Alexandria HSs

[Anonymous]

I was just told of another quality veteran teacher who was run off by TC administration because of petty power tripping. This teacher was fantastic and will be probably be better off wherever they end up but it's a big loss for TC. This crap happens ALL. THE. TIME. here and it's ridiculous. I see a lot of talk here about "dumbing down" curriculum and non-native speakers and such but lack of achievement in ACPS in general and TC specifically is down to the people in charge. Arlington and Fairfax aren't any less diverse yet they seem to do a pretty good job educating everyone. The difference is that they're not overrun with administrative hangers-on who are allowed to run schools and departments like a banana republic with no consequences.

I don't know if this ultimately is down to school board or superintendent or a little or each but until someone cleans house TC is going to struggle, regardless of student body makeup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was just told of another quality veteran teacher who was run off by TC administration because of petty power tripping. This teacher was fantastic and will be probably be better off wherever they end up but it's a big loss for TC. This crap happens ALL. THE. TIME. here and it's ridiculous. I see a lot of talk here about "dumbing down" curriculum and non-native speakers and such but lack of achievement in ACPS in general and TC specifically is down to the people in charge. Arlington and Fairfax aren't any less diverse yet they seem to do a pretty good job educating everyone. The difference is that they're not overrun with administrative hangers-on who are allowed to run schools and departments like a banana republic with no consequences.

I don't know if this ultimately is down to school board or superintendent or a little or each but until someone cleans house TC is going to struggle, regardless of student body makeup.

It’s been the school board for the last several years. The Superintendent is window-dressing - no independent authority, all school-related decisions (even below-principal staff appointments) are made by the school board directly. In fact, every board meeting now includes time blocked out for personnel and related non-public discussions. Nothing will improve until the school board is ousted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was just told of another quality veteran teacher who was run off by TC administration because of petty power tripping. This teacher was fantastic and will be probably be better off wherever they end up but it's a big loss for TC. This crap happens ALL. THE. TIME. here and it's ridiculous. I see a lot of talk here about "dumbing down" curriculum and non-native speakers and such but lack of achievement in ACPS in general and TC specifically is down to the people in charge. Arlington and Fairfax aren't any less diverse yet they seem to do a pretty good job educating everyone. The difference is that they're not overrun with administrative hangers-on who are allowed to run schools and departments like a banana republic with no consequences.

I don't know if this ultimately is down to school board or superintendent or a little or each but until someone cleans house TC is going to struggle, regardless of student body makeup.

Here is actual data on FARMs, ESOL, AA and hispanic percentages. I would say it shows the challlenges ACPS faces.

Student body demographics

% African American

Alexandria - 27%
Arlington - 10%
Fairfax - 10%

%Hispanic

Alexandria - 36%
Arlington - 28%
Fairfax - 25%

FARMS

Alexandria - 63%
Arlington - 31%
Fairfax - 29%

ESOL
Alexandria - 30%
Arlington - 19%
Fairfax - 29%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Dramatically simplify the 4-scale, 24 step pay system for teachers, which extends top pay so far out that teachers never see it. The scale is a fraud. No step above 12 is even budgeted for the average position, 13 for special ed.

Quit the new building projects - all of them except for the ones that are almost finished. First, maintain and build out existing facilities. At least four schools are condemnation-level right now and the school board has known it for ears. Why weren’t there summer construction bids taken in the most critical work?

For performance measurement, look at TC and find out where the failing students are coming from. Quit the constant measurement in elementaries and middles. Pay attention to those elementaries whose graduates are flunking at TC. That’s where the weakness starts.

Right now, today, declare a 20% cut in the total number of CO personnel. Require consolidations of positions and elimination of multi-layer reporting structures. Implement by September 30. If a job is not necessary but the person is useful, transfer the person. The CO never educated anybody.

Eliminate the school board salary and go to an expenses-only system for all members.

