Anyone else educated by FCPS and sees the decline?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH and I are both FCPS graduates from the mid 1980s.

Parents of FCPS students from 2005-present.

DH was one of the early GT program participants, as was one of my siblings. GT program was initially a pull out enrichment and quasi socialization opportunity for the then often socially maligned bright students to form friendships and be challenged academically - together. GT teachers enjoyed their relatively small group of 5th-6th grade students. GT students met for a class period to work on enrichment projects and accept challenging homework projects.

FCPS thought was that these highly intelligent students would be so utterly bored in upper ES that they’d begin to act out and completely lose interest and pursue a life of delinquency or just about as terrible, not attend college.

Overlay all with a steep population decline particularly in older suburbs, leading to formerly “neighborhood” ES (all walked) and suddenly FCPS had to confront closing schools.

Some did close or get converted to admin or municipal offices.

But circa late 1980s, there was a wave of boundary changes and every ES formerly on chopping block needed a “hook” to boost population and keep the infrastructure viable. Examples include GT/AAP Centers (and levels), TJHSST, Head Start, academies, language immersion, AP v. IB.

I’ve been called overly dramatic when I’ve PP on similar threads, but clearly FCPS newest initiative to view schools through an equity lens means that academic excellence is no longer important; becoming world citizens or other such blather is emphasized. Read a few principal-written mission statements on the official school websites and tell me I’m wrong.

This is what gifted was for me too - in Florida in the 90s. I don't remember ever getting any sort of advanced coursework in regular classes but once a week, every week, we'd go to the gifted room and do brain teasers, enrichment projects, Odyssey of the Mind, etc. It's actually interesting that they've shifted from that to providing advanced work in actual core subjects - I don't know which is "better" - but is there a reason so many school districts shifted away from this model?

The program that you participated in was for the Stanford Binet moderately gifted. The truly gifted were bussed to gifted schools, where they received advanced instruction 5 days a week. This was in FCPS, and Belvedere was the designated ES school for the truly gifted. Numbers wise this was a much smaller program than today's AAP, maybe a 2-3 kids in each class received any sort of specialized instruction and maybe 1 from each grade level received the center school instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Don’t count on the schools to do as well by your children as they did by you. It’s all about supplementation, homeschooling and private school these days.

Colleague with kids in MCPS says the same general trends discussed here about FCPS also are true there. His oldest was MCPS all the way. Next bailed at MS for private, youngest was moved to private after 2nd grade. They watched the decline in their own kids. Neighbors here are reporting the same for FCPS.

Only the small township based school districts of the northeast and other parts of the U.S. appear to be largely immune from such trends. Of course, the problem there is funding problems for the poorer towns with more diverse housing types.

It's amazing what happens when you draw lines to exclude poor kids.

So too is what happens when you ignore borders and allow a flood of poorly educated.

My legal immigrant US citizen wife and myself are just waiting until the spring housing market cycle to sell and relocate our family. Job market and public schools brought us here, but with the direction FCPS is heading it no longer sits on the positive column of any decision making criteria. Might as well transfer my kids into the best HS pyramid in another county in VA where there's no influx of undocumented, poorly educated immigrants.

What county doesn't have an influx of immigrants? Any county with a vibrant economy will as will any agricultural county or a county with any kind of commercial activity

Only if the borders are not secured and there’s a business community looking for low-wage, low-skill workers.

so everywhere?

Everywhere except Australia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Don’t count on the schools to do as well by your children as they did by you. It’s all about supplementation, homeschooling and private school these days.

Colleague with kids in MCPS says the same general trends discussed here about FCPS also are true there. His oldest was MCPS all the way. Next bailed at MS for private, youngest was moved to private after 2nd grade. They watched the decline in their own kids. Neighbors here are reporting the same for FCPS.

Only the small township based school districts of the northeast and other parts of the U.S. appear to be largely immune from such trends. Of course, the problem there is funding problems for the poorer towns with more diverse housing types.

It's amazing what happens when you draw lines to exclude poor kids.

So too is what happens when you ignore borders and allow a flood of poorly educated.

My legal immigrant US citizen wife and myself are just waiting until the spring housing market cycle to sell and relocate our family. Job market and public schools brought us here, but with the direction FCPS is heading it no longer sits on the positive column of any decision making criteria. Might as well transfer my kids into the best HS pyramid in another county in VA where there's no influx of undocumented, poorly educated immigrants.

If you think any other county in VA is producing better results than FCPS than by all means, have at it.

You're statement is racist at best and translates to "I don't want my child to be in the vicinity of poor brown children so I shall seek out other whiter areas of the state to reside."

Unfortunately you can see Fairfax county is ranted 41th in Virginia https://www.schooldigger.com/go/VA/districtrank.aspx

Ironic that the top individual schools list is full of FCPS

only a few but most FCPS schools are poorly performing, other school districts have many highly performing schools

If those other districts were as oversized and bloated as FCPS they’d include additional schools just outside of their borders that would bring down their numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Don’t count on the schools to do as well by your children as they did by you. It’s all about supplementation, homeschooling and private school these days.

Colleague with kids in MCPS says the same general trends discussed here about FCPS also are true there. His oldest was MCPS all the way. Next bailed at MS for private, youngest was moved to private after 2nd grade. They watched the decline in their own kids. Neighbors here are reporting the same for FCPS.

Only the small township based school districts of the northeast and other parts of the U.S. appear to be largely immune from such trends. Of course, the problem there is funding problems for the poorer towns with more diverse housing types.

It's amazing what happens when you draw lines to exclude poor kids.

So too is what happens when you ignore borders and allow a flood of poorly educated.

My legal immigrant US citizen wife and myself are just waiting until the spring housing market cycle to sell and relocate our family. Job market and public schools brought us here, but with the direction FCPS is heading it no longer sits on the positive column of any decision making criteria. Might as well transfer my kids into the best HS pyramid in another county in VA where there's no influx of undocumented, poorly educated immigrants.

What county doesn't have an influx of immigrants? