Starting K in APS next year or waiting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our son was in K, he had 27 kids in his K class with one to two aids (varied during the year). Option 1 absolutely did not happen. Don't kid yourself, Arlington will absolutely jam as many kids as possible in that it can, the kids will be all over the learning spectrum, and the teachers will do their best but there is limited focus on the individual kid in a 27 kid classroom.

This was in Arlington?

I've never heard any APS kindergarten class that huge. That sounds more like FCPS.

My kid is in K hybrid now in APS and there are 27 students. Half the day they are with the aid (who is AWESOME) and the other half they are with the main teacher. It is what it is. She'll be fine...I'm just glad she was able to get into hybrid and not remain 100% virtual.

Was that the original class assignment? Or did they switch up the classes to get more kids into hybrid?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our son was in K, he had 27 kids in his K class with one to two aids (varied during the year). Option 1 absolutely did not happen. Don't kid yourself, Arlington will absolutely jam as many kids as possible in that it can, the kids will be all over the learning spectrum, and the teachers will do their best but there is limited focus on the individual kid in a 27 kid classroom.

Where was this? The recommended max classroom size in APS is 24 and the average size is 20.6 in 2019, 21.3 in 2018. We have never had a K class size over 21.

All of the K classes were well over 21. The smallest was 24 and the largest was 27. Midway through year they added the second aid when we got to 27. I want to say we started at 25. Sorry that this smashes the notion that all Arlington schools behave the same way or follow the rules, but it's the reality. We should have had 5 classrooms, we did not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our son was in K, he had 27 kids in his K class with one to two aids (varied during the year). Option 1 absolutely did not happen. Don't kid yourself, Arlington will absolutely jam as many kids as possible in that it can, the kids will be all over the learning spectrum, and the teachers will do their best but there is limited focus on the individual kid in a 27 kid classroom.

This was in Arlington?

I've never heard any APS kindergarten class that huge. That sounds more like FCPS.

My kid is in K hybrid now in APS and there are 27 students. Half the day they are with the aid (who is AWESOME) and the other half they are with the main teacher. It is what it is. She'll be fine...I'm just glad she was able to get into hybrid and not remain 100% virtual.

Was that the original class assignment? Or did they switch up the classes to get more kids into hybrid?

No there were definitely less at the start of the school year but can't remember... low 20's I'd say.

[Anonymous]

In a typical year K numbers are usually under 22 in person. This year there are probably larger classes due to the reshuffling that happened with virtual and hybrid separate classes.

I'm an upper elementary teacher. I personally would hold my kid for one year. Not for the class size reason but because I think kids who are younger are at a distinct disadvantage later in their school years compared to older kids. Everyone says it's fine when they send them to kinder or in 1st or 2nd. Great. The issues don't arise until your kid is 13, 14, 15+. There are issues being the youngest at that time and you can't do anything about it then. It's harder to be younger with puberty timing, sports, social maturity, etc. Especially for boys (but not limited to boys).

Let your kid go to preschool and send them to K in 2022 if you don't need to send him for childcare reasons.

[Anonymous]

What elementary school would your child be attending?

[Anonymous]

I have three May birthdays (so really not so different from July). I think that the red shirted kids have a significant advantage in kindergarten-second grade, but by then it kind of dissipates. By fourth grade I would say that there is no difference. There are a good number of kids that are red shirted, so they are older, but I would say its actually a disadvantage once you get to a certain age. They age out of rec sports differently, their bodies are kind of a year ahead developmentally, etc. None of these things really matter, but I don't think that most people would say red shirting is a good idea off of dcum in real life.

Most kindergarteners do not know how to read. Most do not even recognize all of their letters or numbers. They catch up.

People are right about next year being a larger kindergarten class year (maybe, who knows, maybe people won't come back in droves). I'm not sure that matters because individual classes are small, and its possible most people who red shirted this year will end up being unhappy with aps and going private/moving out of the area. I wouldn't let that dissuade you one way or the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our son was in K, he had 27 kids in his K class with one to two aids (varied during the year). Option 1 absolutely did not happen. Don't kid yourself, Arlington will absolutely jam as many kids as possible in that it can, the kids will be all over the learning spectrum, and the teachers will do their best but there is limited focus on the individual kid in a 27 kid classroom.

Where was this? The recommended max classroom size in APS is 24 and the average size is 20.6 in 2019, 21.3 in 2018. We have never had a K class size over 21.

All of the K classes were well over 21. The smallest was 24 and the largest was 27. Midway through year they added the second aid when we got to 27. I want to say we started at 25. Sorry that this smashes the notion that all Arlington schools behave the same way or follow the rules, but it's the reality. We should have had 5 classrooms, we did not.

Which school?

Maybe they had to rework classes because of the hybrid/virtual assignments. This is atypical class sizes in an extremely atypical year.

I've never heard of K larger than 22 (outside of covid).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our son was in K, he had 27 kids in his K class with one to two aids (varied during the year). Option 1 absolutely did not happen. Don't kid yourself, Arlington will absolutely jam as many kids as possible in that it can, the kids will be all over the learning spectrum, and the teachers will do their best but there is limited focus on the individual kid in a 27 kid classroom.

Where was this? The recommended max classroom size in APS is 24 and the average size is 20.6 in 2019, 21.3 in 2018. We have never had a K class size over 21.

All of the K classes were well over 21. The smallest was 24 and the largest was 27. Midway through year they added the second aid when we got to 27. I want to say we started at 25. Sorry that this smashes the notion that all Arlington schools behave the same way or follow the rules, but it's the reality. We should have had 5 classrooms, we did not.

Was this Abingdon, Claremont, or Key?

