Overview
In 1997 an amendment to the Education Act through the Education Quality Improvement Act brought about the introduction of Class Size legislation. This legislation was designed to stop the increase in average class sizes by placing a maximum average class size. In the year 2000 a reduction of maximum average class size to 24.5 in the board’s elementary schools and a maximum average class size of 21 in the board’s secondary schools. Boards were also required to ensure that the maximum average class size in the primary division did not exceed 24.
School boards are required to submit this Class Size Report based on specific count dates as outlined by the Ministry.
Elementary class size reports, using a count date of October 31st, are due on or before December 15th
Secondary average class size reports, using count dates of October 31st and March 31st, are due on or before April 30th.
Since your Maplewood system records the enrolment information for the students in your school, you can use the Maplewood system to assist you in preparing this Ministry report. Please note that all totals are rounded to 2 decimal places.
*Class Size is, essentially, the number of pupils in the classroom, regardless of the number of teachers or support staff who may be in the classroom. In other words, the full time equivalency (FTE) of the teachers in the classroom is not used in the calculation of average class size.
Boards must ensure that the enrolment, classes, pupil credits and classroom credits that the board reports in the elementary and secondary average class size reports, for regular classes and for classes established for exceptional pupils, are consistent with the enrolment, classes, pupil credits and classroom credits that the board reports for those purposes in the:
Elementary School September Report,
Secondary School September and March Reports,
School September and March Reports for Course/Class Enrolment,
Secondary School Teaching Assignment Report, and
enveloping provisions in the Financial Statements, in particular for special education.
With respect to the special education envelope, boards must ensure that classes taught by teachers that are reported as special education expenditure in the enveloping provision are reported in the class size report as classes established for exceptional pupils.
*taken from the Ministry's Average Class Size Guide to Reporting 2002
The Elementary Class Size Report looks at homeroom information to generate the numbers for the report. Please note the special circumstances below (as per Ministry Specifications - taken from the Ministry's Average Class Size Guide to Reporting 2002):
Rotary Programs: In a rotary program at elementary where the same group of students are dispersed thoughout the day, report the enrolment of the group's homeroom.
Special Ed: Student who is integrated more than 50% should be included. In Maplewood this means that all special ed students will be included except those in Fully Self Contained or Paritally Integrated programs.
Calculation of Grade JK and K:
Part-time JK/K = class and pupil are counted as 0.5
Full-time JK/K = class and pupil are counted as 1
In a combined program at JK, and K where the JK class is 600 minutes and the K class is 900 minutes. Both are deemed part-time and are each counted as 0.5
Elementary Combined Classes: Each pupil in the class is counted toward the total enrolment in the class. Exceptions to the above rule are:
Combined Grades 3 and 4 class: The Grade 3 portion of the class is Pro-rated and reported in the jk-3 category. The entire combined class is reported in the jk-8 category. i.e. 13 Gr. 3, and 10 Gr. 4. Report the number of pupils in the Gr 3 class as 13, to prorate the grade 3 class divide the number of pupils in gr 3 by the total number of pupils. (13 divided by 23). Report the enrolment (for this class) as follows:
JK - 3 Section
# of pupils = 13
Total number of Classes = 0.6
JK - 8 Section
# of pupils = 23
Total number of Classes = 1.0
Combined K and Grade 1: In a combined part-time K and Gr. 1 class count the class as 1 and each part-time student as 0.5
Note: If student is Non-resident and has a Non-Res. fee source of Short-term Foreign Exchange (MIN 00) the student will not be included in the Class Size Report.
Report Options
Non-Reportable Classes - An option exists (checkbox) to include or exclude "non-reportable" classes - when this option is selected, the program will eliminate non-reportable classes including those that are sharing reporting classes with the same teacher/period/room.
Independent Study Courses - An option also exists (Checkbox) in the program to (optionally) include Independent Study Courses
At School level,
Program interface has a checkbox to 'Exclude Independent Study Classes'.
When this is checked, the program will not report on that class and the Grid will show a revised average class size where these students are not included.
At Central Office, checking the checkbox to 'Exclude Independent Study Classes' will decrease the number of affected students from applicable column(s) and fields on page 1 and 2 of the report.
Non-Semestered Classes - Enrolment in non-semestered classes is determined at each of the October and March count dates in the Class Size Report (as per Class Size Regulation, 399/00, amendment to Regulation 403/05).
Reporting of Full Year Classes appears in 2 columns:
- Column 1 will report the count of students on Oct. 31st
- Column 2 will report the count of students on Mar. 31st
If a student has not dropped the class prior to Mar. 31st the student is included in both columns.
Note: if a student is enrolled in a full year class, but the entry date to this school is later in the year:
- If student is enrolled prior to Oct. 31, the student will be included in the Full-Year section.
- If student is enrolled between Nov. 1 and Mar. 31, then the student will be included in the Semester 2 section for the class.
- If a student is enrolled after March 31st, then the student will not be included in the report.
Special Education Courses
1) K courses should be included in the Class Size Report, only if they are grouped with a regular course. (They should not be included if they are grouped with other K courses - or other zero credit courses, and they should not be included individually either).
2) If K courses are grouped with a regular course, then the students are to assume the credit value of the regular class for the class size report. (Combined Class Calculation should not be used in this instance, and only be used if classes have a credit value of greater than zero).
3) These students in the K courses should not appear in the exceptional pupils column, Only those students who have the placement "Self-Contained Class" (Min. Code = SC) or "Partially Integrated" (Min. code = PI) should be included in the Exceptional Students columns.
Adult Day School vs. Continuing Education School - According to ministry there is no way for MW to distinguish between an Adult day school and a continuing ed school (that has classes during the day) - except through Teacher Contracts. IT is up to the board to choose which schools to include in the report.
Choose Reports, October/March Statistical Reports, Class Size Report
Set up Contact Information (this option is available at the BOARD LEVEL ONLY) by selecting the Contact Info. button.
To see a print preview of a grid where you can zoom and print, Select View. Note: At the Board level the user will be instructed to select which schools to include in the Class Size Report.
An option that is available at the School Level is to create a grid display. Select the Grid button to create the report. Within the grid view of the Class Size Report for secondary schools, users can Double-click on a specific class code to display the list of students in the class.