At the end of the day, our job is teaching - Mississippi schools excel

[Anonymous]

Gift Article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/us/mississippi-schools-transformation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.EFA.fmpE.-DdheKRUoFxa&smid=url-share

Even as schools elsewhere have focused on issues like school funding, social justice and mental health in recent years, Mississippi schools like Hazlehurst have made academics their North Star.

“At the end of the day, our job is teaching. Their job is learning,” said Ms. Langston, who added that no matter what is going on in a child’s life, the classroom is the one thing she can control. “If we don’t meet that need, we have failed them.”

Do you think FCPS should focus more on learning and less on equity and mental health?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gift Article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/us/mississippi-schools-transformation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.EFA.fmpE.-DdheKRUoFxa&smid=url-share

Even as schools elsewhere have focused on issues like school funding, social justice and mental health in recent years, Mississippi schools like Hazlehurst have made academics their North Star.

“At the end of the day, our job is teaching. Their job is learning,” said Ms. Langston, who added that no matter what is going on in a child’s life, the classroom is the one thing she can control. “If we don’t meet that need, we have failed them.”

Do you think FCPS should focus more on learning and less on equity and mental health?

I walk and chew gum all the time. FCPS can manage to do the same. Fairfax county values equity and wants it in the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gift Article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/us/mississippi-schools-transformation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.EFA.fmpE.-DdheKRUoFxa&smid=url-share

Even as schools elsewhere have focused on issues like school funding, social justice and mental health in recent years, Mississippi schools like Hazlehurst have made academics their North Star.

“At the end of the day, our job is teaching. Their job is learning,” said Ms. Langston, who added that no matter what is going on in a child’s life, the classroom is the one thing she can control. “If we don’t meet that need, we have failed them.”

Do you think FCPS should focus more on learning and less on equity and mental health?

Absolutely need to get back to the basics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gift Article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/us/mississippi-schools-transformation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.EFA.fmpE.-DdheKRUoFxa&smid=url-share

Even as schools elsewhere have focused on issues like school funding, social justice and mental health in recent years, Mississippi schools like Hazlehurst have made academics their North Star.

“At the end of the day, our job is teaching. Their job is learning,” said Ms. Langston, who added that no matter what is going on in a child’s life, the classroom is the one thing she can control. “If we don’t meet that need, we have failed them.”

Do you think FCPS should focus more on learning and less on equity and mental health?

I think learning and mental health both outweigh equity needs.

I also wish there was a better insurance plan for teachers.

[Anonymous]

Mississippi also holds kids back in 3rd grade if they are not on grade level, which I think we need to do in FCPS. Kids who are not on grade level should be retained and the earlier they do it the more likely kids will catch up. We are promoting kids for emotional health who then fall further behind, which cannot be good for their emotional health or academic confidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mississippi also holds kids back in 3rd grade if they are not on grade level, which I think we need to do in FCPS. Kids who are not on grade level should be retained and the earlier they do it the more likely kids will catch up. We are promoting kids for emotional health who then fall further behind, which cannot be good for their emotional health or academic confidence.

Grade level in what? Anything? What if you have a child that is dyslexic and below grade level for eye reading, but if they listen to the story, they are well above grade level in terms of understanding, language, vocabulary? What about math, what if you have a kid who is several grade levels above for math, but below grade level for printing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gift Article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/us/mississippi-schools-transformation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.EFA.fmpE.-DdheKRUoFxa&smid=url-share

Even as schools elsewhere have focused on issues like school funding, social justice and mental health in recent years, Mississippi schools like Hazlehurst have made academics their North Star.

“At the end of the day, our job is teaching. Their job is learning,” said Ms. Langston, who added that no matter what is going on in a child’s life, the classroom is the one thing she can control. “If we don’t meet that need, we have failed them.”

Do you think FCPS should focus more on learning and less on equity and mental health?

Teaching core subject matter is what teachers do all day every day. SEL and mental health lessons are a VERY small percentage of what we teach. At the HS level, SEL lessons are done during the remediation block so no class time is lost for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mississippi also holds kids back in 3rd grade if they are not on grade level, which I think we need to do in FCPS. Kids who are not on grade level should be retained and the earlier they do it the more likely kids will catch up. We are promoting kids for emotional health who then fall further behind, which cannot be good for their emotional health or academic confidence.

Surprisingly, or not, once the parents realized that Mississippi was going to hold fast with holding kids back in 3rd grade if they could not read or do math, the parents started engaging more at home to make sure that didn't happen. The embarrassment over their kid failing a grade was a huge motivation for parents to make sure their kids were reading

Fewer kids don't meet milestones, and schools that traditionally struggled saw achievement rates and literacy soar.