Those are the only three schools with >100 K students.
https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/U-Mem_281_Membership-Summary-All.pdf

Even then the math doesn't work out...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our son was in K, he had 27 kids in his K class with one to two aids (varied during the year). Option 1 absolutely did not happen. Don't kid yourself, Arlington will absolutely jam as many kids as possible in that it can, the kids will be all over the learning spectrum, and the teachers will do their best but there is limited focus on the individual kid in a 27 kid classroom.

Where was this? The recommended max classroom size in APS is 24 and the average size is 20.6 in 2019, 21.3 in 2018. We have never had a K class size over 21.

All of the K classes were well over 21. The smallest was 24 and the largest was 27. Midway through year they added the second aid when we got to 27. I want to say we started at 25. Sorry that this smashes the notion that all Arlington schools behave the same way or follow the rules, but it's the reality. We should have had 5 classrooms, we did not.

That is frustrating, we are at the largest school in Arlington and still never had a class size over 21 (we have 6 kinder classes)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our son was in K, he had 27 kids in his K class with one to two aids (varied during the year). Option 1 absolutely did not happen. Don't kid yourself, Arlington will absolutely jam as many kids as possible in that it can, the kids will be all over the learning spectrum, and the teachers will do their best but there is limited focus on the individual kid in a 27 kid classroom.

Where was this? The recommended max classroom size in APS is 24 and the average size is 20.6 in 2019, 21.3 in 2018. We have never had a K class size over 21.

All of the K classes were well over 21. The smallest was 24 and the largest was 27. Midway through year they added the second aid when we got to 27. I want to say we started at 25. Sorry that this smashes the notion that all Arlington schools behave the same way or follow the rules, but it's the reality. We should have had 5 classrooms, we did not.

Was this Abingdon, Claremont, or Key?

Those are the only three schools with >100 K students.
https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/U-Mem_281_Membership-Summary-All.pdf

Even then the math doesn't work out...

Claremont has 6 classes (post right below) and does NOT have large kinder classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our son was in K, he had 27 kids in his K class with one to two aids (varied during the year). Option 1 absolutely did not happen. Don't kid yourself, Arlington will absolutely jam as many kids as possible in that it can, the kids will be all over the learning spectrum, and the teachers will do their best but there is limited focus on the individual kid in a 27 kid classroom.

Where was this? The recommended max classroom size in APS is 24 and the average size is 20.6 in 2019, 21.3 in 2018. We have never had a K class size over 21.

All of the K classes were well over 21. The smallest was 24 and the largest was 27. Midway through year they added the second aid when we got to 27. I want to say we started at 25. Sorry that this smashes the notion that all Arlington schools behave the same way or follow the rules, but it's the reality. We should have had 5 classrooms, we did not.

Which school?

Maybe they had to rework classes because of the hybrid/virtual assignments. This is atypical class sizes in an extremely atypical year.

I've never heard of K larger than 22 (outside of covid).

It definitely depends on the school. Abingdon, ASFS, ATS, Ashlawn, and Claremont often have a class size of bigger than 22.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our son was in K, he had 27 kids in his K class with one to two aids (varied during the year). Option 1 absolutely did not happen. Don't kid yourself, Arlington will absolutely jam as many kids as possible in that it can, the kids will be all over the learning spectrum, and the teachers will do their best but there is limited focus on the individual kid in a 27 kid classroom.

Where was this? The recommended max classroom size in APS is 24 and the average size is 20.6 in 2019, 21.3 in 2018. We have never had a K class size over 21.

All of the K classes were well over 21. The smallest was 24 and the largest was 27. Midway through year they added the second aid when we got to 27. I want to say we started at 25. Sorry that this smashes the notion that all Arlington schools behave the same way or follow the rules, but it's the reality. We should have had 5 classrooms, we did not.

Which school?

Maybe they had to rework classes because of the hybrid/virtual assignments. This is atypical class sizes in an extremely atypical year.

I've never heard of K larger than 22 (outside of covid).

It definitely depends on the school. Abingdon, ASFS, ATS, Ashlawn, and Claremont often have a class size of bigger than 22.

Not for K...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When our son was in K, he had 27 kids in his K class with one to two aids (varied during the year). Option 1 absolutely did not happen. Don't kid yourself, Arlington will absolutely jam as many kids as possible in that it can, the kids will be all over the learning spectrum, and the teachers will do their best but there is limited focus on the individual kid in a 27 kid classroom.

Where was this? The recommended max classroom size in APS is 24 and the average size is 20.6 in 2019, 21.3 in 2018. We have never had a K class size over 21.

All of the K classes were well over 21. The smallest was 24 and the largest was 27. Midway through year they added the second aid when we got to 27. I want to say we started at 25. Sorry that this smashes the notion that all Arlington schools behave the same way or follow the rules, but it's the reality. We should have had 5 classrooms, we did not.

Which school?

Maybe they had to rework classes because of the hybrid/virtual assignments. This is atypical class sizes in an extremely atypical year.

I've never heard of K larger than 22 (outside of covid).

It definitely depends on the school. Abingdon, ASFS, ATS, Ashlawn, and Claremont often have a class size of bigger than 22.

Not for K...

Well from my personal experience, yes, K at ATS and Abingdon has 24

[Anonymous]

Red shirting happens way less often than this board makes it seem. You know your kid best but the vast majority of kids will be fine starting on time, even without prek, especially this year. Kids don’t need to be reading to go to K.

[Anonymous]

I feel like you need to think about your child's development for the rest of their K-12 years. Not just about the next year or two. Will they be happy being always the oldest in the class? That can be a pro or a con. It can build confidence. It can also be awkward for your child when they sprout up and appear bigger than other kids, or hits puberty ahead of the majority of kids in their class.