Is FCPS overhyped? even top rated schools seem meh?

[Anonymous]

Our friends who have moved here from the Midwest and Southern states told us that their kids were behind when they got to FCPS and that they needed help to catch up with FCPS classmates. Our friends who move in from California have varying experiences, based on if their kid attended a charter school or their local public schools. Most of the local public school kids need to catch up, the charter school kids tend to slide in fine.

The only people I hear grumbling about FCPS not being a strong school district come from the middle class to high SES sections of New England where the school districts are small and class sizes are smaller than in FCPS.

FCPS is a huge public school system with large classes. You are not likely to hear from your kids teacher unless there is a serious problem. A C is not a serious problem. ES teachers have classes between 25-32 kids. MS and HS teachers have 120-150 kids, I can never remember what the max is. They don't have time to contact parents whose kids are getting Cs or Bs, no matter how much parents want that. They have to focus on the kids getting Fs and Ds because those are the kids who are in need of the most help.

Public schools are meant to educate everyone and the metrics for success are set so that the kids who are failing don't fail.

If you want a more individualized education, with more teacher contact, and limited issues in the classroom you have to go private. Private schools screen out the kids who are going to get Fs - Cs and the kids with behavior issues, never mind the emotionally dysregulated kids that the public schools have to deal with.

Kids who are engaged, or kids who have engaged parents, will get an excellent education in FCPS but it is not something that is handed to them. You have to learn what is available and work towards it. Your HS kid who is getting a C or a B should be reaching out to their teacher asking for help with your support if needed.

[Anonymous]

There was a time when FCPS lived up to its reputation as a quality school system. Sadly it has not lived up to its reputation at any point in this century.

[Anonymous]

Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our friends who have moved here from the Midwest and Southern states told us that their kids were behind when they got to FCPS and that they needed help to catch up with FCPS classmates. Our friends who move in from California have varying experiences, based on if their kid attended a charter school or their local public schools. Most of the local public school kids need to catch up, the charter school kids tend to slide in fine.

The only people I hear grumbling about FCPS not being a strong school district come from the middle class to high SES sections of New England where the school districts are small and class sizes are smaller than in FCPS.

FCPS is a huge public school system with large classes. You are not likely to hear from your kids teacher unless there is a serious problem. A C is not a serious problem. ES teachers have classes between 25-32 kids. MS and HS teachers have 120-150 kids, I can never remember what the max is. They don't have time to contact parents whose kids are getting Cs or Bs, no matter how much parents want that. They have to focus on the kids getting Fs and Ds because those are the kids who are in need of the most help.

Public schools are meant to educate everyone and the metrics for success are set so that the kids who are failing don't fail.

If you want a more individualized education, with more teacher contact, and limited issues in the classroom you have to go private. Private schools screen out the kids who are going to get Fs - Cs and the kids with behavior issues, never mind the emotionally dysregulated kids that the public schools have to deal with.

Kids who are engaged, or kids who have engaged parents, will get an excellent education in FCPS but it is not something that is handed to them. You have to learn what is available and work towards it. Your HS kid who is getting a C or a B should be reaching out to their teacher asking for help with your support if needed.

My relatives in suburban Kansas City got a much better education than here. There are definitely parts of the midwest (New Trier in IL also springs to mind) with sneaky good schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

So saying better than other places in VA doesn’t mean great, but yeah, if going to live in Va and can get in TJ or go to Langley a student should get good education, but even then what happens at ES and even MS levels that wasn’t the case years ago is all the supplementing. At one point the students went to ES and that was it. Now is VERY common to go to ES but supplement with Outside writing instruction, outside math instruction for the accelerated kids and tutoring for struggling kids- before was handled in school. Now the teachers are left to sink in their classrooms as do best can with what given.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

So saying better than other places in VA doesn’t mean great, but yeah, if going to live in Va and can get in TJ or go to Langley a student should get good education, but even then what happens at ES and even MS levels that wasn’t the case years ago is all the supplementing. At one point the students went to ES and that was it. Now is VERY common to go to ES but supplement with Outside writing instruction, outside math instruction for the accelerated kids and tutoring for struggling kids- before was handled in school. Now the teachers are left to sink in their classrooms as do best can with what given.

