacher-student ratio, teacher load, and/or reduce class size. Examples include:
a. General example:
i. Utilize the 6th Period Coverage Provision whereby current staff in shortage license areas can be assigned an additional class in lieu of preparation periods. Teachers approved and scheduled to teach an additional five periods per week are compensated at a “special per session” semester rate of $5,660. Any school interested in this option should consult with their Human Resource Partner at the ISC for the procedure and application. Approval is required prior to the commencement of service.
b. Elementary School examples:
i. Move specialists into classrooms so that they support a smaller group of students daily rather than an entire student body a few times per week.
ii. Combine two classes into a single cluster with two teachers and a specialist.
b. High School examples:
i. Cut back on compensatory time positions.
ii. Increase instructional load for supervisors, coaches, etc. Assigning assistant principals to teach at least one or two classes. (This can only happen within CSA contractual limitations)
iii. Utilize advisories and peer mentoring to support students’ emotional and developmental needs. This should not be understood as a replacement to crisis or mandated counseling, but advisories will allow guidance counselors and social workers to focus their energies. It will also reduce the need for staff who have non-instructional (more guidance, social work or deans) functions.[2]

How can I use my current space to open additional classes?
Evaluate your school’s space against the DOE’s Instructional Footprint (See Appendix C - The Footprint). The Footprint document describes the minimum space allocation used by the DOE in facilities evaluations. The Footprint prescribes a space allocation based on a school’s total enrollment and number if sections and assumes a high programming efficiency for each room. Particularly if your school is at or over the classroom allocation prescribed by the Footprint, you may have significant opportunities to repurpose space for instructional use; however, all schools may benefit from considering strategies for increased space efficiency. The following suggestions may enable you to move towards greater building efficiency as described in the Footprint:
i. Program rooms throughout the day as a way to maximize classroom space:
1. Open a new class in a new classroom: Where space allows, the easiest way to reduce class size is to open a new class in a new room.
2. Use one room for multiple subjects. Depending on both the function of the room, and the number of periods a day it is scheduled, there may be potential to use one room for multiple subjects. It is important to consider the following:
a. Which subjects or teachers can travel?
b. Which subjects or teachers can share rooms?
1. Use common and small group instructional spaces for pull-out instruction when practical.
2. Where feasible, offer specialized instruction in shared rooms, as opposed to dedicating a room for it, especially if your school already has its requisite number of other cluster rooms and/or the specialized instruction does not occur throughout the entire school day.
ii. Add classrooms by repurposing non-instructional space:
1. Use all full-sized classrooms in the building as classrooms rather than as offices and for other non-instructional purposes.
2. If you are having trouble locating classroom furniture in order to facilitate this use, please talk with your custodian; many buildings have spare classroom furniture.
3. If facilities work is required to convert an administrative suite back to a classroom, please contact your Integrated Service Center (ISC) to schedule a meeting with facilities staff who can assess and approve office conversion projects. The DOE Facilities Portfolio Committee, which involves the School Construction Authority (SCA), Division of School Facilities (DSF), and other DOE offices and determines what projects are approved, generally places a priority on projects that increase the number of instructional classrooms in a school building by converting offices. This work is contingent on funding availability and efficient use of existing classrooms per the Footprint.
iii. Allocate private office space only to those administrators who require confidential space (i.e. guidance counselors, social workers, psychologists) and use a shared space model for other administrators. Small private conference rooms can be made available for sign-up for other staff.
iv. If Community Based Organizations (CBOs) or other non-DOE groups are housed within your building, work with them to ensure that the space they are allocated is effectively used through the school day and does not interfere with your ability to plan for reduced class sizes. If you have questions or concerns about such groups in your building or would like to learn more about the minimum Footprint allocation for CBOs and Beacon programs, contact your ISC.
Note: While there are advantages if every teacher (including specialized teachers) has their own classroom, in most buildings that is not possible, and so there are trade-offs between dedicated teacher rooms and class size reduction. If teachers do not have their own room, be thoughtful about creating space where they can work during prep periods, particularly in ways that encourage collaboration.

Would thoughtful scheduling of staff and space allow me to reduce class size or student-to-teacher ratio?
Consider the following scheduling solutions that can help you free up additional teaching staff or reduce teacher load:
i. Middle School/High School Examples:
1. Consider programming large student sections in lunch and physical education in order to program smaller classes opposite those blocks – as these are times that allow for a large number of students to be covered outside of academic classrooms – to maximize use of classroom space.
2. At the secondary school level, a principal can reduce teacher load by scheduling teachers for longer instructional blocks with fewer distinct sections of students. This may not reduce class size, but it does increase the individualized attention that students receive. It can be particularly effective when combined with teacher teaming (i.e. teachers across disciplines responsible for the same group of students)
3. Where necessary, lengthen the school day by scheduling teachers on overlapping schedules and programming smaller classes at the beginning and end of the school day.
4. Offer credit-bearing, after-school classes
5. Offer internships, community service and external learning: Where appropriate in your school’s sequence, foster out-of-school supervised learning experiences for high school students that count as credit bearing coursework. This will reduce the number of students on site and allow you to maximize the use of classroom space and teachers
6. See Appendix B: Scheduling for a general scheduling resource and planning guide. For additional support around scheduling issues, contact your SSO. Each SSO should have dedicated scheduling support staff to assist Principals with the development of innovative scheduling and staffing models.

What kinds of professional development/support will my staff need to ensure that students receive the full instructional benefits of reduced class sizes?
The structural decisions you make about how to organize classes reflect the priorities of the schools. You should use your professional development opportunities to ensure that teachers are supported within whatever structure you choose to organize their classrooms and time.
Co-teaching: This model is typically successful if – and only if – all three of the following supports are in place:
i. Targeted professional development is made available to the co-teachers.
ii. Time is created to allow those teachers to plan together
iii. The majority of the instruction will be small group work that takes advantage of having two teachers in the room,
Targeted instruction: If class size reduction is intended to help a particular population of students, you need to make sure that your teachers are learning strategies that address the needs of those students to maximize the benefits of more personalized learning environments.
i. For example, if reduced class sizes are intended to help teachers give individual attention to struggling readers, teacher professional development should be aligned to ensure that teachers are prepared with skills and strategies to work with those readers.

If I reduce my class sizes, how can I ensure that my smaller class sizes will be preserved in light of enrollment and facilities policies?
We know that there can be factors outside of principal control that make it difficult to implement and maintain reduced class size. In this section of the memo we reiterate recent DOE policies that, when adhered to, will support your implementation of reduced class size.
If I plan for reduced class size based on my projected register, how can I ensure that students will not be enrolled over the number projected?
A school’s October 31 Register Projection guides enrollment for the school. This number drives budget allocations, space planning, and, perhaps most importantly, subsequent admissions to the school. When assigning students at all grade levels, The Office of Student Enrollment (Student Enrollment) honors overall grade-level enrollment projections to the extent possible. That is, rather than enrolling students based on the number of students in a class (at the elementary and middle school level), enrollment happens based on the projected register, so that schools can plan their program based on those projections.[3]
In general, as long as schools serve their overall projected enrollment, and admit and accept students in accordance with approved enrollment policies, schools can and should organize in whatever class size they can achieve given their budget, space, and schedule, and the DOE will make a good faith effort to honor and protect class size decisions made by schools based on their projected registers.
The caveat, which is significant, is that Student Enrollment must also ensure that all students are enrolled in an appropriate program and school, no matter the projected register. The implications of this caveat are as follows:
i. Zoning:
1. A zoned school has a responsibility to serve all children who live within its attendance zone in accordance with policies outlined in this regulation. Therefore, in no case may a zoned school cap a grade to achieve or maintain reduced class size in any grade. Only the Office of Student Enrollment may close a grade to further enrollment.
2. Further, if a zoned school reaches maximum class size in one or more grades, and no classrooms are available to form new classes, then classes in grades with reduced class size must be consolidated, to the extent possible, before zoned students may be diverted to other schools.
3. Enrollment policies regarding zoning and admission are outlined in Chancellor’s Regulation A101. In particular:
a. Students zoned for an elementary or middle school have priority for enrollment in those schools and must be accommodated before assignments are made to non-zoned students.
b. Zoned schools are required to register zoned students and must accept zoned students subject to available seats as determined by the Office of Student Enrollment.
c. Students seeking admission to a non-zoned elementary and middle school or to an elementary or middle school for which they are not zoned may only be assigned/registered by the Office of Student Enrollment.
d. In other words, a school should only enroll students who:
i. are zoned to the school (if applicable)
ii. otherwise participate in the established admissions or choice processes
iii. were assigned by the Office of Student Enrollment.
If a school admits students outside of established enrollment procedures, then it may not be possible to honor projected registers and reduced class sizes.
ii. Instructional Programs
1. A school cannot consolidate or eliminate targeted instructional programs in order to achieve or maintain reduced class size. This includes Pre-Kindergarten classes and special education classes.
2. Furthermore, a school cannot lower class size at the expense of other schools and/or programs in the building.

iii. Register Fluctuations and Planning for your October 31 Register Projection
1. Please note as part of the Register Projection Process, we anticipate that prior to October 31, the date that registers are “frozen” for budget purposes, your registers will fluctuate. In other words, sometimes your register will be above the October 31 target and at other times it may fall below. The reason for this is as follows:
a. Your school’s register will include Long Term Absences[4] (LTAs). The October 31 register projections which drive your budget do not include LTAs and thus you do not get budget for LTAs.
b. Each school will experience attrition. Each school’s attrition rate is taken into account in determining a school’s register projection including the number of students that are enrolled over-the-counter.
c. Attrition occurs gradually, so at times registers may appear higher as attrition has not yet been fully realized.
d. “Seats” are identified when “live registers” fall below the October 31 targets. You therefore may continue to receive students even when your register is above your October 31 target because you have LTAs and/or because attrition is still occurring.
Schools are responsible for planning for their full October 31 target register. To the extent that school plan for reduced class size at their target enrollment, and operate in accordance with the caveats above, Student Enrollment will endeavor to honor class size reduction efforts.
How does the DOE make decisions about Co-location of schools? If I choose to reduce class size in my existing space, how do I know that I will be able to maintain space for reduced class size?
We wish every school could have its own building, but in a city with limited space, we have to make good use of our infrastructure to support the creation of new programs, traditional public schools, and charter public schools. There are currently more than 600 schools operating in a shared space setting around the city, and that number will continue to grow as we strive to create more and better school and program options for New York City schools and families. It is important, however, to be clear that the DOE will not place a new school or program in a building at the expense of those schools and programs already operating within the building. The current use of space, and the implementation and maintenance of reduced class size, will be considered as we make decisions to co-locate schools and programs.
The DOE uses the NYC DOE Instructional Footprint (The Footprint), attached to this memo (see Appendix C), as its guiding document for determining the instructional space that any given school is allocated. While The Footprint does not prescribe a class size – it is predicated on the number of sections served per grade and does not assume a class size – it does assign supplemental specialty rooms (art room, science lab, etc.) based on over all school enrollment. Therefore, in using The Footprint to make decisions about the co-location of programs, the DOE will honor a school’s current class size – or the plan to reduce class size in the case where a principal has not previously been able to do so – but we will also expect that the school is making full use of specialty rooms consistent with The Footprint.
If you have questions about The Footprint or its application, please contact the ISC.

As principal, you know best what your school community needs in order for your students to succeed, and these policies are designed to support you as you make decisions for your school. We hope that the information in this memo and its appendices is helpful to you as you plan for the coming school year.
If you would like help implementing any of these strategies, or if you have other good ideas you can share, please contact your School Support Organization (SSO), who can help you consider the trade-offs implicit in planning class size and programming your school.

ATTACHMENTS:
APPENDIX A: Class Size Reduction Planning Template
APPENDIX B: MS/HS Scheduling
APPENDIX C: DOE Instructional Footprint

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
212-674-7320
leonie@att.net
www.classsizematters.org
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/

Please make a tax-deductible contribution to Class Size Matters now!

[1] Please note, only the first two personalization strategies listed above – addition of a class or co-teaching - qualify as acceptable uses of C4E resources.
[2] Note UFT contractual limitations: Where Advisory is run by a teacher, it counts against Teaching Time.
[3] For more details information about the Register Projection Process and the Appeals Process go to: https://www.nycboe.net/AdminOrg/Finance/budget/dbor/dbor_intranet/REGPROJ_INTRANET/Reg_Proj_Default.html

[4] For enrollment purposes, an LTA is generally defined as a student who is absent for 20 consecutive days or more.
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DOE class size reduction memo to principals
Leonie Haimson
Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 10:57 AM
To: emilyholiday@gmail.com, dmainie@aol.com
Cc: Leonie Haimson

See below and attached --especially:

“It is important, however, to be clear that the DOE will not place a new school or program in a building at the expense of those schools and programs already operating within the building. The current use of space, and the implementation and maintenance of reduced class size, will be considered as we make decisions to co-locate schools and programs…..

The DOE uses the NYC DOE Instructional Footprint (The Footprint), attached to this memo (see Appendix C), as its guiding document for determining the instructional space that any given school is allocated. While The Footprint does not prescribe a class size – it is predicated on the number of sections served per grade and does not assume a class size – it does assign supplemental specialty rooms (art room, science lab, etc.) based on over all school enrollment. Therefore, in using The Footprint to make decisions about the co-location of programs, the DOE will honor a school’s current class size – or the plan to reduce class size in the case where a principal has not previously been able to do so – but we will also expect that the school is making full use of specialty rooms consistent with The Footprint.
If you have questions about The Footprint or its application, please contact the ISC.”
·
· Appendix C: DOE Instructional Footprint

http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/66F06927-78D8-43C2-9873-F9427F44FAD4/0/class_size_memo.doc

To:

All DOE Principals
Date:
May 28, 2008
From:
Garth Harries, Chief Executive for Portfolio Development
CC:
SSO and Network Leaders, ISC Leaders and Staff, Superintendents and Senior Achievement Facilitators

Re:
2008-09 Class Size Reduction Guidance Memo

Dear Principal,
This year, the DOE continues its effort to empower and enable principals to prioritize personalization in the classroom through class size reduction or reduced teacher-student ratio. The following memo outlines a variety of class size reduction and personalization strategies given the resources available to principals, as well as system-wide resources that can you help to plan for and implement class size reduction.
As you establish your goals for next year and decide how to align resources, class size is a key consideration. Class size is one of the fundamental elements that determine how your teachers spend time with students- and resides at the intersection of complex decisions around staffing, scheduling, and facilities use.
Implementing reduced class size requires complex tradeoffs and decisions. The purpose of this memo is to help you to weigh these tradeoffs as your school conducts its comprehensive planning (i.e. your CEP and budgeting process this spring), direct you to available resources, as well as to make clear some of the ways the DOE will respect and accommodate your class size decisions. While you may already be implementing some of the strategies outlined in this memo, we hope that you find the following to be a useful framework for weighing the benefits and constraints associated with class size reduction as you develop your overall education plans and priorities.
The attached Class Size Planning Template (see Appendix A) provides a set of guiding questions to help you and your SLT assess and plan for class size reduction. This Planning Template may be included as an addendum to your CEP if class size reduction is one of your stated priorities. Please note that all schools identified for the 2008-09 Class Size Coaching Program must complete the Class size Planning Template. In addition, all schools using C4E resources to reduce class size must complete the CEP addendum on Contracts for Excellence expenditures. _____________________________________________________________________________
The primary approaches to increasing personalization that we will address in this memo are:
Class size reduction through the creations of additional classes/sections
Increased personalization through reduction of teacher-student ratio (co-teaching)
Increased personalization through reduced teacher loads, particularly at the MS and HS levels[1]
The following questions can help organize your thinking on class size reduction, and serve as the framework for the remainder of this memo:
· What does my class size data look like currently?
· Where can I target class size reduction or other personalization efforts to impact the highest need populations?
· How can I optimize my budget to achieve class size reduction?
· How will class size reduction impact my staffing plan?
· How can I use my current space to open additional classes?
· Would creative scheduling of staff and space allow me to reduce class size or teacher-to-student ratio?
· What kinds of professional development/support will my staff need to ensure that students receive the full instructional benefits of reduced class sizes?
· If I plan to reduce my class sizes, how can I ensure that my smaller class sizes will be preserved in light of enrollment and facilities policies?

The sections outlined below are intended to help answer these critical questions by providing strategies and resources to design an effective class size reduction plan.

What does my class size data look like currently?
Class size is one of many critical school characteristics, and it is important that you look at class sizes in conjunction with other performance metrics. The following ATS report will allow you to see your class size data:
i. Report RAVG: This report provides school-level class size data
1. For schools serving grades K-9 (where 9th grade is the terminal grade), this report will show three types of information: the school’s average class size, the official class list and the official class register. Data is reported separately for General Education/ Collaborative Team Teaching classes and for Self-contained Special Education classes.
2. For schools serving grades 9-12, this report will show the average class size by core course (English, math, social studies, and science) for classes marked as “Core” in HSST. Core class size data will be reported for General Education/Collaborative Team Teaching classes and for Self-contained Special Education classes. This report will show three types of information: number of core course sections, course register, and average class size.
Consider your class sizes against the following subpopulations:
i. Class sizes by grade (and course for high schools)
ii. Class size by grade and service level (Special Education vs. General Education)
iii. Class size by student population (Level I & II, ELL students)

Where can I target class size reduction to impact the highest need populations?
Across the board class size reduction can often be difficult to achieve given limited resources and space, but to the extent that you have the power to do targeted class size reduction, be deliberate about when and how you reduce class size to ensure that the staff, facility, and financial resources have the greatest impact. Possible target areas may include:
i. Transition grades: Target students enrolled in transition grades (i.e. early grades of elementary, middle or high school) for class size reduction in core and critical subjects.
ii. Target particular subjects for all grades (i.e. literacy, math, or theme based courses) and reduce the size of those classes.
iii. Early grades: Empirical evidence supports class size reduction in kindergarten through grade two as a successful strategy if the class size reduction is significant, with improved student performance that is maintained as students continue on in school.

How can I optimize my budget to achieve class size reduction?
If Class Size Reduction is one of your top priorities, be sure to indicate this to your ISC Budget Officer or ESO Business Manager who should be able to help you prioritize resources for class size reduction and optimize dollars to meet your priorities. Please refer to the CRAFT budget planning documents for more detailed guidance. To the extent that you want to prioritize class size reduction, you should come prepared to answer the following questions with regard to your staffing plan when you meet with your Budget Officer or ESO Business Manager:
i. Do I want to hire an additional teacher to help reduce class size?
1. Where additional rooms can be made available to open an additional class/section (see section below), hiring a new teacher to teach additional sections can significantly reduce class sizes.
2. Hiring resources:
a. Open Market System for Transfers- The Open Market Hiring System allows teachers to apply to transfer to your school. You can access the Open Market System through the Principals’ Portal or by going to http://www.nycboe.net/Applications/transferplani/login.aspx. The system will allow you to:
i. View detailed profiles of teachers who have an interest in transferring to your school- you can see their cover letter, resume, state certification / city license information, probation status, rating history, seniority, and service history
ii. Filter and search among teachers who have applied to transfer to your school.
iii. Add a detailed description of your vacancies (that are declared in Galaxy) so that prospective transfer applicants can see if a particular position is a good fit for them.
iv. Finalize the transfer of teachers through the on-line system.
b. New Teacher Finder- The New Teacher Finder is an easy-to-use online tool that helps you search for new teacher candidates who have passed a rigorous application pre-screen. The New Teachers Finder includes new applicants from all pathways, including Teaching Fellows and local and national recruits. You can access the new Teacher Finder through the Principals’ Portal or by going to: http://nyc.teacherssupportnetwork.com/Home.do. (Your user name and password will be the same as your current LAN user ID, e.g. jsmith4. You can change your password when you login for the first time.) Through the New Teacher Finder, you can:
i. View the profiles (including resumes and essays) of interested candidates and potential matches.
ii. Use advanced search criteria to find candidates.
iii. Highlight your school for prospective candidates.
iv. Create requests for applications.
c. Job Fairs
i. Throughout the spring and summer, the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality will be hosting career and hiring fairs where principals and other hiring representatives can meet new pre-screened teacher candidates, including traditional candidates and NYC Teaching Fellows. For Career Fair details or to register to attend, go to the Hiring page on the Principals’ Portal
d. General Assistance
i. Your HR partner in the ISC can provide support in your search for new or transferring teachers including use of the on-line tools.
ii. For additional assistance regarding new teacher applicants, contact the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality at (718) 935-4080.
ii. Do I want to hire an additional teacher to reduce teacher-student ratios through co-teaching?
1. Where additional rooms are not available, adding a second teacher to a class can be a powerful means to increase personalized attention. Most often, co-teaching combines two teachers of different experience levels, and it can be implemented in two ways:
a. Two teachers licensed in the same content area (i.e. an English class with two English teachers).
b. Two teachers licensed in two different content areas (i.e. a Humanities class with an English teacher and a history teacher).
2. If you are using Contracts for Excellence (C4E) resources to reduce Teacher-Student ratio, you must hire a full time teacher and implement a true co-teaching model, as described above. Part-time/Push-in teachers are not an allowable expenditure of C4E resources.
iii. How can I optimize use of my existing staff?
1. By assigning teaching responsibilities to all staff with a teacher title, you may be able to reduce teacher-student ratio, teacher load, and/or reduce class size. Examples include:
a. General example:
i. Utilize the 6th Period Coverage Provision whereby current staff in shortage license areas can be assigned an additional class in lieu of preparation periods. Teachers approved and scheduled to teach an additional five periods per week are compensated at a “special per session” semester rate of $5,660. Any school interested in this option should consult with their Human Resource Partner at the ISC for the procedure and application. Approval is required prior to the commencement of service.
b. Elementary School examples:
i. Move specialists into classrooms so that they support a smaller group of students daily rather than an entire student body a few times per week.
ii. Combine two classes into a single cluster with two teachers and a specialist.
b. High School examples:
i. Cut back on compensatory time positions.
ii. Increase instructional load for supervisors, coaches, etc. Assigning assistant principals to teach at least one or two classes. (This can only happen within CSA contractual limitations)
iii. Utilize advisories and peer mentoring to support students’ emotional and developmental needs. This should not be understood as a replacement to crisis or mandated counseling, but advisories will allow guidance counselors and social workers to focus their energies. It will also reduce the need for staff who have non-instructional (more guidance, social work or deans) functions.[2]

How can I use my current space to open additional classes?
Evaluate your school’s space against the DOE’s Instructional Footprint (See Appendix C - The Footprint). The Footprint document describes the minimum space allocation used by the DOE in facilities evaluations. The Footprint prescribes a space allocation based on a school’s total enrollment and number if sections and assumes a high programming efficiency for each room. Particularly if your school is at or over the classroom allocation prescribed by the Footprint, you may have significant opportunities to repurpose space for instructional use; however, all schools may benefit from considering strategies for increased space efficiency. The following suggestions may enable you to move towards greater building efficiency as described in the Footprint:
i. Program rooms throughout the day as a way to maximize classroom space:
1. Open a new class in a new classroom: Where space allows, the easiest way to reduce class size is to open a new class in a new room.
2. Use one room for multiple subjects. Depending on both the function of the room, and the number of periods a day it is scheduled, there may be potential to use one room for multiple subjects. It is important to consider the following:
a. Which subjects or teachers can travel?
b. Which subjects or teachers can share rooms?
1. Use common and small group instructional spaces for pull-out instruction when practical.
2. Where feasible, offer specialized instruction in shared rooms, as opposed to dedicating a room for it, especially if your school already has its requisite number of other cluster rooms and/or the specialized instruction does not occur throughout the entire school day.
ii. Add classrooms by repurposing non-instructional space:
1. Use all full-sized classrooms in the building as classrooms rather than as offices and for other non-instructional purposes.
2. If you are having trouble locating classroom furniture in order to facilitate this use, please talk with your custodian; many buildings have spare classroom furniture.
3. If facilities work is required to convert an administrative suite back to a classroom, please contact your Integrated Service Center (ISC) to schedule a meeting with facilities staff who can assess and approve office conversion projects. The DOE Facilities Portfolio Committee, which involves the School Construction Authority (SCA), Division of School Facilities (DSF), and other DOE offices and determines what projects are approved, generally places a priority on projects that increase the number of instructional classrooms in a school building by converting offices. This work is contingent on funding availability and efficient use of existing classrooms per the Footprint.
iii. Allocate private office space only to those administrators who require confidential space (i.e. guidance counselors, social workers, psychologists) and use a shared space model for other administrators. Small private conference rooms can be made available for sign-up for other staff.
iv. If Community Based Organizations (CBOs) or other non-DOE groups are housed within your building, work with them to ensure that the space they are allocated is effectively used through the school day and does not interfere with your ability to plan for reduced class sizes. If you have questions or concerns about such groups in your building or would like to learn more about the minimum Footprint allocation for CBOs and Beacon programs, contact your ISC.
Note: While there are advantages if every teacher (including specialized teachers) has their own classroom, in most buildings that is not possible, and so there are trade-offs between dedicated teacher rooms and class size reduction. If teachers do not have their own room, be thoughtful about creating space where they can work during prep periods, particularly in ways that encourage collaboration.

Would thoughtful scheduling of staff and space allow me to reduce class size or student-to-teacher ratio?
Consider the following scheduling solutions that can help you free up additional teaching staff or reduce teacher load:
i. Middle School/High School Examples:
1. Consider programming large student sections in lunch and physical education in order to program smaller classes opposite those blocks – as these are times that allow for a large number of students to be covered outside of academic classrooms – to maximize use of classroom space.
2. At the secondary school level, a principal can reduce teacher load by scheduling teachers for longer instructional blocks with fewer distinct sections of students. This may not reduce class size, but it does increase the individualized attention that students receive. It can be particularly effective when combined with teacher teaming (i.e. teachers across disciplines responsible for the same group of students)
3. Where necessary, lengthen the school day by scheduling teachers on overlapping schedules and programming smaller classes at the beginning and end of the school day.
4. Offer credit-bearing, after-school classes
5. Offer internships, community service and external learning: Where appropriate in your school’s sequence, foster out-of-school supervised learning experiences for high school students that count as credit bearing coursework. This will reduce the number of students on site and allow you to maximize the use of classroom space and teachers
6. See Appendix B: Scheduling for a general scheduling resource and planning guide. For additional support around scheduling issues, contact your SSO. Each SSO should have dedicated scheduling support staff to assist Principals with the development of innovative scheduling and staffing models.

What kinds of professional development/support will my staff need to ensure that students receive the full instructional benefits of reduced class sizes?
The structural decisions you make about how to organize classes reflect the priorities of the schools. You should use your professional development opportunities to ensure that teachers are supported within whatever structure you choose to organize their classrooms and time.
Co-teaching: This model is typically successful if – and only if – all three of the following supports are in place:
i. Targeted professional development is made available to the co-teachers.
ii. Time is created to allow those teachers to plan together
iii. The majority of the instruction will be small group work that takes advantage of having two teachers in the room,
Targeted instruction: If class size reduction is intended to help a particular population of students, you need to make sure that your teachers are learning strategies that address the needs of those students to maximize the benefits of more personalized learning environments.
i. For example, if reduced class sizes are intended to help teachers give individual attention to struggling readers, teacher professional development should be aligned to ensure that teachers are prepared with skills and strategies to work with those readers.

If I reduce my class sizes, how can I ensure that my smaller class sizes will be preserved in light of enrollment and facilities policies?
We know that there can be factors outside of principal control that make it difficult to implement and maintain reduced class size. In this section of the memo we reiterate recent DOE policies that, when adhered to, will support your implementation of reduced class size.
If I plan for reduced class size based on my projected register, how can I ensure that students will not be enrolled over the number projected?
A school’s October 31 Register Projection guides enrollment for the school. This number drives budget allocations, space planning, and, perhaps most importantly, subsequent admissions to the school. When assigning students at all grade levels, The Office of Student Enrollment (Student Enrollment) honors overall grade-level enrollment projections to the extent possible. That is, rather than enrolling students based on the number of students in a class (at the elementary and middle school level), enrollment happens based on the projected register, so that schools can plan their program based on those projections.[3]
In general, as long as schools serve their overall projected enrollment, and admit and accept students in accordance with approved enrollment policies, schools can and should organize in whatever class size they can achieve given their budget, space, and schedule, and the DOE will make a good faith effort to honor and protect class size decisions made by schools based on their projected registers.
The caveat, which is significant, is that Student Enrollment must also ensure that all students are enrolled in an appropriate program and school, no matter the projected register. The implications of this caveat are as follows:
i. Zoning:
1. A zoned school has a responsibility to serve all children who live within its attendance zone in accordance with policies outlined in this regulation. Therefore, in no case may a zoned school cap a grade to achieve or maintain reduced class size in any grade. Only the Office of Student Enrollment may close a grade to further enrollment.
2. Further, if a zoned school reaches maximum class size in one or more grades, and no classrooms are available to form new classes, then classes in grades with reduced class size must be consolidated, to the extent possible, before zoned students may be diverted to other schools.
3. Enrollment policies regarding zoning and admission are outlined in Chancellor’s Regulation A101. In particular:
a. Students zoned for an elementary or middle school have priority for enrollment in those schools and must be accommodated before assignments are made to non-zoned students.
b. Zoned schools are required to register zoned students and must accept zoned students subject to available seats as determined by the Office of Student Enrollment.
c. Students seeking admission to a non-zoned elementary and middle school or to an elementary or middle school for which they are not zoned may only be assigned/registered by the Office of Student Enrollment.
d. In other words, a school should only enroll students who:
i. are zoned to the school (if applicable)
ii. otherwise participate in the established admissions or choice processes
iii. were assigned by the Office of Student Enrollment.
If a school admits students outside of established enrollment procedures, then it may not be possible to honor projected registers and reduced class sizes.
ii. Instructional Programs
1. A school cannot consolidate or eliminate targeted instructional programs in order to achieve or maintain reduced class size. This includes Pre-Kindergarten classes and special education classes.
2. Furthermore, a school cannot lower class size at the expense of other schools and/or programs in the building.

iii. Register Fluctuations and Planning for your October 31 Register Projection
1. Please note as part of the Register Projection Process, we anticipate that prior to October 31, the date that registers are “frozen” for budget purposes, your registers will fluctuate. In other words, sometimes your register will be above the October 31 target and at other times it may fall below. The reason for this is as follows:
a. Your school’s register will include Long Term Absences[4] (LTAs). The October 31 register projections which drive your budget do not include LTAs and thus you do not get budget for LTAs.
b. Each school will experience attrition. Each school’s attrition rate is taken into account in determining a school’s register projection including the number of students that are enrolled over-the-counter.
c. Attrition occurs gradually, so at times registers may appear higher as attrition has not yet been fully realized.
d. “Seats” are identified when “live registers” fall below the October 31 targets. You therefore may continue to receive students even when your register is above your October 31 target because you have LTAs and/or because attrition is still occurring.
Schools are responsible for planning for their full October 31 target register. To the extent that school plan for reduced class size at their target enrollment, and operate in accordance with the caveats above, Student Enrollment will endeavor to honor class size reduction efforts.
How does the DOE make decisions about Co-location of schools? If I choose to reduce class size in my existing space, how do I know that I will be able to maintain space for reduced class size?
We wish every school could have its own building, but in a city with limited space, we have to make good use of our infrastructure to support the creation of new programs, traditional public schools, and charter public schools. There are currently more than 600 schools operating in a shared space setting around the city, and that number will continue to grow as we strive to create more and better school and program options for New York City schools and families. It is important, however, to be clear that the DOE will not place a new school or program in a building at the expense of those schools and programs already operating within the building. The current use of space, and the implementation and maintenance of reduced class size, will be considered as we make decisions to co-locate schools and programs.
The DOE uses the NYC DOE Instructional Footprint (The Footprint), attached to this memo (see Appendix C), as its guiding document for determining the instructional space that any given school is allocated. While The Footprint does not prescribe a class size – it is predicated on the number of sections served per grade and does not assume a class size – it does assign supplemental specialty rooms (art room, science lab, etc.) based on over all school enrollment. Therefore, in using The Footprint to make decisions about the co-location of programs, the DOE will honor a school’s current class size – or the plan to reduce class size in the case where a principal has not previously been able to do so – but we will also expect that the school is making full use of specialty rooms consistent with The Footprint.
If you have questions about The Footprint or its application, please contact the ISC.

As principal, you know best what your school community needs in order for your students to succeed, and these policies are designed to support you as you make decisions for your school. We hope that the information in this memo and its appendices is helpful to you as you plan for the coming school year.
If you would like help implementing any of these strategies, or if you have other good ideas you can share, please contact your School Support Organization (SSO), who can help you consider the trade-offs implicit in planning class size and programming your school.

ATTACHMENTS:
APPENDIX A: Class Size Reduction Planning Template
APPENDIX B: MS/HS Scheduling
APPENDIX C: DOE Instructional Footprint

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
212-674-7320
leonie@att.net
www.classsizematters.org
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/

Please make a tax-deductible contribution to Class Size Matters now!

[1] Please note, only the first two personalization strategies listed above – addition of a class or co-teaching - qualify as acceptable uses of C4E resources.
[2] Note UFT contractual limitations: Where Advisory is run by a teacher, it counts against Teaching Time.
[3] For more details information about the Register Projection Process and the Appeals Process go to: https://www.nycboe.net/AdminOrg/Finance/budget/dbor/dbor_intranet/REGPROJ_INTRANET/Reg_Proj_Default.html

[4] For enrollment purposes, an LTA is generally defined as a student who is absent for 20 consecutive days or more.
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DOE class size reduction memo to principals
Leonie Haimson
Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 10:57 AM
To: emilyholiday@gmail.com, dmainie@aol.com
Cc: Leonie Haimson

See below and attached --especially:

“It is important, however, to be clear that the DOE will not place a new school or program in a building at the expense of those schools and programs already operating within the building. The current use of space, and the implementation and maintenance of reduced class size, will be considered as we make decisions to co-locate schools and programs…..

The DOE uses the NYC DOE Instructional Footprint (The Footprint), attached to this memo (see Appendix C), as its guiding document for determining the instructional space that any given school is allocated. While The Footprint does not prescribe a class size – it is predicated on the number of sections served per grade and does not assume a class size – it does assign supplemental specialty rooms (art room, science lab, etc.) based on over all school enrollment. Therefore, in using The Footprint to make decisions about the co-location of programs, the DOE will honor a school’s current class size – or the plan to reduce class size in the case where a principal has not previously been able to do so – but we will also expect that the school is making full use of specialty rooms consistent with The Footprint.
If you have questions about The Footprint or its application, please contact the ISC.”
·
· Appendix C: DOE Instructional Footprint

http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/66F06927-78D8-43C2-9873-F9427F44FAD4/0/class_size_memo.doc

To:

All DOE Principals
Date:
May 28, 2008
From:
Garth Harries, Chief Executive for Portfolio Development
CC:
SSO and Network Leaders, ISC Leaders and Staff, Superintendents and Senior Achievement Facilitators

Re:
2008-09 Class Size Reduction Guidance Memo

Dear Principal,
This year, the DOE continues its effort to empower and enable principals to prioritize personalization in the classroom through class size reduction or reduced teacher-student ratio. The following memo outlines a variety of class size reduction and personalization strategies given the resources available to principals, as well as system-wide resources that can you help to plan for and implement class size reduction.
As you establish your goals for next year and decide how to align resources, class size is a key consideration. Class size is one of the fundamental elements that determine how your teachers spend time with students- and resides at the intersection of complex decisions around staffing, scheduling, and facilities use.
Implementing reduced class size requires complex tradeoffs and decisions. The purpose of this memo is to help you to weigh these tradeoffs as your school conducts its comprehensive planning (i.e. your CEP and budgeting process this spring), direct you to available resources, as well as to make clear some of the ways the DOE will respect and accommodate your class size decisions. While you may already be implementing some of the strategies outlined in this memo, we hope that you find the following to be a useful framework for weighing the benefits and constraints associated with class size reduction as you develop your overall education plans and priorities.
The attached Class Size Planning Template (see Appendix A) provides a set of guiding questions to help you and your SLT assess and plan for class size reduction. This Planning Template may be included as an addendum to your CEP if class size reduction is one of your stated priorities. Please note that all schools identified for the 2008-09 Class Size Coaching Program must complete the Class size Planning Template. In addition, all schools using C4E resources to reduce class size must complete the CEP addendum on Contracts for Excellence expenditures. _____________________________________________________________________________
The primary approaches to increasing personalization that we will address in this memo are:
Class size reduction through the creations of additional classes/sections
Increased personalization through reduction of teacher-student ratio (co-teaching)
Increased personalization through reduced teacher loads, particularly at the MS and HS levels[1]
The following questions can help organize your thinking on class size reduction, and serve as the framework for the remainder of this memo:
· What does my class size data look like currently?
· Where can I target class size reduction or other personalization efforts to impact the highest need populations?
· How can I optimize my budget to achieve class size reduction?
· How will class size reduction impact my staffing plan?
· How can I use my current space to open additional classes?
· Would creative scheduling of staff and space allow me to reduce class size or teacher-to-student ratio?
· What kinds of professional development/support will my staff need to ensure that students receive the full instructional benefits of reduced class sizes?
· If I plan to reduce my class sizes, how can I ensure that my smaller class sizes will be preserved in light of enrollment and facilities policies?

The sections outlined below are intended to help answer these critical questions by providing strategies and resources to design an effective class size reduction plan.

What does my class size data look like currently?
Class size is one of many critical school characteristics, and it is important that you look at class sizes in conjunction with other performance metrics. The following ATS report will allow you to see your class size data:
i. Report RAVG: This report provides school-level class size data
1. For schools serving grades K-9 (where 9th grade is the terminal grade), this report will show three types of information: the school’s average class size, the official class list and the official class register. Data is reported separately for General Education/ Collaborative Team Teaching classes and for Self-contained Special Education classes.
2. For schools serving grades 9-12, this report will show the average class size by core course (English, math, social studies, and science) for classes marked as “Core” in HSST. Core class size data will be reported for General Education/Collaborative Team Teaching classes and for Self-contained Special Education classes. This report will show three types of information: number of core course sections, course register, and average class size.
Consider your class sizes against the following subpopulations:
i. Class sizes by grade (and course for high schools)
ii. Class size by grade and service level (Special Education vs. General Education)
iii. Class size by student population (Level I & II, ELL students)

Where can I target class size reduction to impact the highest need populations?
Across the board class size reduction can often be difficult to achieve given limited resources and space, but to the extent that you have the power to do targeted class size reduction, be deliberate about when and how you reduce class size to ensure that the staff, facility, and financial resources have the greatest impact. Possible target areas may include:
i. Transition grades: Target students enrolled in transition grades (i.e. early grades of elementary, middle or high school) for class size reduction in core and critical subjects.
ii. Target particular subjects for all grades (i.e. literacy, math, or theme based courses) and reduce the size of those classes.
iii. Early grades: Empirical evidence supports class size reduction in kindergarten through grade two as a successful strategy if the class size reduction is significant, with improved student performance that is maintained as students continue on in school.

How can I optimize my budget to achieve class size reduction?
If Class Size Reduction is one of your top priorities, be sure to indicate this to your ISC Budget Officer or ESO Business Manager who should be able to help you prioritize resources for class size reduction and optimize dollars to meet your priorities. Please refer to the CRAFT budget planning documents for more detailed guidance. To the extent that you want to prioritize class size reduction, you should come prepared to answer the following questions with regard to your staffing plan when you meet with your Budget Officer or ESO Business Manager:
i. Do I want to hire an additional teacher to help reduce class size?
1. Where additional rooms can be made available to open an additional class/section (see section below), hiring a new teacher to teach additional sections can significantly reduce class sizes.
2. Hiring resources:
a. Open Market System for Transfers- The Open Market Hiring System allows teachers to apply to transfer to your school. You can access the Open Market System through the Principals’ Portal or by going to http://www.nycboe.net/Applications/transferplani/login.aspx. The system will allow you to:
i. View detailed profiles of teachers who have an interest in transferring to your school- you can see their cover letter, resume, state certification / city license information, probation status, rating history, seniority, and service history
ii. Filter and search among teachers who have applied to transfer to your school.
iii. Add a detailed description of your vacancies (that are declared in Galaxy) so that prospective transfer applicants can see if a particular position is a good fit for them.
iv. Finalize the transfer of teachers through the on-line system.
b. New Teacher Finder- The New Teacher Finder is an easy-to-use online tool that helps you search for new teacher candidates who have passed a rigorous application pre-screen. The New Teachers Finder includes new applicants from all pathways, including Teaching Fellows and local and national recruits. You can access the new Teacher Finder through the Principals’ Portal or by going to: http://nyc.teacherssupportnetwork.com/Home.do. (Your user name and password will be the same as your current LAN user ID, e.g. jsmith4. You can change your password when you login for the first time.) Through the New Teacher Finder, you can:
i. View the profiles (including resumes and essays) of interested candidates and potential matches.
ii. Use advanced search criteria to find candidates.
iii. Highlight your school for prospective candidates.
iv. Create requests for applications.
c. Job Fairs
i. Throughout the spring and summer, the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality will be hosting career and hiring fairs where principals and other hiring representatives can meet new pre-screened teacher candidates, including traditional candidates and NYC Teaching Fellows. For Career Fair details or to register to attend, go to the Hiring page on the Principals’ Portal
d. General Assistance
i. Your HR partner in the ISC can provide support in your search for new or transferring teachers including use of the on-line tools.
ii. For additional assistance regarding new teacher applicants, contact the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality at (718) 935-4080.
ii. Do I want to hire an additional teacher to reduce teacher-student ratios through co-teaching?
1. Where additional rooms are not available, adding a second teacher to a class can be a powerful means to increase personalized attention. Most often, co-teaching combines two teachers of different experience levels, and it can be implemented in two ways:
a. Two teachers licensed in the same content area (i.e. an English class with two English teachers).
b. Two teachers licensed in two different content areas (i.e. a Humanities class with an English teacher and a history teacher).
2. If you are using Contracts for Excellence (C4E) resources to reduce Teacher-Student ratio, you must hire a full time teacher and implement a true co-teaching model, as described above. Part-time/Push-in teachers are not an allowable expenditure of C4E resources.
iii. How can I optimize use of my existing staff?
1. By assigning teaching responsibilities to all staff with a teacher title, you may be able to reduce teacher-student ratio, teacher load, and/or reduce class size. Examples include:
a. General example:
i. Utilize the 6th Period Coverage Provision whereby current staff in shortage license areas can be assigned an additional class in lieu of preparation periods. Teachers approved and scheduled to teach an additional five periods per week are compensated at a “special per session” semester rate of $5,660. Any school interested in this option should consult with their Human Resource Partner at the ISC for the procedure and application. Approval is required prior to the commencement of service.
b. Elementary School examples:
i. Move specialists into classrooms so that they support a smaller group of students daily rather than an entire student body a few times per week.
ii. Combine two classes into a single cluster with two teachers and a specialist.
b. High School examples:
i. Cut back on compensatory time positions.
ii. Increase instructional load for supervisors, coaches, etc. Assigning assistant principals to teach at least one or two classes. (This can only happen within CSA contractual limitations)
iii. Utilize advisories and peer mentoring to support students’ emotional and developmental needs. This should not be understood as a replacement to crisis or mandated counseling, but advisories will allow guidance counselors and social workers to focus their energies. It will also reduce the need for staff who have non-instructional (more guidance, social work or deans) functions.[2]

