fairfax level 4 aap/GT class sizes in ES and MS

[Anonymous]

Is there a source/link/list of average class sizes of the various ffx county elementary and middle school level 4 centers? I have been reviewing some of the posts, and it seems to vary by school between 18-35 kids. We are trying to decide which pyramid to cluster into and this information would be very helpful.

[Anonymous]

I think there are a lot of people who would love to get their hands on this info! Please post here if you find something.

Fom conversations on the FCAG Yahoo group and here, it seems like the "better" centers and Local Level 4s have higher class sizes on average. And in general, the class sizes go up significantly from 3rd to 6th grade.

I've not heard much discussion about MS class sizes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there are a lot of people who would love to get their hands on this info! Please post here if you find something.

Fom conversations on the FCAG Yahoo group and here, it seems like the "better" centers and Local Level 4s have higher class sizes on average. And in general, the class sizes go up significantly from 3rd to 6th grade.

I've not heard much discussion about MS class sizes.

Well - why don't we take a straw poll on this discussion board then?

There are only 20 or so GT centers at the ES level - anyone have personal guestimates of current GT class sizes in their own kids' schools?

[Anonymous]

There are only 20 or so GT centers at the ES level - anyone have personal guestimates of current GT class sizes in their own kids' schools?

I seriously doubt you will find any published data on this, and anecdotes aren't going to help you much either. There are kids getting accepted each year (tho the vast majority enter in 3rd grade), kids leaving the district, etc., the class sizes fluctuate, even for the same cohort of kids as they move through their elementary school years.

Here's what I mean. Our base school is also a Center so we have been there for a while. My DD has been in the Center for 2 yrs. In 3rd grade, there were 4 GT classes of 20-something kids each. This year in 4th, they went down to 3 classes of 30+ kids per class. And we don't know yet if there will be 3 or 4 5th grade classes next year. It is essentially the same group of kids, with some new additions and some kids who have moved/left, but they don't stay in classes of the same size from one year to the next. I have another child entering the Center as a 3rd grader in the fall. There will likely be 3 larger 3rd grade classes instead of the 4 smaller classes they had 2 yrs ago, just based on the numbers and other issues.

It depends on staffing (and budget constraints that limit how many teachers the school has), how many teachers are certified to teach GT classes, fluctuations in enrollment from year to year, limitations on space and number of classrooms, etc. Often the schools are working out these decisions over the summer and you don't find out the class sizes until school starts. So even knowing the size of the 3rd grade GT class THIS year in the school you're considering is not going to tell you what to expect for the size of a GT class in that same Center NEXT year. And it's affected by the base school too. Our school has, for some reason, a huge number of kindergarteners coming in next fall, so they have to add another kindergarten class. The school is already at full capacity, but those extra kinders need a classroom (and a teacher!), so that's going to have a ripple effect for other classes and staffing for other grades.

[Anonymous]

Just curious, what school is it with a huge no. of kindergarteners coming in?