Might move to Cincy from Tri-Cities TN if I get teaching job

[TeacherinTN]

What I'm about to say is purely based on my experience in public teaching. Whether you agree with it or not, it is reality.

I never put much weight on statistics reported on classroom size or teacher:student ratio. As a teacher, I completely disregard it as a factor myself when I chose the school district my 4 children attended. No school system employs excessive teachers just to have small class sizes. Only when a grade level exceeds the state's maximum will districts hire or transfer a teacher to help out the numbers. As a 6th grade teacher I've never had less than 20 kids and never exceeded 30. Special classes like ESL may only have 5 or 6 kids in them. This warps the "average".

Also, District size has no bearing on classroom size in my opinion. School systems hire more teachers once the student population reaches a maximum. If a district gets too many kids they build a new building. Private schools generally have small classrooms but all public schools are about the same. The "average class size" reported is not reality either. I have been a teacher for 15 years and worked in several districts and the only time classroom size is small is when there happens to be a smaller population of students in a grade level. But even when this happens administrators will move teachers to a different grade level if there is a lopsided amount. Granted some schools may have fewer children but then the district employs less teachers at the school and will even move teachers to buildings with higher student populations.

Any school that has a low ratio is probably because they have a larger special Ed population. Where there are teacher assistants present in the classroom, there are "IEP kids" (students with handicaps or learning disabilities). With that said, I'd prefer my son to be in the class without an assistant. Assistants generally only serve the kids that are on an IEP. So the other kids don't get served much or at all. Assistants are just a distraction to the kids who are not served. The behavior of the classes with assistants are almost always worse, as you have some real challenging kids acting out which can create problems.

[TeacherinTN]

Originally Posted by sunnyspring

As you know I know nothing but congratulations! What great news! BTW I figure this is a good question for a teacher...when are elementary/middle/high schools considered large - attendance wise? I keep hearing about really big school districts in the Cincy metro and I think, like you, I would prefer if my kids could attend schools where they won't disappear. Most of the classroom sizes appear to be 18 students and up. Would you say this is accurate? If possible I would really like to find schools with a lower student:teacher ratio, but maybe I'm dreaming.

Like I said above, reported classroom size isn't useful.

Distrixt size says alot however. Smaller districts could have a stronger sense of community and kids may have a better chance of "making the team" or being 1st chair. If my kid was not very talented I'd choose a small district. Larger districts may have more competition amoung peers which could push your child if real talented. I would argue that Oak Hills High School's band will destroy a small High School like Loveland if their band teachers were the same. Choose what fits your style.

[sunnyspring]

Originally Posted by TeacherinTN

Choose what fits your style.

Thanks TeacherinTN. I think my style is the smaller school district with a cozier sense of community. I think I'm having a hard time imagining so many kids in a class because my daughter wears a hearing aid and I envision her bombarded with sounds. More kids = more noise. I looked at CT schools and I swear many had a ratio as low as 12 students:teacher so it's hard to believe they all had special ed kids in the classes, but it could just be the sparsity of population, hence fewer kids all around.

[TeacherinTN]

Originally Posted by sunnyspring

Thanks TeacherinTN. I think my style is the smaller school district with a cozier sense of community. I think I'm having a hard time imagining so many kids in a class because my daughter wears a hearing aid and I envision her bombarded with sounds. More kids = more noise. I looked at CT schools and I swear many had a ratio as low as 12 students:teacher so it's hard to believe they all had special ed kids in the classes, but it could just be the sparsity of population, hence fewer kids all around.

To get a real sense of class size, I'd email a regular Ed teacher of a core class like Mathematics and ask them directly. Maybe the Principal may even answer that question. They will probably tell you that it changes from year to year but just ask what it was this past year for your students' upcoming grade level.