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

[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.

Great way to do it and at the right time to correct the issue before it is too late.

[Anonymous]

Public schools were created for the children of parents who could not - for whatever reason - educate their children themselves. Public schools are how America became great in the first place.

Maybe they didn't speak English, weren't educated themselves or were working too many hours. Saying that parents should be more engaged to help their failing children goes against the entire reason public schools exist. Schools have these children at least 180 days per year. If the schools can't satisfactorily educate the children during that time, the school is failing - not the child or the family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Or we do have kids in FCPS.

Consistently, the biggest complaint I hear from my high school kids and their friends is that so much of learning seminar is taken up by SEL type lessons, preventing them from flexing out to their teachers for tutoring and making up tests if they are absent.

They complain regularly about the constant SEL lessons and surveys at the high schools.

I hear the same thing about the middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public schools were created for the children of parents who could not - for whatever reason - educate their children themselves. Public schools are how America became great in the first place.

Maybe they didn't speak English, weren't educated themselves or were working too many hours. Saying that parents should be more engaged to help their failing children goes against the entire reason public schools exist. Schools have these children at least 180 days per year. If the schools can't satisfactorily educate the children during that time, the school is failing - not the child or the family.

Saying parents should not be engaged at home and reading to their kids is elitist and demeaning to low income families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Or we do have kids in FCPS.

Consistently, the biggest complaint I hear from my high school kids and their friends is that so much of learning seminar is taken up by SEL type lessons, preventing them from flexing out to their teachers for tutoring and making up tests if they are absent.

They complain regularly about the constant SEL lessons and surveys at the high schools.

I hear the same thing about the middle school.

+1 there a new survey coming up that will take “30 minutes or less.” We are opting out. Sick of my high schooler missing work time during learning seminar for these dumb surveys.

[Anonymous]

You have got to be kidding.

Mississippi is a red state with a red legislature that is going to have child brides be a thing and girls to no longer be educated. Mississippi also wants the ten commandments in public school which is BS.

Spare us your stupidity OP and for god's sake shut up you are too stupid to post here.

[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?

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.

I’m not doubting YOU but my experience with schools and other bureaucracies is they claim they are walking and chewing gum at the same time but we all see them standing dead still, gnawing and smacking on that wad of gum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have got to be kidding.

Mississippi is a red state with a red legislature that is going to have child brides be a thing and girls to no longer be educated. Mississippi also wants the ten commandments in public school which is BS.

Spare us your stupidity OP and for god's sake shut up you are too stupid to post here.

+1

[Anonymous]

Mississippi Miracle myth has been thoroughly debunked

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/12/01/how-much-of-mississippis-education-miracle-is-an-artifact-of-selection-bias/

https://excelined.org/2023/08/11/four-reasons-why-mississippis-reading-gains-are-neither-myth-nor-miracle/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public schools were created for the children of parents who could not - for whatever reason - educate their children themselves. Public schools are how America became great in the first place.

Maybe they didn't speak English, weren't educated themselves or were working too many hours. Saying that parents should be more engaged to help their failing children goes against the entire reason public schools exist. Schools have these children at least 180 days per year. If the schools can't satisfactorily educate the children during that time, the school is failing - not the child or the family.

Saying parents should not be engaged at home and reading to their kids is elitist and demeaning to low income families.

No, blaming children for their parents' weaknesses is demeaning to low income families.

And blaming parents for the school's failure to put 2000 hours a year to any good use is demeaning to low income families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Why can't they get intensive reading support without being held back?


Why do we even have grade levels? Mixed age /ability classrooms show higher gains and stronger social bonds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mississippi Miracle myth has been thoroughly debunked

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2025/12/01/how-much-of-mississippis-education-miracle-is-an-artifact-of-selection-bias/

https://excelined.org/2023/08/11/four-reasons-why-mississippis-reading-gains-are-neither-myth-nor-miracle/

You, and the authors of those "debunk" items, do realize that if a child is held back in 3rd grade they do have to pass it eventually right?

There are not 15 year olds stuck in 3rd grade. They fail, then have to pass the next year. By being forced to repeat the fundamentals they learn to read and write at an adequate level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

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.

I’m not doubting YOU but my experience with schools and other bureaucracies is they claim they are walking and chewing gum at the same time but we all see them standing dead still, gnawing and smacking on that wad of gum.

There are only so many hours - if you waste those hours on ridiculous surveys and useless mindfulness and other SEL activities, less time is available for academics.

[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.

Our experience was different. Our dc has profound levels of dyslexia and dysgraphia, but holding them back in their grade would have been extremely detrimental to their experience. Thankfully, they were not held back. They went on to be extremely successful in academics with the appropriate accomodations and are now in graduate school doing very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Why can't they get intensive reading support without being held back?


Why do we even have grade levels? Mixed age /ability classrooms show higher gains and stronger social bonds.

Because then they are trying to get to a higher grade level when they are behind. The mixed ability classrooms in FCPS are not showing gains, test scores are not improving and teachers have classes with 4-6 different levels in the classroom. The reason there is a huge push to get into AAP is to get kids that are at or slightly above grade level into an environment where they can get some attention from a teacher.

Placing a kid who cannot read in third grade into a fourth grade classroom and hoping that intensive support will get them to grade level has not worked. 1) we don’t have enough support to help all of those kids. 2) Teachers are overwhelmed by the different levels in a classroom. 3) the kids who are struggling tend not to have the support needed at home to catch up.

I don’t know the ins and outs of Mississippis program but I would guess that there are kids with learning disabilities that are not at grade level that are promoted because the understanding is that those kids learn in a different way and with the apprioriate support will get to grade level without being held back. The kid with no learning issues who is not learning to read or grasping math needs to be held back to solidify that knowledge. Pushing them ahead is not helping them.