3rd Grade Class Size

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Number of kids isn’ particularly meaningful by itself. Is there an aide? Is the teacher effective? How are the kids - a bunch of trouble makers? Those answers matter more.

Where do you live?

Aides? This is MCPS. There are no aides. One teacher per classroom. Even in K.

I’m in MCPS. Correct about no aides but there also aren’t 26 kids in the room all day every day. Kids gets pulled out for reading time or math time with a specialist. I’m not saying all is great and I wish the class sizes were smaller. But it’s okay for public school.

[Anonymous]

Yup, I’m sure the 600k in expenditures your just cited would really pay for smaller class sizes across the district!!!!!!!!! Genius. You should be Fortune 500 CEO with that cash management understanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why private school exists. It’s free. You get what you pay for, especially if you’re a renter.

Not all public districts have such large class sizes! MCPS decides how large to make classes. It could cap the class sizes to be smaller.

LOL!!!!! MCPS could also decide to give every parent a free mortgage payment on their house. Smaller class sizes cost MONEY. If they don’t have the space or the money to pay teachers, they can’t cap sh1t. If you are rolling around with all this cash, go private or move. Otherwise be appreciative your kid has an option at all.

??

Your post makes zero sense. Be appreciative that my kid has what option? We can’t afford private. My kid has no other options. Most middle class families in this area aren’t rolling around in ‘all this cash’.

You could afford private but you probably bought a house for $800k+ and are screaming poverty. We are not high income and bought the cheapest house we could find (under $400K) and could afford a small private for a few years till our child aged out. It was about $12K a year which is the same as day care. Catholics are about that price too. Or you move to an area with focus schools and they have slightly smaller classes. We've had 18-26 in the older grades.

Wow. Lots of incorrect and obnoxious assumptions. You obviously have a chip on your shoulder.

Do you know anything about the Greenwood area? There are townhomes for under $400K. And SFHs for under $550K. That’s why the demographics have been changing because it’s a way for recent residents to purchase a home for less than in other areas and live with another family to save cash.

We certainly don’t live in a $800K home.

And my SIL has kids at a Focus school. It’s no better. Her DD has 27 kids in her 4th grade class last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yup, I’m sure the 600k in expenditures your just cited would really pay for smaller class sizes across the district!!!!!!!!! Genius. You should be Fortune 500 CEO with that cash management understanding.

Thanks! I’m hoping for that as my second career.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Number of kids isn’ particularly meaningful by itself. Is there an aide? Is the teacher effective? How are the kids - a bunch of trouble makers? Those answers matter more.

Where do you live?

Aides? This is MCPS. There are no aides. One teacher per classroom. Even in K.

I’m in MCPS. Correct about no aides but there also aren’t 26 kids in the room all day every day. Kids gets pulled out for reading time or math time with a specialist. I’m not saying all is great and I wish the class sizes were smaller. But it’s okay for public school.

Kids get pulled out for a fairly short period of time. And then the poor teacher has to get the kids up to speed when they come back. It’s not a great system.

In general, there are usually that number of kids in the class.

[Anonymous]

Cool. It’s public school. It’s a JEEP, not a Mercedes. 27 kids is nothing. It’s not my responsibility to ensure your kid gets hours of individualized attention. It’s not Wellesley.

[Anonymous]

Our school usually has 5 classes for K-2 and 4 classes for 3-5. So they go from 22-23 in K-2 to 27-29 in 3-5. I think with the new guidelines they are less likely to have 29 in 3rd but it’s still possible in 4th and 5th. They lowered the guidelines for the older grades by like 1 student. 27 is still allowed and to get a new teacher every class has to be 1 student over the guidelines and then you still have one or more students to place. So really, the guideline is kind of one higher than the stated guideline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school usually has 5 classes for K-2 and 4 classes for 3-5. So they go from 22-23 in K-2 to 27-29 in 3-5. I think with the new guidelines they are less likely to have 29 in 3rd but it’s still possible in 4th and 5th. They lowered the guidelines for the older grades by like 1 student. 27 is still allowed and to get a new teacher every class has to be 1 student over the guidelines and then you still have one or more students to place. So really, the guideline is kind of one higher than the stated guideline.

Plus it's just a 'guideline'. Schools have some leeway and can add in another student or two. It's not like MCPS is going to fine the school for going over the 'guideline'. MCPS really doesn't care either way. They just put out those guidelines to make it seem like they cared. MCPS is always about optics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why private school exists. It’s free. You get what you pay for, especially if you’re a renter.

What does that mean, especially as a renter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why private school exists. It’s free. You get what you pay for, especially if you’re a renter.

What does that mean, especially as a renter?

DP. Renters don't pay real estate taxes which presumably fund schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why private school exists. It’s free. You get what you pay for, especially if you’re a renter.

What does that mean, especially as a renter?

DP. Renters don't pay real estate taxes which presumably fund schools?

Their landlords pay the real estate taxes with the money they collect from renters...because they take real estate taxes into consideration when setting the rental rates. Renters are paying real estate taxes, they’re just doing it through their landlords.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why private school exists. It’s free. You get what you pay for, especially if you’re a renter.

What does that mean, especially as a renter?

DP. Renters don't pay real estate taxes which presumably fund schools?

Their landlords pay the real estate taxes with the money they collect from renters...because they take real estate taxes into consideration when setting the rental rates. Renters are paying real estate taxes, they’re just doing it through their landlords.

Not always how it works now in MoCo. True, the landlords pay property taxes, but the new trend of ‘Cash Only’ rent means the County is missing out on a good chunk of income.

Lax enforcement means that landlords don’t bother with Rental Licenses so the County loses out on those fees. And the landlords only accept cash payments so they aren’t reporting that as income either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, not from 28.

When I was in third grade in the 1970s, in the Midwest, 28 kids would have been a small class.

But those classes were tracked by ability and the teacher taught to everyone on a black/white board.

MCPS design is hours of busy work while meeting with small groups for reading in AM and math for PM. The more in the class the less interaction your child gets with their teacher and the louder it gets if they decide to even do their bust work. It also is a PIA for specials too.

[Anonymous]

I teach first grade and I have 28 students. I think that is too high but 28 in third grade is doable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, not from 28.

When I was in third grade in the 1970s, in the Midwest, 28 kids would have been a small class.

But those classes were tracked by ability and the teacher taught to everyone on a black/white board.

MCPS design is hours of busy work while meeting with small groups for reading in AM and math for PM. The more in the class the less interaction your child gets with their teacher and the louder it gets if they decide to even do their bust work. It also is a PIA for specials too.

Agreed.

My classes in ES were ability tracked and smaller. It’s easier for a teacher to teach to 28 kids who are all reading at the same level. Much harder for a teacher to teach at 5 different reading levels. So much wasted time in ES. For kids at all levels.

Kids who are not at grade level don’t get the attention they need. Kids who are above grade level don’t get the challenge they need.