They also reinstated a robust, professional trades and apprentiship program in high schools, which raised achievement and lowered truancy.

Removing trades from high school over the idea that every kid should go to college was a tremendous failure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mississippi also holds kids back in 3rd grade if they are not on grade level, which I think we need to do in FCPS. Kids who are not on grade level should be retained and the earlier they do it the more likely kids will catch up. We are promoting kids for emotional health who then fall further behind, which cannot be good for their emotional health or academic confidence.

Grade level in what? Anything? What if you have a child that is dyslexic and below grade level for eye reading, but if they listen to the story, they are well above grade level in terms of understanding, language, vocabulary? What about math, what if you have a kid who is several grade levels above for math, but below grade level for printing?

If the kid cannot read or pass the state math standards by 3rd grade, they are held back and given intense remediation.

They are not holding just holding back to flunk the kids.

Did you even read the article or any of the hundreds of others about what is called the "Mississippi Miracle"? Mississippi has been the talk of education (in a great way) for the past few years. What they have accomplished there, by going back to basics and by failing 3rd graders who cannot read or do math is astounding and should be copied everywhere with struggling schools.

Having a handful of kids who cannot read or do basic foundational math by 3rd grade is expected, due to learning disabilities.

Schools graduating entire classes of hundreds of 18 year olds, where 50-80% of them cannot read or do math beyond beyond a 3rd grade level, which includes a majority of our urban school districts, is a moral failure.

Google Mississippi Miracle and actually read about it. I guarantee you will be impressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mississippi also holds kids back in 3rd grade if they are not on grade level, which I think we need to do in FCPS. Kids who are not on grade level should be retained and the earlier they do it the more likely kids will catch up. We are promoting kids for emotional health who then fall further behind, which cannot be good for their emotional health or academic confidence.

Grade level in what? Anything? What if you have a child that is dyslexic and below grade level for eye reading, but if they listen to the story, they are well above grade level in terms of understanding, language, vocabulary? What about math, what if you have a kid who is several grade levels above for math, but below grade level for printing?

Did you read any articles about Mississippi's education success?

One of mine struggled mightily with reading and writing, but had very high comprehension and understanding of texts, as well as a good vocabulary because we are a literate, educated, upper class family surrounded by educated people. He got passed along because of his comprehension and FCPS no failure policy, but if he had been paused in 3rd grade based on reading tests, then he might not have struggled as much in high school when faking it no longer worked. He struggled so much being successful in higher level AP classes in subjects he loved and excelled in, because the advanced high school classes are writing heavy, but his writing was not up to grade level and he struggled with reading.

I think that what Mississippi is doing here is wonderful, especially for kids like your kid and mine who are bright and intuitive, but struggle with reading and writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mississippi also holds kids back in 3rd grade if they are not on grade level, which I think we need to do in FCPS. Kids who are not on grade level should be retained and the earlier they do it the more likely kids will catch up. We are promoting kids for emotional health who then fall further behind, which cannot be good for their emotional health or academic confidence.

Grade level in what? Anything? What if you have a child that is dyslexic and below grade level for eye reading, but if they listen to the story, they are well above grade level in terms of understanding, language, vocabulary? What about math, what if you have a kid who is several grade levels above for math, but below grade level for printing?

Did you read any articles about Mississippi's education success?

One of mine struggled mightily with reading and writing, but had very high comprehension and understanding of texts, as well as a good vocabulary because we are a literate, educated, upper class family surrounded by educated people. He got passed along because of his comprehension and FCPS no failure policy, but if he had been paused in 3rd grade based on reading tests, then he might not have struggled as much in high school when faking it no longer worked. He struggled so much being successful in higher level AP classes in subjects he loved and excelled in, because the advanced high school classes are writing heavy, but his writing was not up to grade level and he struggled with reading.

I think that what Mississippi is doing here is wonderful, especially for kids like your kid and mine who are bright and intuitive, but struggle with reading and writing.

Then move there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mississippi also holds kids back in 3rd grade if they are not on grade level, which I think we need to do in FCPS. Kids who are not on grade level should be retained and the earlier they do it the more likely kids will catch up. We are promoting kids for emotional health who then fall further behind, which cannot be good for their emotional health or academic confidence.

Public school education is a benefit of living in the US - one of the very few free things that you are ever given. If that education is failing your child, your child should be entitled to an extra year and intense support. I don't know why holding kids back is seen as such a negative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mississippi also holds kids back in 3rd grade if they are not on grade level, which I think we need to do in FCPS. Kids who are not on grade level should be retained and the earlier they do it the more likely kids will catch up. We are promoting kids for emotional health who then fall further behind, which cannot be good for their emotional health or academic confidence.

