A Closer Look At Class Sizes

How exactly are class sizes shaped in Fairfax County?

Traditionally, the system has used needs-based staffing, putting more teachers and aides in schools with poorer students and a larger population of non-native English speakers.

The result is a lower class size in these schools than in areas with more affluent, native English speaking students.

The county's needs-based staffing formula is explored more in this article by the Washington Post, which offers this snapshot: In comparing two schools with similar enrollment, the school that has 38 percent of its students speaking English as a second language and  70.5 percent receiving free/reduced meals has an average class size of 18.4. The school with 1.8 percent of students enrolled in ESOL  and 2.5 percent of students receiving free/reduced meals has an average class size of 26, according to 2010 data from FCPS.

Dranesville school board candidate Louise Epstein has said the formula is not fair because "some kids, by virtue of their school’s affluent, native-English-speaking demographics, end up in larger classes than other kids," the Post reports.

Here's a look at class sizes in Vienna elementary schools (based on 2010 data from FCPS).