Is FCPS overhyped? even top rated schools seem meh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

An example of correlation, not causation.

If so, a happy coincidence. But, more likely, a refusal on your part to acknowledge what FCPS still does well.

Not a happy coincidence. This area has a large population of high earning, high achieving parents who invest heavily in their children’s education in time and/ or money. Higher rates of test prep, tutoring, homework support, etc all directly translate into higher test scores.

If the county had some magic formula for success, you’d see it across all the schools, not clustered in the most affluents parts of the county.

North Arlington and parts of Loudoun are more affluent than most of Fairfax yet their schools are generally not rated as highly by U.S. News.

It’s not a magic formula for success but suggesting it’s all purely a function of economics and parental effort on the side is misleading.

[Anonymous]

We're in the Oakton pyramid and get everything you've described that you're not getting.

[Anonymous]

It must be frustrating to work in FCPS and see parents blame FCPS for any academic challenges their kids experience yet take credit for all their successes.

[Anonymous]

To the poster talking about us being ahead of the schools in the south, not anymore. My nieces are in the same grades in Florida and the standards are MUCH higher. I’m a math teacher and they often ask me for help. I see what they are doing compared to our kids and my classes.

We get students from other schools and it’s hit or miss depending on the district or the private. You can’t make any generalizations about any state. Some privates around here are ahead, some are behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My oldest attends a NOVA Catholic high school (certainly a sports-focused environment) where the class sizes are reasonable and we don't get phone calls or emails about poor performance. The thing to remember is that the kids are in high school now so they're expected to manage their work load and be proactive in reaching out to the teacher for help if they need it.

Ew. Any public school comment always brings out the supposed non MAGA Catholics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the poster talking about us being ahead of the schools in the south, not anymore. My nieces are in the same grades in Florida and the standards are MUCH higher. I’m a math teacher and they often ask me for help. I see what they are doing compared to our kids and my classes.

We get students from other schools and it’s hit or miss depending on the district or the private. You can’t make any generalizations about any state. Some privates around here are ahead, some are behind.

So algebra in 5th grade? I thought FCPS was crazy for making it 6th

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our friends who have moved here from the Midwest and Southern states told us that their kids were behind when they got to FCPS and that they needed help to catch up with FCPS classmates. Our friends who move in from California have varying experiences, based on if their kid attended a charter school or their local public schools. Most of the local public school kids need to catch up, the charter school kids tend to slide in fine.

The only people I hear grumbling about FCPS not being a strong school district come from the middle class to high SES sections of New England where the school districts are small and class sizes are smaller than in FCPS.

FCPS is a huge public school system with large classes. You are not likely to hear from your kids teacher unless there is a serious problem. A C is not a serious problem. ES teachers have classes between 25-32 kids. MS and HS teachers have 120-150 kids, I can never remember what the max is. They don't have time to contact parents whose kids are getting Cs or Bs, no matter how much parents want that. They have to focus on the kids getting Fs and Ds because those are the kids who are in need of the most help.

Public schools are meant to educate everyone and the metrics for success are set so that the kids who are failing don't fail.

If you want a more individualized education, with more teacher contact, and limited issues in the classroom you have to go private. Private schools screen out the kids who are going to get Fs - Cs and the kids with behavior issues, never mind the emotionally dysregulated kids that the public schools have to deal with.

Kids who are engaged, or kids who have engaged parents, will get an excellent education in FCPS but it is not something that is handed to them. You have to learn what is available and work towards it. Your HS kid who is getting a C or a B should be reaching out to their teacher asking for help with your support if needed.

You make it sound like it's always parents and it's their failure, and if they desire timely communication and reasonable time grading and reporting and answers to their emails then they have to pay for private school.

For example, my youngest is getting a D in 7th grade for one class with overall A- avg in other classes, most of which are honors. I had contacted the teacher, and not only the teacher didn't reach out to me like you said they are suppose to do for kids getting Ds, they didn't respond AFTER I had contacted them. Could be that there are ungraded assignments that no longer add up to a D? IDK, grading is INCREDIBLY SLOW across the board for my MS and HS kids, to the point where it's difficult even for involved parents to know what's going on and if your kid is doing well or failing and what to concentrate on if getting help. Some teachers do better job than others despite their classes being crowded. It's not uniform. it's just low standards IMHO. If the issue is extra tedious paperwork they have to do, then it's the Administrators domain to fix this, don't you think? Whatever they are doing with this paperwork isn't adding to quality education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My oldest attends a NOVA Catholic high school (certainly a sports-focused environment) where the class sizes are reasonable and we don't get phone calls or emails about poor performance. The thing to remember is that the kids are in high school now so they're expected to manage their work load and be proactive in reaching out to the teacher for help if they need it.

Ew. Any public school comment always brings out the supposed non MAGA Catholics.

I was offering the perspective that the type and frequency of the teacher feedback to the PARENT that OP seems to be expecting isn't appropriate at the high school level, and has nothing to do with class sizes or how FCPS is run. (Not Catholic and have younger kids in FCPS)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

So saying better than other places in VA doesn’t mean great, but yeah, if going to live in Va and can get in TJ or go to Langley a student should get good education, but even then what happens at ES and even MS levels that wasn’t the case years ago is all the supplementing. At one point the students went to ES and that was it. Now is VERY common to go to ES but supplement with Outside writing instruction, outside math instruction for the accelerated kids and tutoring for struggling kids- before was handled in school. Now the teachers are left to sink in their classrooms as do best can with what given.

