23 Kindergarten kids, 1 teacher, no assistant -- cause for concern?

[Anonymous]

As a secondary teacher, 23 per class would be ideal. Try having 5 classes of 28+ with no assistant.

[Anonymous]

Wow! No assistant for a kindergarten class? I'm in FCPS and all kindergarten classes here have assistants. In fact, my son's class is 20 children with a teacher and an assistant.

[Anonymous]

"The student teacher ratio you are describing is very high and there will be many children who get lost in the process. "

Evidence?

[Anonymous]

"It may depend on the teacher, but for my DS last year I typically put "graded" paperwork in the students' cubbies, helped out at the art table where kids were typically working on some sort of project. The teacher would tell me what she needed from me and I would just assist. It was a lot of fun. "

How did that have any impact on the kids' education?

[Anonymous]

My daughter, who's in 1st grade, attends a Catholic school with 27 other students. The teacher has an assistant who splits her time btw. 1st and 2nd grades.

I'm not the least bit concerned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"It may depend on the teacher, but for my DS last year I typically put "graded" paperwork in the students' cubbies, helped out at the art table where kids were typically working on some sort of project. The teacher would tell me what she needed from me and I would just assist. It was a lot of fun. "

How did that have any impact on the kids' education?

I'm not the original author, but I did similar jobs as a volunteer. I also made a lot of photocopies. How did it impact the kids' education? Easy: the teacher wasn't spending time doing those tasks and had more time to focus on helping the kids learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"It may depend on the teacher, but for my DS last year I typically put "graded" paperwork in the students' cubbies, helped out at the art table where kids were typically working on some sort of project. The teacher would tell me what she needed from me and I would just assist. It was a lot of fun. "

How did that have any impact on the kids' education?

Whatever time it takes to do these tasks is time saved for the teacher, who can then use that time for teaching rather than doing administrative tasks associated with teaching (like the ones listed in the post). If it takes 30 minutes to put "graded" paperwork in the students' cubbies; make photocopies; organize art supplies; clean up supplies; etc., and the teacher doesn't have to use 30 minutes for those tasks, s/he is free to dedicate them instead to her students' learning.

That is the positive impact volunteerism has on the kids' education.