N.Y. can live with fewer teachers
by Frederick M. Hess
New York Daily News
May 7, 2010
But not only would the layoffs of thousands of teachers not mean the sky is falling. If the layoffs are done right, it could mean the sun shines even brighter for the city's students. For while parents have a natural affinity for smaller classes, smaller classes generally don't boost achievement - it's teacher quality that does. And smaller classes actually make it tougher to boost teacher quality.
Thinning the teacher ranks, done right, could be a very good thing. Harvard University professor Martin West and his colleague Ludger Woessmann have pointed out that several nations that perform impressively, including South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan, have average middle-school class sizes of more than 35 students per