I see FCPS mojo is to cater to parents who essentially "homeschool" their kids through various tutoring centers and on their own. When you move here you should expect to do the same, but if you missed the joys of elementary FCPS education through competitive parenting pressure then you are SOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

So saying better than other places in VA doesn’t mean great, but yeah, if going to live in Va and can get in TJ or go to Langley a student should get good education, but even then what happens at ES and even MS levels that wasn’t the case years ago is all the supplementing. At one point the students went to ES and that was it. Now is VERY common to go to ES but supplement with Outside writing instruction, outside math instruction for the accelerated kids and tutoring for struggling kids- before was handled in school. Now the teachers are left to sink in their classrooms as do best can with what given.

TJ and Langley are two schools. Seven of the top 10 are in FCPS, and several others aren’t far behind.

Are you willing to pay higher taxes for higher teacher salaries, smaller class sizes, and nicer buildings? Or is this another disguised rant before elections about how some students are dragging others down?

We already are! We are paying highest taxes and housing costs to be zoned for one of these top schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

So saying better than other places in VA doesn’t mean great, but yeah, if going to live in Va and can get in TJ or go to Langley a student should get good education, but even then what happens at ES and even MS levels that wasn’t the case years ago is all the supplementing. At one point the students went to ES and that was it. Now is VERY common to go to ES but supplement with Outside writing instruction, outside math instruction for the accelerated kids and tutoring for struggling kids- before was handled in school. Now the teachers are left to sink in their classrooms as do best can with what given.

TJ and Langley are two schools. Seven of the top 10 are in FCPS, and several others aren’t far behind.

Are you willing to pay higher taxes for higher teacher salaries, smaller class sizes, and nicer buildings? Or is this another disguised rant before elections about how some students are dragging others down?

I’ll answer. Yes! Absolutely willing to pay higher taxes if went to higher teacher salaries and smaller class sizes. That’s the problem. The money is going to Gatehouse and NOT the teachers in the schools. The $ goes to Reid’s legal bills for matters she continues to mishandle, school board assistants that make twice a starting teacher salary, Reid personal security, failed up employees that she loves to Gatehouse, more admin jobs she creates at Gatehouse— and all of it that the school board allows. In a heartbeat would pay more if thought teachers— the ones with the students- would get the benefit. That’s exactly who should be getting it and where focus should be but every indication is that FCPS has lost sight of that (even with salary increases last year they came at cost of losing people IN the schools v Gatehousr cuts).

IDK what "gatehouse" is, but it's pretty obvious that it's the admin mismanagement of vast tax dollar budgets we support with our high housing costs and taxes. We are not getting what we pay for, the money isn't going to expand classrooms and get more teachers or reduce their paperwork, so that they could have time to grade their kids assignments for parents to review in timely manner before it's too late to catch up and correct anything. And have time to reach out to parents of kids who are getting failing grades even if it's intermediate issue, or at least respond to the emails. If teachers are overworked and underpaid then maybe it's time for admin reorg?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

An example of correlation, not causation.

If so, a happy coincidence. But, more likely, a refusal on your part to acknowledge what FCPS still does well.

What does it still do well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It must be frustrating to work in FCPS and see parents blame FCPS for any academic challenges their kids experience yet take credit for all their successes.

If my kid experiences challenges and school helps them achieve success I would be more than glad to give this credit to school alone. If, like so many responses here indicate, high performance is usually a result of parents essentially "homeschooling" their kids after school hours, then yes, these parents should receive all the credit. If high scores of specific schools happen to be direct outcome of excessive parental involvement then the schools themselves are overhyped in my view.

[Anonymous]

IDK what "gatehouse" is

Gatehouse is the FCPS HQ. Over by Merrifield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

So saying better than other places in VA doesn’t mean great, but yeah, if going to live in Va and can get in TJ or go to Langley a student should get good education, but even then what happens at ES and even MS levels that wasn’t the case years ago is all the supplementing. At one point the students went to ES and that was it. Now is VERY common to go to ES but supplement with Outside writing instruction, outside math instruction for the accelerated kids and tutoring for struggling kids- before was handled in school. Now the teachers are left to sink in their classrooms as do best can with what given.

TJ and Langley are two schools. Seven of the top 10 are in FCPS, and several others aren’t far behind.

Are you willing to pay higher taxes for higher teacher salaries, smaller class sizes, and nicer buildings? Or is this another disguised rant before elections about how some students are dragging others down?

I’ll answer. Yes! Absolutely willing to pay higher taxes if went to higher teacher salaries and smaller class sizes. That’s the problem. The money is going to Gatehouse and NOT the teachers in the schools. The $ goes to Reid’s legal bills for matters she continues to mishandle, school board assistants that make twice a starting teacher salary, Reid personal security, failed up employees that she loves to Gatehouse, more admin jobs she creates at Gatehouse— and all of it that the school board allows. In a heartbeat would pay more if thought teachers— the ones with the students- would get the benefit. That’s exactly who should be getting it and where focus should be but every indication is that FCPS has lost sight of that (even with salary increases last year they came at cost of losing people IN the schools v Gatehousr cuts).

IDK what "gatehouse" is, but it's pretty obvious that it's the admin mismanagement of vast tax dollar budgets we support with our high housing costs and taxes. We are not getting what we pay for, the money isn't going to expand classrooms and get more teachers or reduce their paperwork, so that they could have time to grade their kids assignments for parents to review in timely manner before it's too late to catch up and correct anything. And have time to reach out to parents of kids who are getting failing grades even if it's intermediate issue, or at least respond to the emails. If teachers are overworked and underpaid then maybe it's time for admin reorg?

Technically, "Gatehouse" is a meronym, a shorthand expression used to refer to the FCPS central administration (as opposed to school-based employees), which is housed largely, but not entirely, in a fancy building on Gatehouse Road in Falls Church.

It's like referring to "Hollywood" as shorthand for the entertainment industry or "Wall Street" as shorthand for the financial services industry.