I don't understand the deal with MoCo class size

[Anonymous]

30-31 in WJ cluster ES 4th grade class. One teacher. Crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This are is more expensive, I suppose, which affects teacher salary.

I have a child with special needs and large class sizes materially affect his behavior and academics. It's sad to think that so many of us struggle to find accommodations for our children in special ed resource classrooms (which also cost the taxpayer money), when their needs might actually be met by smaller classes. The alternative is expensive private school, and not just any school, as you just said (parochials also have large classes), which many of us cannot afford.

This.

And the MCPS teachers are also living in tiny houses & apartments and sending their own children to overcrowded classes.

My child's teacher sends her 2 kids to private school. That speaks volumes to me.

[Anonymous]

The question; why?

The answer… illegal immigration.

[Anonymous]

Our class sizes in ES have been 12, 20, 18, and 19. The 12 was at at Title 1, the rest were not title 1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This are is more expensive, I suppose, which affects teacher salary.

I have a child with special needs and large class sizes materially affect his behavior and academics. It's sad to think that so many of us struggle to find accommodations for our children in special ed resource classrooms (which also cost the taxpayer money), when their needs might actually be met by smaller classes. The alternative is expensive private school, and not just any school, as you just said (parochials also have large classes), which many of us cannot afford.

This.

And the MCPS teachers are also living in tiny houses & apartments and sending their own children to overcrowded classes.

My child's teacher sends her 2 kids to private school. That speaks volumes to me.

And?
I teach for MCPS and my DD goes to private. We get extensive FA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The question; why?

The answer… illegal immigration.

You need a hobby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The question; why?

The answer… illegal immigration.

There aren't many illegal immigrants on the Western side of MoCo, but some of the class sizes are huge. The population has grown rapidly, but the school district hasn't kept up with the rezoning. The county doesn't help by allowing more multi-family housing to be built in already over crowded school clusters.

[Anonymous]

22 in K last year, 19 this year 1st grade. TPES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the issues is the size of the school district. It's probably true that everywhere you are aware of has 26 kids in a class, but there are a lot of schools with many fewer. My child's first grade class has 16 students, but we're at a Title I school that most DCUM parents would never deign to consider. But...the point is that we pay a ton in taxes, but those taxes are distributed across a socioeconomically diverse county. If MCPS were split into three districts (North, East, West), there would be a massive achievement gap but folks in the West and North would get smaller classes, probably.

I agree with this poster. I actually like this system better than the town-based systems, which educate a few wealthy kids well but leave the middle and working class kids with failing schools.

The other reason class sizes are large is that the county remains a very popular area to live for families, with enrollments growing hugely each year, but the state government has cut back on funding this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
This are is more expensive, I suppose, which affects teacher salary.

I have a child with special needs and large class sizes materially affect his behavior and academics. It's sad to think that so many of us struggle to find accommodations for our children in special ed resource classrooms (which also cost the taxpayer money), when their needs might actually be met by smaller classes. The alternative is expensive private school, and not just any school, as you just said (parochials also have large classes), which many of us cannot afford.

No it's not.

[Anonymous]

Also, people frequently confuse school size and class size. Class sizes are NOT large because more kids enrolled in your particular school this year. They are large because your school decided not to hire more teachers. Some huge schools still have small classes (ours at one point had 9 kindergartens).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:30-31 in WJ cluster ES 4th grade class. One teacher. Crazy.

And 29-30 in the 3rd Grade. Ashburton (WJ Cluster)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:30-31 in WJ cluster ES 4th grade class. One teacher. Crazy.

And 29-30 in the 3rd Grade. Ashburton (WJ Cluster)

And to the Poster who said it's a choice, can have a large school and small classes. Not at a place like Ashburton where the school is 250 over capacity. (900 in a school for 650), unless you also want to pay for several more portables, and cover the entire outdoor field and play space.

[Anonymous]

Forever Grateful to the poster who put together this chart based on the at-a-glance sheets.

Because I am SO busy at work, I did some detective work. Rachel Carson ES is the largest ES in the county, with 1007 students. It is also the only one with an Assistant School Administrator (usually reserved for MS/HS). The next largest school, Spark Matsunaga ES, has 919 students and only two administrators. So, 950 could be a reasonable cutoff.

If anyone cares, here are the highest- and lowest-enrolled ESes:

1. RCES 1007
2. SMES 919
3. Rolling Terrace ES 899
3. Ashburton 899
5. College Gardens ES 868
6. South Lake ES 850
7. Ronald McNair ES 848
Four more 800+

Schools below 400:
13. Seven Locks ES 394
12. Cold Spring 335
11. Oak View ES 381
10. Candlewood 331
9. DuFief ES 325
8. Germantown ES 313
7. Belmont ES 309
6. Darnestown ES 309
5. Westover 306
4. Clarksburg 304
3. Damascus ES 299
2. Woodfield ES 298

aaaaand the number one smallest school in the county is.... Monacacy ES with 161 students and one class in each grade!

[Anonymous]

^very informative list, but someone sure has a lot of time on their hands.