Arne Duncan: Bigger Classes OK for Good Teachers...but Not Too Big
On Mayor Bloomberg's threat to lay-off over 4,000 NYC public school teachers--which is really an attempt to scare the UFT into compromising on LIFO--Duncan said, "I don't know the specific numbers, what's real and what's just positioning on both sides. But class size has been a sacred cow and we need to take it on."
Echoing Bill Gates, Duncan suggested paying highly-effective teachers $20,000 to $25,000 more for teaching up to five additional students, and giving parents the choice as to whether their kids are placed in such classrooms. He acknowledged that small classes are currently very popular among parents. "These conversation's haven't been had," he said. "I don't think parents have been given the choice. It's provocative...but we're talking about