As someone working in ACPS at the boots-on-the-ground level, I don't see instructional recommendations from you that would significantly improve our educational results. All I see is "pay attention to those elementaries whose graduates are flunking at TC." I like that idea, but I want specifics. I'm happy to rally support for ideas that will work. What are your ideas? What should a new board do?

Wait, you work there and are requesting that lay people on an anonymous message board provide you with solutions to years-long problems that have plagued the people that pay your salary? Is that correct?

Here’s the problem right here folks. Idiots at the helm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was just told of another quality veteran teacher who was run off by TC administration because of petty power tripping. This teacher was fantastic and will be probably be better off wherever they end up but it's a big loss for TC. This crap happens ALL. THE. TIME. here and it's ridiculous. I see a lot of talk here about "dumbing down" curriculum and non-native speakers and such but lack of achievement in ACPS in general and TC specifically is down to the people in charge. Arlington and Fairfax aren't any less diverse yet they seem to do a pretty good job educating everyone. The difference is that they're not overrun with administrative hangers-on who are allowed to run schools and departments like a banana republic with no consequences.

I don't know if this ultimately is down to school board or superintendent or a little or each but until someone cleans house TC is going to struggle, regardless of student body makeup.

Here is actual data on FARMs, ESOL, AA and hispanic percentages. I would say it shows the challlenges ACPS faces.

Student body demographics

% African American

Alexandria - 27%
Arlington - 10%
Fairfax - 10%

%Hispanic

Alexandria - 36%
Arlington - 28%
Fairfax - 25%

FARMS

Alexandria - 63%
Arlington - 31%
Fairfax - 29%

ESOL
Alexandria - 30%
Arlington - 19%
Fairfax - 29%

These numbers may not help things, but the notion that ACPS's failings are entirely/mostly because of its student body makeup is ridiculous. If the working environment was such that they could attract AND RETAIN talented educators, it wouldn't matter if they were 50% ELL and 100% Free/reduced lunch. The one advantage ACPS had was that its pay was so much higher than FCPS, but that gap has narrowed considerably, so now there's no true incentive for a talented teacher to stay and deal with the backwards fustercluck that is ACPS (The above post calling it a banana republic was spot on).

[Anonymous]

We probably already have that info by looking at SOL pass rates broken down by subgroup.

Which, interestingly enough, is not information shared with teachers. Think I'm joking? Ask an ACPS teacher. We have to hunt for it in School Net student-by-student just to find overall scores for students in our classes. No sub-score info, though. So your guess is as good as mine whether little Larla failed the Reading SOL because she struggles with identifying text features or because she cannot make predictions. All of this information is available. I used to get complete reports on the same SOLs at my old school system right next door.

Oh, btw, the SOL pass rates are used by some people at ACPS. The reports are printed out and rolled up into a club that is then used to beat the teachers down when they dare to ask about the data.

[Anonymous]

These numbers may not help things,

Ya think?

but the notion that ACPS's failings are entirely/mostly because of its student body makeup is ridiculous.

I think 80% of the problem being demographics is reasonable. 20% mismanagement?

If the working environment was such that they could attract AND RETAIN talented educators, it wouldn't matter if they were 50% ELL and 100% Free/reduced lunch. The one advantage ACPS had was that its pay was so much higher than FCPS, but that gap has narrowed considerably, so now there's no true incentive for a talented teacher to stay and deal with the backwards fustercluck that is ACPS (The above post calling it a banana republic was spot on).

My sense is that the experience of just about every other jurisdiction in the country, certainly all in this region, suggests that is not not the case.

[Anonymous]

I'm an ACPS teacher and my SOL pass rates are shared with me. I can see each student's score. We are told the scores; students who failed within a certain margin can retake the test if they opt to do so. We organize the re-take study groups. How could we do this if we didn't know the scores?

To the PP who suggested I'm an idiot because I'm looking here for solutions: I'm disappointed that people criticize ACPS without suggesting positive action. Maybe I'm an optimist, but I do think that people on an anonymous board often do have interesting, worthwhile ideas. Obviously, if you're reading this thread, you're interested in ACPS and (I hope) want to make it better.

