Which fcps high school do you hear the worst stories about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The struggling schools - Lee, Stuart, Mt Vernon- they need IB for tracking. It's a lifeline for their higher achieving students.

This is exactly my problem with IB in those schools. AP would probably be a better choice overall, but IB will never be removed because it provides a school within a school to segregate the higher SES kids.

Not only that, but have you look at the IB pass rate for these schools (vs South Lakes and Marshall). These schools only have only a small handful of kids who can pass an IB class. The other 750 kids in each class are screwed.

Great point!

IB pass rates (4 or better on IB exam) in school year 2014-14:
Annandale: 81.0
Edison: 80.8
Lee: 94.9
Marshall: 85.1
Mount Vernon: 75.3
Robinson: 82.2
South Lakes: 86.0
Stuart: 64.4

should say school year 2013-2014

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is, everyone has complaints about their high school, whether it's FCPS or another county. Whether they attended recently, or back in the 80's. High school is (generally) a universally bad experience. There will always be the rich kids, the jocks, the smart kids, etc. etc. That's what high school is! A bunch of cliques and you're lucky if you find yourself some like-minded friends. I went to school in the midwest, and all of these descriptions could have applied to my very middle-of-the-road high school.

Good luck finding the "perfect" school, because it doesn't exist. Teens are teens, the whole world over.

+1000
There's a reason movies like "The Breakfast Club" resonated with so many people. High school, generally, sucks. Those of you trying to make one particular high school or another out to be this horrible experience clearly have a significant chip on their shoulders, for whatever reason. High school, no matter where it is and no matter the demographics, will generally be a stressful experience for most kids. There are always going to be cliques, drugs, sex, mean girls, bullies, whatever. So please: those of you obsessed with tearing down certain schools, do a little soul-searching and come back to us once you've found the perfect high school. It doesn't exist.

Untrue. My high school hardly had any of those things. It was private. People like you, who believe this is normal and OK, are the reason most high schools are pits of social toxicity. Once you've experienced a place where the adults don't think it's OK, you realize that it doesn't have to be like that.

Exactly correct!!

It is absolutely untrue for my high school experience, which was at a FCPS school on here a lot of people have bashed. I went there in the 90s and I LOVED my 4 years of high school! Loved them! You really cannot believe everything you read on here.

+1 I attended Oakton in the 90s and it was a fantastic school socially and academically. Kids had a variety of interests but there were no exclusive cliques.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The struggling schools - Lee, Stuart, Mt Vernon- they need IB for tracking. It's a lifeline for their higher achieving students.

This is exactly my problem with IB in those schools. AP would probably be a better choice overall, but IB will never be removed because it provides a school within a school to segregate the higher SES kids.

Not only that, but have you look at the IB pass rate for these schools (vs South Lakes and Marshall). These schools only have only a small handful of kids who can pass an IB class. The other 750 kids in each class are screwed.

Great point!

IB pass rates (4 or better on IB exam) in school year 2014-14:
Annandale: 81.0
Edison: 80.8
Lee: 94.9
Marshall: 85.1
Mount Vernon: 75.3
Robinson: 82.2
South Lakes: 86.0
Stuart: 64.4

should say school year 2013-2014

But less than 5% of the students at Mount Vernon, Lee or Annandale get an IB diploma, while almost 25% of the Marshall kids do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AP classes are college level and pretty intense. If you don't have the background going into those courses you will have a difficult time.

The idea that kids are all walking in, acing those AP courses and then scoring high enough on the AP exams to actually place out of college courses...is probably overblown.

My DC got 34 credits from his University for his AP classes- it made him a sophomore. He took 7 APs and received 4s and 5s. He was around the 75-80th percentile for GPA. I know this because he just missed the cut off for the GPA medal to wear for graduation and 100 out of just less than 500 received it. He graduated from one of the 5 HS in FCPS about which people tend to crow on DCUM.

It all depends on which university or college you student attends. Some give nothing, others give quite a bit.

I too took all AP classes and entered college a sophomore, something which about 40 out of 500 students did at my well-respected non-local academic HS did. I'm sure it happens here, probably in greater numbers. There's nothing wrong with it, it was a very good preparation for my college engineering degree. But most kids, even here, don't do all honors and all AP and get 4s and 5s on all the tests.

