District News

What Students Need to Learn Successfully:

1)  Small class size, 15:1 district-wide.   Students need quality, long-term, experienced credentialed teachers and instructional aides in every classroom qualified to provide effective individual assistance to all students, including those with special learning and language needs. Research consistently shows that reducing class size to approximately 15 and retaining experienced teachers are two major factors in improving student achievement.

2)  Sufficient material resources to provide what students

By Jack Gerson
Sept. 30, 2007

Teacher turnover is soaring in urban school districts and inner city schools across the country. It’s commonplace for schools to lose more than one-fourth—and sometimes more than one-half—of their teachers, year after year after year. Since studies consistently show a strong positive association between teacher experience and student learning, this exodus of teachers from low-income schools makes the sad state of our inner city schools