[Anonymous]

I think you're missing the point, ACPS teacher. How and when do you get your scores for your incoming class(es)? And do you get sub-scores? The sub-scores are what count because then you have a general idea of a student's strengths and weaknesses.

This, btw, information is real and actionable. This is a search for solutions. My solution is that it would be very worthwhile for teachers to have this information. Bonus points if we get it at the beginning of the school year and not, oh, say, sometime in January.

Another ACPS teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

These numbers may not help things,

Ya think?

but the notion that ACPS's failings are entirely/mostly because of its student body makeup is ridiculous.

I think 80% of the problem being demographics is reasonable. 20% mismanagement?

If the working environment was such that they could attract AND RETAIN talented educators, it wouldn't matter if they were 50% ELL and 100% Free/reduced lunch. The one advantage ACPS had was that its pay was so much higher than FCPS, but that gap has narrowed considerably, so now there's no true incentive for a talented teacher to stay and deal with the backwards fustercluck that is ACPS (The above post calling it a banana republic was spot on).

My sense is that the experience of just about every other jurisdiction in the country, certainly all in this region, suggests that is not not the case.

Funny- there's an administrator at TC who openly wants to MAGA who also seems to think that the only challenge TC faces is the proliferation of ELL students. So I guess if we Build The Wall, ACPS will flourish!

[Anonymous]

According to another poster in another thread, the TC's FARMs rate is similar to Annadale and Mount Vernon High Schools at FCPS.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/index/posts/list/701718.page

Not coincidentally, their GS rankings are also similar:

Annandale - GS 3
TC Williams - GS 3
Mount Vernon - GS 1

If FCPS is so much better than ACPS, why aren't the GS scores at schools with similar FARMs rates higher in FCPS? My guess is that demographics is a strong causal factor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

These numbers may not help things,

Ya think?

but the notion that ACPS's failings are entirely/mostly because of its student body makeup is ridiculous.

I think 80% of the problem being demographics is reasonable. 20% mismanagement?

If the working environment was such that they could attract AND RETAIN talented educators, it wouldn't matter if they were 50% ELL and 100% Free/reduced lunch. The one advantage ACPS had was that its pay was so much higher than FCPS, but that gap has narrowed considerably, so now there's no true incentive for a talented teacher to stay and deal with the backwards fustercluck that is ACPS (The above post calling it a banana republic was spot on).

My sense is that the experience of just about every other jurisdiction in the country, certainly all in this region, suggests that is not not the case.

Funny- there's an administrator at TC who openly wants to MAGA who also seems to think that the only challenge TC faces is the proliferation of ELL students. So I guess if we Build The Wall, ACPS will flourish!

Not all ELL students are undocumented. But that is beside the point - we are not discussing federal immigration policy, but reasonable goals for ACPS.

[Anonymous]

If Lee, Mount Vernon, and Annandale were the only high schools in FCPS, people would bash FCPS on a daily basis like they bash ACPS. But, of course, there's also rich and lily-white Langley & McLean high schools to keep people warm and fuzzy. Keep up the good work, FCPS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Lee, Mount Vernon, and Annandale were the only high schools in FCPS, people would bash FCPS on a daily basis like they bash ACPS. But, of course, there's also rich and lily-white Langley & McLean high schools to keep people warm and fuzzy. Keep up the good work, FCPS!

In before someone from there reminds us how many Asians are at both those schools, so they are not lily white. . Not that it really changes PP's point.

[Anonymous]

Thank you, 13:27 and 13:48. I think you raise an important point that is often overlooked by ACPS bashers. To the fellow ACPS teacher who suggested that we have access to our incoming students' SOL scores in the fall... I think that is a great idea. I do look at these scores, and don't have any problem finding them, but it might be a good idea to proactively send them to teachers in the fall so they can be more aware of their students' needs. I will suggest this to my principal.