Anyone else educated by FCPS and sees the decline?

[Anonymous]

For two kids I have a monthly budget of $2000.00 for tutoring and enrichment. We are in McLean and majority parents are doing the same, if McLean schools look solid on paper it’s only because of parental involvement and enrichment/tutoring spending. No credit goes to FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One data point:

My child in Honors 9th grade English at Langley is reading an abridged version of the Odyssey. It’s about 1/3 the length of the original book and the language is simplified.

I read the full book when I was in 9th grade in FCPS and her older cousin also read the full book about 10 years ago in another FCPS high school.

I've heard the reason that middle school classes read excerpts now instead of novels, analyze short passages instead of long ones, is that kids today just don't have the reading ability and stamina that previous children did. When I think of the doorstoppers that I read in grade school and middle school, compared to the books that my bookworm DC reads, I can see that kids today simply cannot read as well as kids used to. The best readers today, compared to the best readers of the past. How do the middling readers compare?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I care enough to compensate for the general decline in my kids education. This will result in a larger gap between them and their peers who relied on public education alone. Many folks were doing this anyway. The gap is just going to grow larger.

How do you compensate? I feel like the biggest gap is writing.

Reading and practice. Give them a novel. And have them write a basic three support paragraph report. Obviously this depends on grade. For kids k-3, start reading to them early and often and encourage reading and larger books. My kids read way above their peers. The writing with a little help can come along for the ride.

I’m a firm believer that an overall education including rigorous reading and writing makes smarter people for general everyday life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Oh please. One Fairfax has been all talk. There has been no action at all as far as FCPS being treated as "one." Poor schools are literally poorer than they ever have been now reaching record concentrations of 60%+ FARMs. If you're unhappy with your wealthy pyramid, that's all on you.

There’s a difference between family incomes and county spending. County spending is disproportionately spent on poorer schools and poorer neighborhoods, and that keeps increasing, but I guess you expected the county to directly subsidize lower-income families in the name of equity?

That is precisely what FCPS is trying to do with Tutor.com. Go back and read the school board meeting minutes.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One data point:

My child in Honors 9th grade English at Langley is reading an abridged version of the Odyssey. It’s about 1/3 the length of the original book and the language is simplified.

I read the full book when I was in 9th grade in FCPS and her older cousin also read the full book about 10 years ago in another FCPS high school.

Then have your child read the full book at home. Fairfax County has libraries.

I hate this response. Yes, parents should do educational things at home. But the notion that we should be making up for big gaps in what the school is doing is ridiculous.

Well, you can complain or you can actually help your child. Complaining might help kids down the road, but will do nothing for your child who is currently receiving a sub-par education.

Parents are ultimately responsible and should be aware. They should not complain, but should hire tutors and supplement outside of school.

Public schools can only provide a very basic level of education. Don’t expect more and than you won’t be disappointed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Oh please. One Fairfax has been all talk. There has been no action at all as far as FCPS being treated as "one." Poor schools are literally poorer than they ever have been now reaching record concentrations of 60%+ FARMs. If you're unhappy with your wealthy pyramid, that's all on you.

There’s a difference between family incomes and county spending. County spending is disproportionately spent on poorer schools and poorer neighborhoods, and that keeps increasing, but I guess you expected the county to directly subsidize lower-income families in the name of equity?

That is precisely what FCPS is trying to do with Tutor.com. Go back and read the school board meeting minutes.

+1

Tutor.com has been widely advertised and is entirely free. Parents who can’t hire an actual tutor to supplement should attempt to use it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I care enough to compensate for the general decline in my kids education. This will result in a larger gap between them and their peers who relied on public education alone. Many folks were doing this anyway. The gap is just going to grow larger.

How do you compensate? I feel like the biggest gap is writing.

You don’t learn how to write until grad school.

I learned to write well in at a Catholic HS which isn’t an option for my kids. Does IB help kids learn how to write?

IB is your best option. If you care about APs and UVA admissions, some might disagree, but if you want a well rounded education, IB is the closest thing.

[Anonymous]

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.

The ability to read through large texts and distill pertinent information for the sake of creating a persuasive piece of writing is a skill that gets lost in snippet learning. There are pathways that you can’t discover if you are only reading briefs. There is a place for both and I think current trending suggests that one is supplanting the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One data point:

My child in Honors 9th grade English at Langley is reading an abridged version of the Odyssey. It’s about 1/3 the length of the original book and the language is simplified.

