Parents of school age kids - how many kids in class in elementary?

[kozachka]

I am in the process of looking for a place to move to be closer to work. I put a deposit on the place in Cupertino, one of the three districts that is within easy commute and have universally good schools around here, it's a major consideration considering space availability issues. And I was told that next year class size will go up to 30 kids. What?! I get it that the budgets are much smaller this year, but they are increasing class size by almost a third.

Granted I grew up going to school with a class size of 27-32 kids, and turned out more than just fine. It made me wonder, am I spoiled (DS' current class has 20-21 kids) or is 30 kids is too big? For the reference, DS will be going to 2nd grade next year.

[crl]

We're in CA too and it looks like DS's 1st grade class will be 27-30 kids next year. I'm worried.

Catherine

[niccig]

Our public school district will be going to 30 kids for K-2 and then 35 kids for 3rd grade and up.

I know I had about 30 kids in my class throughout elementary. I wouldn't be so worried if school was more laid back like when I went through. It's much more of a fast pace now. A friend volunteers in her DD's K class and she told me she was surprised at the pace they move and the teacher showed her a huge binder of what they still had to cover and told her they had to move on to the next topic or they wouldn't get it all covered in time. Fast pace + more kids = doesn't sound so good to me. I do think a good teacher would cope better than a not-so great teacher. Unfortunately, our local school laid off one of the best K teachers and kept the one no one has a good thing to say about because she had tenure.

My friend just told me that parents are getting very angry as some of the budget details for the school district inlcude repaving parking lots that only teachers can park in, AND apparently the District Supervisor's salary is 300K. There's a group of parents lobbying for cuts to admin and other areas and not to teachers. I don't know how successful they will be, but it's worth a try.

[BabyMine]

We have class size imits in Florida. The maximum for PK-3rd is 18 and 4th-8th is 22.

[rlu]

I answered 22 - 29 since our school district is targeting 24 for k-3 next year.

[Globetrotter]

Yep, next year it's 30-32 :( for K-6.

Elementary school isn't what it used to be back in the days when 30 kids was standard. Nowadays, you snooze, you lose! I feel for the kids who need extra help, b/c they're not going to get it.

[kali]

Not sure what the class size is for the traditional public schools, but in DS' charter school, it's up to 25 kids per class with a teacher + aide. They're hoping/planning to get class sizes down to 22 within the next 5 years, at least for the preK-3 grades.

[egoldber]

There was a big thread on this not too long ago:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=357604&highlight=elementary+class+size

Yes, class sizes are only getting larger now in the days of huge budget cuts. I think that California's situation is particularly bad. Also, wealthier districts often have larger class sizes. They are considered more desirable, there is more demand and there is less federal money available to help reduce class sizes like there is in poorer districts.

[jacksmomtobe]

DS's K class is 24 kids but they have been lucky enough to get a Teacher's Aide. Also in our K program it's 3 short days and 2 long days. On the long days it's 1/2 the kids in the class during the longer part of the day. The class sizes are expected to stay about 24 for both the next's year's K class & first grade however our elementary school district has had many bumps over the summer in past year's in the K class so there is thought that a K-1 class might be added.

[kristenk]

I voted 21 or under, but our max class size for elementary is 22. Most of the current 1-5 classes are under 20. DD's K teacher said that the max is 22 but that the school district can ask for a waiver. I really hope that doesn't happen and we stay at our current levels.

[SnuggleBuggles]

21 in 1st, 22 in 2nd, 24 for the foreseeable years after that. I've been complaining about 24 but that's sounding better in light of recent threads like this.


Beth

[schrocat]

There's a maximum of 22 kids set by the state (we're in Texas) but we've heard that there are usually about 18 kids in the kindergarten class.

[C99]

California is BROKE. My friend told me that last year, she didn't get her income tax refund because the state had no money to pay it out by the time she filed.

My kids' school caps the classes at 25, which is the lowest standard for a public, at-enrollment target school I've seen in my city.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

I didn't vote because it doesn't fit the poll choices very well. 30 students is the cap. My son had 29 students this year.

We're in SJUSD, so just down the way from CUSD. We went to 30 this year and it seems like most of the districts that didn't last year are following.

