MCPS Kindergarten Student:Teacher ratios? Screen time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - asking for specific schools this year isn’t going to help you much. Things can swing quite a bit. Let’s say the mandated max is 25 kids per class. If the school this year had 51 kindergartners, they’d have 3 classes of 17 kids per class. If next year there are 50 kids, you’d have 2 classes of 25.

Yep makes sense and is very helpful! Anyone have strong feelings one way or the other on how much screens their kids are getting in school?

Screen time varies widely by teacher. We had one year it was clearly out of control but most years it has been fine.

MCPS uses about the same amount of screen time as other local publics. Waldorf is low technology but also has other elements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD goes to a title 1. She is in 2nd and her classes have typically started with 17 kids with 1 or 2 that move mid year. There has also been a para or a fair amount of kids being pulled for various things. There was some screen time on math games/people go but DD's K teacher was super play based and I felt in didn't impact her at all. In 1st and 2nd the teachers use it to get assessments like DIBELS done. My DD loves the school and has made friends and I have loved the teachers, but I can't recommend the school. There is almost zero after school clubs, no PTA and the principal is standoffish and not helpful.

The P in PTA stands for Parent. Any parent at your school is welcome to start up the PTA. PTAs are usually the ones that handle after school clubs.

[Anonymous]

It seems like arlington and fairfax have better student; teacher ratios, is that right? I'm curious as to why...seems like they are all equally wealthy counties?

[Anonymous]

Yes, there are literally 7 parents that came to the PTA meetings and almost no volunteers for events. You need a certain amount of positions filled to actually have a true PTA and this school is not able to get it.

The P in PTA stands for Parent. Any parent at your school is welcome to start up the PTA. PTAs are usually the ones that handle after school clubs.

[Anonymous]

Ours has, what I feel to be, an excessive use of screens for a kindergarten class. The teacher uses screens to read books to the class, plays a video game for their wiggle breaks. DS tells me that there is a screen at gym class some days, and they watch videos at the media center (aka library). I hate it but also can’t afford private.

[Anonymous]

And to piggy back on the last post, I often walk into a k class and it’s completely silent as students sit with headphones on and play games on their computers while the teacher works with a small group . However, across the hall in the other K classroom, the atmosphere is completely different. So, like others have said, it’s not school dependent, but teacher dependent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And to piggy back on the last post, I often walk into a k class and it’s completely silent as students sit with headphones on and play games on their computers while the teacher works with a small group . However, across the hall in the other K classroom, the atmosphere is completely different. So, like others have said, it’s not school dependent, but teacher dependent.

I totally get that it’s teacher dependent but nevertheless I’m curious- would you or PP mind sharing which schools these are?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Consider that not all screens are created equal. A screen with a standardized test is not the same as a screen that lets you scroll TikTok, and nor do they affect your child's brain the same way. Don't accidentally become a luddite.

Same person who continually calls anyone who wants textbooks and handwriting "Luddites," but pays absolutely no attention to the neuroscientific research that has been posted about the detrimental aspects of screens in education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider that not all screens are created equal. A screen with a standardized test is not the same as a screen that lets you scroll TikTok, and nor do they affect your child's brain the same way. Don't accidentally become a luddite.

Same person who continually calls anyone who wants textbooks and handwriting "Luddites," but pays absolutely no attention to the neuroscientific research that has been posted about the detrimental aspects of screens in education.

Screens in education don’t have detrimental effects. Over use of screens and no/limited use of other methods and systems has detrimental effects. Like everything in life, a balance needs to be achieved. Which is why the person said don’t become a Luddite. You don’t have to have no screens.

[Anonymous]

IMO there is too much screentime.

Class sizes, as others have mentioned, can be up and down. We are at a Focus school where I believe kindergarten classes are supposed to be limited to 18 students, but DC's cohort was large and a lot of families registered late, so all of the classes ended up with 20-22 students that year. It's been similar class sizes in their 1st and 2nd grade classes too. But I've heard that most years the school can meet the guideline.

[Anonymous]

North Bethesda-area parent here - my child's K class has 22 kids. There seems to be a mix of screens and non-screens. But realistically, our kids' lives as kids and as adults are going to be screen-oriented in some ways. Life has just changed since most of us were in school. So I don't get too worked up.

[Anonymous]

This data isn’t accurate (I’d assume it’s last years info?). This current K class sizes at TPES are unusually large for the reasons others have already outlined above. Hopefully they’ll be smaller (more like 22-24 moving forward), but it’s mostly pure luck. The school lost its “focus school” status two years ago, so class sizes increased as a result.

Screen usage at TPES depends greatly on the teacher and does seem overall higher than usual, probably because the current K class also has the largest class sizes they’ve ever seen. I fully believe that your friends K experience has been less than desirable with regard to the class size and screen usage, but there’s no way to guarantee you won’t run into that at any public school. Or that this will continue to be an issue at TPES.

Anonymous wrote:The new school data dashboard shows TPES K size as 20.1:

https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiZWJmMzk4MTItMjZjZS00OGYxLTlhYTAtNDM5ODFiMWI1MjhjIiwidCI6ImRkZjc1NWU5LWJjZDYtNGE1ZS1hNDcyLTdjMzc4YTc4YzZjNyIsImMiOjF9

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this information is theoretically available online, but as far as I can tell it's inaccurate (e.g., saying there are 18 kids in a kg class in Takoma Park ES when there are 25).

Can people share what the student:teacher ratio is in their child's kindergarten class in montgomery county, and if they are generally pleased with the school?

We have a child kindergarten entering in the Fall and are trying to pin down which school district to move to. Of course, we know there are considerations beyond elementary, but we have a two year old and a five year old and are just trying to focus on the near future. We had our hearts set on Takoma Park, but then heard from friends about how large the kindergarten classes were, and how the kids were spending hours each day on screens, so hoping to avoid that.

when DC was at TPES a few years ago their class had 16 but it was still a focus school then

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Consider that not all screens are created equal. A screen with a standardized test is not the same as a screen that lets you scroll TikTok, and nor do they affect your child's brain the same way. Don't accidentally become a luddite.

Same person who continually calls anyone who wants textbooks and handwriting "Luddites," but pays absolutely no attention to the neuroscientific research that has been posted about the detrimental aspects of screens in education.

Screens in education don’t have detrimental effects. Over use of screens and no/limited use of other methods and systems has detrimental effects. Like everything in life, a balance needs to be achieved. Which is why the person said don’t become a Luddite. You don’t have to have no screens.

Some believe this while others think there are many benefits to using technology.

[Anonymous]

Test scores have been declining worldwide since 2010, when screens really started to proliferate at school and at home. It’s hard not to think there’s something causal doing on. Personally I think kids’ brains are completely scrambled from the hours of screen usage at home, but piling on even more at school probably doesn’t help.