Annual Leveling Process Balances Class Sizes

Atlanta Public Schools is in the midst of school leveling and staff reassignment based on student enrollment throughout the district.

Each school year, the Atlanta Public Schools leadership team evaluates the need to reassign staff to local elementary, middle and high school classrooms and fill content area needs at schools throughout the district.  This process, known as leveling, occurs during the first 6-8 weeks of the traditional school year and is based upon the actual student enrollment at each school within the district.

The leveling process involves adjusting the number of teachers at all schools based upon their actual enrollment figures between the 21^st and 24^th day of school.  Changes, based on the difference between the projected enrollment and actual student enrollment will result in the reassignment of core content staff as needed across the district.

Projected enrollment for APS for the current school year was 45,261 students.  As of September 7, 2012, our enrollment is 1,495 students less than the projected enrollment with 8,251 students enrolling after the first day of school.

Historical and actual current trends regarding continued enrollment of students after the first day of school necessitates waiting until registration levels off – which typically occurs during the weeks after Labor Day.

Leveling began at the high school level due to the increase in the number of students enrolled at the high school as compared with elementary and middle school enrollments.  Schools are undergoing verification of student enrollment in our student information system to ensure the accuracy of data and enrollment documentation on each campus.

High schools are expected to transition teachers beginning the week of September 17^th with elementary and middle schools transitioning the week of September 24^th.