Legal classroom ratios in elementary school

[Anonymous]

Anyone know?
DS has 26 kids in K class; DD has 27 kids in her 2nd grade class. I'm surprised this is allowed? What's the maximum legal limit?? Nearly 30 small children under the care of 1 adult seems a bit unsafe.

[Anonymous]

But its not just 1 adult all day is it? There are aides and specialists and volunteers.

Also a good teacher can manage 35 kids. Its about the effectiveness of the teacher, not the number of students, in reality.

[Anonymous]

OP here - FWIW, I'm in MCPS. In a top cluster.

[Anonymous]

MCPS teacher here. It's pretty much one adult all day. Yes, aides come and go but they are often tasked with meeting the needs of one or two kids in the class who have a 504 or IEP. They're not available to support the teacher on an as needed basis. Also, whenever a teacher leaves early or needs to attend a meeting, an aide is the quickly pulled to cover the bases. Therefore, aides often aren't even reliable (by no fault of their own). And classroom volunteers, sadly, are discouraged at our school.

[Anonymous]

For 2016: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/budget/fy2016/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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For 2016: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/budget/fy2016/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

I was just coming to post this. It's also 18 students for 1st and 2nd grade at focus schools.

[Anonymous]

And what happens halfway through the year when a new student joins a K class of 26 thus putting them over the legal limit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And what happens halfway through the year when a new student joins a K class of 26 thus putting them over the legal limit?

It's usually too late to do anything about it by then. But it's not a "legal limit" -- these are MCPS staffing guidelines. I'm not aware of any law on the ratio, unlike the types of legal requirements for childcare ratios.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And what happens halfway through the year when a new student joins a K class of 26 thus putting them over the legal limit?

Then the class has 27 students in it.

It's not a legal limit. It's the basis for allocating teacher positions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - FWIW, I'm in MCPS. In a top cluster.

Did you expect class sizes to be smaller in a top cluster?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know?
DS has 26 kids in K class; DD has 27 kids in her 2nd grade class. I'm surprised this is allowed? What's the maximum legal limit?? Nearly 30 small children under the care of 1 adult seems a bit unsafe.

Unsafe? Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone know?
DS has 26 kids in K class; DD has 27 kids in her 2nd grade class. I'm surprised this is allowed? What's the maximum legal limit?? Nearly 30 small children under the care of 1 adult seems a bit unsafe.

Unsafe? Why?

In case the kids get all Lord of the Flies and eat the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - FWIW, I'm in MCPS. In a top cluster.

Did you expect class sizes to be smaller in a top cluster?

OP, this is the pros/cons of buying in a "top cluster". Larger class sizes, but most of the kids have outside enrichment so they usually score high on tests. Lower SES cluster -- smaller K-3 class size, but then when they get older, kid might not make it into a magnet, and then they aren't around the "highly desirable" classmates.

I don't live in a W cluster, btw.

[Anonymous]

A few of our primary classes had 32 or more last year (not in MCPS).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - FWIW, I'm in MCPS. In a top cluster.

Oooooh, in that case your child's class should be no larger than 12 students.