It’s so hard to figure things out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is still considered one of the best school systems in the country.

I liked the late start for ES because my kids weren't early risers.

Different strokes for different folks.

OP, this is it. FCPS works fine for a decent chunk of the population. They know it’s a million times better than their own education in Arkansas, Nevada or wherever. The other half dislike it and can probably articulate the 3-5 things that bother them the most.

As a parent of a neurodivergent student, school is not always easy for our DD, but that would be the case in any US school district - so we fill in gaps ourselves, rent textbooks from Amazon, help with writing, make sure she has books to read, and pay for extra services. We know we are lucky and not all families can do that. But even with our experiences, I still think the school district is “good” but not a “good fit” for every family. I learned a long time ago, that we cannot wait for FCPS to be the #1 solution for our family, we adjust as needed. But I still know it’s one of the best in the country and we are happy here versus some place else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is still considered one of the best school systems in the country.

I liked the late start for ES because my kids weren't early risers.

Different strokes for different folks.

OP, this is it. FCPS works fine for a decent chunk of the population. They know it’s a million times better than their own education in Arkansas, Nevada or wherever. The other half dislike it and can probably articulate the 3-5 things that bother them the most.

As a parent of a neurodivergent student, school is not always easy for our DD, but that would be the case in any US school district - so we fill in gaps ourselves, rent textbooks from Amazon, help with writing, make sure she has books to read, and pay for extra services. We know we are lucky and not all families can do that. But even with our experiences, I still think the school district is “good” but not a “good fit” for every family. I learned a long time ago, that we cannot wait for FCPS to be the #1 solution for our family, we adjust as needed. But I still know it’s one of the best in the country and we are happy here versus some place else.

NP. I went to one of the best school districts in the country, not "Arkansas, Nebraska or wherever". That's true of plenty of DCUMers, too. Are the things I dislike about FCPS, no homework, standards based grading, lack of textbooks, etc. different from when I was in school? Yes. Are they Fairfax County problems or nationwide? Because I am a curious person, I have researched and am aware that FCPS didn't make any of these up, they are all parts of modern progressive education.

[Anonymous]

I could fit into both categories. I’m relatively happy with FCPS and I think they waste too much of teacher’s time. I am a parent and a teacher. I taught when we had textbooks and there were just as many discussions about how it was bad when teachers only taught out of the book. I still spent a ton of time finding supplemental resources.

My own kids are teens. Their backpacks are heavy. No, I don’t want them lug textbooks back and forth. Most subjects have electronic books that my kids don’t access. 20 years ago a lot of students never opened the physical book anyway. Not that much as changed.

[Anonymous]

The PP who wrote the diatribe about how FCPS was a utopia when she attended, but is now terrible due to the late-start elementary schools, forgot to mention that the ES’s had late starts back then, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is still considered one of the best school systems in the country.

I liked the late start for ES because my kids weren't early risers.

Different strokes for different folks.

OP, this is it. FCPS works fine for a decent chunk of the population. They know it’s a million times better than their own education in Arkansas, Nevada or wherever. The other half dislike it and can probably articulate the 3-5 things that bother them the most.

As a parent of a neurodivergent student, school is not always easy for our DD, but that would be the case in any US school district - so we fill in gaps ourselves, rent textbooks from Amazon, help with writing, make sure she has books to read, and pay for extra services. We know we are lucky and not all families can do that. But even with our experiences, I still think the school district is “good” but not a “good fit” for every family. I learned a long time ago, that we cannot wait for FCPS to be the #1 solution for our family, we adjust as needed. But I still know it’s one of the best in the country and we are happy here versus some place else.

NP. I went to one of the best school districts in the country, not "Arkansas, Nebraska or wherever". That's true of plenty of DCUMers, too. Are the things I dislike about FCPS, no homework, standards based grading, lack of textbooks, etc. different from when I was in school? Yes. Are they Fairfax County problems or nationwide? Because I am a curious person, I have researched and am aware that FCPS didn't make any of these up, they are all parts of modern progressive education.

I grew up in NY and my husband grew up here. While I believe we both got a good education, I felt my school offered way more. Special Ed support, music/art education and electives in high school just seem better in NY. But our district was small and taxes were high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Happy" parents can be translated as parents of children with good grades and possibly in separate AAP class despite the lack of textbooks and despite other issues.

+1

Mostly. There are problematic kids in AAP sometimes, too. Meaning, violent - but their parents want to blame other kids.

[Anonymous]

I have always heard that FCPS is great for the bulk of the students in the middle of the bell curve.
I figured we'd be in that middle so we decided to put our kids in FCPS rather than private.

Well, it turned out that we had one kid end up in Special Ed and then the other in AAP.
Both are in college now.

For the Special Ed kid, things were great up until 2nd grade, good to so-so up until 6th grade. Middle school was a mess. 9th and 10 grades were disasters. We ended up putting the kid in private school for 11th and 12th grade.

For the AAP kid, things started off pretty rocky because they didn't feel engaged at school. Was not identified for AAP in 2nd grade but entered in 4th. Things were amazing from 4th through middle school. The pandemic did hit hard but still did academically well during virtual school. Had the absolute best 12th grade with a full load of AP courses and fantastic teachers.

