Segregation Is Coming

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is that most of these children do not come from homes that foster academics and assimilation. My grandfather immigrated from Italy 100 years ago at age 7 and was instantly put into public school in the U.S. He knew zero English. But his family didn't immigrate to the U.S. for him to fail in school, so he picked it up.

Even more recently, my good friend as a kid (who is now in her 30s) moved from Germany to the US in 2nd grade. She spoke no English whatsoever upon arrival but was speaking meaningfully within a month and fluent with virtually no accent by mid 3rd grade. I have family friends whose kids are in their teens who were stationed in Germany and sent their kids to German schools. They picked up the language and are fluent after being stationed there for 2 years.

Immersion has been shown time and time again to be the most effective way for kids to learn a language. ESOL students should 100% be in mainstream classrooms, there just needs to be stronger expectations that they pick up English for use at school and that also needs to be communicated to their families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Langley 2% FARM
Herndon 50% FARM

Adjacent pyramids. Let me know if you see anything off about this.

The Langley hater has found the thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is that most of these children do not come from homes that foster academics and assimilation. My grandfather immigrated from Italy 100 years ago at age 7 and was instantly put into public school in the U.S. He knew zero English. But his family didn't immigrate to the U.S. for him to fail in school, so he picked it up.

Even more recently, my good friend as a kid (who is now in her 30s) moved from Germany to the US in 2nd grade. She spoke no English whatsoever upon arrival but was speaking meaningfully within a month and fluent with virtually no accent by mid 3rd grade. I have family friends whose kids are in their teens who were stationed in Germany and sent their kids to German schools. They picked up the language and are fluent after being stationed there for 2 years.

Immersion has been shown time and time again to be the most effective way for kids to learn a language. ESOL students should 100% be in mainstream classrooms, there just needs to be stronger expectations that they pick up English for use at school and that also needs to be communicated to their families.

Have there been studies about the effect on the other kids in the classroom? I ask because while immersion might be great for the kid, she’s only one of many in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

It's about money. Smaller class sizes and teaching kids English and or discreet classes for Special Ed takes money. Putting these kids in mainstream classes doesn't cost more money, even though it stresses the classroom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Langley 2% FARM
Herndon 50% FARM

Adjacent pyramids. Let me know if you see anything off about this.

FARM families can’t afford $1.5M and higher homes in the Langley pyramid. Rich families pay more to live in areas with better schools. Langley is situated in the corner of the county close to two other high schools. Unless you are going to bus half of the Langley kids to Herndon and half of the Herndon kids to Langley the FARM % will never change.

Even changing the boundaries to take some of the Forrestville kids and sending them to Herndon likely won’t help much at all. Those families will get exceptions to principal place at other high schools (just like the almost 300 kids zoned for Herndon do now).

[Anonymous]

The solution is called open enrollment honors classes. ACPS started it years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is that most of these children do not come from homes that foster academics and assimilation. My grandfather immigrated from Italy 100 years ago at age 7 and was instantly put into public school in the U.S. He knew zero English. But his family didn't immigrate to the U.S. for him to fail in school, so he picked it up.

Same- but one major difference is they did not speak Italian in the home. They spoke English so that the parents could learn better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's about money. Smaller class sizes and teaching kids English and or discreet classes for Special Ed takes money. Putting these kids in mainstream classes doesn't cost more money, even though it stresses the classroom

+1

Our schools are underfunded to serve our student population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is that most of these children do not come from homes that foster academics and assimilation. My grandfather immigrated from Italy 100 years ago at age 7 and was instantly put into public school in the U.S. He knew zero English. But his family didn't immigrate to the U.S. for him to fail in school, so he picked it up.

Even more recently, my good friend as a kid (who is now in her 30s) moved from Germany to the US in 2nd grade. She spoke no English whatsoever upon arrival but was speaking meaningfully within a month and fluent with virtually no accent by mid 3rd grade. I have family friends whose kids are in their teens who were stationed in Germany and sent their kids to German schools. They picked up the language and are fluent after being stationed there for 2 years.

Immersion has been shown time and time again to be the most effective way for kids to learn a language. ESOL students should 100% be in mainstream classrooms, there just needs to be stronger expectations that they pick up English for use at school and that also needs to be communicated to their families.

Totally agree.

My young adult kid did a study abroad for a year. Within 6 months they were fluent in the language, reading and writing. It was complete immersion.

Kids pick it up even quicker.

We are doing a disservice to these non English speaking kids by not requiring them to speak English from the start.

Our acceptance and accommodation is setting them up for failure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's about money. Smaller class sizes and teaching kids English and or discreet classes for Special Ed takes money. Putting these kids in mainstream classes doesn't cost more money, even though it stresses the classroom

+1

Our schools are underfunded to serve our student population.

Our fcps have a 4 billion dollar budget and spends nearly $20,000 per student.

We don't have a funding isdue, we have an oversight and priorities issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The solution is called open enrollment honors classes. ACPS started it years ago.

FCPS has had open enrollment honors for years.

[Anonymous]

Segregating by learning skill level allows each group to receive the support best suited to their needs. What benefit is there in placing a Jiffy Lube technician and a NASA aeronautical engineer in the same class, simply for the sake of desegregation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Segregating by learning skill level allows each group to receive the support best suited to their needs. What benefit is there in placing a Jiffy Lube technician and a NASA aeronautical engineer in the same class, simply for the sake of desegregation?

Maybe, because we don't have either in k-12!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Segregating by learning skill level allows each group to receive the support best suited to their needs. What benefit is there in placing a Jiffy Lube technician and a NASA aeronautical engineer in the same class, simply for the sake of desegregation?

Actually, they could learn a lot from each other!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At these tax rates, don't be surprised when parents start pushing for more segregation in schools to remove or sequester low-performing ESOL kids. While it will seem harsh, all kids deserve a great education, and none should be held back by classmates that don't speak English or who don't want to learn.

I am a bit confused by your framing of this issue as driven by tax rates. You seem to be arguing that high property tax rates go hand in glove with public demands for segregation in public education? Does that really bear out across the country: do the areas with higher property tax rates demand segregation?

I have heard it spun the opposite way many times in the context of the cap on federal deductions for state and local taxes, with “politically blue” areas being hit harder by the cap because they face higher property taxes. That is to say that areas with higher property taxes across the country are cast as “liberal enclaves” that may “push woke education agendas” and those with lower property taxes are more “right wing” that likely to “push vouchers that kill public schools.”

I am not too familiar with “liberal enclaves” calling for more segregation, so it makes OP’s prediction a weird, hot take.

Can I play the game, too?

At these tax rates, don't be surprised when parents start pushing for more intelligent design to be taught is schools and less discussion of evolution and science. Sounds weird, right?

I know people throw a lot of ideas on the wall on this anonymous forum to see what sticks, but OP seems to have simply thrown something and missed the wall entirely.