I read the full book when I was in 9th grade in FCPS and her older cousin also read the full book about 10 years ago in another FCPS high school.

Then have your child read the full book at home. Fairfax County has libraries.

I hate this response. Yes, parents should do educational things at home. But the notion that we should be making up for big gaps in what the school is doing is ridiculous.

Well, you can complain or you can actually help your child. Complaining might help kids down the road, but will do nothing for your child who is currently receiving a sub-par education.

Parents are ultimately responsible and should be aware. They should not complain, but should hire tutors and supplement outside of school.

Public schools can only provide a very basic level of education. Don’t expect more and than you won’t be disappointed.

I did do something. I didn’t send my kid to public school. Anyone with the means to send their kid elsewhere who is complaining about public schools is neglecting their kids.

[Anonymous]

I am beginning to welcome our new equity overloads. As standards continue to lower, my kids, with our support, will continue to distance themselves.

Parents who didn’t care enough to support their kids during inequitable times will continue to not care and those in the middle will just get dumber.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am beginning to welcome our new equity overloads. As standards continue to lower, my kids, with our support, will continue to distance themselves.

Parents who didn’t care enough to support their kids during inequitable times will continue to not care and those in the middle will just get dumber.

Wow. I really hope you don’t have kids at my school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am beginning to welcome our new equity overloads. As standards continue to lower, my kids, with our support, will continue to distance themselves.

Parents who didn’t care enough to support their kids during inequitable times will continue to not care and those in the middle will just get dumber.

I can fill in the gaps for my kids and know they will be ok academically. But I do not welcome a dumber society bc it impacts all of us. Dumb people vote.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the education of my oldest who has graduated in high school and was in AAP since 3rd grade has been much better what I received in the 1990s. We did no tutoring and ended up at a T25 university in a demanding major and doing well.

The education of my younger child who is 8 years behind her sibling and not in AAP has been a joke. No writing instruction in our McLean ES and her math class is only 20 mins a day and in a class of 30 kids. No homework is given. The disrupted weeks of school w/o 5 days do not help. She scored borderline for reading/math intervention on the Fall VGAs, so missed out on getting extra help at school. After hearing from her principal that she was doing much better than her peers and that I should not worry, I was done. We started supplementing with a private writing tutor and daily math practice at home using a textbook. I also stopped volunteering at school entirely since that the school does not welcome the presence of parents. It is clear that academics especially for general education students is not a priority at our ES.

I’m hoping that the honors classes in MS will be step up, but not holding my breath.

My advice to parents who have students in FCPS is to build into your budget a tutoring line item of $300-$600 per month during the school year. Just do it. Think about it as an assessment on your property taxes or something, but don’t fail your child by thinking FCPS will take care of their education.

Or just send them to private.

We pay more and get a heck of a lot more out if it, including family time because we don't need tutoring. My kids score above the 95% across the board on national standardized tests. They also do sports and clubs at school during the day. In ES maybe they have 15 min of homework a night, middleschool is a bit more, maybe 30 min to 1hr.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the education of my oldest who has graduated in high school and was in AAP since 3rd grade has been much better what I received in the 1990s. We did no tutoring and ended up at a T25 university in a demanding major and doing well.

The education of my younger child who is 8 years behind her sibling and not in AAP has been a joke. No writing instruction in our McLean ES and her math class is only 20 mins a day and in a class of 30 kids. No homework is given. The disrupted weeks of school w/o 5 days do not help. She scored borderline for reading/math intervention on the Fall VGAs, so missed out on getting extra help at school. After hearing from her principal that she was doing much better than her peers and that I should not worry, I was done. We started supplementing with a private writing tutor and daily math practice at home using a textbook. I also stopped volunteering at school entirely since that the school does not welcome the presence of parents. It is clear that academics especially for general education students is not a priority at our ES.

I’m hoping that the honors classes in MS will be step up, but not holding my breath.

My advice to parents who have students in FCPS is to build into your budget a tutoring line item of $300-$600 per month during the school year. Just do it. Think about it as an assessment on your property taxes or something, but don’t fail your child by thinking FCPS will take care of their education.

Or just send them to private.

We pay more and get a heck of a lot more out if it, including family time because we don't need tutoring. My kids score above the 95% across the board on national standardized tests. They also do sports and clubs at school during the day. In ES maybe they have 15 min of homework a night, middleschool is a bit more, maybe 30 min to 1hr.

Most private kids have tutors too. No familiy time and money saved.