Posts Tagged ‘2012-2013 enrollment’

The 2015-16 school year marks the third straight year elementary enrollment has beat projections.

In 2012, elementary enrollment was projected to decline to 3,278 students by the year 2015.*
Actual 2015 enrollment is 3,484 students (206 more students than projected.)

This year, the District required 153 elementary sections to prevent classes from operating above class size guidelines at the start of the year. The third day enrollment chart provided by the District illustrates that the class size policy passed last year is operating effectively and equitably.
Elem 3rd Day Enrollment 8.27.15-page-001

* In 2012, a consultant hired by the District predicted total elementary enrollment would drop to 3,117 by the year 2017.  This means the District would have to lose over 350 elementary students in the next two years for this projection to hold true. In fact, actual enrollment has exceeded these projections by more than 150 students each year.
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Third day enrollment records for the 2014-15 school year show the District has 3,553 elementary students–160 students higher than projected.

In 2012, the District hired a consultant who predicted elementary enrollment would decline to 3393 in 2014.  The consultant recommended closing an elementary school.  Last year’s elementary enrollment beat projections by 150 students and was the highest enrollment the District had seen in 15 years.  This year’s elementary enrollment is the 3rd highest in 15 years.
 
Third day enrollment records for the 2014-15 school year also show the impact of the new elementary class size policy, which was adopted in May 2014.
 
Under the new policy, the District is operating 158 elementary sections and no sections started the school year above the class size guidelines.  Compare this to 2012, when 11 sections started the school year above the class size guidelines because the District only operated 145 sections.
 
[Third day enrollment data: 2014 vs 2012]

Third day enrollment data: 2014 vs 2012

Class size guidelines are 25 students for grades K-2 and 30 students for grades 3-5.  The new class size policy states that the Administration shall determine the number of elementary sections in a manner that ensures that no section exceeds 29 students in 4th-5th grade, 27 students in 3rd grade, and 24 students in Kindergarten-2nd grade, when sections are created in early August.

Based on the district’s records, obtained under the Right-to-Know Law, increased enrollment at the elementary level resulted in 10 additional elementary sections this year.

In 2012, the district started the school year with 145 elementary sections. This year, the district started the school year with 155 elementary sections.

This verifies what hundreds of residents across the district have stated—

  1. elementary enrollment is not declining, and
  2. empty classrooms came from operating classes above the district’s class size guidelines

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