How can I use my current space to open additional classes?
Evaluate your school’s space against the DOE’s Instructional Footprint (See Appendix C - The Footprint). The Footprint document describes the minimum space allocation used by the DOE in facilities evaluations. The Footprint prescribes a space allocation based on a school’s total enrollment and number if sections and assumes a high programming efficiency for each room. Particularly if your school is at or over the classroom allocation prescribed by the Footprint, you may have significant opportunities to repurpose space for instructional use; however, all schools may benefit from considering strategies for increased space efficiency. The following suggestions may enable you to move towards greater building efficiency as described in the Footprint:
i. Program rooms throughout the day as a way to maximize classroom space:
1. Open a new class in a new classroom: Where space allows, the easiest way to reduce class size is to open a new class in a new room.
2. Use one room for multiple subjects. Depending on both the function of the room, and the number of periods a day it is scheduled, there may be potential to use one room for multiple subjects. It is important to consider the following:
a. Which subjects or teachers can travel?
b. Which subjects or teachers can share rooms?
1. Use common and small group instructional spaces for pull-out instruction when practical.
2. Where feasible, offer specialized instruction in shared rooms, as opposed to dedicating a room for it, especially if your school already has its requisite number of other cluster rooms and/or the specialized instruction does not occur throughout the entire school day.
ii. Add classrooms by repurposing non-instructional space:
1. Use all full-sized classrooms in the building as classrooms rather than as offices and for other non-instructional purposes.
2. If you are having trouble locating classroom furniture in order to facilitate this use, please talk with your custodian; many buildings have spare classroom furniture.
3. If facilities work is required to convert an administrative suite back to a classroom, please contact your Integrated Service Center (ISC) to schedule a meeting with facilities staff who can assess and approve office conversion projects. The DOE Facilities Portfolio Committee, which involves the School Construction Authority (SCA), Division of School Facilities (DSF), and other DOE offices and determines what projects are approved, generally places a priority on projects that increase the number of instructional classrooms in a school building by converting offices. This work is contingent on funding availability and efficient use of existing classrooms per the Footprint.
iii. Allocate private office space only to those administrators who require confidential space (i.e. guidance counselors, social workers, psychologists) and use a shared space model for other administrators. Small private conference rooms can be made available for sign-up for other staff.
iv. If Community Based Organizations (CBOs) or other non-DOE groups are housed within your building, work with them to ensure that the space they are allocated is effectively used through the school day and does not interfere with your ability to plan for reduced class sizes. If you have questions or concerns about such groups in your building or would like to learn more about the minimum Footprint allocation for CBOs and Beacon programs, contact your ISC.
Note: While there are advantages if every teacher (including specialized teachers) has their own classroom, in most buildings that is not possible, and so there are trade-offs between dedicated teacher rooms and class size reduction. If teachers do not have their own room, be thoughtful about creating space where they can work during prep periods, particularly in ways that encourage collaboration.

Would thoughtful scheduling of staff and space allow me to reduce class size or student-to-teacher ratio?
Consider the following scheduling solutions that can help you free up additional teaching staff or reduce teacher load:
i. Middle School/High School Examples:
1. Consider programming large student sections in lunch and physical education in order to program smaller classes opposite those blocks – as these are times that allow for a large number of students to be covered outside of academic classrooms – to maximize use of classroom space.
2. At the secondary school level, a principal can reduce teacher load by scheduling teachers for longer instructional blocks with fewer distinct sections of students. This may not reduce class size, but it does increase the individualized attention that students receive. It can be particularly effective when combined with teacher teaming (i.e. teachers across disciplines responsible for the same group of students)
3. Where necessary, lengthen the school day by scheduling teachers on overlapping schedules and programming smaller classes at the beginning and end of the school day.
4. Offer credit-bearing, after-school classes
5. Offer internships, community service and external learning: Where appropriate in your school’s sequence, foster out-of-school supervised learning experiences for high school students that count as credit bearing coursework. This will reduce the number of students on site and allow you to maximize the use of classroom space and teachers
6. See Appendix B: Scheduling for a general scheduling resource and planning guide. For additional support around scheduling issues, contact your SSO. Each SSO should have dedicated scheduling support staff to assist Principals with the development of innovative scheduling and staffing models.

What kinds of professional development/support will my staff need to ensure that students receive the full instructional benefits of reduced class sizes?
The structural decisions you make about how to organize classes reflect the priorities of the schools. You should use your professional development opportunities to ensure that teachers are supported within whatever structure you choose to organize their classrooms and time.
Co-teaching: This model is typically successful if – and only if – all three of the following supports are in place:
i. Targeted professional development is made available to the co-teachers.
ii. Time is created to allow those teachers to plan together
iii. The majority of the instruction will be small group work that takes advantage of having two teachers in the room,
Targeted instruction: If class size reduction is intended to help a particular population of students, you need to make sure that your teachers are learning strategies that address the needs of those students to maximize the benefits of more personalized learning environments.
i. For example, if reduced class sizes are intended to help teachers give individual attention to struggling readers, teacher professional development should be aligned to ensure that teachers are prepared with skills and strategies to work with those readers.

If I reduce my class sizes, how can I ensure that my smaller class sizes will be preserved in light of enrollment and facilities policies?
We know that there can be factors outside of principal control that make it difficult to implement and maintain reduced class size. In this section of the memo we reiterate recent DOE policies that, when adhered to, will support your implementation of reduced class size.
If I plan for reduced class size based on my projected register, how can I ensure that students will not be enrolled over the number projected?
A school’s October 31 Register Projection guides enrollment for the school. This number drives budget allocations, space planning, and, perhaps most importantly, subsequent admissions to the school. When assigning students at all grade levels, The Office of Student Enrollment (Student Enrollment) honors overall grade-level enrollment projections to the extent possible. That is, rather than enrolling students based on the number of students in a class (at the elementary and middle school level), enrollment happens based on the projected register, so that schools can plan their program based on those projections.[3]
In general, as long as schools serve their overall projected enrollment, and admit and accept students in accordance with approved enrollment policies, schools can and should organize in whatever class size they can achieve given their budget, space, and schedule, and the DOE will make a good faith effort to honor and protect class size decisions made by schools based on their projected registers.
The caveat, which is significant, is that Student Enrollment must also ensure that all students are enrolled in an appropriate program and school, no matter the projected register. The implications of this caveat are as follows:
i. Zoning:
1. A zoned school has a responsibility to serve all children who live within its attendance zone in accordance with policies outlined in this regulation. Therefore, in no case may a zoned school cap a grade to achieve or maintain reduced class size in any grade. Only the Office of Student Enrollment may close a grade to further enrollment.
2. Further, if a zoned school reaches maximum class size in one or more grades, and no classrooms are available to form new classes, then classes in grades with reduced class size must be consolidated, to the extent possible, before zoned students may be diverted to other schools.
3. Enrollment policies regarding zoning and admission are outlined in Chancellor’s Regulation A101. In particular:
a. Students zoned for an elementary or middle school have priority for enrollment in those schools and must be accommodated before assignments are made to non-zoned students.
b. Zoned schools are required to register zoned students and must accept zoned students subject to available seats as determined by the Office of Student Enrollment.
c. Students seeking admission to a non-zoned elementary and middle school or to an elementary or middle school for which they are not zoned may only be assigned/registered by the Office of Student Enrollment.
d. In other words, a school should only enroll students who:
i. are zoned to the school (if applicable)
ii. otherwise participate in the established admissions or choice processes
iii. were assigned by the Office of Student Enrollment.
If a school admits students outside of established enrollment procedures, then it may not be possible to honor projected registers and reduced class sizes.
ii. Instructional Programs
1. A school cannot consolidate or eliminate targeted instructional programs in order to achieve or maintain reduced class size. This includes Pre-Kindergarten classes and special education classes.
2. Furthermore, a school cannot lower class size at the expense of other schools and/or programs in the building.

iii. Register Fluctuations and Planning for your October 31 Register Projection
1. Please note as part of the Register Projection Process, we anticipate that prior to October 31, the date that registers are “frozen” for budget purposes, your registers will fluctuate. In other words, sometimes your register will be above the October 31 target and at other times it may fall below. The reason for this is as follows:
a. Your school’s register will include Long Term Absences[4] (LTAs). The October 31 register projections which drive your budget do not include LTAs and thus you do not get budget for LTAs.
b. Each school will experience attrition. Each school’s attrition rate is taken into account in determining a school’s register projection including the number of students that are enrolled over-the-counter.
c. Attrition occurs gradually, so at times registers may appear higher as attrition has not yet been fully realized.
d. “Seats” are identified when “live registers” fall below the October 31 targets. You therefore may continue to receive students even when your register is above your October 31 target because you have LTAs and/or because attrition is still occurring.
Schools are responsible for planning for their full October 31 target register. To the extent that school plan for reduced class size at their target enrollment, and operate in accordance with the caveats above, Student Enrollment will endeavor to honor class size reduction efforts.
How does the DOE make decisions about Co-location of schools? If I choose to reduce class size in my existing space, how do I know that I will be able to maintain space for reduced class size?
We wish every school could have its own building, but in a city with limited space, we have to make good use of our infrastructure to support the creation of new programs, traditional public schools, and charter public schools. There are currently more than 600 schools operating in a shared space setting around the city, and that number will continue to grow as we strive to create more and better school and program options for New York City schools and families. It is important, however, to be clear that the DOE will not place a new school or program in a building at the expense of those schools and programs already operating within the building. The current use of space, and the implementation and maintenance of reduced class size, will be considered as we make decisions to co-locate schools and programs.
The DOE uses the NYC DOE Instructional Footprint (The Footprint), attached to this memo (see Appendix C), as its guiding document for determining the instructional space that any given school is allocated. While The Footprint does not prescribe a class size – it is predicated on the number of sections served per grade and does not assume a class size – it does assign supplemental specialty rooms (art room, science lab, etc.) based on over all school enrollment. Therefore, in using The Footprint to make decisions about the co-location of programs, the DOE will honor a school’s current class size – or the plan to reduce class size in the case where a principal has not previously been able to do so – but we will also expect that the school is making full use of specialty rooms consistent with The Footprint.
If you have questions about The Footprint or its application, please contact the ISC.

