Anyone else educated by FCPS and sees the decline?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you call a library I call a Socialist Book Repository!

Well said.

Dumbest posters on the thread.

Agree and not even on topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not FCPS. Teaching has changed, the changes are nationwide.

+1

Plus VA underfunds schools.

YES!-FCPS overfunds Gatehouse though. Another issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s all about One Fairfax, which is a race to the bottom engineered by politicians like Jeff McKay and Karen Keys Gamarra.

Aren’t they both democrats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the older generations are always doom and gloom about school. My dad is livid that kids aren't learning cursive anymore. I couldn't be happier that it's gone.

I understand the suspicion of quality of snippets, materials cobbled together from online sources, etc., but the reality is that with electronic media there is often no reason to have a textbook. As a college professor, I have moved in the last 15 years from relying primarily on a very popular textbook to teaching my class without a textbook. I've read all 8 or so well-known textbooks in the field and I feel that, through powerpoints and assigned brief readings, I am able to outperform any textbook on the topic (students seem to agree). There is no benefit to reading a 50 page chapter in a bloated book that gets key principles incorrect or has not been updated to reflect changing theories or evidence.

I'd also point out that, in response to someone's comment about reading an abridged version of the Odyssey, this happened at both a public AND private school that I attended in the 90s, so this is not new unless you classify the mid-90s as "new."

Finally, while I have been skeptical of the changes to learning, I don't observe that my oldest son is behind where I and my peers were (in an advanced program) in terms of reading, writing, and math. It seems that students can learn to spell and write without memorizing vocabulary/spelling lists for hours every month. I say this is a wonderful development.

I am not sure what field you are in, but as a Humanities professor, I can say that a shocking number of students these days are extremely weak writers. The lack of explicitly grammar and writing instruction has had a profound effect. Yes, some kids can learn to spell simply by reading but many cannot. And I would argue that most kids cannot earn to write well without being taught. Writing instruction should be organized and systematic and start at the elementary level. I personally don't care about cursive or even much about neatness but teaching grammar, vocabulary, how to construct a sentence, then a paragraph-these are very basic building blocks. Putting a blank paper in front of a third grader, handing him a rubric, and saying it's poetry week is not teaching writing!

I can believe that you may be able to outperform all of the available textbooks, but can all the teachers?? Of course, not. Also, there used to be a value to having a text to go back to and reread, even if it was just s to have all the formulas in one place, all the dates easily accessible, all the verb forms and tenses well-organized. I don't know how kids study these days.

I wasn't educated in FCPS-I went to a private school in Massachusetts. But the education I received was immeasurably superior. The demands were greater, the expectations higher. To give a silly example, my highschooler in honors history has taken only multiple choice tests this year. What a waste of an opportunity to teach a kid to think and write critically, in addition to learn the material. Of course it's a lot easier to correct multiple choice and if you have 30 plus kids in every class, you do what you can to survive.

The biggest failing in FCPS (I can't compare to elsewhere). The writing (and reading, frankly) instructions is really bad. I've worked to fill in some of the gaps but it is still a failing. One big reason is that the teachers do not give writing feedback. They give a grade, they hand over a rubric, and expect kids to know what they did wrong. There's no written feedback, no redlining. As someone who did, and does, a lot of writing in school and in my profession, that sort of feedback is critical. It is the single best way to learn to write well. And it's not being done. (Read through other posts and teachers acknowledge this).

I'm sorry, it's shamefully unacceptable. This is a fundamental skill that kids are not being properly taught.

Math instruction is an issue in this county too.

[Anonymous]

Idk my kid is at TJ and doing more as a freshman than I did as a freshman at MIT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Idk my kid is at TJ and doing more as a freshman than I did as a freshman at MIT

I imagine the instruction and the quality of teachers is better at TJ because they are getting the best students the county has to offer and imagine doesn’t have as much extreme behavioral issues. Whole different situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The downfall is the focus on equity instead of academic excellence. FcpS will fund the undesirable schools lucratively but choke off the better schools. it's a form of reverse bussing.

Please point out specifically how schools like Annandale, Mount Vernon, and Lewis are being funded lucratively. Each of these schools has a high-SES neighbor pyramid that has received far more lucrative facilities. West Springfield, Woodson, and West Potomac. Just stop with the nonsense that poor schools are being treated better because of equity. Sure, Falls Church HS and Justice HS are coincidentally getting renovations. That doesn't mean all poorer schools get the luxury treatment.
.

DP. You do know there are separate operating and capital budgets, right?

When you look at the operating budgets, it’s clear the poorer schools get considerably more funding per student.

When you look at the capital budgets, which is what you’re referring to, it’s more of a mixed picture, although a poorer school (Falls Church) is getting one of the most expensive renovations on record and they chose to favor Justice HS with an addition outside the renovation cycle when other wealthier schools were more overcrowded and deserving. However, most of the capital expenditures are tied to when schools were originally built and changing approaches to renovations. So you also have wealthy schools like Langley and Oakton that got much nicer renovations than older schools like Annandale and Lewis.

Either way, the current leadership of FCPS is at best indifferent and at worst hostile to higher-performing students and wealthier communities. And then they act surprised when people with other options leave and FCPS get poorer and lower-achieving every year.

Both the prior FCPS board and the current board have been extremely hostile towards McLean HS, which is both overcrowded and dilapidated, but not even on the renovation cue.

McLean has been so overcrowded, they had 21 trailers as make-shift classrooms. They were so overused, they leaked, had holes in the floors, and walls full of black mold.

