Your Child's Class Size

My youngest is in second grade, he has 19 children including himself in the class; there are 2 other second grade teachers.
My middle son is a senior in high school, his classes are 25+ kids; he'll be graduating with over 1100 kids.

My son is in 3rd grade this year. There are 22 students in his class. 2nd grade was about the same. 1st grade was a little smaller.

The ratios you see are counting every student to every teacher, not class sizes. They give an idea of class sizes (schools with better ratios have smaller classes) but NO school will ever have classes as small as the student to teacher ratio, because there are teachers included in the teacher count who cannot be THE teacher for a class: music, art, PE teachers, and special educators, and ESOL teachers who teach students from many classes.

Schools are generally obligated to level similar classes, however. So there should never be a class of 17 and a class of 27 in the same grade level. If that's happening you should say something.

Last year my daughters 5th grade had 31 students, it was awful. The parents formed a group on facebook, and we all went to the school board meetings. This year they added another class and they are not down to 22 students in the class, and it is a huge difference for the teachers and the students. Class size is of major importance and parents need to fight the school boards on behalf of the children.

My DD's 1st grade class has 18 students. There is one with 15. The K classes are 17-20. I am not sure about upper grades.

27 seems high. I wonder is there enough physical room for them? In our daughters elementary school it was built in 1960, , there is physically just not enough room for that many students and all of the computers and other technology that is used today.

The district policy for 2nd grade is 23. If even one class goes higher, a new teacher is hired and a potable building is brought in.. This then makes all of that grade smaller when they divide up the students.They are very strict about this. I even recall a year it was super close, but because if a certain grade having so many students with special considerations, we were (school staff and PTA) able to request the extra teacher and classroom, brought the class sizes down considerably.

Oh, that is so high! My second grader is in a class of 22, I believe. Seems like it's always been right around 22. My kindergartener is also in a class of about 22. I think most of the classes in our district are between 18 & 22, but I'm not certain.

Any chance the teacher also has an aide? I know some schools will hire an aide before they split the class and hire another teacher. That's, obviously, the less expensive route, and it's better than nothing.

But, wow! That is a big change for such young kids ... and for the teacher!

All 4 years of school (K-3rd), my son's class has been between 20 and 22.

son has 26 and my daughter has 24. last year my son had 29 and it was WAY too much

My kids go to Catholic school, but both of their rooms (as well as all of them) have about 20.

The last year my kids went to public school (the year before last), my 5th grader had 34 kids in her class, and my 3rd grader had 30 kids in her class. At that point, the rule was that K-3 shouldn't have more than 24, but they're allowed to "temporarily overload" the classes - which can last the full year. :-/ There were 1300 kids in the school (K-6).

Now, we homeschool, so our class size is 2. ;)

My first grader has 22 in her class. We were in a much smaller district last year and she had 16-17.

My daughter's second grade has 18 kids.

Second grade for my kids was about 23 or 24. That seemed like a lot until I looked at my class pictures and saw we had similar class sizes back in the good old days. But 27 is high for 2nd grade. I know friends on the east coast have 19 or 20 at that age. But likely it's a budget issue. Parent foundations seem to be the only way to get enough money to hold down class sizes in many areas of the country.

My son is in 3rd grade, and he's in a class of about 21. There are no aides, but at various points in the day, some of the children have pullouts -- for special needs, g/t, ELL, etc. We live in a quasi-suburb, quasi-college town.

My nephew is in 1st grade, and he's in a class of nearly 30. I believe there's one teacher and one aide, but his parents aren't happy about the sheer numbers. Even with a 1-15 ratio, it's hard for such a big group of little kids to have a sense of belonging to a cohesive group. He goes to a highly regarded public school in a major city.

22 and 20 for my girls.

My kids' school has
K - 18/class
1 - 25.5/class
2 - 22/class
3 - 21/class
4 - 24/class
5 - 26/class

They are currently interviewing 1st grade teachers to add another class and get those numbers down. The K classes used to be higher but the school council put forth the recommendation to keep those K numbers down and the principal made it happen.

