Student teacher ratio accurate for Catholic schools?

[Anonymous]

in touring parochial and Catholic schools, I've seen low ratios published online but when touring during the school day saw significantly more kids in each classroom! One school advertises 14:1 and the 2 classes we saw were more like 20-22. The only school I saw with class sizes of 12-14 actually appears to be struggling financially and I think they would have class sizes of 20 if they could fill the seats! I know it probably varies by grade, but I can't understand how there can be such a big diff between published and actual ratios.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:in touring parochial and Catholic schools, I've seen low ratios published online but when touring during the school day saw significantly more kids in each classroom! One school advertises 14:1 and the 2 classes we saw were more like 20-22. The only school I saw with class sizes of 12-14 actually appears to be struggling financially and I think they would have class sizes of 20 if they could fill the seats! I know it probably varies by grade, but I can't understand how there can be such a big diff between published and actual ratios.

Because they count the aides. So, a class of 28 has a teacher and an aide and now the ratio is 28:2 or 14:1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:in touring parochial and Catholic schools, I've seen low ratios published online but when touring during the school day saw significantly more kids in each classroom! One school advertises 14:1 and the 2 classes we saw were more like 20-22. The only school I saw with class sizes of 12-14 actually appears to be struggling financially and I think they would have class sizes of 20 if they could fill the seats! I know it probably varies by grade, but I can't understand how there can be such a big diff between published and actual ratios.

Because they count the aides. So, a class of 28 has a teacher and an aide and now the ratio is 28:2 or 14:1.

There were no aides in the classrooms I looked at. Do you mean for the kindergarten classes? Is it because there are several teachers like Spanish, 2 PE teachers, Art, and none of those teachers have their own homeroom classes... so the ratio goes down?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:in touring parochial and Catholic schools, I've seen low ratios published online but when touring during the school day saw significantly more kids in each classroom! One school advertises 14:1 and the 2 classes we saw were more like 20-22. The only school I saw with class sizes of 12-14 actually appears to be struggling financially and I think they would have class sizes of 20 if they could fill the seats! I know it probably varies by grade, but I can't understand how there can be such a big diff between published and actual ratios.

Because they count the aides. So, a class of 28 has a teacher and an aide and now the ratio is 28:2 or 14:1.

There were no aides in the classrooms I looked at. Do you mean for the kindergarten classes? Is it because there are several teachers like Spanish, 2 PE teachers, Art, and none of those teachers have their own homeroom classes... so the ratio goes down?

Look at the school directory to see how many aides they have per grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:in touring parochial and Catholic schools, I've seen low ratios published online but when touring during the school day saw significantly more kids in each classroom! One school advertises 14:1 and the 2 classes we saw were more like 20-22. The only school I saw with class sizes of 12-14 actually appears to be struggling financially and I think they would have class sizes of 20 if they could fill the seats! I know it probably varies by grade, but I can't understand how there can be such a big diff between published and actual ratios.

Because they count the aides. So, a class of 28 has a teacher and an aide and now the ratio is 28:2 or 14:1.

There were no aides in the classrooms I looked at. Do you mean for the kindergarten classes? Is it because there are several teachers like Spanish, 2 PE teachers, Art, and none of those teachers have their own homeroom classes... so the ratio goes down?

Look at the school directory to see how many aides they have per grade.

That's a good tip, I'll do that. Are aides that common in elementary school? I haven't seen them past preK and maybe K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:in touring parochial and Catholic schools, I've seen low ratios published online but when touring during the school day saw significantly more kids in each classroom! One school advertises 14:1 and the 2 classes we saw were more like 20-22. The only school I saw with class sizes of 12-14 actually appears to be struggling financially and I think they would have class sizes of 20 if they could fill the seats! I know it probably varies by grade, but I can't understand how there can be such a big diff between published and actual ratios.

Because they count the aides. So, a class of 28 has a teacher and an aide and now the ratio is 28:2 or 14:1.

