Editor’s Note: The following story was originally published in Bronx Youth Heard, a publication of the Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative, a free journalism program for Bronx high school students run by the Norwood News. We are currently accepting applications for our spring semester. To find out more about the program and how to apply, click here. The Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative is supported by the North Star Fund, the Johnson Family Foundation Fund, and City Councilman Fernando Cabrera, and is run in collaboration with CUNY’s College Now program at Hostos Community College.

By Leila Nombre

At Jonathan Levin School for Media and Communication in the Bronx, there are as many as 37 students in a classroom, and learning has become a struggle.

“I barely learn anything,” said Ashlee Sandino, a junior. “I don’t get equal attention. It’s a waste of time. Class is disruptive.”

Students say the overcrowded classes make them feel left out of classroom discussions.

“I hate it,” said Tanairie Mastarreno, a senior. “It’s too much, and the teacher cannot focus on students, and less learning is done.”

As for teachers, this kind of environment has also been a struggle. Osvaldo Mancebo, a math teacher at Levin, described his large class as “extremely challenging.”

“There’s a negative impact, a burden on teachers, and there is no opportunity for interactions among students and teachers,” he said.

Barbara Powell, a health teacher, agreed. “I have to take away from class time to deal with discipline,” she said. “There’s not enough time for teaching. [I have] lost students, very lost students, that cannot get the attention needed.”

Her ideal class size would be 20 to 22 students based on the group of kids in the school.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, on the other hand, said in a speech recently that large classes are fine by him. The mayor said that if he had the power to cut down teachers and double classroom size, he would do so, on the basis of raising teaching standards and weeding out those who the city finds ineffective. However, when Bloomberg was running for mayor in 2001, he vowed to reduce classroom sizes and acknowledged their detriment on learning.

Teachers at Levin don’t agree with Mayor Bloomberg’s large classroom policy.

“More can be accomplished with a small class than a big class,” said film and broadcast teacher Don Ceronne. “Packing a lot of kids into a room does not necessarily lead to a more productive education.”

Lee Raj, a Living Environment teacher at Levin, said that in bigger classes, certain students can slip through the cracks.

“Some students are in high need, and I’m afraid that I’m not able to teach them effectively,” Raj said.

Class size may have larger implications on overall school performance Levin. Last year, the school received a “D” for student performance on its city progress report.

According to the Department of Education, the maximum number of students in each class should be over 34. The DOE would not provide any detailed information on repercussions for schools that exceed the limit.

A research project conducted in the state of Tennessee called Project STAR (Student-Teacher Achievement Ratio) assessed the effects of classroom size on learning, and found evidence that students in smaller classes outperformed students in larger classes.

An administrator at Levin, who asked not to be named for fear of DOE retribution, blamed the crowded classrooms on budget cuts the school has endured. To get the best out of the situation, he said students and teachers have to work together.