How big are classes in high school?

[Anonymous]

33 kids in my son's 6th grade math class. Ridiculous! At what point do parents get to have a school system that works? 33 kids and 1 teacher is not a recipe for success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:33 kids in my son's 6th grade math class. Ridiculous! At what point do parents get to have a school system that works? 33 kids and 1 teacher is not a recipe for success.

Relax. I was an MCPS student in the 70s, back when it was considered one of the best public school systems in the nation, and we had 30 kids in my 6th grade class and 1 teacher (but she was tough). I don't recall anyone thinking twice about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:33 kids in my son's 6th grade math class. Ridiculous! At what point do parents get to have a school system that works? 33 kids and 1 teacher is not a recipe for success.

Relax. I was an MCPS student in the 70s, back when it was considered one of the best public school systems in the nation, and we had 30 kids in my 6th grade class and 1 teacher (but she was tough). I don't recall anyone thinking twice about it.

Teacher were not expected to differentiate back then. They taught and if the students got it, great. If not, oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:33 kids in my son's 6th grade math class. Ridiculous! At what point do parents get to have a school system that works? 33 kids and 1 teacher is not a recipe for success.

Relax. I was an MCPS student in the 70s, back when it was considered one of the best public school systems in the nation, and we had 30 kids in my 6th grade class and 1 teacher (but she was tough). I don't recall anyone thinking twice about it.

Teacher were not expected to differentiate back then. They taught and if the students got it, great. If not, oh well.

Yes and everyone spoke and understood English back then too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at Churchill. All of her classes have less than 20. Same with her friends. Smaller classes = better. Feel sorry for rest of county with 30+.

Which Churchill is your DD attending?! Mine is at Churchill in Potomac and classes are huge.

[Anonymous]

What?! I have considered moving to mcps but had no idea there would be class sizes greater than 30?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:33 kids in my son's 6th grade math class. Ridiculous! At what point do parents get to have a school system that works? 33 kids and 1 teacher is not a recipe for success.

Relax. I was an MCPS student in the 70s, back when it was considered one of the best public school systems in the nation, and we had 30 kids in my 6th grade class and 1 teacher (but she was tough). I don't recall anyone thinking twice about it.

Teacher were not expected to differentiate back then. They taught and if the students got it, great. If not, oh well.

There were 33 kids in my third-grade class in the 1970s. And the teacher differentiated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is at Churchill. All of her classes have less than 20. Same with her friends. Smaller classes = better. Feel sorry for rest of county with 30+.

Which Churchill is your DD attending?! Mine is at Churchill in Potomac and classes are huge.

Poster was a troll. Classes at Churchill are indeed enormous. Most are over 30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What?! I have considered moving to mcps but had no idea there would be class sizes greater than 30?!

Learn more about MCPS before you decide to move.

[Anonymous]

Class size shows much less educational impact in hs than in lower ES where it is more important. A 1st trade teacher is still tying shows and reminding kids to wash hands in addition to teaching.

[Anonymous]

Class size shows much less educational impact in hs than in lower ES where it is more important. A 1st trade teacher is still tying shows and reminding kids to wash hands in addition to teaching.

Yes, if you look at the overall number of students that can achieve the average or baseline score on the standardized test. If this is your goal, then sure, packing in 30, 50 or 100 kids into one class with no teacher feedback is just fine. It doesn't prepare kids for the writing demands in college.The goal in MCPS though is to prepare kids for community college where classes are far easier so it may not matter in the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Class size shows much less educational impact in hs than in lower ES where it is more important. A 1st trade teacher is still tying shows and reminding kids to wash hands in addition to teaching.

Yes, if you look at the overall number of students that can achieve the average or baseline score on the standardized test. If this is your goal, then sure, packing in 30, 50 or 100 kids into one class with no teacher feedback is just fine. It doesn't prepare kids for the writing demands in college.The goal in MCPS though is to prepare kids for community college where classes are far easier so it may not matter in the end.

I've read this assertion often on DCUM, but nobody has ever provided any evidence to support it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What?! I have considered moving to mcps but had no idea there would be class sizes greater than 30?!

We're only in early ES, but already the class sizes are ridiculously large. First grade with 24 kids, which is crazy for a bunch of 6 year olds. Yes, some teachers are great, but even so, it is really difficult to make it work well. I volunteer quite a bit, and see the HUGE range of abilities. They don't separate out the kids by reading/math levels, so in the one classroom, there are 5 different reading groups. The teacher needs to focus on the kids who need to be brought up to speed, and the other kids fall by the wayside.

Interesting thread about HS class sizes.