FCPS High School Poverty and Enrollment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain why AP is preferred over IB?

AP is more flexible and portable. You can pick the classes you want to take a la carte, such as AB chemistry but regular honors history, or multiple AP history and English classes but no AP math. They can take 1 AP class in high school or multiple AP classes each year. This means that kids can focus on their strengths. It also provides opportunities for kids who are less proficient in English to still earn college credit in a class like AP calculus. You can jump in and out of AP classes if you move high school.

IB is a writing heavy, comprehensive program that is taken in its entirety over the 4 years of high school and is not a la cart. It is all, or nothing, which shuts out military kids who move later in high school, smart kids who struggle with with writing, and kids who are uneven in their skill sets. It is a terrible program for most of the schools that FCPS put IB into as those are mostly ESOL heavy schools where student do not have the English language proficiency to handle the heavy writing components or extra time for the service components. IB in those schools essentially shuts a large number of students out from accessing advanced curriculum or college credits in high school.

Both of my kids had college roommates with IB diplomas. They both said that they wished they had gone to AP schools. DD began as an academic sophomore with 9 AP's with high scores on the tests. The IB roommates had minimal credit.

This is not accurate. You can take individual IB courses and receive the same weighting as AP.

But not the college credit.

Poor kids are best served by AP, not IB. It gives them a free jump on college. They can knock out a full year or more credits for free in high school in a high school with a robust AB and dual enrollment program.

IB is essentially worthless for poor kids.

IB credits count for college, just like AP. There is no deduction for being poor.
Stop lying.

[Anonymous]

Both of my kids had college roommates with IB diplomas. They both said that they wished they had gone to AP schools. DD began as an academic sophomore with 9 AP's with high scores on the tests. The IB roommates had minimal credit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both of my kids had college roommates with IB diplomas. They both said that they wished they had gone to AP schools. DD began as an academic sophomore with 9 AP's with high scores on the tests. The IB roommates had minimal credit.

My IB kid got lots of credit--he got credit for 6 or 7 of his IBs, AP classes he took (2). For IB classes that didn't offer credit (e.g. his school didn't offer credit for some science courses taken at the SL level), he took the matching AP exam (e.g., AP Chem) and easily got 4s and 5s without studying based on the IB SL class.

[Anonymous]

No problem with IB unless FCPS tries to redistrict us into an IB school against our will. Then we are out of FCPS for good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of these numbers really surprise me. Where are these families living?? This area has gotten so expensive.

In Mount Vernon, there are two trailer (mobile home) parks that feed into MVHS. We also have homeless shelters. Ft. Belvoir families are zoned for MVHS - enlisted soldiers are not high wage earners and some of our FARMS students may be military families. But the majority are most likely multiple families living together in both single family homes and apartments/townhouses/condos. We also have multiple apartment complexes and most of them are older, garden style apartments and not the new, expensive ones with fancy amenities. I don't know how the affordable housing works, but I do know families can rent at reduced rates. I looked and the apartment complex that is walking distance to the high school starts at $1500 a month. And it is one of the nicer apartment complexes in the 22309 zip code (the MV zip code.)

I cannot speak to the military at Fort Belvoir specifically, but I can speak generally. I taught in DOD schools. They historically have far fewer high school students than elementary because the parents begin retiring as the kids get older. And, FWIW, it is unlikely that there are many high school students from Fort Belvoir whose parents are in the lower enlisted ranks.
Also, I understand that military families are able to pupil place out to other schools. I am guessing that many choose this option.

All true.

I just looked at the school profiles for the 2 elementary schools located on Ft. Belvoir.

Their FARMS numbers significantly increased this past school year, from the upper teens to over 30% in both schools.

Knowing that those schools are amost completely lower level enlisted families, it is shocking to see a snapshot how much the terrible inflation of this administration has affected our enlisted troops.

Shameful.

The rules are strange in that if you choose to live off-base, you have to include BAH toward income, which generally disqualifies people. If you live on the base in base housing, then you don't have to include it.

Seems to make more sense to include BAH as income than not though. I’d have a lot more “income” if I didn’t have to pay for housing too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No problem with IB unless FCPS tries to redistrict us into an IB school against our will. Then we are out of FCPS for good.

Against your will? You could still place into an AP school but it might not be the AP school of your choice. But yes, FCPS can change boundaries of schools. It has happened before. You do not get a guarantee when you buy a house. But this is why FCPS won't change boundaries when it does make sense-because of entitled melodramatic parents like yourself who fight it tooth and nail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of these numbers really surprise me. Where are these families living?? This area has gotten so expensive.

