student - staff ratios (Pittsfield: school district, contractors, maintenance)

[pauloman]

hello, I just read in my local newspaper that the student/employee ratio in Pittsfield is 1 - 3.46.

I realize it takes more than teachers to stuff a school district, but this number seems mighty low to me.

comments?

[BF66389]

Remember that doesn't necessarily mean "full time" employees. If the school has say 20 "substitute teachers" that they could call/have worked once that year...they may show up in that count- even though they only worked maybe (combined) as much as 1 full time person.

So assuming a class size of 20 per teacher...
1:20
Assuming 1 bus driver per 40 students...
1:13
Assuming 1 potential sub per 2 classes
1:8
Assuming 2 dispatchers per 10 busses
1:7
Assuming a counselor, vice principal, principal, and admin per 200 students
1:6

I'm not going to keep going with maintenance staff, janitors, etc...but I assumed larger than average class sizes, full busses, and missed some other folks...so 1:3.5 doesn't sound that insane for a smaller school. Obviously in a school with say 2000 people...you're support staff ratios should drop. In short- there is a LOT more detail required to determine if 1:3.46 is excessive or not; as how people are "counted" has a huge impact.

For example...lets say a class of 20 moves to see 3 different teachers each day (normal + music + foreign language)...is that 1:6 right from the start...not including any support/transportation staff...

What I'd prefer to see is a break out students per TYPE of "full time" staff. IE- students per FTE (full time equivalent) sub; teacher, etc... unless the "staff" side is normalized against a consistent standard...the ratio is meaningless.

[buck naked]

bus drivers, dispatchers are not school employees in most districts. They are independent contractors.

[buck naked]

4) Pittsfield High School - Pittsfield, NH - Ratio: 9.3

Top New Hampshire Public High Schools by Student to Teacher Ratio

[buck naked]

as of 2010 - Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowedPittsfield public schools spend $6,104 per student. The average school expenditure in the U.S. is $5,678. There are about 12.8 students per teacher in Pittsfield.


probably a typo in your local paper - and it's missing the 1 in 13.46

[BF66389]

Originally Posted by buck naked

bus drivers, dispatchers are not school employees in most districts. They are independent contractors.

True; but I've seen their numbers included frequently in these types of ratios. Actually I've seen some really ridiculous methods for counting "people" used in general (or other "statistics")...but I won't go into details here. Anyway- long story short is never to believe a statistic without understanding the methodology & supporting data behind it.

Not that this is a continual frustration of mine or anything