As principal, you know best what your school community needs in order for your students to succeed, and these policies are designed to support you as you make decisions for your school. We hope that the information in this memo and its appendices is helpful to you as you plan for the coming school year.
If you would like help implementing any of these strategies, or if you have other good ideas you can share, please contact your School Support Organization (SSO), who can help you consider the trade-offs implicit in planning class size and programming your school.

ATTACHMENTS:
APPENDIX A: Class Size Reduction Planning Template
APPENDIX B: MS/HS Scheduling
APPENDIX C: DOE Instructional Footprint

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
212-674-7320
leonie@att.net
www.classsizematters.org
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/

Please make a tax-deductible contribution to Class Size Matters now!

[1] Please note, only the first two personalization strategies listed above – addition of a class or co-teaching - qualify as acceptable uses of C4E resources.
[2] Note UFT contractual limitations: Where Advisory is run by a teacher, it counts against Teaching Time.
[3] For more details information about the Register Projection Process and the Appeals Process go to: https://www.nycboe.net/AdminOrg/Finance/budget/dbor/dbor_intranet/REGPROJ_INTRANET/Reg_Proj_Default.html

[4] For enrollment purposes, an LTA is generally defined as a student who is absent for 20 consecutive days or more.
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DOE class size reduction memo to principals
Leonie Haimson
Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 10:57 AM
To: emilyholiday@gmail.com, dmainie@aol.com
Cc: Leonie Haimson

See below and attached --especially:

“It is important, however, to be clear that the DOE will not place a new school or program in a building at the expense of those schools and programs already operating within the building. The current use of space, and the implementation and maintenance of reduced class size, will be considered as we make decisions to co-locate schools and programs…..

The DOE uses the NYC DOE Instructional Footprint (The Footprint), attached to this memo (see Appendix C), as its guiding document for determining the instructional space that any given school is allocated. While The Footprint does not prescribe a class size – it is predicated on the number of sections served per grade and does not assume a class size – it does assign supplemental specialty rooms (art room, science lab, etc.) based on over all school enrollment. Therefore, in using The Footprint to make decisions about the co-location of programs, the DOE will honor a school’s current class size – or the plan to reduce class size in the case where a principal has not previously been able to do so – but we will also expect that the school is making full use of specialty rooms consistent with The Footprint.
If you have questions about The Footprint or its application, please contact the ISC.”
·
· Appendix C: DOE Instructional Footprint

http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/66F06927-78D8-43C2-9873-F9427F44FAD4/0/class_size_memo.doc

To:

All DOE Principals
Date:
May 28, 2008
From:
Garth Harries, Chief Executive for Portfolio Development
CC:
SSO and Network Leaders, ISC Leaders and Staff, Superintendents and Senior Achievement Facilitators

Re:
2008-09 Class Size Reduction Guidance Memo

Dear Principal,
This year, the DOE continues its effort to empower and enable principals to prioritize personalization in the classroom through class size reduction or reduced teacher-student ratio. The following memo outlines a variety of class size reduction and personalization strategies given the resources available to principals, as well as system-wide resources that can you help to plan for and implement class size reduction.
As you establish your goals for next year and decide how to align resources, class size is a key consideration. Class size is one of the fundamental elements that determine how your teachers spend time with students- and resides at the intersection of complex decisions around staffing, scheduling, and facilities use.
Implementing reduced class size requires complex tradeoffs and decisions. The purpose of this memo is to help you to weigh these tradeoffs as your school conducts its comprehensive planning (i.e. your CEP and budgeting process this spring), direct you to available resources, as well as to make clear some of the ways the DOE will respect and accommodate your class size decisions. While you may already be implementing some of the strategies outlined in this memo, we hope that you find the following to be a useful framework for weighing the benefits and constraints associated with class size reduction as you develop your overall education plans and priorities.
The attached Class Size Planning Template (see Appendix A) provides a set of guiding questions to help you and your SLT assess and plan for class size reduction. This Planning Template may be included as an addendum to your CEP if class size reduction is one of your stated priorities. Please note that all schools identified for the 2008-09 Class Size Coaching Program must complete the Class size Planning Template. In addition, all schools using C4E resources to reduce class size must complete the CEP addendum on Contracts for Excellence expenditures. _____________________________________________________________________________
The primary approaches to increasing personalization that we will address in this memo are:
Class size reduction through the creations of additional classes/sections
Increased personalization through reduction of teacher-student ratio (co-teaching)
Increased personalization through reduced teacher loads, particularly at the MS and HS levels[1]
The following questions can help organize your thinking on class size reduction, and serve as the framework for the remainder of this memo:
· What does my class size data look like currently?
· Where can I target class size reduction or other personalization efforts to impact the highest need populations?
· How can I optimize my budget to achieve class size reduction?
· How will class size reduction impact my staffing plan?
· How can I use my current space to open additional classes?
· Would creative scheduling of staff and space allow me to reduce class size or teacher-to-student ratio?
· What kinds of professional development/support will my staff need to ensure that students receive the full instructional benefits of reduced class sizes?
· If I plan to reduce my class sizes, how can I ensure that my smaller class sizes will be preserved in light of enrollment and facilities policies?

The sections outlined below are intended to help answer these critical questions by providing strategies and resources to design an effective class size reduction plan.

What does my class size data look like currently?
Class size is one of many critical school characteristics, and it is important that you look at class sizes in conjunction with other performance metrics. The following ATS report will allow you to see your class size data:
i. Report RAVG: This report provides school-level class size data
1. For schools serving grades K-9 (where 9th grade is the terminal grade), this report will show three types of information: the school’s average class size, the official class list and the official class register. Data is reported separately for General Education/ Collaborative Team Teaching classes and for Self-contained Special Education classes.
2. For schools serving grades 9-12, this report will show the average class size by core course (English, math, social studies, and science) for classes marked as “Core” in HSST. Core class size data will be reported for General Education/Collaborative Team Teaching classes and for Self-contained Special Education classes. This report will show three types of information: number of core course sections, course register, and average class size.
Consider your class sizes against the following subpopulations:
i. Class sizes by grade (and course for high schools)
ii. Class size by grade and service level (Special Education vs. General Education)
iii. Class size by student population (Level I & II, ELL students)

Where can I target class size reduction to impact the highest need populations?
Across the board class size reduction can often be difficult to achieve given limited resources and space, but to the extent that you have the power to do targeted class size reduction, be deliberate about when and how you reduce class size to ensure that the staff, facility, and financial resources have the greatest impact. Possible target areas may include:
i. Transition grades: Target students enrolled in transition grades (i.e. early grades of elementary, middle or high school) for class size reduction in core and critical subjects.
ii. Target particular subjects for all grades (i.e. literacy, math, or theme based courses) and reduce the size of those classes.
iii. Early grades: Empirical evidence supports class size reduction in kindergarten through grade two as a successful strategy if the class size reduction is significant, with improved student performance that is maintained as students continue on in school.

How can I optimize my budget to achieve class size reduction?
If Class Size Reduction is one of your top priorities, be sure to indicate this to your ISC Budget Officer or ESO Business Manager who should be able to help you prioritize resources for class size reduction and optimize dollars to meet your priorities. Please refer to the CRAFT budget planning documents for more detailed guidance. To the extent that you want to prioritize class size reduction, you should come prepared to answer the following questions with regard to your staffing plan when you meet with your Budget Officer or ESO Business Manager:
i. Do I want to hire an additional teacher to help reduce class size?
1. Where additional rooms can be made available to open an additional class/section (see section below), hiring a new teacher to teach additional sections can significantly reduce class sizes.
2. Hiring resources:
a. Open Market System for Transfers- The Open Market Hiring System allows teachers to apply to transfer to your school. You can access the Open Market System through the Principals’ Portal or by going to http://www.nycboe.net/Applications/transferplani/login.aspx. The system will allow you to:
i. View detailed profiles of teachers who have an interest in transferring to your school- you can see their cover letter, resume, state certification / city license information, probation status, rating history, seniority, and service history
ii. Filter and search among teachers who have applied to transfer to your school.
iii. Add a detailed description of your vacancies (that are declared in Galaxy) so that prospective transfer applicants can see if a particular position is a good fit for them.
iv. Finalize the transfer of teachers through the on-line system.
b. New Teacher Finder- The New Teacher Finder is an easy-to-use online tool that helps you search for new teacher candidates who have passed a rigorous application pre-screen. The New Teachers Finder includes new applicants from all pathways, including Teaching Fellows and local and national recruits. You can access the new Teacher Finder through the Principals’ Portal or by going to: http://nyc.teacherssupportnetwork.com/Home.do. (Your user name and password will be the same as your current LAN user ID, e.g. jsmith4. You can change your password when you login for the first time.) Through the New Teacher Finder, you can:
i. View the profiles (including resumes and essays) of interested candidates and potential matches.
ii. Use advanced search criteria to find candidates.
iii. Highlight your school for prospective candidates.
iv. Create requests for applications.
c. Job Fairs
i. Throughout the spring and summer, the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality will be hosting career and hiring fairs where principals and other hiring representatives can meet new pre-screened teacher candidates, including traditional candidates and NYC Teaching Fellows. For Career Fair details or to register to attend, go to the Hiring page on the Principals’ Portal
d. General Assistance
i. Your HR partner in the ISC can provide support in your search for new or transferring teachers including use of the on-line tools.
ii. For additional assistance regarding new teacher applicants, contact the Office of Teacher Recruitment and Quality at (718) 935-4080.
ii. Do I want to hire an additional teacher to reduce teacher-student ratios through co-teaching?
1. Where additional rooms are not available, adding a second teacher to a class can be a powerful means to increase personalized attention. Most often, co-teaching combines two teachers of different experience levels, and it can be implemented in two ways:
a. Two teachers licensed in the same content area (i.e. an English class with two English teachers).
b. Two teachers licensed in two different content areas (i.e. a Humanities class with an English teacher and a history teacher).
2. If you are using Contracts for Excellence (C4E) resources to reduce Teacher-Student ratio, you must hire a full time teacher and implement a true co-teaching model, as described above. Part-time/Push-in teachers are not an allowable expenditure of C4E resources.
iii. How can I optimize use of my existing staff?
1. By assigning teaching responsibilities to all staff with a teacher title, you may be able to reduce teacher-student ratio, teacher load, and/or reduce class size. Examples include:
a. General example:
i. Utilize the 6th Period Coverage Provision whereby current staff in shortage license areas can be assigned an additional class in lieu of preparation periods. Teachers approved and scheduled to teach an additional five periods per week are compensated at a “special per session” semester rate of $5,660. Any school interested in this option should consult with their Human Resource Partner at the ISC for the procedure and application. Approval is required prior to the commencement of service.
b. Elementary School examples:
i. Move specialists into classrooms so that they support a smaller group of students daily rather than an entire student body a few times per week.
ii. Combine two classes into a single cluster with two teachers and a specialist.
b. High School examples:
i. Cut back on compensatory time positions.
ii. Increase instructional load for supervisors, coaches, etc. Assigning assistant principals to teach at least one or two classes. (This can only happen within CSA contractual limitations)
iii. Utilize advisories and peer mentoring to support students’ emotional and developmental needs. This should not be understood as a replacement to crisis or mandated counseling, but advisories will allow guidance counselors and social workers to focus their energies. It will also reduce the need for staff who have non-instructional (more guidance, social work or deans) functions.[2]