A student does not have to take all honors or all AP or be at the top of the class. That was my point. DC took 7 AP (1 as a sophomore and 3 each as a junior and senior), he could have taken more and he was not in all honors either. You do not have to take all honors/AP to do well and get credits for college.

My DC had the same experience. He also took 7 APs and a mix of honors and regular classes, and got plenty of college credits. We'll take the same approach with our other kids. No need to go overboard with APs at all. Don't buy into the hype!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is, everyone has complaints about their high school, whether it's FCPS or another county. Whether they attended recently, or back in the 80's. High school is (generally) a universally bad experience. There will always be the rich kids, the jocks, the smart kids, etc. etc. That's what high school is! A bunch of cliques and you're lucky if you find yourself some like-minded friends. I went to school in the midwest, and all of these descriptions could have applied to my very middle-of-the-road high school.

Good luck finding the "perfect" school, because it doesn't exist. Teens are teens, the whole world over.

+1000
There's a reason movies like "The Breakfast Club" resonated with so many people. High school, generally, sucks. Those of you trying to make one particular high school or another out to be this horrible experience clearly have a significant chip on their shoulders, for whatever reason. High school, no matter where it is and no matter the demographics, will generally be a stressful experience for most kids. There are always going to be cliques, drugs, sex, mean girls, bullies, whatever. So please: those of you obsessed with tearing down certain schools, do a little soul-searching and come back to us once you've found the perfect high school. It doesn't exist.

Untrue. My high school hardly had any of those things. It was private. People like you, who believe this is normal and OK, are the reason most high schools are pits of social toxicity. Once you've experienced a place where the adults don't think it's OK, you realize that it doesn't have to be like that.

Oh, hi Bullis Mom!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is, everyone has complaints about their high school, whether it's FCPS or another county. Whether they attended recently, or back in the 80's. High school is (generally) a universally bad experience. There will always be the rich kids, the jocks, the smart kids, etc. etc. That's what high school is! A bunch of cliques and you're lucky if you find yourself some like-minded friends. I went to school in the midwest, and all of these descriptions could have applied to my very middle-of-the-road high school.

Good luck finding the "perfect" school, because it doesn't exist. Teens are teens, the whole world over.

+1000
There's a reason movies like "The Breakfast Club" resonated with so many people. High school, generally, sucks. Those of you trying to make one particular high school or another out to be this horrible experience clearly have a significant chip on their shoulders, for whatever reason. High school, no matter where it is and no matter the demographics, will generally be a stressful experience for most kids. There are always going to be cliques, drugs, sex, mean girls, bullies, whatever. So please: those of you obsessed with tearing down certain schools, do a little soul-searching and come back to us once you've found the perfect high school. It doesn't exist.

Untrue. My high school hardly had any of those things. It was private. People like you, who believe this is normal and OK, are the reason most high schools are pits of social toxicity. Once you've experienced a place where the adults don't think it's OK, you realize that it doesn't have to be like that.

Exactly correct!!

It is absolutely untrue for my high school experience, which was at a FCPS school on here a lot of people have bashed. I went there in the 90s and I LOVED my 4 years of high school! Loved them! You really cannot believe everything you read on here.

Same here, PP. I think some of these bitter posters have had personal issues with the schools that most other people have not, and so now want to smear the schools in any way they can. It's always the same posters, over and over. I take everything I read here with a HUGE grain of salt. It reminds me of when parents will say, "Oh, you don't want so-and-so teacher - s/he's horrible!!!" and then your child winds up with that teacher and has a fabulous year. I never let other people's personal experiences (or vendettas, as in the case of entire school-bashing) color my own impressions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Langley, yes. Mostly about spoiled, entitled kids and parents with outsized egos.

Also, terrible mix of privilege and wealth and recreational drugs and competition over has and has more.

Yet another thread that devolves into Langley hate. I'm a Langley parent and the above is nonsense. Of course, if you had children who actually attended this school, you'd know that. Stop spreading these disgusting rumors about a school and student body about which you know nothing.

You know, I understand what you're saying, but at a certain point, don't you have to look at the sheer volume and uniformity of those stories and admit to yourself maybe there's something to them?

You mean, the few posters here on DCUM who find any opportunity to bash Langley? That's not "sheer volume". That's someone with an ax to grind. And the uniformity of their comments is because it's the same people, over and over.