It has been a good year for us even with 29 kids in my son's kindergarten class. It is tough for the teacher to have 1 on 1 time with kids that are struggling. For the last month or two, a resource teacher (not sure what her title is exactly) has been taking out 5-6 students during the rug time to work with them on a more individual basis, so the school has stepped up to help out even with the limited resources.

I would prefer the 20 kids of the year before, of course, but as luck has it, CA & the school district are out of funds, so we will just have to deal with it.

I always hear people saying school is so different from when we were growing up. Is it really? Are the kids really learning more? I have a skewed vision of school, so it's hard for me to judge fairly.

[Globetrotter]

I always hear people saying school is so different from when we were growing up. Is it really? Are the kids really learning more? I have a skewed vision of school, so it's hard for me to judge fairly.

Definitely, the expectations are much higher and the homework load is outrageous once they get to third grade. I can't speak for private, but public school has changed dramatically since we were kids, and I have heard teachers lamenting this fact.

I would say they are at least a couple of grades ahead now, in terms of what they are learning. Our school is known for being very academic, so perhaps the typical school would be at least one grade ahead.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

Definitely, the expectations are much higher and the homework load is outrageous once they get to third grade. I can't speak for private, but public school has changed dramatically since we were kids, and I have heard teachers lamenting this fact.

I would say they are at least a couple of grades ahead now, in terms of what they are learning. Our school is known for being very academic, so perhaps the typical school would be at least one grade ahead.

Maybe the standards are, but are the kids coming out of school today actually ahead of where kids were "in the good old days". :p I remember after I was in college they recentered the SAT scores so that it was easier to get a high score. Would they now be recentering the other way? Or is the end result really the same? Maybe it's too early to tell.

Also, I think my memory is faulty. I don't have strong memories of kindergarten or too much of first grade. I remember in first grade our Science & Social Studies books didn't have words and I thought that was ridiculous. See, I was weird.

I remember some of the work I did, projects and the like. I guess it was less than it is today. My son's teacher was telling me that we have a "homework" school, so I guess we are in for it. She also told me that some parents request more homework. I haven't run into those parents yet. :rotflmao:

[egoldber]

the homework load is outrageous once they get to third grade

:yeahthat: I don't remember having much in the way of homework until 5th or 6th grade. I certainly didn't have an 8.5x11 daily planner for my homework. My third grader had almost 2 hours of homework last night! But then last week they had almost nothing, so it is very strange. Homework was manageable until this year, but third grade seems to be the year they really step it up.

[connor_mommy]

What school will your son be attending? There is a fundraiser that Cupertino is doing. They're hoping to raise $3M. That money is to help keep that class size lower and to retain the teachers that got pink slips. My friend would have more info. Her child attends Stevens Creek Elem. We're in a Los Altos school and our 4 K classes are combining into 3. They had said that there were going to be about 26 per class.

[deborah_r]

Last year was around 20 for K (that same teacher has about 24 this year), this year went up around 22-24 for our 1st grade classes, and next year we're told to expect around 27-28 I believe. I read something for our school district that guarantees class size does not go over a certain number for each grade, but I can't remember where I saw it. We had a forum with the principal about upcoming changes and were assured worst case was something around 28 (I can't remember exactly, but I know the worst case she gave was not as high as I was afraid it would go!)

Our public school, like many on our area, has started an Annual Fund to try to keep certain things going, like computer labs, other technology upgrades, teacher's aides, librarian, art & music education. I guess this is because certain of our Title ?? something funds are being cut and they used to cover those things. But the Annual Fund can not help us keep teachers from being laid off and class size from going up.

[essnce629]

We're in CA and I think DS1 has ~25 kids in his class right now, but with all the budget cuts and stuff his teacher said next year they will be having up to 31 or 33 (can't remember) kids in each class!

I went to private school my whole life and always had super small class sizes, but my best friend's DH teaches 3rd grade at a private school and has 33 kids in his class (plus an aid)! We've looked into some of the private schools around us and found another that had up to 30 kids in class! Most had around 23.

[missliss55]

We are in CA too and last year DD#1 had 20 kids for K and 24 kids this year for 1st (the K classes had 21-22). Next year DD#2 will have somewhere between 22-25 kids for K. Our district has been able to weather the financial storm pretty well until now. That is why there is the potential for 25 kids in the K class. The CA school budget stuff sucks!

