Legal classroom ratios in elementary school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I feel the same after a year of 25 kids in K and one teacher. If you're a quiet kid, you basically don't exist.

[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.

You just got lucky. It changes year to year. You happened to get the right # of kids so that they had to make another class so it was 18/class. If there had been one or two less, then you would have lost a classroom and had bigger classes. The class before my kid's K year was 19 kids/class. My kid's year was 25.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Total luck of the draw. No reason to expect it will be the same next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Do you really, truly believe that is true?

I do. Teacher quality matters MUCH more than class size.

So what, though? Both matter. If you have the greatest teacher on Earth with 40 kindergarteners, it's going to suck. It's a sliding scale, and a B+ teacher can do a great job with 18 kids but not such a great job with 27 kids. An A+ teacher may be able to do a great job with 30 kids (though I haven't seen that happen). But there are a lot more B+ teachers than A+ teachers. (And plenty of C- teachers.)

[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.

You just got lucky. It changes year to year. You happened to get the right # of kids so that they had to make another class so it was 18/class. If there had been one or two less, then you would have lost a classroom and had bigger classes. The class before my kid's K year was 19 kids/class. My kid's year was 25.

Maybe so but we had 22 in K last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Mine DS's 1st grade is 21 (we are in RM cluster)

[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.

You just got lucky. It changes year to year. You happened to get the right # of kids so that they had to make another class so it was 18/class. If there had been one or two less, then you would have lost a classroom and had bigger classes. The class before my kid's K year was 19 kids/class. My kid's year was 25.

Maybe so but we had 22 in K last year.

And so what? Do you imagine there is just a lower required ratio at your school? No. You got lucky. The class ahead of you or the class behind you are as likely to be screwed with a big class as any other school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You just got lucky. It changes year to year. You happened to get the right # of kids so that they had to make another class so it was 18/class. If there had been one or two less, then you would have lost a classroom and had bigger classes. The class before my kid's K year was 19 kids/class. My kid's year was 25.

Maybe so but we had 22 in K last year.

And so what? Do you imagine there is just a lower required ratio at your school? No. You got lucky. The class ahead of you or the class behind you are as likely to be screwed with a big class as any other school.

'

And also as likely to get a small class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You just got lucky. It changes year to year. You happened to get the right # of kids so that they had to make another class so it was 18/class. If there had been one or two less, then you would have lost a classroom and had bigger classes. The class before my kid's K year was 19 kids/class. My kid's year was 25.

Maybe so but we had 22 in K last year.

And so what? Do you imagine there is just a lower required ratio at your school? No. You got lucky. The class ahead of you or the class behind you are as likely to be screwed with a big class as any other school.

'

And also as likely to get a small class.

No, you aren't. It's not a coin toss. By definition the most likely outcome is the average, which is 25 .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

No, you aren't. It's not a coin toss. By definition the most likely outcome is the average, which is 25 .

OK, so people are equally likely to get a class of more than 25 or a class of less than 25.

Although actually I don't think that's right. I think that 25 is the mean class size, not the median class size.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No, you aren't. It's not a coin toss. By definition the most likely outcome is the average, which is 25 .

OK, so people are equally likely to get a class of more than 25 or a class of less than 25.

Although actually I don't think that's right. I think that 25 is the mean class size, not the median class size.

Right. So you probably have a lot more at the few numbers allowable above 25 than those below. Get it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No, you aren't. It's not a coin toss. By definition the most likely outcome is the average, which is 25 .

OK, so people are equally likely to get a class of more than 25 or a class of less than 25.

Although actually I don't think that's right. I think that 25 is the mean class size, not the median class size.

Right. So you probably have a lot more at the few numbers allowable above 25 than those below. Get it?

No, that's not how it works, unless it's the median class size, which I doubt it is. It's probably the arithmetic mean.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I'm sorry, what exactly is unfair?! That kids with poor parents get the same chance for an education as your kid?

[Anonymous]

MCPS is so dishonest. They publicize a "cap" and have no intention of honoring it. Classes at our elementary school have more than the cap- and not just 1 or 2 more. If even more students join later in the year the class just gets bigger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is so dishonest. They publicize a "cap" and have no intention of honoring it. Classes at our elementary school have more than the cap- and not just 1 or 2 more. If even more students join later in the year the class just gets bigger.

Where does MCPS say that it is a cap and that no class will be bigger? Could you provide a link, please?