The county did instal a pre-fab pod, which replaced 17 out of 21 of thr old trailers. But it is still a glorified trailer and not a replacement for the renovation McLean has desperately needed for years.

Because McLean is seen as largely “privileged Asians and whites,” the more leftist members of the Board (and especially Frisch) harbor tremendous hatred toward McLean HS.

[Anonymous]

From 1995 to 2023, standardized test scores in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) had an undeniable decline, with overall scores dropping approximately 10-15 percentage points in key subjects like math and reading. Specific percentages can vary by grade level and assessment. More concerning is how the decline has accelerated in the past five years.

Why is this happening?

-Changing Demographics - families are on average poorer and less educated. This means schools now must do more

-rapid growth - the size of FCPS has increase by almost 40% since 1995 and is impossible to manage. Needs to be broken up into smaller units to be more responsive.

Everything else - teacher shortages, stripped down rigor all flow from the above.

[Anonymous]

I went through FCPS schools in the 1990s with many brilliant and dedicated teachers. At the time, elementary school teachers were largely Boomer and Greatest Generation women who had fewer career options, which meant that more of the best students became teachers. Now teachers are often just sweet, middling girls from Longwood, etc. and they aren’t able to teach what they don’t have themselves.

If teaching became a higher paid job perhaps it would start attracting better candidates again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went through FCPS schools in the 1990s with many brilliant and dedicated teachers. At the time, elementary school teachers were largely Boomer and Greatest Generation women who had fewer career options, which meant that more of the best students became teachers. Now teachers are often just sweet, middling girls from Longwood, etc. and they aren’t able to teach what they don’t have themselves.

If teaching became a higher paid job perhaps it would start attracting better candidates again.

Nowadays it’s a Christian girl MRS degree. From my experience working with college students it’s a lot of nursing school rejects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Idk my kid is at TJ and doing more as a freshman than I did as a freshman at MIT

I imagine the instruction and the quality of teachers is better at TJ because they are getting the best students the county has to offer and imagine doesn’t have as much extreme behavioral issues. Whole different situation.

TJ is still getting some of the best students in the county. It never got all of them and it's getting less of them now than at any time since TJHSST opened.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The downfall is the focus on equity instead of academic excellence. FcpS will fund the undesirable schools lucratively but choke off the better schools. it's a form of reverse bussing.

Please point out specifically how schools like Annandale, Mount Vernon, and Lewis are being funded lucratively. Each of these schools has a high-SES neighbor pyramid that has received far more lucrative facilities. West Springfield, Woodson, and West Potomac. Just stop with the nonsense that poor schools are being treated better because of equity. Sure, Falls Church HS and Justice HS are coincidentally getting renovations. That doesn't mean all poorer schools get the luxury treatment.
.

DP. You do know there are separate operating and capital budgets, right?

When you look at the operating budgets, it’s clear the poorer schools get considerably more funding per student.

When you look at the capital budgets, which is what you’re referring to, it’s more of a mixed picture, although a poorer school (Falls Church) is getting one of the most expensive renovations on record and they chose to favor Justice HS with an addition outside the renovation cycle when other wealthier schools were more overcrowded and deserving. However, most of the capital expenditures are tied to when schools were originally built and changing approaches to renovations. So you also have wealthy schools like Langley and Oakton that got much nicer renovations than older schools like Annandale and Lewis.

Either way, the current leadership of FCPS is at best indifferent and at worst hostile to higher-performing students and wealthier communities. And then they act surprised when people with other options leave and FCPS get poorer and lower-achieving every year.

Both the prior FCPS board and the current board have been extremely hostile towards McLean HS, which is both overcrowded and dilapidated, but not even on the renovation cue.

McLean has been so overcrowded, they had 21 trailers as make-shift classrooms. They were so overused, they leaked, had holes in the floors, and walls full of black mold.

The county did instal a pre-fab pod, which replaced 17 out of 21 of thr old trailers. But it is still a glorified trailer and not a replacement for the renovation McLean has desperately needed for years.

Because McLean is seen as largely “privileged Asians and whites,” the more leftist members of the Board (and especially Frisch) harbor tremendous hatred toward McLean HS.

I agree with much of this (although modulars are a lot nicer than trailers) but the reality is that McLean families accept the fact that the school is overcrowded and run down. Most still like the school even if they have issues with the building. And while FCPS won't commit to a major renovation or addition, they do continue to make less expensive one-off repairs.

So there's really no point venting about it here. Langley parents get a whiff of a potential redistricting and within a few weeks there was a group with almost 1000 members that's raised tens of thousands of dollars. McLean gets overlooked by FCPS for over a decade and there's currently no similar group of McLean parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Idk my kid is at TJ and doing more as a freshman than I did as a freshman at MIT

I imagine the instruction and the quality of teachers is better at TJ because they are getting the best students the county has to offer and imagine doesn’t have as much extreme behavioral issues. Whole different situation.

Longtime sub and can report that TJ is the rare FCPS HS that isn’t run like a prison and where I don’t feel like a warden.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Idk my kid is at TJ and doing more as a freshman than I did as a freshman at MIT

I imagine the instruction and the quality of teachers is better at TJ because they are getting the best students the county has to offer and imagine doesn’t have as much extreme behavioral issues. Whole different situation.

Longtime sub and can report that TJ is the rare FCPS HS that isn’t run like a prison and where I don’t feel like a warden.

Rare but certainly not unique.

[Anonymous]

If school choice/vouchers becomes a thing we are going to see enrollment drop to the floor.