[kerridean]

18 in DDs KD class, 1st grade should be around 21 or so. Making a note to tell DH to make sure CA is not on our preference list for military moves. 30 to a class beyond ridiculous.

[noodle]

Last year in CA, DS's 4th grade class had 32 students. It was not good at all.

We moved to OR over the summer, and his homeroom (LA) class has 18, and his math class (6th grade math) has 24. It has been dreamy. The school was "new" this year: two schools merged into one (actually one school and one alternative program that was housed at the school) and I think that was part of the low enrollment, but I think all the classes (K-5) will be in the low- to mid-20s next year.

[Gena]

The regular classes at our elementary school have about 22-24 students each. DS is in an autism classroom with 8 students.

[momof2girls]

So far....in K we had 20 and in first grade 19. From the looks of it, it seems no more than 22 is the norm here in central NJ.

[Globetrotter]

Maybe the standards are, but are the kids coming out of school today actually ahead of where kids were "in the good old days". :p I remember after I was in college they recentered the SAT scores so that it was easier to get a high score. Would they now be recentering the other way? Or is the end result really the same? Maybe it's too early to tell.

Also, I think my memory is faulty. I don't have strong memories of kindergarten or too much of first grade. I remember in first grade our Science & Social Studies books didn't have words and I thought that was ridiculous. See, I was weird.

I remember some of the work I did, projects and the like. I guess it was less than it is today. My son's teacher was telling me that we have a "homework" school, so I guess we are in for it. She also told me that some parents request more homework. I haven't run into those parents yet. :ROTFLMAO:

I think this is a faster paced world we are living in, so they are expected to work at that pace. Also consider how the internet and computer have changed things (I am probably older than you :wink2: but in my day I didn't have access to a PC until grad school!). Now students can work more efficiently. I didn't feel pressure until high school, and that was mostly due to the classes I took (esp. from 10th grade). Unfortunately, it's gone too far to the other extreme where kids live with a lot of pressure. AP level coursework is expected, whereas in my day only a few of us took those classes. A 4.0 doesn't cut it anymore, whereas in my time that was a big deal.

I don't know if they are actually retaining more information due to the way they are studying, which is sad, but they have to compete to get into college, a daunting task for kids in CA. Apparently, it's not working out too well because some employers are complaining that these kids can't function in the real world. They are used to cramming rather than understanding.. I'm not saying every school is like this, but it's an alarming trend.

DS is expected to write essays in first grade and they do take regular tests in the core subjects, and I don't recall having to do that until later. First grade is still okay, but once they get to third and especially fourth.. that's when you really see the effects of NCLB and pushy parents! The end result is pressure! You can see this is a sore point for me :)

[kdeunc]

K-2 no more than 21
3-5 about 24

[almostamom]

Class size limits have not been determined for the next school year yet, but these are the numbers for the current school year. This is for a district in the Phoenix suburbs.

K - 24 max
First - third - 28
fourth - sixth - 32

Linda

[MamaKath]

Class size where I teach (parochial school) is up to 24 unless there are extenuating circumstances. Our public schools have numbers up to 32 (up to 2nd or 3rd grade, then they go up; high schools here typically have 40 or more) and they are talking even higher for next year. I am betting you will see significant changes in most public schools, especially areas majorly affected by finances (CA, NJ, etc).

[kozachka]

Thank you for sharing your situations and prospective, it's really helpful. I called Palo Alto Unified, another school district that we are considering. The bad news was that the school assigned to the property we were considering has no availability in 1st or 2nd grade but the class size is going to be 22 for K-3 and 24 for 4-5th grade. I guess I'll be asking for my deposit back on the Cupertino apartment, and looking more closely at properties in Palo Alto Unified school district since all the schools are excellent so that even if we don't get into a neighbourhood school it's not so bad. Need to check class size in the other districts that we've been considering. So far I've only been paying attention to space availability at assigned school.

[connor_mommy]

Looks like the community has rallied around the Cupertino school district. They're about $300k from meeting their $3M fundraiser to maintain the smaller class size and to retain all of their teachers for next year. Hope this info helps.