Rhee’s organization has been intent on fighting teachers unions, even by parroting false figures. (Photo credit: Flickr user angela n.)
Anti-labor education activist Michelle Rhee likes to say that she isn’t partisan — even though she has worked with Republican governors to crush unions.
Today, the New York chapter of her advocacy organization — Students First — parroted talking points from the Heartland Institute, a global warming denying corporate front group.
In response to concerns from Chicago parents and teachers that students are being packed into over-sized classrooms, the StudentsFirstNY Twitter account retweeted a Heartland Institute advocate claiming that the average class size in Chicago is 16 students:
If you go to the page from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) dealing with Chicago, you’ll find that it actually doesn’t list class sizes. Rather, it has a teacher-to-student ratio. That ratio is 16.44 — this is presumably where the Heartland Institute staffer got the number from.
The problem is, a teacher-to-student ratio is not the same thing as class size. The districts and states that report data to the NCES label a variety of support staff and tertiary individuals as teachers, including a lot of people who do not have sole responsibility for a classroom. The NCES itself admits that this ratio is not the same as class size. Check out this page of “Fast Facts” — you’ll see that NCES numbers show a teacher-pupil ratio of 15.4 in 2009 but class sizes between 20-23 over roughly the same time period. Simply put, the Heartland Institute employee is comparing apples to oranges.
More reliable numbers can be found from the Illinois Board of Education. This Chicago Teachers Union report cites those numbers, which estimate that class sizes are more in the range of 25 with poorer schools having far more students. Keep in mind that Chicago’s kindergarten and first grade classrooms have larger class sizes than 95 percent of the state.
It’s telling that Michelle Rhee’s organization would parrot such unreliable numbers in its crusade to crush teachers unions. Don’t let them get away with it. Share this post on social media and join the fight with PCCC by signing up to stay updated on our activism using the box at the top.
What else would you expect from the spokes model for the profit driven hostile takeover of public education?
She’s making a personal fortune as a professional liar.
Asians tend to stretch the truth to further their private agenda
Teachers: if you want to teach, then teach. Stop complaining and do your jobs before somebody else takes them away from you.
Rahm: make the hard decision. Fire the strikers and hire new grads. Many new graduates are out of work and desperately need a job.
I am not totally convinced the class sizes are as big as the CPS teachers claim. More likely there are over exaggerating to stir up some sympathy from the public. Let’s put class size on the back burner for now and worry about the important issues.
My kids both go to Chicago public schools. My oldest child’s class size was 38-40 from kindergarten through 3rd grade, when our school principal finally badgered the school district into redrawing residency lines so as to send a chunk of what used to be our area kids to another public school reasonably nearby. At that point, our school’s class sizes dropped to a mere 32, which was considered a vast improvement–and we’re in a relatively affluent area, Northwest Side, where aldermen and cops live. The teachers’ union is NOT exaggerating for sympathy; I have firsthand experience of it.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
Class size is an important issue. The more children for whom one is responsible, the more difficult is the task. I have been a teacher.
chicagoanforlife: So, we should tell you the same thing about your job, no matter what the working conditions/pay are?! If you want your job, just STFU and do it before we give it to someone else?
You realize that making working conditions better for teachers means you are making them better for the students, yes? It is proven fact that more learning can take place with smaller class sizes. Do you really want 5th graders in lecture hall of 50, 75, or 100? Do you think they’ll learn *anything* that way?
I do not have any children. I do not want children, I do not like children. Therefore, I don’t care what you do with them. But I AM NOT PAYING FOR THEM. The parents had them, they can pay.