I have now worked for two different large urban school districts in different states. The district I worked for before usually had around 24 kids in a class. Sometimes the classes could be as low at 17 or 18. Now I'm working in a district where pretty much all of the classes are at 30 kids. Some of them are even over 30. Just made me curious what class sizes are like in other places. Thirty seems way too large to be able to effectively teach and work with students on an individual level too.
I have 25. Our elementary caps at 30 (regardless if it's 1st or 5th, same cap for the whole school regardless of grade) but typically we have 20-27. Third grade is large this year with all teachers having 29 or 30. Some of the other schools in our district tend to run a bit smaller with 17-22 being the norm.
I have one class of 25 and four classes of 36. My class sizes are capped at 36 because I'm in a portable classroom with limited space. In the past I've had as many as 53 students in a single class.
I have 27 and will be getting a 28th at the end of January when he returns from an alternative program.
I have 15, 33, 33, 27, and 25. The class of 15 is supposed to cap at 10, but we don't have enough staff to do it.
I have 20. I am very, VERY fortunate. It's only because I'm at a charter. The norm for most southern CA districts is around 30-33 kids in first grade, and more in higher grades. I student taught a class of 34 sixth graders and a class of 32 second graders. I knew someone who student taught a class of 37 fifth graders. My friend taught high school math and his classes were upper 30s and low 40s. California is nuts.
My school ranges from 17 to 33 students per class. Most classes have around 25, but the upper grades are all over 30 per class.
5 classes, one at 30, 2 at 38, 2 at 39. Overwhelmed right now, especially with 6 new students in the past two weeks, all of whom had trouble with their previous teacher or school. Another one appeared on my roster this afternoon about 20 minutes after I printed out new copies of my rosters to use as a paper grade book.
Last year, teaching middle school sixth grade, I had more than 36 students in every class. I believe there was a range of 37-44. Whole group instruction wasn't too hard, but teaching writing was a nightmare. Before that I taught at a private school with 20 kids in a sixth grade classroom. I could do a writing conference with every student in 1-2 days. It took a week to get to every student in these big classes.
My largest class is a top set yr 11 (10th grade) with 31 students. My smallest is a yr 10 (9th grade) which has just been split in half so now only 10 students. as general rule in my school the higher ability kids are put into larger groups and those needing extra support are placed in smaller groups with classroom assistants to help as well.
1st-5th at my school is 28-31. K is 22-23. I'm glad my art room is gigantic, I don't understand how all those bodies fit in a tiny classroom.
Wow I can't believe some of you have close to 40 sometimes. Depending on where you work, classroom management can be tough with just a class of twenty something. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to maintain classroom control of close to 40 students. That's just ridiculous. Teachers could do so much more with smaller classes. More time to give students individual attention and it'd be a lot easier to manage. Just seems like a huge disservice to our kids to stick them in such large classrooms. So much easier for some to slip through the cracks.
We're not supposed to have more than 30 in our district, they say this all the time, but I've ended up with over 30 because of students who are included. So the homerooms aren't over 30 but the specialists are. And then add in 2 or 3 aids. The school I go to to teach one class has much smaller classes consistently though. I really do not believe that 30 kids in a class is productive at all. When I was in elementary school my class was 18 kids. That's a good size I think.
I think it really depends on the kids and the school climate. I have a small class (mid teens) this semester that is much more difficult to manage than my class of 38. It is because most of the kids are doing poorly, have no interest in doing better and have given up. Not surprisingly, their parents aren't too concerned about their academics or behavior. I HATED having tiny classes.
12-17, but it's at a court school where 15 is standard. So we're where we're supposed to be, but class size will go up towards 20 later on in the spring, at least for some classes.
27...its my largest yet. The cap is like 32 I think, but all of the other 3rd grades have like 22 or 24 so I'm hoping I won't get any new kids.
The typical California numbers are accurate and apply here. All of our early elementary classes have 30 (supposed to be the max), and starting in 4th they go up to usually around 34. Not sure what the limit is. I WISH 20 was more commonplace. Edit to add: Aside from the obvious academic issues like students receiving less individual attention and getting lost in the shuffle, it's difficult in so many little ways I had never considered before working in education. The classrooms are built for 20 and they're very cramped, grading and prep take a ridiculous amount of time, teachers have to purchase more materials, it's even hard to get everyone's work up on the walls, etc. I could come up with a million more. It's just awful.
I teach 4th grade and currently have 31 students. In the past, I've had up to 36 students (fifth grade).
