Reply to Oakland Terrace

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "Oakland Terrace"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Oh, looks like this link doesn’t work ((

I’ll try a different way then:

“Testimony to the Board of Education from Oakland Terrace E.S. Families
January 17, 2023
My name is Alison Pflepsen and I am the parent of a kindergartener and a third grader at Oakland Terrace, a two-way Spanish-English immersion school with more than 500 students.1 I am also the President of the school’s PTA. Tonight I am speaking on behalf of more than 100
parents who have signed this testimony.2
I am here to express families’ concerns regarding large class sizes at our school, and to request action be taken in the FY2024 budget to rectify this situation. At Oakland Terrace, teachers instruct twice as many students as their colleagues at most other elementary schools.
Our TWI teachers teach two groups of students every day: a cohort of students in their homeroom class, as well as a cohort in their co-teacher’s class. This is because one teacher provides instruction in English and the other in Spanish.
As a result of our school losing Focus status this year, we have seen individual class
sizes balloon to unacceptable levels for a dual-language program.3 For example, the number of children in each kindergarten class jumped from approximately 16 last year to 26 this
year, with similar increases in other grades. This means that teachers are responsible for
teaching, grading, managing and supporting more than 50 students every day—a workload that is unacceptable and unsustainable.
Our teachers, school leadership, and support staff are doing everything they can in the face of this adversity. But the only way to solve this problem and to reduce class sizes is for MCPS to provide funding for more teachers. This is critical because smaller TWI class sizes
are essential to: (1) provide the highest quality dual-language instruction; (2) enable teachers to differentiate instruction; and (3) avoid challenges recruiting and retaining teachers for this unique program.
Oakland Terrace, and all TWI schools, need to have the requisite human and other resources to implement the program well. Importantly, this funding should not be contingent on Focus
or Title I status, but should be based on what is needed to successfully implement the
program.
Secondly … need to develop strategic plan for TWI. 
TWI needs to identify curricular materials
For all subjects. 
TWI needs to be comprehensively evaluated “.

[/quote]

Class sizes ballooned 22-23 SY but went back to 15-18 per class for 23-24. They're expected to remain small for 24-25.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics