Anonymous
04/27/2026 19:00
Subject: Student teacher ratio accurate for Catholic schools?
It's extremely off at all "private" schools for the reasons pointed out in this thread. Not exclusive to Catholic at all.
Anonymous
04/27/2026 18:58
Subject: Student teacher ratio accurate for Catholic schools?
Ask how many students per classroom - usually this is a range. Then ask how many teachers are in each classroom.
Anonymous
04/27/2026 18:57
Subject: Student teacher ratio accurate for Catholic schools?
Icon above is erroneous. It should have been ": ("
Anonymous
04/27/2026 18:56
Subject: Student teacher ratio accurate for Catholic schools?
Many schools - public and private - take (total number of students for all grades)
total number of full-time equivalent teaching faculty) as the way to calculate the ratio. 2 half-time teachers would count as 1 FTE in this example.
At our school, kids spend several periods each week in French class. She is a full-time teacher, not part-time. She teaches French for many different grades and she gets counted as teaching faculty.
total number of full-time equivalent teaching faculty) as the way to calculate the ratio. 2 half-time teachers would count as 1 FTE in this example.
At our school, kids spend several periods each week in French class. She is a full-time teacher, not part-time. She teaches French for many different grades and she gets counted as teaching faculty.
Anonymous
04/27/2026 17:58
Subject: Student teacher ratio accurate for Catholic schools?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Catholics are known for high class sizes. Part of why the tuition is lower
It's this and also because they aren't serving as wide variety of needs. It's more of a one size fits all. So they can have more kids, but if your kid needs some special customization they won't get it.
This will depend on the type of Catholic school as well as size. Mine attends a large Catholic school so they are able to break kids up by ability for the core subjects, so each kid has a homeroom teacher who teaches some things, but the kids switch classrooms for math, English, reading. There are a few kids - maybe 5-10% of kids? - who seem to need help in several subjects or more significant help in certain subjects and according to DD they go see the reading or math specialist during those times. We toured a much smaller Catholic school with fewer staff (no learning specialist or nurse, for example) and all the kids stay with the homeroom teacher for all subjects.
I’ve only seen this at the middle school level grades 6-8, not for the younger grades. In the younger grades in the 3 Catholic schools I’ve been in it’s one size fits all with very little differentiation. That’s not really what they do.
Anonymous
04/27/2026 17:55
Subject: Student teacher ratio accurate for Catholic schools?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Catholics are known for high class sizes. Part of why the tuition is lower
It's this and also because they aren't serving as wide variety of needs. It's more of a one size fits all. So they can have more kids, but if your kid needs some special customization they won't get it.
This will depend on the type of Catholic school as well as size. Mine attends a large Catholic school so they are able to break kids up by ability for the core subjects, so each kid has a homeroom teacher who teaches some things, but the kids switch classrooms for math, English, reading. There are a few kids - maybe 5-10% of kids? - who seem to need help in several subjects or more significant help in certain subjects and according to DD they go see the reading or math specialist during those times. We toured a much smaller Catholic school with fewer staff (no learning specialist or nurse, for example) and all the kids stay with the homeroom teacher for all subjects.
Anonymous
04/27/2026 17:12
Subject: Student teacher ratio accurate for Catholic schools?
Many Catholic schools do have a cap on class size. Ours caps at 25. They should tell you that.
Anonymous
04/27/2026 09:52
Subject: Student teacher ratio accurate for Catholic schools?
Anonymous wrote:Catholics are known for high class sizes. Part of why the tuition is lower
It's this and also because they aren't serving as wide variety of needs. It's more of a one size fits all. So they can have more kids, but if your kid needs some special customization they won't get it.
Anonymous
04/27/2026 09:50
Subject: Student teacher ratio accurate for Catholic schools?
Anonymous wrote:Usually the ratio is adults employed in classroom roles:total enrolled students. It's isn't about any given classroom. It includes, aids, specials teachers, etc.
+1. At all schools (not just Catholic) the student teacher ratio is lower than average class size for the reasons mentioned. At each school you visit, I would ask specifically about class sizes, whether kids are in smaller groups for certain classes, if so, which classes, whether there is a cap on class sizes, etc. This is will give you a much better sense of how many students actually are in each class.
Anonymous
04/27/2026 09:34
Subject: Student teacher ratio accurate for Catholic schools?
The student:teacher ratio is not class size, and includes total instructors (yes aides and specials) vs total students. Ask about class size, but also note that some Catholic schools have one “class” per grade, but sometimes break that class up during the day for certain subjects like math and language arts. So, for our school, the grades are smaller in elementary when everyone stays in the same room all day, but they add more students in middle school and then break out groups for some teaching, so you still have a smaller group than the 25-30 that are in the class/grade.
Anonymous
04/27/2026 09:19
Subject: Student teacher ratio accurate for Catholic schools?
Some teachers have more than one role.
It is possible the person who runs the library who pushes in for story time is counted in this ratio. A counselor.
I think it is worth it to ask.
What is your maximum class size is a good question to ask to avoid bait and switch.
It is possible the person who runs the library who pushes in for story time is counted in this ratio. A counselor.
I think it is worth it to ask.
What is your maximum class size is a good question to ask to avoid bait and switch.
Anonymous
04/23/2026 18:33
Subject: Student teacher ratio accurate for Catholic schools?
Catholics are known for high class sizes. Part of why the tuition is lower
Anonymous
04/23/2026 18:14
Subject: Student teacher ratio accurate for Catholic schools?
Usually the ratio is adults employed in classroom roles:total enrolled students. It's isn't about any given classroom. It includes, aids, specials teachers, etc.