TJ and Langley are two schools. Seven of the top 10 are in FCPS, and several others aren’t far behind.

Are you willing to pay higher taxes for higher teacher salaries, smaller class sizes, and nicer buildings? Or is this another disguised rant before elections about how some students are dragging others down?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

So saying better than other places in VA doesn’t mean great, but yeah, if going to live in Va and can get in TJ or go to Langley a student should get good education, but even then what happens at ES and even MS levels that wasn’t the case years ago is all the supplementing. At one point the students went to ES and that was it. Now is VERY common to go to ES but supplement with Outside writing instruction, outside math instruction for the accelerated kids and tutoring for struggling kids- before was handled in school. Now the teachers are left to sink in their classrooms as do best can with what given.

TJ and Langley are two schools. Seven of the top 10 are in FCPS, and several others aren’t far behind.

Are you willing to pay higher taxes for higher teacher salaries, smaller class sizes, and nicer buildings? Or is this another disguised rant before elections about how some students are dragging others down?

I’ll answer. Yes! Absolutely willing to pay higher taxes if went to higher teacher salaries and smaller class sizes. That’s the problem. The money is going to Gatehouse and NOT the teachers in the schools. The $ goes to Reid’s legal bills for matters she continues to mishandle, school board assistants that make twice a starting teacher salary, Reid personal security, failed up employees that she loves to Gatehouse, more admin jobs she creates at Gatehouse— and all of it that the school board allows. In a heartbeat would pay more if thought teachers— the ones with the students- would get the benefit. That’s exactly who should be getting it and where focus should be but every indication is that FCPS has lost sight of that (even with salary increases last year they came at cost of losing people IN the schools v Gatehousr cuts).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our friends who have moved here from the Midwest and Southern states told us that their kids were behind when they got to FCPS and that they needed help to catch up with FCPS classmates. Our friends who move in from California have varying experiences, based on if their kid attended a charter school or their local public schools. Most of the local public school kids need to catch up, the charter school kids tend to slide in fine.

The only people I hear grumbling about FCPS not being a strong school district come from the middle class to high SES sections of New England where the school districts are small and class sizes are smaller than in FCPS.

FCPS is a huge public school system with large classes. You are not likely to hear from your kids teacher unless there is a serious problem. A C is not a serious problem. ES teachers have classes between 25-32 kids. MS and HS teachers have 120-150 kids, I can never remember what the max is. They don't have time to contact parents whose kids are getting Cs or Bs, no matter how much parents want that. They have to focus on the kids getting Fs and Ds because those are the kids who are in need of the most help.

Public schools are meant to educate everyone and the metrics for success are set so that the kids who are failing don't fail.

If you want a more individualized education, with more teacher contact, and limited issues in the classroom you have to go private. Private schools screen out the kids who are going to get Fs - Cs and the kids with behavior issues, never mind the emotionally dysregulated kids that the public schools have to deal with.

Kids who are engaged, or kids who have engaged parents, will get an excellent education in FCPS but it is not something that is handed to them. You have to learn what is available and work towards it. Your HS kid who is getting a C or a B should be reaching out to their teacher asking for help with your support if needed.

My relatives in suburban Kansas City got a much better education than here. There are definitely parts of the midwest (New Trier in IL also springs to mind) with sneaky good schools.

Schools within exclusively wealthy townships or villages like New Trier HS, South Pasadena HS, Lexington HS or Scarsdale HS will always have the best of the best courses, facilities, teachers, and of course, students. In the Southeast (Md, Va, NC, etc.), schools are county based for the most part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

So saying better than other places in VA doesn’t mean great, but yeah, if going to live in Va and can get in TJ or go to Langley a student should get good education, but even then what happens at ES and even MS levels that wasn’t the case years ago is all the supplementing. At one point the students went to ES and that was it. Now is VERY common to go to ES but supplement with Outside writing instruction, outside math instruction for the accelerated kids and tutoring for struggling kids- before was handled in school. Now the teachers are left to sink in their classrooms as do best can with what given.

TJ and Langley are two schools. Seven of the top 10 are in FCPS, and several others aren’t far behind.

Are you willing to pay higher taxes for higher teacher salaries, smaller class sizes, and nicer buildings? Or is this another disguised rant before elections about how some students are dragging others down?

I’ll answer. Yes! Absolutely willing to pay higher taxes if went to higher teacher salaries and smaller class sizes. That’s the problem. The money is going to Gatehouse and NOT the teachers in the schools. The $ goes to Reid’s legal bills for matters she continues to mishandle, school board assistants that make twice a starting teacher salary, Reid personal security, failed up employees that she loves to Gatehouse, more admin jobs she creates at Gatehouse— and all of it that the school board allows. In a heartbeat would pay more if thought teachers— the ones with the students- would get the benefit. That’s exactly who should be getting it and where focus should be but every indication is that FCPS has lost sight of that (even with salary increases last year they came at cost of losing people IN the schools v Gatehousr cuts).

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We came from city public elementary/middle which I thought would be bar set low. But we would get teachers calls and emails if kids would do poorly on assessments and would be invited to talk to teachers to set a plan to improve and know exactly where children need help or more advanced material. I am surprised with the level of indifference and "cattle-like" experience from what was touted as top suburban publics in one of the top educated metro areas. Classes are overcrowded and teachers seem overwhelmed and overloaded. Grading is incredibly slow and it's hard to see if your kid is truly thriving or failing based on this info posted online, it's this unclear. Not to mention try to get access to the information where exactly they need help.

I do see tons of test prep places of all kinds. Is this what essentially becomes the necessary extension of school here? There is a lot of focus on sport, but we aren't a sports family, so it's like an alternative universe. I don't see the academic culture, am I completely off base?

Not at all off base. We also loved somewhere rated much lower, and the schools were generally better.

The high test scores here definitely have way more to do with efforts outside of schools. This area has a higher than average amount of high achieving parents who put their kids in all sorts of tutoring and test prep to have high achieving kids. Of course it shows as higher than average test scores.

There are of course some wonderful teachers and administrators.. and some really crappy ones. The same as every other district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

An example of correlation, not causation.

[Anonymous]

I thought my kids were going to write more than they have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

An example of correlation, not causation.

If so, a happy coincidence. But, more likely, a refusal on your part to acknowledge what FCPS still does well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did you buy in the Madison pyramid? If you did, yes, the focus for us has pretty much been sports all of school. My kids are in HS now you said it perfectly as alternative universe. Elementary, middle and high school, the focus has been sports in our community.

We are a sports family and wished we bought elsewhere so they had a less competitive sports experience and more of a regular experience without as much pressure (for sports). You are right, academics aren’t mentioned that much or it’s the people we know.

That is absurd.

Don't blame other parents because you wanted your kid in competitive sports.

Every school pyramid has competitive parents.

My kids went divsion 1 but not at the expense of an education.

They are now CTO's and Directors & VP's in their thirties. Nothing to do with sports it was their great education that got them there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

An example of correlation, not causation.

If so, a happy coincidence. But, more likely, a refusal on your part to acknowledge what FCPS still does well.

Not a happy coincidence. This area has a large population of high earning, high achieving parents who invest heavily in their children’s education in time and/ or money. Higher rates of test prep, tutoring, homework support, etc all directly translate into higher test scores.

If the county had some magic formula for success, you’d see it across all the schools, not clustered in the most affluents parts of the county.