There were no aides in the classrooms I looked at. Do you mean for the kindergarten classes? Is it because there are several teachers like Spanish, 2 PE teachers, Art, and none of those teachers have their own homeroom classes... so the ratio goes down?

Look at the school directory to see how many aides they have per grade.

That's a good tip, I'll do that. Are aides that common in elementary school? I haven't seen them past preK and maybe K.

I've been in several parochial schools and the aides were common until 4th or 5th. In preschool and K they may have a dedicated aide then maybe 1st or 2nd there would be a shared aide. It depends. But they can get away with a higher ratio because there isn't a wide range of abilities and behaviors in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Student teacher ratio isn't the same as class size. Special teachers, and teacher's aides are counted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Student teacher ratio isn't the same as class size. Special teachers, and teacher's aides are counted.

This. Many schools basically add up the total number of teachers of any type to get the ratio. Instead, ask what the average class size is, and also ask what the largest class size is.

For example, DC’s k-8 had an average class size of 15 and the largest class was 20 (the smallest was 6–you can ask that, too). This was for middle school where the kids had different teachers for every subject, but the same questions apply for earlier years.

[Anonymous]

I think it legitimately varies. There are two in Vienna I know of one, st mark has small classes (we usually had around 18 when my kids were there) due to limits placed on the school size by the county when it was first established, the other olgc I have heard has classes same size as public 25-30.

[Anonymous]

At our parish school in Maryland we have found it varies wildly from year to year. Sometimes there really are 14 kids per class for a particular grade and but then if attrition is lower than expected then the next year there are 27 kids in one class. Our Parish school counts on boys applying out to Mater Dei and the Heights but if enough don’t leave the class size gets really big. And if you complain, you get told you are a bad person.

I understand they count specials teacher when doing the official ratio and I’m not worried about that. But it is super annoying the Parish schools won’t commit to maximum class size the way independent schools commit. It feels very random when you get the class list in the fall. And then you have to do supplemental work at home or hire tutors. Or both. The schools are super misleading in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

All aides, specialty teachers, resource center staff etc.. will be counted. So it will be skewed and not necessarily represent how many kids in a class. Best to just ask that question specifically.

[Anonymous]

I wish they just had a maximum and minimum class size cause I don't care about the ratio, I want to know is he going to be chilling with 3 friends all day or lost in a sea of 30?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish they just had a maximum and minimum class size cause I don't care about the ratio, I want to know is he going to be chilling with 3 friends all day or lost in a sea of 30?

How can they have a minimum? Some classes are smaller and some are bigger but they always say they have a max. Preschool and K classes are smaller and 8th can be up to 30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:in touring parochial and Catholic schools, I've seen low ratios published online but when touring during the school day saw significantly more kids in each classroom! One school advertises 14:1 and the 2 classes we saw were more like 20-22. The only school I saw with class sizes of 12-14 actually appears to be struggling financially and I think they would have class sizes of 20 if they could fill the seats! I know it probably varies by grade, but I can't understand how there can be such a big diff between published and actual ratios.

It depends. At Our Lady of Victory in DC, there are about 15-20 in a class. At Mary of Nazareth, there are sometimes 27-30 - might as well stay in public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:in touring parochial and Catholic schools, I've seen low ratios published online but when touring during the school day saw significantly more kids in each classroom! One school advertises 14:1 and the 2 classes we saw were more like 20-22. The only school I saw with class sizes of 12-14 actually appears to be struggling financially and I think they would have class sizes of 20 if they could fill the seats! I know it probably varies by grade, but I can't understand how there can be such a big diff between published and actual ratios.

Because they count the aides. So, a class of 28 has a teacher and an aide and now the ratio is 28:2 or 14:1.

There were no aides in the classrooms I looked at. Do you mean for the kindergarten classes? Is it because there are several teachers like Spanish, 2 PE teachers, Art, and none of those teachers have their own homeroom classes... so the ratio goes down?

Were you touring on a Friday by chance? Our ADW school has aides in the classrooms for Kinder & 1st but they usually have Fridays off.