New VA school rating system in 2025-2026 SY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids missed more than 10 days this year. Our ES kept begging me to bring my kids in on a teacher workday for what they called a two hour reading and math "workshop". I asked if my kids were behind? No. I asked for details on what the workshop would cover? It was told it would be "independent learning".

Then my teacher friend told me this was a way for schools to cook the books on attendance numbers.

Also good for your kids, where being in school is good for learning and for valuing education. Whether they were sick or on vacation, missing over 10 days of school is very hard for kids, although you don't seem to realize it.

My oldest missed 15 days of school two years ago from covid, flu, and covid again (has never regained his sense of taste). And that school year, academically, was a struggle for him.

Kids are all different. One of mine struggled HORRIBLY when FCPS failed to live up to their promise to let kids go two days a week.

The other decided it was going to be regular school or nothing and chose the 100% online option and did well.

That one came to the conclusion that in-person was not required to excel and when FCPS went back to a traditional schedule skipped whenever and continued to excel.

FCPS dragged their feet on reopening long after it was shown to be safe. Those who run the system can’t now turn around and pretend to care about education and the wellbeing of children.

🙄

Yes, the pandemic was a once-a-generation disaster that will affect us, adults and children, for a long time, possibly for the rest of our lives. It has left its mark on my family and on yours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELL students, if managed correctly, are an advantage to the school they are at because they have the potential to show the most growth compared to kids who are already on grade level and just pass.

But the new ratings are going to weight “mastery” more than “growth.”

+1 there will be many schools with high ELL populations that will be screwed. And this school board will redraw boundaries to cover it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just amazing to me how far FCPS has fallen since the mid-90s. It would have been unheard of before then to have any schools in those lower two categories.

Massive illegal immigration and far-left Democrats on the SB are all responsible for this decline and it’s shameful.

Fairfax County was smaller than, teachers were better, admins were better, there were less standards, etc....

Or FCPS stopped the spin machine and it has always been bad.

No, it actually was an excellent school district. The spin is what we see today, when FCPS pretends to still be excellent and “world class,” as they like to say.

It had fewer poor and ELL kids. Those kids drag down school ratings and that's reflected in FCPS today. The schools that don't have those kids are still ranked as some of the best schools in the state

Those students were not isolated for the good of the class, it was because we didn’t understand then that EL students can and need to mix with their mainstream peers to learn both content and English.

And what about American student's education and the impact on their learning? Where is the concern for the disruption in their education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just amazing to me how far FCPS has fallen since the mid-90s. It would have been unheard of before then to have any schools in those lower two categories.

Massive illegal immigration and far-left Democrats on the SB are all responsible for this decline and it’s shameful.

Fairfax County was smaller than, teachers were better, admins were better, there were less standards, etc....

Or FCPS stopped the spin machine and it has always been bad.

No it wasn't. Robinson was still a school and Westfields was towards the end of this timeframe. The system has created I think one high school since then. As a nation our standards have decreased. FCPS is just one of the first to get on the bandwagon with any new approach regardless of its endurance.

It was only 5-10 years ago that Arlington was the progressive school district and Fairfax was the stodgy, conservative, traditional school district. There are still plenty of experienced administrators and teachers around for whom that is still the case. The posters who ding FCPS for jumping at every new edu-fad are either young or very very cynical.

Or, we were educated ourselves in the FCPS of the past and our own kids are now going through FCPS. We can attest first-hand that today's FCPS bears almost no resemblance to that of the 70s/80s/early 90s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELL students, if managed correctly, are an advantage to the school they are at because they have the potential to show the most growth compared to kids who are already on grade level and just pass.

But the new ratings are going to weight “mastery” more than “growth.”

+1 there will be many schools with high ELL populations that will be screwed. And this school board will redraw boundaries to cover it up.

You can’t really re-draw boundaries to cover it up. Aside from Langley, most schools will continue to see an increase in ELL and FARMS.

[Anonymous]

As a teacher, I can say that in the past 2 years approximately 80% of the new students (students who switched schools) that came to my class were ELL. Usually 5/6 students per year. In a class of 20-25 students, this makes it extremely difficult to achieve “mastery” data. Especially when students arrive or switch schools mid year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELL students, if managed correctly, are an advantage to the school they are at because they have the potential to show the most growth compared to kids who are already on grade level and just pass.

But the new ratings are going to weight “mastery” more than “growth.”

+1 there will be many schools with high ELL populations that will be screwed. And this school board will redraw boundaries to cover it up.

You can’t really re-draw boundaries to cover it up. Aside from Langley, most schools will continue to see an increase in ELL and FARMS.

Already happening. See Hunt Valley ES boundary proposal -Sandy Anderson - redrawn to attend Lewis (Lee) HS.

I’d homeschool or move or switch to private rather than send my DC to Lewis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELL students, if managed correctly, are an advantage to the school they are at because they have the potential to show the most growth compared to kids who are already on grade level and just pass.

But the new ratings are going to weight “mastery” more than “growth.”

+1 there will be many schools with high ELL populations that will be screwed. And this school board will redraw boundaries to cover it up.

You can’t really re-draw boundaries to cover it up. Aside from Langley, most schools will continue to see an increase in ELL and FARMS.

Already happening. See Hunt Valley ES boundary proposal -Sandy Anderson - redrawn to attend Lewis (Lee) HS.

I’d homeschool or move or switch to private rather than send my DC to Lewis.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ELL students, if managed correctly, are an advantage to the school they are at because they have the potential to show the most growth compared to kids who are already on grade level and just pass.

Classes have to slow to a crawl in order to focus on them so that they can show growth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s just amazing to me how far FCPS has fallen since the mid-90s. It would have been unheard of before then to have any schools in those lower two categories.

Massive illegal immigration and far-left Democrats on the SB are all responsible for this decline and it’s shameful.

Fairfax County was smaller than, teachers were better, admins were better, there were less standards, etc....

Or FCPS stopped the spin machine and it has always been bad.

No, it actually was an excellent school district. The spin is what we see today, when FCPS pretends to still be excellent and “world class,” as they like to say.

It had fewer poor and ELL kids. Those kids drag down school ratings and that's reflected in FCPS today. The schools that don't have those kids are still ranked as some of the best schools in the state

Those students were not isolated for the good of the class, it was because we didn’t understand then that EL students can and need to mix with their mainstream peers to learn both content and English.

And what about American student's education and the impact on their learning? Where is the concern for the disruption in their education?

in red states

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELL students, if managed correctly, are an advantage to the school they are at because they have the potential to show the most growth compared to kids who are already on grade level and just pass.

But the new ratings are going to weight “mastery” more than “growth.”

+1 there will be many schools with high ELL populations that will be screwed. And this school board will redraw boundaries to cover it up.

You can’t really re-draw boundaries to cover it up. Aside from Langley, most schools will continue to see an increase in ELL and FARMS.

Vote for a presidential candidate who supports deportation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELL students, if managed correctly, are an advantage to the school they are at because they have the potential to show the most growth compared to kids who are already on grade level and just pass.

But the new ratings are going to weight “mastery” more than “growth.”

+1 there will be many schools with high ELL populations that will be screwed. And this school board will redraw boundaries to cover it up.

You can’t really re-draw boundaries to cover it up. Aside from Langley, most schools will continue to see an increase in ELL and FARMS.

Already happening. See Hunt Valley ES boundary proposal -Sandy Anderson - redrawn to attend Lewis (Lee) HS.

I’d homeschool or move or switch to private rather than send my DC to Lewis.

If they move all of Hunt Valley, that will be a sufficient cohort for me to send my DC to Lewis. YMMV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELL students, if managed correctly, are an advantage to the school they are at because they have the potential to show the most growth compared to kids who are already on grade level and just pass.

But the new ratings are going to weight “mastery” more than “growth.”

+1 there will be many schools with high ELL populations that will be screwed. And this school board will redraw boundaries to cover it up.

You can’t really re-draw boundaries to cover it up. Aside from Langley, most schools will continue to see an increase in ELL and FARMS.

Vote for a presidential candidate who supports deportation

They all do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELL students, if managed correctly, are an advantage to the school they are at because they have the potential to show the most growth compared to kids who are already on grade level and just pass.

But the new ratings are going to weight “mastery” more than “growth.”

+1 there will be many schools with high ELL populations that will be screwed. And this school board will redraw boundaries to cover it up.

You can’t really re-draw boundaries to cover it up. Aside from Langley, most schools will continue to see an increase in ELL and FARMS.

Already happening. See Hunt Valley ES boundary proposal -Sandy Anderson - redrawn to attend Lewis (Lee) HS.

I’d homeschool or move or switch to private rather than send my DC to Lewis.

Have they said that’s the case or are they re-drawing boundaries bc of numbers? And West Springfield is rated as high as it is bc it’s doesn’t have much SES, no? The test scores are middle of the road?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ELL students, if managed correctly, are an advantage to the school they are at because they have the potential to show the most growth compared to kids who are already on grade level and just pass.

But the new ratings are going to weight “mastery” more than “growth.”

+1 there will be many schools with high ELL populations that will be screwed. And this school board will redraw boundaries to cover it up.

You can’t really re-draw boundaries to cover it up. Aside from Langley, most schools will continue to see an increase in ELL and FARMS.

Vote for a presidential candidate who supports deportation

Mass deportation isn’t going to happen under any presidential candidate, even ones caught employing undocumented immigrants. At most they will focus on the bad guys first.