Mayor Bloomberg's Panel for Education Policy has voted to increase the size of special education classes in NYC. You might remember that changes were implemented back in late 2010 to modify the maximum allowable number of students in some types of classrooms (see November 26, 2010 blog post). The rules may be amended again but it's not clear what classrooms will be affected. The panel voted to increase special ed class sizes from 12 students to 15. Presumably this applies to self-contained classrooms. The extent to which this will affect elementary and middle school self-contained classrooms remains to be seen. It is expected to affect elementary and middle school students in Integrated Co-Teaching classes but it's not clear how it will affect high school students in Integrated Co-Teaching environments. These changes, which are an attempt to save money by requiring fewer classrooms, are likely to result in special education students receiving less individualized attention than before...which could mean increased litigation.
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