Grade level in what? Anything? What if you have a child that is dyslexic and below grade level for eye reading, but if they listen to the story, they are well above grade level in terms of understanding, language, vocabulary? What about math, what if you have a kid who is several grade levels above for math, but below grade level for printing?

Did you read any articles about Mississippi's education success?

One of mine struggled mightily with reading and writing, but had very high comprehension and understanding of texts, as well as a good vocabulary because we are a literate, educated, upper class family surrounded by educated people. He got passed along because of his comprehension and FCPS no failure policy, but if he had been paused in 3rd grade based on reading tests, then he might not have struggled as much in high school when faking it no longer worked. He struggled so much being successful in higher level AP classes in subjects he loved and excelled in, because the advanced high school classes are writing heavy, but his writing was not up to grade level and he struggled with reading.

I think that what Mississippi is doing here is wonderful, especially for kids like your kid and mine who are bright and intuitive, but struggle with reading and writing.

Then move there.

This is not a very thoughtful response.

It is as if some posters hear Mississippi, and just plug their ears and squeeze their eyes shut, chanting "lalalala I can't hear you"

What they are doing is fairly impressive and should be duplicated everywhere with large numbers of failing schools.

For the teachers here, how much better would your jobs be if parents of stuggling elementary students who normally just get passed through were suddenly engaged and completely focused on partnering with you to do their part at home to get their 2nd and 3rd graders literate? Even if the only catalyst for some parents was that they didn't want the embarrassment of telling their friends and families that their kid failed 3rd grade, wouldn't having them engaged at home make things so much better in the classroom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mississippi also holds kids back in 3rd grade if they are not on grade level, which I think we need to do in FCPS. Kids who are not on grade level should be retained and the earlier they do it the more likely kids will catch up. We are promoting kids for emotional health who then fall further behind, which cannot be good for their emotional health or academic confidence.

Grade level in what? Anything? What if you have a child that is dyslexic and below grade level for eye reading, but if they listen to the story, they are well above grade level in terms of understanding, language, vocabulary? What about math, what if you have a kid who is several grade levels above for math, but below grade level for printing?

Did you read any articles about Mississippi's education success?

One of mine struggled mightily with reading and writing, but had very high comprehension and understanding of texts, as well as a good vocabulary because we are a literate, educated, upper class family surrounded by educated people. He got passed along because of his comprehension and FCPS no failure policy, but if he had been paused in 3rd grade based on reading tests, then he might not have struggled as much in high school when faking it no longer worked. He struggled so much being successful in higher level AP classes in subjects he loved and excelled in, because the advanced high school classes are writing heavy, but his writing was not up to grade level and he struggled with reading.

I think that what Mississippi is doing here is wonderful, especially for kids like your kid and mine who are bright and intuitive, but struggle with reading and writing.

Then move there.

This is not a very thoughtful response.

It is as if some posters hear Mississippi, and just plug their ears and squeeze their eyes shut, chanting "lalalala I can't hear you"

What they are doing is fairly impressive and should be duplicated everywhere with large numbers of failing schools.

For the teachers here, how much better would your jobs be if parents of stuggling elementary students who normally just get passed through were suddenly engaged and completely focused on partnering with you to do their part at home to get their 2nd and 3rd graders literate? Even if the only catalyst for some parents was that they didn't want the embarrassment of telling their friends and families that their kid failed 3rd grade, wouldn't having them engaged at home make things so much better in the classroom?

And for parents of strugglung students, wouldn't you prefer that your 3rd grader get held back and given a year of intensive reading support so they could read, instead of them getting promoted year after year until they graduate illiterate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gift Article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/us/mississippi-schools-transformation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.EFA.fmpE.-DdheKRUoFxa&smid=url-share

Even as schools elsewhere have focused on issues like school funding, social justice and mental health in recent years, Mississippi schools like Hazlehurst have made academics their North Star.

“At the end of the day, our job is teaching. Their job is learning,” said Ms. Langston, who added that no matter what is going on in a child’s life, the classroom is the one thing she can control. “If we don’t meet that need, we have failed them.”

Do you think FCPS should focus more on learning and less on equity and mental health?

Teaching core subject matter is what teachers do all day every day. SEL and mental health lessons are a VERY small percentage of what we teach. At the HS level, SEL lessons are done during the remediation block so no class time is lost for it.

+1 billion

The posters whining about "getting back to basics" don't actually have kids in FCPS.