How can I use my current space to open additional classes?
Evaluate your school’s space against the DOE’s Instructional Footprint (See Appendix C - The Footprint). The Footprint document describes the minimum space allocation used by the DOE in facilities evaluations. The Footprint prescribes a space allocation based on a school’s total enrollment and number if sections and assumes a high programming efficiency for each room. Particularly if your school is at or over the classroom allocation prescribed by the Footprint, you may have significant opportunities to repurpose space for instructional use; however, all schools may benefit from considering strategies for increased space efficiency. The following suggestions may enable you to move towards greater building efficiency as described in the Footprint:
i. Program rooms throughout the day as a way to maximize classroom space:
1. Open a new class in a new classroom: Where space allows, the easiest way to reduce class size is to open a new class in a new room.
2. Use one room for multiple subjects. Depending on both the function of the room, and the number of periods a day it is scheduled, there may be potential to use one room for multiple subjects. It is important to consider the following:
a. Which subjects or teachers can travel?
b. Which subjects or teachers can share rooms?
1. Use common and small group instructional spaces for pull-out instruction when practical.
2. Where feasible, offer specialized instruction in shared rooms, as opposed to dedicating a room for it, especially if your school already has its requisite number of other cluster rooms and/or the specialized instruction does not occur throughout the entire school day.
ii. Add classrooms by repurposing non-instructional space:
1. Use all full-sized classrooms in the building as classrooms rather than as offices and for other non-instructional purposes.
2. If you are having trouble locating classroom furniture in order to facilitate this use, please talk with your custodian; many buildings have spare classroom furniture.
3. If facilities work is required to convert an administrative suite back to a classroom, please contact your Integrated Service Center (ISC) to schedule a meeting with facilities staff who can assess and approve office conversion projects. The DOE Facilities Portfolio Committee, which involves the School Construction Authority (SCA), Division of School Facilities (DSF), and other DOE offices and determines what projects are approved, generally places a priority on projects that increase the number of instructional classrooms in a school building by converting offices. This work is contingent on funding availability and efficient use of existing classrooms per the Footprint.
iii. Allocate private office space only to those administrators who require confidential space (i.e. guidance counselors, social workers, psychologists) and use a shared space model for other administrators. Small private conference rooms can be made available for sign-up for other staff.
iv. If Community Based Organizations (CBOs) or other non-DOE groups are housed within your building, work with them to ensure that the space they are allocated is effectively used through the school day and does not interfere with your ability to plan for reduced class sizes. If you have questions or concerns about such groups in your building or would like to learn more about the minimum Footprint allocation for CBOs and Beacon programs, contact your ISC.
Note: While there are advantages if every teacher (including specialized teachers) has their own classroom, in most buildings that is not possible, and so there are trade-offs between dedicated teacher rooms and class size reduction. If teachers do not have their own room, be thoughtful about creating space where they can work during prep periods, particularly in ways that encourage collaboration.

Would thoughtful scheduling of staff and space allow me to reduce class size or student-to-teacher ratio?
Consider the following scheduling solutions that can help you free up additional teaching staff or reduce teacher load:
i. Middle School/High School Examples:
1. Consider programming large student sections in lunch and physical education in order to program smaller classes opposite those blocks – as these are times that allow for a large number of students to be covered outside of academic classrooms – to maximize use of classroom space.
2. At the secondary school level, a principal can reduce teacher load by scheduling teachers for longer instructional blocks with fewer distinct sections of students. This may not reduce class size, but it does increase the individualized attention that students receive. It can be particularly effective when combined with teacher teaming (i.e. teachers across disciplines responsible for the same group of students)
3. Where necessary, lengthen the school day by scheduling teachers on overlapping schedules and programming smaller classes at the beginning and end of the school day.
4. Offer credit-bearing, after-school classes
5. Offer internships, community service and external learning: Where appropriate in your school’s sequence, foster out-of-school supervised learning experiences for high school students that count as credit bearing coursework. This will reduce the number of students on site and allow you to maximize the use of classroom space and teachers
6. See Appendix B: Scheduling for a general scheduling resource and planning guide. For additional support around scheduling issues, contact your SSO. Each SSO should have dedicated scheduling support staff to assist Principals with the development of innovative scheduling and staffing models.

What kinds of professional development/support will my staff need to ensure that students receive the full instructional benefits of reduced class sizes?
The structural decisions you make about how to organize classes reflect the priorities of the schools. You should use your professional development opportunities to ensure that teachers are supported within whatever structure you choose to organize their classrooms and time.
Co-teaching: This model is typically successful if – and only if – all three of the following supports are in place:
i. Targeted professional development is made available to the co-teachers.
ii. Time is created to allow those teachers to plan together
iii. The majority of the instruction will be small group work that takes advantage of having two teachers in the room,
Targeted instruction: If class size reduction is intended to help a particular population of students, you need to make sure that your teachers are learning strategies that address the needs of those students to maximize the benefits of more personalized learning environments.
i. For example, if reduced class sizes are intended to help teachers give individual attention to struggling readers, teacher professional development should be aligned to ensure that teachers are prepared with skills and strategies to work with those readers.

If I reduce my class sizes, how can I ensure that my smaller class sizes will be preserved in light of enrollment and facilities policies?
We know that there can be factors outside of principal control that make it difficult to implement and maintain reduced class size. In this section of the memo we reiterate recent DOE policies that, when adhered to, will support your implementation of reduced class size.
If I plan for reduced class size based on my projected register, how can I ensure that students will not be enrolled over the number projected?
A school’s October 31 Register Projection guides enrollment for the school. This number drives budget allocations, space planning, and, perhaps most importantly, subsequent admissions to the school. When assigning students at all grade levels, The Office of Student Enrollment (Student Enrollment) honors overall grade-level enrollment projections to the extent possible. That is, rather than enrolling students based on the number of students in a class (at the elementary and middle school level), enrollment happens based on the projected register, so that schools can plan their program based on those projections.[3]
In general, as long as schools serve their overall projected enrollment, and admit and accept students in accordance with approved enrollment policies, schools can and should organize in whatever class size they can achieve given their budget, space, and schedule, and the DOE will make a good faith effort to honor and protect class size decisions made by schools based on their projected registers.
The caveat, which is significant, is that Student Enrollment must also ensure that all students are enrolled in an appropriate program and school, no matter the projected register. The implications of this caveat are as follows:
i. Zoning:
1. A zoned school has a responsibility to serve all children who live within its attendance zone in accordance with policies outlined in this regulation. Therefore, in no case may a zoned school cap a grade to achieve or maintain reduced class size in any grade. Only the Office of Student Enrollment may close a grade to further enrollment.
2. Further, if a zoned school reaches maximum class size in one or more grades, and no classrooms are available to form new classes, then classes in grades with reduced class size must be consolidated, to the extent possible, before zoned students may be diverted to other schools.
3. Enrollment policies regarding zoning and admission are outlined in Chancellor’s Regulation A101. In particular:
a. Students zoned for an elementary or middle school have priority for enrollment in those schools and must be accommodated before assignments are made to non-zoned students.
b. Zoned schools are required to register zoned students and must accept zoned students subject to available seats as determined by the Office of Student Enrollment.
c. Students seeking admission to a non-zoned elementary and middle school or to an elementary or middle school for which they are not zoned may only be assigned/registered by the Office of Student Enrollment.
d. In other words, a school should only enroll students who:
i. are zoned to the school (if applicable)
ii. otherwise participate in the established admissions or choice processes
iii. were assigned by the Office of Student Enrollment.
If a school admits students outside of established enrollment procedures, then it may not be possible to honor projected registers and reduced class sizes.
ii. Instructional Programs
1. A school cannot consolidate or eliminate targeted instructional programs in order to achieve or maintain reduced class size. This includes Pre-Kindergarten classes and special education classes.
2. Furthermore, a school cannot lower class size at the expense of other schools and/or programs in the building.

iii. Register Fluctuations and Planning for your October 31 Register Projection
1. Please note as part of the Register Projection Process, we anticipate that prior to October 31, the date that registers are “frozen” for budget purposes, your registers will fluctuate. In other words, sometimes your register will be above the October 31 target and at other times it may fall below. The reason for this is as follows:
a. Your school’s register will include Long Term Absences[4] (LTAs). The October 31 register projections which drive your budget do not include LTAs and thus you do not get budget for LTAs.
b. Each school will experience attrition. Each school’s attrition rate is taken into account in determining a school’s register projection including the number of students that are enrolled over-the-counter.
c. Attrition occurs gradually, so at times registers may appear higher as attrition has not yet been fully realized.
d. “Seats” are identified when “live registers” fall below the October 31 targets. You therefore may continue to receive students even when your register is above your October 31 target because you have LTAs and/or because attrition is still occurring.
Schools are responsible for planning for their full October 31 target register. To the extent that school plan for reduced class size at their target enrollment, and operate in accordance with the caveats above, Student Enrollment will endeavor to honor class size reduction efforts.
How does the DOE make decisions about Co-location of schools? If I choose to reduce class size in my existing space, how do I know that I will be able to maintain space for reduced class size?
We wish every school could have its own building, but in a city with limited space, we have to make good use of our infrastructure to support the creation of new programs, traditional public schools, and charter public schools. There are currently more than 600 schools operating in a shared space setting around the city, and that number will continue to grow as we strive to create more and better school and program options for New York City schools and families. It is important, however, to be clear that the DOE will not place a new school or program in a building at the expense of those schools and programs already operating within the building. The current use of space, and the implementation and maintenance of reduced class size, will be considered as we make decisions to co-locate schools and programs.
The DOE uses the NYC DOE Instructional Footprint (The Footprint), attached to this memo (see Appendix C), as its guiding document for determining the instructional space that any given school is allocated. While The Footprint does not prescribe a class size – it is predicated on the number of sections served per grade and does not assume a class size – it does assign supplemental specialty rooms (art room, science lab, etc.) based on over all school enrollment. Therefore, in using The Footprint to make decisions about the co-location of programs, the DOE will honor a school’s current class size – or the plan to reduce class size in the case where a principal has not previously been able to do so – but we will also expect that the school is making full use of specialty rooms consistent with The Footprint.
If you have questions about The Footprint or its application, please contact the ISC.

