recent experiences at takoma park elementary

[Anonymous]

Yes, this was the last year the school qualified as a focus school and had smaller class sizes. The kindergarten classes are now 25-26 kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:26 kids in a kindergarten with one teacher and no aides in unacceptable whether or not this is also happening elsewhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Besides the large classroom size, can anyone please share additional recent experiences? Are kids learning, are they challenged academically, do they enjoy school, are there behavior issues that impede learning? (Not OP).

Again the classroom size is the same as any moderate FARMS MCPS school.

Yes, but it’s also fair for others to say it’s big for early elementary. DCPS schools have an aide in early elementary for classes of that size. For many people who moved here when class sizes were 18, it’s an unpleasant surprise. And the teachers frequently mention how stressful this year and last have been given the class sizes.

Yes, but this is true for ALL low FARMS MCPS schools.

Back to the OP's question, DC's K at TPES in 2021 had 16 kids.

[Anonymous]

I have confirmed with multiple current kindergarten parents that the smallest class is 25 kids. I wonder why this information is incorrectly reported here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:26 kids in a kindergarten with one teacher and no aides in unacceptable whether or not this is also happening elsewhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Besides the large classroom size, can anyone please share additional recent experiences? Are kids learning, are they challenged academically, do they enjoy school, are there behavior issues that impede learning? (Not OP).

Again the classroom size is the same as any moderate FARMS MCPS school.

Yes, but it’s also fair for others to say it’s big for early elementary. DCPS schools have an aide in early elementary for classes of that size. For many people who moved here when class sizes were 18, it’s an unpleasant surprise. And the teachers frequently mention how stressful this year and last have been given the class sizes.

Yes, but this is true for ALL low FARMS MCPS schools.

Back to the OP's question, DC's K at TPES in 2021 had 16 kids.

MCPS has a tracker with real-time data. As of today, it looks like the average size at TPES is:

K: 18ish
1: 19ish
2: 20ish

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/data/LAR-charts/Elementary-Class-Size-Dashboard.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One issue that nobody has mentioned here is space. Even if they get more teachers, they might not have classroom space for additional teachers. Getting portable for a school is a long and tedious process and does not happen at the drop of a dime.

According to the current CIP, TPES has 604 students enrolled and a program capacity of 791, meaning there is space for 187 additional students.

https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP25_Chapter4DCC.pdf

Oh OK. That's a lot of room for more diversity.

[Anonymous]

Another issue is simply hiring more teachers. At the start of the school year TPES did not have a teacher for all kindergarten classrooms and had to rely on subs.

Anonymous wrote:One issue that nobody has mentioned here is space. Even if they get more teachers, they might not have classroom space for additional teachers. Getting portable for a school is a long and tedious process and does not happen at the drop of a dime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have confirmed with multiple current kindergarten parents that the smallest class is 25 kids. I wonder why this information is incorrectly reported here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:26 kids in a kindergarten with one teacher and no aides in unacceptable whether or not this is also happening elsewhere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Besides the large classroom size, can anyone please share additional recent experiences? Are kids learning, are they challenged academically, do they enjoy school, are there behavior issues that impede learning? (Not OP).

Again the classroom size is the same as any moderate FARMS MCPS school.

Yes, but it’s also fair for others to say it’s big for early elementary. DCPS schools have an aide in early elementary for classes of that size. For many people who moved here when class sizes were 18, it’s an unpleasant surprise. And the teachers frequently mention how stressful this year and last have been given the class sizes.

Yes, but this is true for ALL low FARMS MCPS schools.

Back to the OP's question, DC's K at TPES in 2021 had 16 kids.

MCPS has a tracker with real-time data. As of today, it looks like the average size at TPES is:

K: 18ish
1: 19ish
2: 20ish

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/data/LAR-charts/Elementary-Class-Size-Dashboard.html

They haven't updated the data dashboard with the current year's information.

[Anonymous]

Class size isn’t everything but it is extremely important. Larger class sizes mean more class room disruptions, stressed teachers who are stretched too thin, and a greater reliance on screens so that teachers are able to pull small groups. I heard a parent of a current K student say that their child complains of their brain tingling because of all the screen time.

Class size is wildly important, especially in the early elementary years. I’m surprised that so many people are complacent with a K ratio of 1:26, especially since this is a county wide issue.

Anonymous wrote:To drag this discussion back from the trolls who want to litigate the boundary discourse in every thread:

TPES is well-regarded in the community. The K-2 model lets the staff and administration focus on the needs of the youngest learners, and the partnership with the 3-5 school is much better integrated than other split elementary models in MCPS.

The class size issue is relatively new, as TPES only "lost" its Focus School status a year ago. As the neighborhood has become wealthier, it has tipped the balance from "moderate FARMS" to "low FARMS" in terms of MCPS metrics.

