Class Size - 4th grade at Janney, Lafayette, and Murch

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A parent-paid ‘coteacher’ should not be doing any IEP interventions. That would be a big violation.

A DCPS learning specialist, special education teacher or support staff (SLP, OT, psychologist) would do that.

No one said anything about a parent teacher.

Agree - the co teachers are all DCPS. None of them are paid for by the PTA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Might think about Mann or Hearst for smaller classes.

Hearst 4th grade this year was 2 classes of fewer than 20 kids each. No partner teachers. Great 5th grade teachers.

If I was moving my kid into a new school, I would definitely recommend considering a smaller school.

[Anonymous]

Is this rising 4 or 5? Lafayette’s rising 5th is 22 kids in a class at most. A lot of kids peeled off to go elsewhere

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this rising 4 or 5? Lafayette’s rising 5th is 22 kids in a class at most. A lot of kids peeled off to go elsewhere

That class has always been smaller than the ones above or below it. There are only 4 sections, instead of the typical 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I had the option of the 3 you mentioned, I would select Murch. Why? Murch has a reputation for an established strong 5th grade teaching team. This is a known weakness at Janney.

This is a very good point.

Janney parent here (kid #1 just graduated).
Agreed.

4th grade is the strongest year at Janney.
5th is the weakest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I had the option of the 3 you mentioned, I would select Murch. Why? Murch has a reputation for an established strong 5th grade teaching team. This is a known weakness at Janney.

This is a very good point.

Janney parent here (kid #1 just graduated).
Agreed.

4th grade is the strongest year at Janney.
5th is the weakest.

I want to add - it is not just b/c you come off of a great 4th grade that you see a gap. We moved to Janney at 5th and we were underwhelmed. We excused a lot of it away - oh our child is new - the rest of the kids have been together for years etc etc ..... but we also have younger children and now see that our excuses were a part - but the weak 5th grade teachers were a big part of it as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this rising 4 or 5? Lafayette’s rising 5th is 22 kids in a class at most. A lot of kids peeled off to go elsewhere

That class has always been smaller than the ones above or below it. There are only 4 sections, instead of the typical 5.

This is true but they are also losing a bunch of kids. That will make for quite a different 5th grade experience than this year where classs size was 26-27.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I had the option of the 3 you mentioned, I would select Murch. Why? Murch has a reputation for an established strong 5th grade teaching team. This is a known weakness at Janney.

This is a very good point.

Janney parent here (kid #1 just graduated).
Agreed.

4th grade is the strongest year at Janney.
5th is the weakest.

I want to add - it is not just b/c you come off of a great 4th grade that you see a gap. We moved to Janney at 5th and we were underwhelmed. We excused a lot of it away - oh our child is new - the rest of the kids have been together for years etc etc ..... but we also have younger children and now see that our excuses were a part - but the weak 5th grade teachers were a big part of it as well.

Were you around before or after the loss of Murray?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I had the option of the 3 you mentioned, I would select Murch. Why? Murch has a reputation for an established strong 5th grade teaching team. This is a known weakness at Janney.

This is a very good point.

Janney parent here (kid #1 just graduated).
Agreed.

4th grade is the strongest year at Janney.
5th is the weakest.

I want to add - it is not just b/c you come off of a great 4th grade that you see a gap. We moved to Janney at 5th and we were underwhelmed. We excused a lot of it away - oh our child is new - the rest of the kids have been together for years etc etc ..... but we also have younger children and now see that our excuses were a part - but the weak 5th grade teachers were a big part of it as well.

Were you around before or after the loss of Murray?

Given I do not know the reference, I would say after.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Janney Language:
Co-Teacher is the inclusion or special ed teacher. They are the ones that implement the IEP. They are the one that provide pull out or push in services, and determine where the student is vs goals.

Partner Teacher - may help with a child who has an IEP the same way they help any other child in the classroom.

And a co-teacher has little to do with children who do not have IEPs, so it's irrelevant to the class size / teacher student ratio conversation.

And that is the same at every school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No partner teachers at Murch and enrollment is hard to gauge given they are coming out of the swing space which has meant higher enrollment at other schools in similar circumstances.

Enrollment for 4th should not be too much of a guess. IB families for 4th graders either kept them through the swing space or moved to private. If they are at private, I would guess most families will leave the child there through the end of elementary.

When Lafayette moved into its new building, the 4th grade gained 17 new kids.

But, I think many of the new kids at Lafayette were former Murch kids who benefitted from the boundary change that year which let them skip the Murch swing space years and instead go to a brand new building at Lafayette, so that was a double whammy anomaly.

In any case, last year Murch's 4th grade was 21-23 per class in 4 homerooms. Hopefully, they won't get so many new IB kids that they'd have to add a homeroom already. The goal is to keep 4th and 5th grade at 4 homerooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this rising 4 or 5? Lafayette’s rising 5th is 22 kids in a class at most. A lot of kids peeled off to go elsewhere

That class has always been smaller than the ones above or below it. There are only 4 sections, instead of the typical 5.

This is true but they are also losing a bunch of kids. That will make for quite a different 5th grade experience than this year where classs size was 26-27.

The just graduated 5th grade also had a dedicated science teacher which the incoming 5th grade will not. Agree there are a lot of kids peeling off but the class sizes were unusually large last year mostly because there were only 4 sections with 5 teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No partner teachers at Murch and enrollment is hard to gauge given they are coming out of the swing space which has meant higher enrollment at other schools in similar circumstances.

Enrollment for 4th should not be too much of a guess. IB families for 4th graders either kept them through the swing space or moved to private. If they are at private, I would guess most families will leave the child there through the end of elementary.

When Lafayette moved into its new building, the 4th grade gained 17 new kids.

But, I think many of the new kids at Lafayette were former Murch kids who benefitted from the boundary change that year which let them skip the Murch swing space years and instead go to a brand new building at Lafayette, so that was a double whammy anomaly.

In any case, last year Murch's 4th grade was 21-23 per class in 4 homerooms. Hopefully, they won't get so many new IB kids that they'd have to add a homeroom already. The goal is to keep 4th and 5th grade at 4 homerooms.

The final staffing plan they sent out awhile ago says it'll remain 4 homerooms in both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No partner teachers at Murch and enrollment is hard to gauge given they are coming out of the swing space which has meant higher enrollment at other schools in similar circumstances.

Enrollment for 4th should not be too much of a guess. IB families for 4th graders either kept them through the swing space or moved to private. If they are at private, I would guess most families will leave the child there through the end of elementary.

When Lafayette moved into its new building, the 4th grade gained 17 new kids.

But, I think many of the new kids at Lafayette were former Murch kids who benefitted from the boundary change that year which let them skip the Murch swing space years and instead go to a brand new building at Lafayette, so that was a double whammy anomaly.

In any case, last year Murch's 4th grade was 21-23 per class in 4 homerooms. Hopefully, they won't get so many new IB kids that they'd have to add a homeroom already. The goal is to keep 4th and 5th grade at 4 homerooms.

The final staffing plan they sent out awhile ago says it'll remain 4 homerooms in both.

Yes, just responding to the unlikely "what if" suddenly 20 new IB kids enroll in 4th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Might think about Mann or Hearst for smaller classes.

Hearst 4th grade this year was 2 classes of fewer than 20 kids each. No partner teachers. Great 5th grade teachers.

If I was moving my kid into a new school, I would definitely recommend considering a smaller school.

Parent of Hearst student who just completed 4th grade. She reports 22 in her class and looking at her school photo there are 20 in the picture - either way - not “fewer than 20”. Not trying to quibble (and we are very happy at Hearst!) just trying to give accurate facts