As principal, you know best what your school community needs in order for your students to succeed, and these policies are designed to support you as you make decisions for your school. We hope that the information in this memo and its appendices is helpful to you as you plan for the coming school year.
If you would like help implementing any of these strategies, or if you have other good ideas you can share, please contact your School Support Organization (SSO), who can help you consider the trade-offs implicit in planning class size and programming your school.

ATTACHMENTS:
APPENDIX A: Class Size Reduction Planning Template
APPENDIX B: MS/HS Scheduling
APPENDIX C: DOE Instructional Footprint

Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
124 Waverly Pl.
New York, NY 10011
212-674-7320
leonie@att.net
www.classsizematters.org
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/

Please make a tax-deductible contribution to Class Size Matters now!

[1] Please note, only the first two personalization strategies listed above – addition of a class or co-teaching - qualify as acceptable uses of C4E resources.
[2] Note UFT contractual limitations: Where Advisory is run by a teacher, it counts against Teaching Time.
[3] For more details information about the Register Projection Process and the Appeals Process go to: https://www.nycboe.net/AdminOrg/Finance/budget/dbor/dbor_intranet/REGPROJ_INTRANET/Reg_Proj_Default.html

[4] For enrollment purposes, an LTA is generally defined as a student who is absent for 20 consecutive days or more.
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SCHOOL BUDGET CUTS - and a rally to protest them

I just received this notice from the CEC - please read it carefully. By the way, I'd be very interested in finding out whether Charter Schools are affected as much by this as regular public schools - because it still seems to me that they not only compete for the same pot of money, but are eligible for funding from outside sources - which is another reason I'd rather not see one jammed into PS15's space.

A year ago, our state and city leaders finally made commitments to invest the resources into the
classroom that our school children need if we are to succeed in getting the next generation ready for college and the
challenging 21st century workforce. These promises are not political campaign promises—they are budgetary commitments
that were enacted into public policy.We must keep the commitments that have been made to our children. Our
children waited 14 years for the courts and our elected leaders to recognize and fund their constitutional right to a sound,
basic education.
These promises are now being threatened as the State and City respond to uncertain economic times ahead:
• Last year a $528 million increase in New York State’s basic classroom operating aid to New York
City was promised for 2008-09. But the Governor recently proposed to reduce this amount by
$193 million. We are calling on the state Legislature and the Governor to keep this promise and tie the
funds (as also promised) to the Contract for Excellence, which is the only real accountability mechanism
we have to ensure that funds go to reduce class size, reform middle schools and high schools, provide
for the needs of English language learners and achieve other fundamental school reforms.
• In 2006 New York State committed to increase building funds for New York City by $11.2 billion to
allow the city to complete its $13.1 billion capital plan. Now this promise is threatened by proposed
reforms that would delay the state reimbursement to the city for school construction costs. The 2006
promise must be kept by the state Legislature and the Governor.
• The city committed to raise its investment in our children’s education by $2.2 billion over four
years. Now the city Department of Education is cutting $180 million in funds this school year (with $100
million coming right out of schools). Next year is even worse with an additional five percent cut out of
each school’s budget, totaling $324 million. The two-year reductions exceed half a billion dollars. We are
calling on the city to keep its promises. OPEN THE DOE BOOKS before making cuts to the classroom.
Cut consultants, no-bid contracts and excessive testing procedures, and do whatever it takes to
make sure budget cuts do not hurt children or core classroom services.
RALLY AT CITY HALL
March 19 • 4:00 p.m.
Urge your elected representatives to Keep The Promises and oppose the cuts.
Call your state representatives at this toll-free number: 1-877-255-9417 and give your zip code.
Call your New York City Council Member at 1-212-788-7100.
We may face uncertain economic times ahead, but this much is certain:
We must keep the promises to our kids.
KEEP THE PROMISES!
Members of the Keep The Promises Coalition include Campaign for Fiscal Equity; Alliance for Quality Education; Council of School Supervisors and Administrators; United Federation of Teachers;
Hispanic Federation of New York State; New York City Central Labor Council; ACORN; Education Voters of New York; New York City Coalition for Education Justice; New York Immigration Coalition; UNITE
HERE; SEIU Local 32-BJ, New York Immigration Coalition; NAACP Metropolitan Council; El Centro de la Hospitalidad; Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund; Coalition for Asian American
Children; representatives of the Chancellor’s Parents Advisory Committee; Advocates for Children; the Center for Arts Education; Coalition for Educational Excellence for English Language Learners;
Make the Road by Walking New York; New Settlement Parent Action Committee; Crotona Committee to Stop the Violence; Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition; South Brooklyn Youth
Consortium Inc.; Coalition for Asian American Children and Families; Highbridge Community Life Center; National Center for Schools and Communities, Cypress Hills Advocates for Education; Working
Families Party; Citizen Action of New York; Coalition for After School Funding.
Hace un año, nuestro estado y líderes de ciudad finalmente hicieron compromisos de invertir los recursos en el
aula que nuestros alumnos necesitan si debemos tener éxito en la adquisición de la siguiente generación lista para el colegio y el personal
de siglo veintiuno desafiante. Estas promesas no son promesas de campaña políticas—ellos son compromisos presupuestarios
que fueron decretados en la política pública. Debemos cumplir los compromisos que han sido hechos a nuestros niños. Nuestros niños
esperaron 14 años los tribunales y nuestros líderes decididos para reconocer y financiar su derecho constitucional a una educación
significativa.
Estas promesas están siendo amenazadas ahora cuando el Estado y la Ciudad responden a tiempos económicos inciertos
delante:
• El año pasado un aumento de 528 millones de dólares del aula básica de Estado de Nueva York que hace
funcionar la ayuda a Ciudad de Nueva York fue prometido para 2008-09. Pero el Gobernador recientemente
propuso de reducir esta cantidad en casi 200 millones de dólares. Pedimos la Legislatura estatal y el Gobernador
a guardar esta promesa y atar los fondos (como también prometido) al Contrato para la Excelencia, que es
el único verdadero mecanismo de responsabilidad tenemos que asegurar que los fondos van a reduzca el
tamaño de clase, reforme escuelas secundarias y escuelas secundarias, asegure las necesidades de principiantes
de lengua ingleses y consiga otras reformas escolares fundamentales.
• En 2006 Estado de Nueva York cometió a aumentar fondos de edificio de Ciudad de Nueva York en 11.2 mil
millones de dólares para permitir que la ciudad completara su plan de capital de 13.1 mil millones de
dólares. Ahora esta promesa es amenazada por reformas propuestas que retrasarían el reembolso estatal a la ciudad
para costes de la construcción escolares. La promesa 2006 debe ser guardada por la Legislatura estatal y el
Gobernador.
• La ciudad cometió a levantar su inversión en nuestra educación de niños en 2.2 mil millones de dólares
más de cuatro años. Ahora el Departamento de ciudad de la Educación corta 180 millones de dólares en fondos
este año escolar (con 100 millones de dólares que vienen directamente de escuelas). El próximo año es aún peor
con un corte del cinco por ciento adicional del presupuesto de cada escuela, totaling 324 millones de dólares. Las
reducciones de dos años exceden quinientos milliones de dólares. Pedimos la ciudad a guardar su promesa
ABRIENDO LOS LIBROS DE GAMA antes de hacer de cortes al aula. Los asesores de corte, los contratos sin
oferta y los procedimientos de pruebas excesivos, y hacen lo que esto toma para asegurarse que los recortes presupuestarios
no hacen daño a niños o servicios de aula principales.
AFÍLIESE A NOSOTROS en una reunión contra recortes presupuestarios escolares en
El 19 de marzo • 4 p.m.
fuera de Ayuntamiento en Broadway al sur de Chambers St.
Impulse a sus representantes decididos a Guardar las Promesas y oponerse a los cortes.
Llame su Asambleísta estatal y declare al Senador en la Línea de Acción de NYS AFL-CIO exenta de peaje: 1-877-255-9417.
Llame su Miembro de Consejo de Ciudad de Nueva York en 1-212-788-7100.
Podemos afrontar tiempos económicos inciertos delante, pero mucho está seguro:
Debemos guardar las promesas a nuestros niños.
¡MANTENGA LAS PROMESAS!
Members of the Keep The Promises Coalition include Campaign for Fiscal Equity; Alliance for Quality Education; Council of School Supervisors and Administrators; United Federation of Teachers;
Hispanic Federation of New York State; New York City Central Labor Council; ACORN; Education Voters of New York; New York City Coalition for Education Justice; New York Immigration Coalition; UNITE
HERE; SEIU Local 32-BJ, New York Immigration Coalition; NAACP Metropolitan Council; El Centro de la Hospitalidad; Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund; Coalition for Asian American
Children; representatives of the Chancellor’s Parents Advisory Committee; Advocates for Children; the Center for Arts Education; Coalition for Educational Excellence for English Language Learners;
Make the Road by Walking New York; New Settlement Parent Action Committee; Crotona Committee to Stop the Violence; Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition; South Brooklyn Youth
Consortium Inc.; Coalition for Asian American Children and Families; Highbridge Community Life Center; National Center for Schools and Communities, Cypress Hills Advocates for Education; Working
Families Party; Citizen Action of New York; Coalition for After School Funding.

FIGHT THE BUDGET CUTS - upcoming event

FIGHT THE SCHOOL BUDGET CUTS
**UNITE BROOKLYN**
Please Join
Councilmember Bill de Blasio
Elected Officials, Education Advocates, PTAs and
CECs for an informational and strategizing session
on fighting back the school budget cuts.
Thursday, March 13th, 2008
7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
St. Francis College, Callahan Center
180 Remsen Street, 1st Floor
(Between Court and Clinton Streets)
Brooklyn, NY
-Discuss your concerns with fellow Brooklyn Parent-Teacher Associations
(PTA) and Community Education Councils (CEC) and share your ideas
about how we can fight to preserve our children’s education and reverse
the budget cuts together.
-Learn how you can be a leader in your school and district to champion
support for resolutions to reverse these cuts NOW and prevent future
budget reductions.
-Hear from teachers, parents, advocates, and union leaders about how
these sudden cuts will affect our schools and our children’s education.
For additional information or to RSVP please call
Phil Jones at 212-788-6969 or email
deblasio@council.nyc.ny.us

Charter-Free PS15

Monday, March 17, 2008

Cloning A Charter School From Connecticut (Gotham Gazette, August 2004)

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The DOE seems to think that PS15 has rooms to spare for the new Charter School. Do we want to give up classroom space that could be better used for PS15's programs?

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