^^ There are 20 kids in the first grade classes at Vienna this year too.

Anonymous wrote:20:03 Wolftrap and Vienna Elementary both had those numbers last year and this year. There are similar numbers at Flint Hill and Marshall Road.

WRONG!

My child was a second grader at Vienna Elementary last year and there were 23 children in the class.

Right now in third grade there are 19 children in dc's class.

As a teacher, I went from over thirty kids one year to 21 the next--first graders. Don't count on a school based on this. Policies change, principals change, rules change.

Get involved to help make FCPS make class size more transparent to parents. It's more than just a problem at a couple of schools.

NOT OP here but you do have to base some decisions on what's important to you somehow. Also- historical data us helpful to see any trends. Can anyone help to direct us that are interested in knowing class size data? Thank you/

It's very hard to get the classroom information. It can vary from year to year. I would not make housing decisions based on that. It could change dramatically.

Student teachers are students--not classroom aides. They may be helpful--but they require extra work on the part of the classroom teacher. They usually do not stay all year and would not be assigned to a new teacher.

Where can you look up class size info? For people that are thinking of moving to another area I find it hard to locate the info.

My DC's 3rd grade class has some student teachers to help out this year (they seem terrific!) Last year, his teacher had no help with 28 students, and in 1st grade the teacher also had no help (except parent volunteers to photocopy, etc.) with 27 students. Does anyone know how FCPS assigns these student teachers? Seems like a fantastic option to help out teachers in these larger classes.

As an educated guess, do you think these numbers reflect the attitude by administrators (erroneous or not) that the AAP students can/have demonstrated their ability to succeed with less direct teacher supervision, and non-AAP students still need more direct teaching support? Is AAP becoming more like a college-style classroom makeup (smaller-scale lecture halls)?

I think that given a choice of which group gets the extra teacher, it will go to gened. That is the logical choice. AAP should need less help.

13:06 Yes, I love the area too and really moved here for the commute to be able to travel to DC, MD, and out west more than the schools, but unfortunately FCPS class sizes are too high for me to be comfortable. I think it's not just Vienna schools though. Any non-title 1 school can have these ratios.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, do you have 35 gen ed and 22/23 per class AAP or 18/17 gen ed and 32 AAP?

Yep. In our school one year the gen ed classes at our grade level had 16-17 each and the one AAP class had 30 at the start of the year, 31 at the end. The overall grade level average met the requirements, and that's all that mattered.

As an educated guess, do you think these numbers reflect the attitude by administrators (erroneous or not) that the AAP students can/have demonstrated their ability to succeed with less direct teacher supervision, and non-AAP students still need more direct teaching support? Is AAP becoming more like a college-style classroom makeup (smaller-scale lecture halls)?

Anonymous wrote:20:03 Wolftrap and Vienna Elementary both had those numbers last year and this year. There are similar numbers at Flint Hill and Marshall Road.

With classes this size, why is it so desirable to live in your area? I mean, I love the neighborhoods around these schools and hoped to move into this area. But the high class sizes you mentioned give me serious pause.

So, how do you fix the problem? If I were principal and had to make a choice, I would make Gened smaller. Wouldn't you?

Anonymous wrote:So, do you have 35 gen ed and 22/23 per class AAP or 18/17 gen ed and 32 AAP?

Yep. In our school one year the gen ed classes at our grade level had 16-17 each and the one AAP class had 30 at the start of the year, 31 at the end. The overall grade level average met the requirements, and that's all that mattered.