I've had three kids - all very different, with different interests - attend Langley and NONE of them has experienced anything close to what some of these people say occur there. Two of my kids are quite shy and introverted, and yet they have each found "their people" at Langley - great friends and good people. My third child is gay. Imagine how hard that must be, to be a gay high school student. Yet he has been so supported and so loved by his friends and teachers at Langley.

There are some very wealthy kids at Langley, but the majority of the students are just your typical UMC kids found at many of the other NoVA high schools (McLean, Oakton, Madison, etc.). Same demographics. Some very bitter people simply love to hate this particular school; or any school like it. It simply gets old listening to the same complaints, from the same people - most of whom have never even set foot in the school. We feel extremely fortunate that our kids were able to go to Langley and benefit from all it has to offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The struggling schools - Lee, Stuart, Mt Vernon- they need IB for tracking. It's a lifeline for their higher achieving students.

This is exactly my problem with IB in those schools. AP would probably be a better choice overall, but IB will never be removed because it provides a school within a school to segregate the higher SES kids.

Not only that, but have you look at the IB pass rate for these schools (vs South Lakes and Marshall). These schools only have only a small handful of kids who can pass an IB class. The other 750 kids in each class are screwed.

Great point!

IB pass rates (4 or better on IB exam) in school year 2014-14:
Annandale: 81.0
Edison: 80.8
Lee: 94.9
Marshall: 85.1
Mount Vernon: 75.3
Robinson: 82.2
South Lakes: 86.0
Stuart: 64.4

should say school year 2013-2014

But less than 5% of the students at Mount Vernon, Lee or Annandale get an IB diploma, while almost 25% of the Marshall kids do.

More like 20%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The struggling schools - Lee, Stuart, Mt Vernon- they need IB for tracking. It's a lifeline for their higher achieving students.

This is exactly my problem with IB in those schools. AP would probably be a better choice overall, but IB will never be removed because it provides a school within a school to segregate the higher SES kids.

Not only that, but have you look at the IB pass rate for these schools (vs South Lakes and Marshall). These schools only have only a small handful of kids who can pass an IB class. The other 750 kids in each class are screwed.

Great point!

IB pass rates (4 or better on IB exam) in school year 2014-14:
Annandale: 81.0
Edison: 80.8
Lee: 94.9
Marshall: 85.1
Mount Vernon: 75.3
Robinson: 82.2
South Lakes: 86.0
Stuart: 64.4

should say school year 2013-2014

But less than 5% of the students at Mount Vernon, Lee or Annandale get an IB diploma, while almost 25% of the Marshall kids do.

So what? The PP stated one had to look at the IB pass rate.

[Anonymous]

Not only that, but have you look at the IB pass rate for these schools (vs South Lakes and Marshall). These schools only have only a small handful of kids who can pass an IB class. The other 750 kids in each class are screwed.

Great point!

IB pass rates (4 or better on IB exam) in school year 2014-14:
Annandale: 81.0
Edison: 80.8
Lee: 94.9
Marshall: 85.1
Mount Vernon: 75.3
Robinson: 82.2
South Lakes: 86.0
Stuart: 64.4

should say school year 2013-2014

But less than 5% of the students at Mount Vernon, Lee or Annandale get an IB diploma, while almost 25% of the Marshall kids do.

That may be, but the original statement, which was proven to be wrong, was about IB pass rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Langley, yes. Mostly about spoiled, entitled kids and parents with outsized egos.

Also, terrible mix of privilege and wealth and recreational drugs and competition over has and has more.

Yet another thread that devolves into Langley hate. I'm a Langley parent and the above is nonsense. Of course, if you had children who actually attended this school, you'd know that. Stop spreading these disgusting rumors about a school and student body about which you know nothing.

May I borrow your magic mirror, Crazy Lady? How do you know a thing about me? Can you see me now? How many fingers? That's right just one...

OMG. Langley lady is on all of the threads. She actually has Google alerts on - that is how ridiculous it is. Yup, the same moms who participate in the neighborhood telephone tree when any (any) gossip happens, or when they gang up (and they do - just like their miserable LHS days!) on fellow neighbors. Have a good laugh at her expense. Everyone else does!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are all awful and so smugly self-satisfied. FCPS is a self-contained provincial asylum which sends about 90% of its students to roughly five in-state universities. These poor kids are born, live their lives and die without ever leaving the confines of the Commonwealth of Virgnia.