My kids were/are very lucky, they go to a small private school and have not had more than 15 kids in their classes. Many years it was more like 11-12 kids per class. Small class sizes are great for learning but not always the best for forming friendships because when the "pool" of kids is soo small you may not always find someone with similar interests.

My child's in middle school and her classes this year range from around 20 to well over 30, depending on the subject, since they change for each subject. But by middle school, larger classes are normal.

In any school system where there is more crowding, larger classes are unfortunately a fact of life. Whatever the school system's web sites say about average or ideal class sizes, there is no "magic number" that forces the creation of a new class. Parents in our old school were told this point blank in about second grade by a principal: It's not like there is a formula that says "When a class in this grade hits 25, a 26th child means we must create a new class." I know parents who still think that way, and wish that schools could be required to create new classes when there are what parents regard as "too many" kids, but budgets, teacher hiring and schools' physical plants just don't let that happen. If your classroom seems overcrowded, I'd talk to the school now about what happens in years to come and whether by next year there are plans to increase the numbers of classes, expand the schools physically, etc. This is why it's good to be in PTA or otherwise very involved -- you will be in the know about what to expect and what to push for!

Regarding the special needs child: Unless the special needs child is yelling constantly -- please regard this child's presence as a possible benefit to the other kids.

My daughter had a severely disabled boy in her kindergarten and second grade classrooms (same boy both grades; he was in a motorized wheelchair and had an aide with him every minute--these aides are not there for other kids but solely for the one child, and you were lucky to have the aide helping other kids last year). The boy wasn't in the classroom all the time; he was pulled out for special instruction every day at certain times. He vocalized at times, but certainly not constantly, and if he was vocalizing a lot it meant he was distressed or overstimulated, and the aide would take him out momentarily.

I don't know if you're in the classroom daily, but does the child yell all the time or blurt out shouts sometimes? If it's constant throughout the day, I agree that's an issue for the other kids, but doesn't the aide take the child out or otherwise handle it?

In our case, my daughter and the other kids learned a lot those years about patience and compassion despite the occasional distractions. They thought of this boy as one of them, and many kids made efforts to be the ones to walk next to his wheelchair when they went places, or to talk to him (he does not talk but can understand all that's said to him). I heard the teachers say that they actually wanted this boy in their classes because his presence made their students more aware of others around them, and more attentive to others. I realize that every case is different, so if in your child's classroom, the child is truly having constant vocalizations, you should talk privately with the teacher. But as the year goes on and the student settles, it's possible that the other kids will see having him or her there as a good thing.

I substitute a lot for the only elementary school my daughter attended and there is an average of 18-22 in K-5. This school is known for a good special needs program and sometimes they will bring those children in the classroom for limited times and with an attendant.

Melanie, I wonder if your son is graduating from the same school my daughter graduated from in 2013. Her class was well over 1100 as well and the smallest Sr. High school in Plano!! You get used to a bunch of students in the classrooms from middle school on up.

Public school, 2nd and 5th grade both have about 24 kids. I went to the same school in the 80s and remember 32, 34 kids in my classes (no aides) so it seems to have improved.

15 (first grade private school)

Our k thru 2 sizes were capped at 20, 3 thru 5 was no more than 25.
But we live in a wealthy district, parent contributions pay to keep class sizes lower.

I havent counted this year. last year for K my daughter had 34!!! which is entirely too many for K. And our school is not impacted either. HA!

My older children attended catholic grade school through grade 8. the norm was between 28 and 32 per classroom. my youngest son attended public school the norm was between 20 and 24 and yes they had children with special needs but they were not in the classroom all day. they were there for parts of it and in the resource room for other parts. (my son is adhd and was one of the kids who was in and out of the classroom) as he got older and learned better how to handle the adhd it was more and more time til highschool where he was pretty much mainstreamed all day long. he is in college now with no accomodations. in gradeschool there was a full time aide who helped with these children. but if a child is disrupting the entire classroom then a better fit might be needed. Because while each child is entitled to the least restrictive environment possible an education is not possible for the other students and thats not fair either.