For both kids, we did spend thousands on outside support. We couldn't rely on FCPS to tell us what they needed- heck, they "misdiagnosed" both of them. I'd say the worst part was dealing with Special Ed services. The slowness, the bureaucracy, and the attitudes of folks we dealt with made me wish we had pulled the Special Ed kid a lot sooner, but I kept wanting to work things out with the schools.

[Anonymous]

I have two in AAP. My biggest gripe has been the lack of writing instruction. It’s gotten better in 7th grade. I feel like they wait too long to get into grammar. I’m hoping they get more writing practice in IB before heading to college.

[Anonymous]

It very much depends on the child, the teacher, the school in FCPS. It's not particularly consistent. It also changes year over year. My kids' ES made some changes for older grades this year that been a huge improvement over previous years; however the curriculum remains the same for younger grades and it's very teacher dependent (my child's 1st grader was trained in one thing that the 2nd grade teacher isn't and we can tell the difference - child progressed rapidly in K and 1st and has stalled in 2nd. There are no learning disabilities at play here.

[Anonymous]

FCPS is ginormous, as said, so many things are not consistent.

Plus some of us went through school in a better school system. Yes it happens. The good thing about being vocal is: every institution is made better by the community keeping their feet to the fire. FCPS needs to be on their guard and not rely too much on just their own good PR. This is a highly educated area - if FCPS can't do a good job with the students they are given - heaven help them. So Op, you will hear complaints.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I happened on this thread from Recent Topics. My kids are in MCPS, and the same could be said of that school system!

OP, the truth is that education starts at home. Kids with highly-educated parents who prioritize their kids' education already start with a distinct advantage. These parents will encourage their kids to read great books at home, they will engage them in discussion at the dinner table or elsewhere, expose them to current events, history, science, etc outside of school. They will do their best to live inbounds for the best schools, and be aware of any special programs their kids can benefit from. Since they pay attention to their children's progress, anytime their kid's content mastery fails, they will be ready to re-teach or hire a tutor, because they know learning builds on itself year after year. These parents are informed about the newest college admissions strategies and statistics, and plan their children's tracks through middle and high school according to their child's level and what they can realistically achieve.

So in this context... it doesn't really matter what teachers fiddle with which copies of what textbooks! I deplore the fact that MCPS has no textbooks except in AP classes. I had beautiful and engaging full color textbooks in my private school. But this is decor. It's illusion. Real instruction can and does happen without all these nice extras. YOU need to be on the ball, OP. The school is just one of the tools in your toolbox. You need to fill in the gaps and teach your children whatever you want them to know that the school is not addressing. This is how my kids learned to write in cursive and read the classics, because God forbid MCPS delve into these things!

MCPS graduates how many students per year?
How many go off to four year colleges and succeed?
How many go off to community college and succeed?

Without textbooks MCPS which is a huge school system still falls way better than what percentages of school systems in the US? Pretty dam high.

Stop your complaining people. If your kids are having issues unless they are special needs the problem is you not the schools.

Is there room for improvement, of course. Is it perfect no. Is it pretty dam good yes.

But who wants to go into teaching now with all the crazing moronic MAGA?

[Anonymous]

You’re figure out eventually that FCPS is too big to administer effectively and that it’s a declining school system resting on its past laurels and overseen by a bunch of liars and hypocrites who get away with all sorts of self-serving nonsense as long as they are from the ruling party in power. We have a few more years here and then we are out of this county for good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’re figure out eventually that FCPS is too big to administer effectively and that it’s a declining school system resting on its past laurels and overseen by a bunch of liars and hypocrites who get away with all sorts of self-serving nonsense as long as they are from the ruling party in power. We have a few more years here and then we are out of this county for good.

I mean sure.

Let us know what that other county is like.

[Anonymous]

To OP:

Every school system is going the bare minimum because they are all understaffed and under budgeted. However: if you do the work to get your kid to master skills at home, it will be substantially better than doing nothing at all.

And the teachers know and see the difference.

So if you want some kind of magical school experience, I will say that it’s really up to you to make school a priority and make your kids take responsibility for their work at an early age. A lot of parents here like to blame the schools for every problem but the reality is that outside of the abysmal special Ed situation here, FCPS schools are way ahead of the curve but that doesn’t mean your kids will be geniuses because of the school.

As for the special Ed situation: I’m glad to hear that one parent actually took their kid out and placed them in private. I honestly personally believe that the large class sizes are detrimental to kids who have sensory issues but teachers can’t tell you that. In fact, I think a lot of the bad experiences are really just because legally they can’t say that to your face and tell you to send your kid to private school.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Yikes, sounds like the answer to why some parents are happy is because they invest a lot of time and energy at home. This sounds like a lot of pressure to put on parents compared to a generation ago, and this is on top of longer work hours and commutes. Is it any wonder that everyone is stressed out and has no time to build a real community? When I went to school (graduated 16 years ago), my parents were not involved except for providing an environment conducive to studying and some “fun” supplementing like museums, travel, and of course SAT prep books. I still did extremely well. I am now feeling stressed out that I will have to spend hours teaching my children at home to fill in the gaps from their school education. It will be stressful for me to take on a second job as private tutor, and stressful for the children because they will get very little break from academics. Even if I were to invest in a private tutor, it would give me a break but not the children.