If your main issue is class size, there are plenty of schools in the broader neighborhood that are either still Focus Schools (like ESSES) or Title I (like Rolling Terrace).

But I wouldn't pick a school on that basis only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class size isn’t everything but it is extremely important. Larger class sizes mean more class room disruptions, stressed teachers who are stretched too thin, and a greater reliance on screens so that teachers are able to pull small groups. I heard a parent of a current K student say that their child complains of their brain tingling because of all the screen time.

Class size is wildly important, especially in the early elementary years. I’m surprised that so many people are complacent with a K ratio of 1:26, especially since this is a county wide issue.

It is a function of how positions are allocated in the operating budget.

"Classroom teacher positions for Grades K–5 are allocated based on enrollment projections to Kindergarten using a class size guideline of 24, to Grades 1–2 using a class size guideline of 25, to Grade 3 using a class size guideline of 26, and to Grades 4-5 using a class size guideline of 28. Additional classroom teacher positions are provided to focus and Title I schools to Grades K–2 using a class size guideline of 18, to Grade 3 using a class size guideline of 24, and to Grades 4-5 using a class size guideline of 26."

https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/departments/budget/fy2024/fy2024_summarybudget_final.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class size isn’t everything but it is extremely important. Larger class sizes mean more class room disruptions, stressed teachers who are stretched too thin, and a greater reliance on screens so that teachers are able to pull small groups. I heard a parent of a current K student say that their child complains of their brain tingling because of all the screen time.

Class size is wildly important, especially in the early elementary years. I’m surprised that so many people are complacent with a K ratio of 1:26, especially since this is a county wide issue.

Anonymous wrote:To drag this discussion back from the trolls who want to litigate the boundary discourse in every thread:

TPES is well-regarded in the community. The K-2 model lets the staff and administration focus on the needs of the youngest learners, and the partnership with the 3-5 school is much better integrated than other split elementary models in MCPS.

The class size issue is relatively new, as TPES only "lost" its Focus School status a year ago. As the neighborhood has become wealthier, it has tipped the balance from "moderate FARMS" to "low FARMS" in terms of MCPS metrics.

If your main issue is class size, there are plenty of schools in the broader neighborhood that are either still Focus Schools (like ESSES) or Title I (like Rolling Terrace).

But I wouldn't pick a school on that basis only.

Agreed! I think the best thing to do here is hire an outside consultant to come in and study the problem and then create a new central office division headed by an assistant superintendent to work on the issue. 10 or 12 new employees ought to be enough.

[Anonymous]

how do people feel like the larger classes sizes are/aren't affecting their kids? like, have you noticed more acting out, or it is it more an theoretical problem but kids doing basically fine?

[Anonymous]

A TPES teacher had this advice for one of the students.

Don't get ahead. You'll just be bored.

Need to say anything more?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how a focus school is determined? What’s the FARMS rate cutoff? Does a school have to hit a certain FARMS metric for a certain number of years before the designation is changed?

[Anonymous]

Much larger reliance on kids playing games on their chrome books so the teachers can pull small groups. Many more classroom disruptions.

Lots of issues at lunch and recess since there are so many kids and so little supervision. This is less correlated to class size and more so an issue of the school size.

Anonymous wrote:how do people feel like the larger classes sizes are/aren't affecting their kids? like, have you noticed more acting out, or it is it more an theoretical problem but kids doing basically fine?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know how a focus school is determined? What’s the FARMS rate cutoff? Does a school have to hit a certain FARMS metric for a certain number of years before the designation is changed?

I don't know the exact cutoff, but all of the focus schools are listed in the chart on page 3 here, so it can probably be extrapolated, if someone wants to take the time.

https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP25_Chapter3.pdf

[Anonymous]

Interesting. Flora Singer is a focus school but last year they had a slightly lower FARMS rate than Takoma park elementary, per the “at a glance” information (this info for this current school year is not available yet).

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/glance/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know how a focus school is determined? What’s the FARMS rate cutoff? Does a school have to hit a certain FARMS metric for a certain number of years before the designation is changed?

I don't know the exact cutoff, but all of the focus schools are listed in the chart on page 3 here, so it can probably be extrapolated, if someone wants to take the time.

https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP25_Chapter3.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. Flora Singer is a focus school but last year they had a slightly lower FARMS rate than Takoma park elementary, per the “at a glance” information (this info for this current school year is not available yet).

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/glance/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know how a focus school is determined? What’s the FARMS rate cutoff? Does a school have to hit a certain FARMS metric for a certain number of years before the designation is changed?

I don't know the exact cutoff, but all of the focus schools are listed in the chart on page 3 here, so it can probably be extrapolated, if someone wants to take the time.

https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP25_Chapter3.pdf

I'm not sure about in MCPS, but when we were in DCPS, focus schools were the schools that did not qualify as Title I and had large achievement gaps between different groups of people. So it may not be about the FARMs rate but about the achievement gap by race/ethnicity.