<p>We went to our son’s private school (Noble and Greenough) open house tonight. He’s in 2 honors level courses. Of all the classes we visited tonight, his honors classes had the most number of students: 17 in one, and 16 in another, that was a language class. This seems ridiculous to me. I could have sent him to our local high school and had about, or less than, those numbers. Why would a private school have such high numbers in honors classes? Is this the norm? If there are that many smart kids, why can’t they add some extra classes or put on some more teachers? Isn’t that what we are paying the big bucks for?</p>
<p>that does seem large. Was it a popular language? You may want to talk to the school and see if there are plans to hire additional teachers in that language to keep class size small.</p>
<p>The school year’s just begun. It could be that students will decide to drop down a level in coming weeks.</p>
<p>Class size averages are just that–averages. In later years, the classes may get very small, particularly after the college prep requirements have been met. Try to contact some parents of older students, and speak with your son’s advisor. They will have a better sense of how the school runs things.</p>
<p>Maybe I’ve been teaching in public schools for too long–but 16 or 17 does not strike me as a class that’s too big, unless the class is entirely based on seminar style discussion. If it’s a typical combination of lecture, class activities/labs, group work, and some discussion, that would actually be a nice-sized class–small enough that the teacher could get to know each member of the class and large enough to ensure that there are a variety of voices/skill sets contributing to the class dynamic. For me, 15 is an ideal class size.</p>
<p>The language class that was large was Spanish 3 Honors. The other large class was Honors Chemistry. Good idea from all about speaking with son’s advisor about class size. My feeling is that when you are paying the big bucks for private school, you expect the class size to reflect that. To my way of thinking, over 15 is just too big for private school.</p>
<p>Classicalmama, part of the background (I think) is the comparison to local public high schools. Dedham High School has a reported class size of 15.9 [Class</a> Size by Gender and Selected Population - School and District Profiles: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education](<a href=“2010-11 Class Size by Gender and Selected Populations - All - Wellesley Sr High (03170505)”>2010-11 Class Size by Gender and Selected Populations - All - Wellesley Sr High (03170505)). Wellesley High School has a reported class size of 15.3 [Class</a> Size by Gender and Selected Population - School and District Profiles: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education](<a href=“2010-11 Class Size by Gender and Selected Populations - All - Dedham High (00730505)”>2010-11 Class Size by Gender and Selected Populations - All - Dedham High (00730505)).</p>
<p>I guess, as an educator, I don’t think that there’s a big difference in how I teach 15 and how I teach 17, unless the class is entirely discussion driven. I think sometimes we make too much of class size (except of course, in the case of my college composition classes, which are a mind-boggling 30…). I suspect your kids are getting a better education, because their teachers are more qualified, their fellow students more motivated, and the classroom resources more rich and varied, not because there are a handful fewer students in the class. But I need to stop arguing and get back to that mind-numbing pile of student essays…</p>
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<p>I think Periwinkle is right. Last night I had an opportunity to go back to child #2’s public middle school after having a year of interaction with child #1’s private BS. I was shocked at the two teachers’ presentation. Their grammar and spelling on the slides they presented was faulty. They seemed naiive in knowledge of their subject matter and couldn’t communicate their thoughts to save their lives. One was a very young new teacher, so that may be understandable, as she is at the beginning of a journey. The other shockingly was a much more experienced teacher. Although I felt like correcting her spelling on the slides, I knew this would be embarrassing and in poor taste, so I just kept my mouth shut and thoughts to myself.</p>
<p>@ the OP, I know what you’re saying though, you’re looking for tangible reasons why you wrote out the big check, and a large class size may seem disappointing at first, but it is the intangibles you are also paying for as P suggests. As someone else stated earlier, those average class sizes posted in written materials, are just that averages. Early on class sizes may be bigger; seminars later on may be much smaller than the average class size.</p>
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<p>sorry, I was quoting classicalmama. Way to go, CM :)</p>
<p>In my school, we have honors classes in the higher thirties in number. But in a couple weeks it can shrink down to almost mid-high twenties. Ask your child in a month or two if anyone dropped out of that class. Some people can test well for higher curriculum, but some may not be able to handle the workload that comes with it.</p>
<p>My d’s largest class this year I believe is 15. I do think this is a great number from a parent and educator.</p>
<p>This might not help but in Chicago Public Schools a typical class has 30-35 and honors classes, where offered, are about 20-22.</p>
<p>One of the reasons that we looked into bs is for the class sizes less than 20.</p>
<p>^Ha! The main reason we looked into BS is for class sizes under 40 (our state ranks almost last in per-capita spending per student). When budget cuts affected the best-ranked IB program that we were planning on sending S to and those classes climbed to the upper 30s, it was time to bail. No matter how good your program is, it won’t happen with those numbers. I envy those of you who have public or private options close to home with classes under 20. If we could have found that, I’d still be hugging my kid every night instead of counting the days to Parents Weekend.</p>
<p>Taft just reported they had 20 in AP English. It was too large given class sizes are supposed to be 12-15 (trending on the lower end). But the student’s insisted.</p>
<p>They all got “5’s” on the AP exam.</p>
<p>It isn’t the size that matters - but what you do with the raw material when you get it.</p>
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<p>No – We pay big bucks for better results than we can get by staying home. We pay for atmosphere, the enhanced academic culture, and a lot of other things that can’t be quantified. </p>
<p>On rare occasions honors and AP classes are larger than desired because it’s impossible to predict the demand in advance. Sometimes classes are oversubscribed and adjust lower in the first few weeks as kids change schedules. If the results are good, who cares about the class size as long as it’s not the norm across the board.</p>