In Mount Vernon, there are two trailer (mobile home) parks that feed into MVHS. We also have homeless shelters. Ft. Belvoir families are zoned for MVHS - enlisted soldiers are not high wage earners and some of our FARMS students may be military families. But the majority are most likely multiple families living together in both single family homes and apartments/townhouses/condos. We also have multiple apartment complexes and most of them are older, garden style apartments and not the new, expensive ones with fancy amenities. I don't know how the affordable housing works, but I do know families can rent at reduced rates. I looked and the apartment complex that is walking distance to the high school starts at $1500 a month. And it is one of the nicer apartment complexes in the 22309 zip code (the MV zip code.)

I cannot speak to the military at Fort Belvoir specifically, but I can speak generally. I taught in DOD schools. They historically have far fewer high school students than elementary because the parents begin retiring as the kids get older. And, FWIW, it is unlikely that there are many high school students from Fort Belvoir whose parents are in the lower enlisted ranks.
Also, I understand that military families are able to pupil place out to other schools. I am guessing that many choose this option.

All true.

I just looked at the school profiles for the 2 elementary schools located on Ft. Belvoir.

Their FARMS numbers significantly increased this past school year, from the upper teens to over 30% in both schools.

Knowing that those schools are amost completely lower level enlisted families, it is shocking to see a snapshot how much the terrible inflation of this administration has affected our enlisted troops.

Shameful.

The rules are strange in that if you choose to live off-base, you have to include BAH toward income, which generally disqualifies people. If you live on the base in base housing, then you don't have to include it.

Seems to make more sense to include BAH as income than not though. I’d have a lot more “income” if I didn’t have to pay for housing too.

I don't know how it is calculated for SNAP--but BAH is excluded from taxation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No problem with IB unless FCPS tries to redistrict us into an IB school against our will. Then we are out of FCPS for good.

Against your will? You could still place into an AP school but it might not be the AP school of your choice. But yes, FCPS can change boundaries of schools. It has happened before. You do not get a guarantee when you buy a house. But this is why FCPS won't change boundaries when it does make sense-because of entitled melodramatic parents like yourself who fight it tooth and nail.

No, you do not get a guarantee--but why have IB and AP? That is certainly not "equity."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No problem with IB unless FCPS tries to redistrict us into an IB school against our will. Then we are out of FCPS for good.

Against your will? You could still place into an AP school but it might not be the AP school of your choice. But yes, FCPS can change boundaries of schools. It has happened before. You do not get a guarantee when you buy a house. But this is why FCPS won't change boundaries when it does make sense-because of entitled melodramatic parents like yourself who fight it tooth and nail.

Of course people fight tooth and nail. If your representative proposes a policy you disagree with, you lobby them to change the policy. That's how representative democracy works

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No problem with IB unless FCPS tries to redistrict us into an IB school against our will. Then we are out of FCPS for good.

Against your will? You could still place into an AP school but it might not be the AP school of your choice. But yes, FCPS can change boundaries of schools. It has happened before. You do not get a guarantee when you buy a house. But this is why FCPS won't change boundaries when it does make sense-because of entitled melodramatic parents like yourself who fight it tooth and nail.

Too inconvenient and we don’t want IB, so we deliberately bought zoned for an AP school. If FCPS changes our school to IB or redistricts us to an IB school we will leave. LCPS doesn’t inflict IB on families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No problem with IB unless FCPS tries to redistrict us into an IB school against our will. Then we are out of FCPS for good.

Against your will? You could still place into an AP school but it might not be the AP school of your choice. But yes, FCPS can change boundaries of schools. It has happened before. You do not get a guarantee when you buy a house. But this is why FCPS won't change boundaries when it does make sense-because of entitled melodramatic parents like yourself who fight it tooth and nail.

Too inconvenient and we don’t want IB, so we deliberately bought zoned for an AP school. If FCPS changes our school to IB or redistricts us to an IB school we will leave. LCPS doesn’t inflict IB on families.

Inflict? GTFO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lewis took the lead in F/R lunch this past school year (2022-2023), jumping past a couple of other schools and now the only school to be over 60%. Langley continues to be an outlier at the low end. All data from FCPS.edu.

