Class Sizes, Staffing Make a Difference
This is not meant to detract from the impressive progress made by Beacon Heights Elementary School, but it does make me wonder if such gains are the result of a level of funding not available to most county schools, funding that makes possible Beacon Heights' significantly smaller classes and additional support staff.
The staffing ratios of county schools vary widely, depending on free and reduced-price lunch figures and achievement test results. A school with 500 students might have a range of 20 to 32 classroom teachers, depending on whether it had Title I funding. By the end of the 2003-04 school year, there were comprehensive elementary schools with more than 30 students in kindergartens and other primary grades and as many as 40 students in some intermediate grades.
Because of mobility rates and No Child Left Behind transfer policies, such class-size variations need to be addressed on an ongoing and flexible basis, instead of continuing to establish staffing ratios for the rest of the year based on a school's student population at the end of September.
Wendy Geagan
Laurel
