Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Class sizes--elementary school

I'm wondering what is "normal" in terms of student-teacher ratio for elementary school, particularly 3rd grade. If we accelerate DS for math, he would be in a class of 32-33 kids vs. 22-23 if he stays in the grade for his age (2nd grade). The class of 32-33 kids wouldn't be a huge problem, except for the fact that the work is still going to be too easy. So I'm guessing with a class that size it would be unreasonable to expect the teacher to differentiate the work for DS and teach him at his level? But more reasonable with a class of 22?

Has anyone dealt with class sizes this large in elem school? I am really disgusted. I'm not sure how they would even fit the kids into the small classrooms. It would be like a herd of cattle fenced in.

Sorry I have no good news. Our schools are now 30-36 kids in all grades except K. And H.S. classes can get as big as 42. When both my kids we had class size reduction that kept 1st-3rd less than 20, but that is no longer unless a district has extra money.

We've never seen them that large. In our school it gets as high as 26 or 27. There are teachers who can handle that and differentiate, but most can't. However, that's also true with 21 kids in the room-- some teachers don't have the skill set to do it.

Sorry-- we're in the same boat as bluemagic. Class sizes even in Kindy here are as high as 30. In high school, mid-40's is not unusual.

No, we have less than 20...

Do they ability group the kids? With a class that large, I would think you would have a few (if not a handful) working beyond year level.

In the early elementary, I believe there are different reading & math groups. As far as I know the elementary schools are finding this size hard. One way they are handing it is to hire more teachers aids, and rely on parent volunteers more. At 4th grade and up, some kids are GATE and given some extra enrichment but this depends on teacher. Our district did have classes dedicated for gifted if you wanted them, and your child was qualified.

At junior high/high school there are two main tracks. The CP (College Prep) classes and the Honors classes. Last year in my son's junior high most of his classes were only 30-33 except for his High School H. Geometry class. That has 43 kids and because of restrictions on who could teach that class, how they could fit it into the schedule and the fact that it was a Honors H.S. class they got away with it and it wasn't a big deal.

They typically ability group for reading in the younger grades (like K-2). DD is now in third and there hasn't been any ability-grouping. I think she has 26 kids in her class. The principal had the brilliant idea to put the "gifted cluster" which is 4 kids, in with the neediest, lowest level kids, probably in an attempt to even things out (as if gifted kids are going to be easy! Oh, yeah, they can just be shoved in a corner and ignored since they know the standards already or can teach themselves).

The new teacher that DS will have for second grade said that she ability groups for math (this is the first time I ever heard of that in this district)...but DS is so high there would be no one else close to his level.

These large class sizes that you all are talking about, are there aides or paras in the class to help? Or is it really one teacher with the large class? I don't think this school has aides/paras except for the kids who have them on their IEP.

I don't think this school has aides/paras except for the kids who have them on their IEP

That's my impression. On the other hand, in a class with 30 students, odds are quite good that there will be an aide or para for at least ONE child in the room, at least in elementary.

Class sizes here are pretty crazy.

When I talk about aides. We have a very large "foundation" that pays for some things, but can't pay for others. Teachers can't be paid for but I think aides can. They are cheaper than teachers and can be shared. They come into the regular class and take the load off the regular teacher, working with small groups for LA, math. The good thing for the district, but bad for the aids as sometimes these are fully trained but as of yet unemployed teachers who can't find teaching jobs.

Wow. No, ours are all 20-ish here. When it gets around 24, they start looking at splitting off with another teacher. Of course, we are a pretty small school in a pretty small town -- graduating class is usually 35-40. The elementary is all two or three classes per grade, depending on the number of kids in the grade. The teachers rearrange to meet the demands of each new grade -- my daughter's second-grade teacher is moving up with the class to third, because this year's third grade was only two classrooms and hers will be three. Her classroom was 19 this year.