Their students graduate woefully unprepared for the rigors of life and college academics.

Sorry your kid didn't get into a decent Va. school. You are an idiot.

This is a typical response from a mindless FCPS student lacking any and all analytical skills. Rather than supporting your position with a reasoned argument you make false assumptions and personal attacks. This FCPS student like many others would destroy others rather than listening and spending the time and effort required to improve themselves.

Hurry up and get out of bed. You are already late for two-a-days!

Nailed it. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The thing is, everyone has complaints about their high school, whether it's FCPS or another county. Whether they attended recently, or back in the 80's. High school is (generally) a universally bad experience. There will always be the rich kids, the jocks, the smart kids, etc. etc. That's what high school is! A bunch of cliques and you're lucky if you find yourself some like-minded friends. I went to school in the midwest, and all of these descriptions could have applied to my very middle-of-the-road high school.

Good luck finding the "perfect" school, because it doesn't exist. Teens are teens, the whole world over.

+1000
There's a reason movies like "The Breakfast Club" resonated with so many people. High school, generally, sucks. Those of you trying to make one particular high school or another out to be this horrible experience clearly have a significant chip on their shoulders, for whatever reason. High school, no matter where it is and no matter the demographics, will generally be a stressful experience for most kids. There are always going to be cliques, drugs, sex, mean girls, bullies, whatever. So please: those of you obsessed with tearing down certain schools, do a little soul-searching and come back to us once you've found the perfect high school. It doesn't exist.

Untrue. My high school hardly had any of those things. It was private. People like you, who believe this is normal and OK, are the reason most high schools are pits of social toxicity. Once you've experienced a place where the adults don't think it's OK, you realize that it doesn't have to be like that. [/quote]

Exactly correct!!

+1

Well said. Some people never get out of high school mode. So sad for them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Langley, yes. Mostly about spoiled, entitled kids and parents with outsized egos.

Also, terrible mix of privilege and wealth and recreational drugs and competition over has and has more.

Yet another thread that devolves into Langley hate. I'm a Langley parent and the above is nonsense. Of course, if you had children who actually attended this school, you'd know that. Stop spreading these disgusting rumors about a school and student body about which you know nothing.

May I borrow your magic mirror, Crazy Lady? How do you know a thing about me? Can you see me now? How many fingers? That's right just one...

OMG. Langley lady is on all of the threads. She actually has Google alerts on - that is how ridiculous it is. Yup, the same moms who participate in the neighborhood telephone tree when any (any) gossip happens, or when they gang up (and they do - just like their miserable LHS days!) on fellow neighbors. Have a good laugh at her expense. Everyone else does!

I hate the expression, but sometimes it's the only one that works: you sound seriously unhinged. I mean, really and truly off. Sorry you had a miserable high school experience and can't quite find your way into the present day. Time to grow up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Not only that, but have you look at the IB pass rate for these schools (vs South Lakes and Marshall). These schools only have only a small handful of kids who can pass an IB class. The other 750 kids in each class are screwed.

Great point!

IB pass rates (4 or better on IB exam) in school year 2014-14:
Annandale: 81.0
Edison: 80.8
Lee: 94.9
Marshall: 85.1
Mount Vernon: 75.3
Robinson: 82.2
South Lakes: 86.0
Stuart: 64.4

should say school year 2013-2014

But less than 5% of the students at Mount Vernon, Lee or Annandale get an IB diploma, while almost 25% of the Marshall kids do.

That may be, but the original statement, which was proven to be wrong, was about IB pass rate.

I meant the % of kids who passed an IB test. And it's incredibly low at these 3 schools. I could have done a better job with the phrasing, but here's the point: I support IB. I have a rising 8th grader who is looking at PP into IB, with my strong encouragement. But, I would not send DC to Lee, Annandale or Mount Vernon where he would be on of 8-15 kids serious about the program. IB isn't working in a school where less than a dozen kids (out of 700) go full diploma, because there is not a strong cohort of candidates. The program has been in schools like Lee, Mt. Vernon and Annandale for a while, and it has not improved these schools. And most kids there (in some cases 97.5%) aren't taking advantage of it. It would be better to have fewer IB programs, and make it a really strong, desireable magnet program. Oh-- and 24.5% of Marshall kids got the full IB diploma last year. That's "almost 25%"-- and a strong cohort.