School F/R%
Langley 3.97% (+0.86)
Thomas Jefferson 10.30% (+8.03)
McLean 12.32% (+2.31)
Madison 12.70% (+4.32)
Woodson 13.29% (+0.42)
Oakton 14.53% (+3.62)
Robinson 14.83% (+2.86)
West Springfield 17.07% (+2.24)
Lake Braddock 19.68% (+4.57)
Chantilly 20.48% (+3.84)
Marshall 22.56% (+4.96)
South County 23.31% (+2.74)
Hayfield 30.37% (+2.12)---- Median
South Lakes 31.39% (+4.32)
Westfield 32.97% (+6.30)
Fairfax 33.36% (+7.87)
Centreville 33.53% (+5.62)
Edison 37.92% (+1.38)
West Potomac 46.83% (+7.73)
Herndon 48.58% (+6.44)
Annandale 55.33% (-2.56)
Justice 56.80% (-1.86)
Falls Church 58.78% (+9.63)
Mount Vernon 59.82% (+8.42)
Lewis 62.78% (+9.14)

The two poorest schools are also the two smallest by enrollment - Lewis and Mount Vernon. Lewis is an outlier being well below all the other schools and 630 students below the median.

School Enrollment
LEWIS HIGH 1690
MOUNT VERNON HIGH 1934
JEFFERSON SCI/TECH HIGH 1952
FALLS CHURCH HIGH 2067
LANGLEY HIGH 2093
MARSHALL HIGH 2145
MADISON HIGH 2149
ANNANDALE HIGH 2158
HAYFIELD HIGH 2160
SOUTH COUNTY HIGH 2244
EDISON HIGH 2247
JUSTICE HIGH 2280
FAIRFAX HIGH 2320 ---- Median
HERNDON HIGH 2328
MCLEAN HIGH 2436
WOODSON HIGH 2453
SOUTH LAKES HIGH 2507
ROBINSON HIGH 2528
CENTREVILLE HIGH 2556
WESTFIELD HIGH 2657
WEST SPRINGFIELD HIGH 2660
OAKTON HIGH 2677
WEST POTOMAC HIGH 2678
LAKE BRADDOCK HIGH 2907
CHANTILLY HIGH 2915

But hey, the wonderful academy coming soon will inspire students to flock to Lewis...

Not OP but having seen this was interested in the two-year trends in FARMS percentages, which I added above. Annandale and Justice were the only two high schools with a lower FARMS percentage in 2022-23 than 2020-21.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No problem with IB unless FCPS tries to redistrict us into an IB school against our will. Then we are out of FCPS for good.

Against your will? You could still place into an AP school but it might not be the AP school of your choice. But yes, FCPS can change boundaries of schools. It has happened before. You do not get a guarantee when you buy a house. But this is why FCPS won't change boundaries when it does make sense-because of entitled melodramatic parents like yourself who fight it tooth and nail.

Of course people won't willingly be redistricted to one of the worst schools in FCPS. Not only would they lose value in their home but their children would get a worse education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No problem with IB unless FCPS tries to redistrict us into an IB school against our will. Then we are out of FCPS for good.

Against your will? You could still place into an AP school but it might not be the AP school of your choice. But yes, FCPS can change boundaries of schools. It has happened before. You do not get a guarantee when you buy a house. But this is why FCPS won't change boundaries when it does make sense-because of entitled melodramatic parents like yourself who fight it tooth and nail.

Of course people won't willingly be redistricted to one of the worst schools in FCPS. Not only would they lose value in their home but their children would get a worse education.

Maybe if the potential for redistricting happened every 10 years or so, people would be more cognizant on how their votes on various issues affected communities. Some people vote on things they think are the right thing to do … as long as it doesn’t affect them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No problem with IB unless FCPS tries to redistrict us into an IB school against our will. Then we are out of FCPS for good.

Against your will? You could still place into an AP school but it might not be the AP school of your choice. But yes, FCPS can change boundaries of schools. It has happened before. You do not get a guarantee when you buy a house. But this is why FCPS won't change boundaries when it does make sense-because of entitled melodramatic parents like yourself who fight it tooth and nail.

Of course people won't willingly be redistricted to one of the worst schools in FCPS. Not only would they lose value in their home but their children would get a worse education.

Maybe if the potential for redistricting happened every 10 years or so, people would be more cognizant on how their votes on various issues affected communities. Some people vote on things they think are the right thing to do … as long as it doesn’t affect them.

Like closing schools but sending your own children to a "pod?"