My youngest is in 6th grade so I just asked her...2 kids are in her home room but 4 of these kids leave the class because English is their second language so they receive other instruction. She said a handful of kids leave the class for extra help in reading, math or both so she said there are only about a dozen kids in her reading and math class. All the kids are together though for art, gym, library etc.

My son is in 1st grade with 23 kids in it (including him). Last year for Kindergarten he had 17 (including himself). This year's teacher is extremely organized and routine oriented, so it works well for her and my son.

My grandsons, first grade - 20; second grade 19. They go to a charter school. Twenty seven 2nd graders is a lot of kids for a teacher. We do pay quite high taxes to pay for good schools here in Minnesota.

My son's second grade class has 30 kids. There are two other second grades at our school - one has 29 and the other has 27. We also have a 2/3 combo with about 30 kids (9 are in second grade). The class with 29 includes about 8 special needs kids that come and go throughout the day (they have a separate class that they're in the rest of the time).

First grade we started with 32 and had 30 by the end of the year.
Kinder we had 26; 14 came early, 12 came late with a 1.5 hour overlap.

At our school, most classes have 29-32; upper grades can go up to about 35.

Third grade (this year) - 22 kids - our local public school
Second grade - 21 kids
First grade - 21

Because kids are pulled out for accelerated reading and math, remedial reading, speech, gifted program, etc. the teacher often has 2-5 fewer children in the classroom at any time.

Kindergarten (private Montessori) - 25 kids

My son's first grade class has 31 kids, but two full time teachers. The preschool class has 21 kids and 2 teachers. 27 seems really high to me, but I know we are spoiled with a really great ratio.

State law in Texas caps class sizes for grades PK-4 at 22. And that is 22 per class and not 27 in one and 17 in another. The cap gets lifted in March or April though, and then the number could go as high as it needs to. 5th grade and up there is no law limiting it. At my current school they are at about 22 in each section but at my old school they had about 30 in each section each year. It was insane and way too high!

We have 31. We integrate with special needs too and at first I was worried too but you will most likely find the kids get used to it and learn empathy and support in ways you never imagined. I am so proud of the students around them who have adapted and understood how lucky they are to be healthy and have a strong healthy brain. It was a blessing in diguise to be honest.

Last year my son's 4th grade class was 29 students. We moved due to my husband's job and this year, 5th grade, he has 16 students in his class! Everyone around here I tell that too is really surprised. He is loving it! The class is so much less chaotic and they can get more done.

My daughter's 2nd grade and 3rd grade class were right about 27 students. It is a lot, but it works.

5th grader has 27 and 2nd grader has 10 but that is a self-contained classroom

27 seems about right.

2nd grade. 25 students.

My daughter is in 4th grade and has 22 kids in her class. My son is in 2nd grade and he has 18 kids in his class.

27 kids seems like a lot to me.

I am just north of Seattle.
My 6th grader has 24 kids in his class.
My 3rd grader has 25.

A few years ago one of my boys had 29!!

My 4th grader has 26 and my 1st grader has 21. Before my mom retired, she routinely had 34-35 in 2nd grade in a Catholic school in FL. She had a 1/2 day aide.

My daughter is in 8th grade and has 25 in her homeroom/Language Arts class. I assume that most of her classes are similar in size, except for Band and PE, for obvious reasons there.

I have no idea about my son.. he's in 11th this year.

When they were in elementary, they were mostly in private schools and son had 12 in his class, and daughter had about 16/17.

I teach in Arizona and my classes are at 42. This is not an exaggeration or hyperbolic. I have 3 classes of 42 and my AP classes are at 32 each. Its hard to fit that many bodies into my room.

My granddaughters class has about 18 and my grandson's class has 16.