What were your elementary school class sizes like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS in the early 70s. 29 in K. 28 in 1st. I still have my class pictures.

I wonder if the difference between the large class then and the large classes today is the expectation of differentiation and inclusion. I remember being tracked in elementary school and the kids that needed extra attention or help were taken out of the classroom.

And of course there wasn't the emphasis on test taking like there is today. We had the 3rd and 5th grade assessments but we didn't do any practice tests or pre tests. It was a day or two and then we moved on.

The difference between large classes now and large classes then is that parents now seem to think that it's a problem.

[Anonymous]

Elementary school was mid-70s to early 80s. Class sizes were likely in the low 20s. Rochester NY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no idea. There is no way I ever counted or paid attention to class size in elementary, lol

do you not have a class photo?

[Anonymous]

Born 1963 FCPS typically 31-35 kids per class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS in the early 70s. 29 in K. 28 in 1st. I still have my class pictures.

I wonder if the difference between the large class then and the large classes today is the expectation of differentiation and inclusion. I remember being tracked in elementary school and the kids that needed extra attention or help were taken out of the classroom.

And of course there wasn't the emphasis on test taking like there is today. We had the 3rd and 5th grade assessments but we didn't do any practice tests or pre tests. It was a day or two and then we moved on.

The difference between large classes now and large classes then is that parents now seem to think that it's a problem.

They are also run differently though and different standards at taught. My 3rd grader learns some things I learned in 5th or 6th grade and the level of inquiry and collaboration expected expected is much higher. Most of their day is spent in small groups working on projects or rotated stations. I think this all makes it more difficult to run a classroom because everyone is doing something different and it's hard for a teacher to keep track of all the tasks and how well each student is doing at them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS in the early 70s. 29 in K. 28 in 1st. I still have my class pictures.

I wonder if the difference between the large class then and the large classes today is the expectation of differentiation and inclusion. I remember being tracked in elementary school and the kids that needed extra attention or help were taken out of the classroom.

And of course there wasn't the emphasis on test taking like there is today. We had the 3rd and 5th grade assessments but we didn't do any practice tests or pre tests. It was a day or two and then we moved on.

OP here -- part of why I'm asking is that I'm wondering what counts as "large."

There is much consternation among parents at my school over "large" classes. My kid has 24 in his first grade class, but has a teacher + an aide. This doesn't feel particularly large to me.

You are lucky to have an aide. MCPS doesn't have aides at all. So I would refine your question to ask whether people had one or two teachers. That's a huge difference! Our MCPS class had 27 with no aide last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious about how this has changed over time. I see a lot of concern over class size, but even the bigger classes have much smaller student/teacher ratios that was the case when I was a kid. Not sure if my school was an outlier or i that was the norm.

How many kids in an average elementary class, and what year were you born?

Me: 33 kids; 1975

Dude. I'm 44. I've killed A LOT of brain cells since then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS in the early 70s. 29 in K. 28 in 1st. I still have my class pictures.

I wonder if the difference between the large class then and the large classes today is the expectation of differentiation and inclusion. I remember being tracked in elementary school and the kids that needed extra attention or help were taken out of the classroom.

And of course there wasn't the emphasis on test taking like there is today. We had the 3rd and 5th grade assessments but we didn't do any practice tests or pre tests. It was a day or two and then we moved on.

The difference between large classes now and large classes then is that parents now seem to think that it's a problem.

Yeah, remember this whenever someone waxes nostalgic about the 70s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in elementary in the late 70's and early 80's I always remember having between 30-35 students in my classes.

I saw an elementary class picture of my mom's from the 50's and there were 38 kids in her class!

I'm your mom's age and had a similar number-- 35.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious about how this has changed over time. I see a lot of concern over class size, but even the bigger classes have much smaller student/teacher ratios that was the case when I was a kid. Not sure if my school was an outlier or i that was the norm.

How many kids in an average elementary class, and what year were you born?

Me: 33 kids; 1975

Dude. I'm 44. I've killed A LOT of brain cells since then.

Oh, to be clear, so have I (and in many many interesting ways ... ) but this one sticks with me.

Don't know if I could tell you the names of my teachers, though.

[Anonymous]

If you compare 20-30 years ago classroom size and education, it's entirely not the same. Population all around has increased greatly, especially in this DC area.