Legal classroom ratios in elementary school

[Anonymous]

"Anonymous wrote:
For 2016: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/d...6/superintendent/AppendixC.pdf

27 or less for Gr 1 to 3
29 or less for gr 4 and 5

K - These positions are allocated on a ratio of one teacher for every 26 students and one for every 18 students at the focus schools


Sorry but this is PC bullshit."

Agree that it is bad that low FARM schools have such high numbers but there is just no way high FARM schools could cope with higher ratios than they are now given that a good chunk of classes come in without even having gone to preschool and often not speaking English. It would be impossible.

[Anonymous]

There are 30 in my kid's 1st grade class. The ratios are bullshit. MCPS exceeds them all the time. We're told that because the kids in the school score so high MCPS administration isn't worried about going this far over the ratio. Nice. MCPS wants my kids high scores but doesn't give a shit about him. We're done after this year.

[Anonymous]

MCPS elementary teacher here. We have four 4th grade classes. Three have 28 students, one has 29. To add a fifth teacher, each class would have to have 32 students. That's reality. BTW, we are a focus school. We would also have to add a portable, because the school is well over capacity. We have somewhere around 715 students now, pre-K through 5th.

[Anonymous]

This is why people who can't really afford it will still shell out thousands of dollars for private schools in this area, where class sizes are usually 12-18 students.

Great schools, great teachers, but class size does make a big difference.

[Anonymous]

My child's first grade class has 18 kids...we are MCPS and neither focus nor Title 1. It's not all doom and gloom out there folks.

[Anonymous]

How can I find out if our school is a Title 1 or focus school. I did some googling without much luck. At the parent meeting on Thursday the presentation referenced the "focus" for the year on ESOL students and reading. I was pleasantly surprised yesterday that DS's K class has only 24 kids in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child's first grade class has 18 kids...we are MCPS and neither focus nor Title 1. It's not all doom and gloom out there folks.

This is what bothers me - MCPS has a policy that tax collections are not tied directly to one school - the total collections are to be allocated across all schools so the richest areas don't have "more and better" and the poorest aren't left with nothing. That is great. In practice, however, the redistribution isn't equal. All non-title 1 & focus schools should really have equivalent class sizes. I'm fine with Focus schools & title 1 schools having even better ratios, as long as those are the same for all title 1 & all focus. That would be an equal distribution of resources. And it does seem the schools that are tagged as the wealthiest or the highest scoring are dealing with the largest class sizes. With few to no para educators to assist. This has only been going on for a few years, but at some point, it will show up in the test scores, too. It is simply bad practice. Across the board, studies show that all groups learn better in smaller classes - those lagging behind, those on track & those ahead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can I find out if our school is a Title 1 or focus school. I did some googling without much luck. At the parent meeting on Thursday the presentation referenced the "focus" for the year on ESOL students and reading. I was pleasantly surprised yesterday that DS's K class has only 24 kids in it.

If your K class has 24 kids, you are not a focus or title 1 school. You can look at the "at a glance" sheet for your school on the MCPS website under "school programs". My focus school says "focused academic support - local funds". We have 15 or 16 kids in each K class this year (cap is 18).

[Anonymous]

And it does seem the schools that are tagged as the wealthiest or the highest scoring are dealing with the largest class sizes. With few to no para educators to assist. This has only been going on for a few years, but at some point, it will show up in the test scores, too. It is simply bad practice. Across the board, studies show that all groups learn better in smaller classes - those lagging behind, those on track & those ahead.

MCPS would dance for joy if scores started dropping in wealthier areas. This would shrink the achievement gap. Its perverted that this school systems sees thwarting achievement as a goal.

[Anonymous]

To the question about what happens if enrollment goes over the guidelines, in some cases they do add a teacher. That happened to us when my son was in K (at a Title 1 school, if that matters.) They had enough students once enrollments at the start of the school year settled, so they started the process of getting another classroom added, and had it done in December. They moved students from each classroom into the new class. (And let to my embarrassing post in the Have you had good or bad teachers thread -- 4 years worth of teachers, but 5 in total). So it does happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can I find out if our school is a Title 1 or focus school. I did some googling without much luck. At the parent meeting on Thursday the presentation referenced the "focus" for the year on ESOL students and reading. I was pleasantly surprised yesterday that DS's K class has only 24 kids in it.

If your K class has 24 kids, you are not a focus or title 1 school. You can look at the "at a glance" sheet for your school on the MCPS website under "school programs". My focus school says "focused academic support - local funds". We have 15 or 16 kids in each K class this year (cap is 18).

Thanks! Still trying to figure out where to find all this info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child's first grade class has 18 kids...we are MCPS and neither focus nor Title 1. It's not all doom and gloom out there folks.

This is what bothers me - MCPS has a policy that tax collections are not tied directly to one school - the total collections are to be allocated across all schools so the richest areas don't have "more and better" and the poorest aren't left with nothing. That is great. In practice, however, the redistribution isn't equal. All non-title 1 & focus schools should really have equivalent class sizes. I'm fine with Focus schools & title 1 schools having even better ratios, as long as those are the same for all title 1 & all focus. That would be an equal distribution of resources. And it does seem the schools that are tagged as the wealthiest or the highest scoring are dealing with the largest class sizes. With few to no para educators to assist. This has only been going on for a few years, but at some point, it will show up in the test scores, too. It is simply bad practice. Across the board, studies show that all groups learn better in smaller classes - those lagging behind, those on track & those ahead.

I don't think this is accurate. If you look at the ESs in the Churchill cluster, a few are under capacity, and some of the class sizes are pretty small. Same for some of the Wotton cluster ESs.

[Anonymous]

My kid's class has 22 students. Mcps. Not a W school. Not a title 1 or focus. Just a nice school out in the burbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child's first grade class has 18 kids...we are MCPS and neither focus nor Title 1. It's not all doom and gloom out there folks.

This is what bothers me - MCPS has a policy that tax collections are not tied directly to one school - the total collections are to be allocated across all schools so the richest areas don't have "more and better" and the poorest aren't left with nothing. That is great. In practice, however, the redistribution isn't equal. All non-title 1 & focus schools should really have equivalent class sizes. I'm fine with Focus schools & title 1 schools having even better ratios, as long as those are the same for all title 1 & all focus. That would be an equal distribution of resources. And it does seem the schools that are tagged as the wealthiest or the highest scoring are dealing with the largest class sizes. With few to no para educators to assist. This has only been going on for a few years, but at some point, it will show up in the test scores, too. It is simply bad practice. Across the board, studies show that all groups learn better in smaller classes - those lagging behind, those on track & those ahead.

I don't think this is accurate. If you look at the ESs in the Churchill cluster, a few are under capacity, and some of the class sizes are pretty small. Same for some of the Wotton cluster ESs.

Cold Spring in Potomac has 16 kids in their K classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Anonymous wrote:
For 2016: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/d...6/superintendent/AppendixC.pdf

27 or less for Gr 1 to 3
29 or less for gr 4 and 5

K - These positions are allocated on a ratio of one teacher for every 26 students and one for every 18 students at the focus schools


Sorry but this is PC bullshit."

Agree that it is bad that low FARM schools have such high numbers but there is just no way high FARM schools could cope with higher ratios than they are now given that a good chunk of classes come in without even having gone to preschool and often not speaking English. It would be impossible.

We had 26 kids last year and 10 were ESOL, 4 couldn't speak any English to start. I also know that 8 kids in the class were FARMS (but didn't know who, the teacher just let me know as a room parent because funds for parties were so low. i don't think it is fair.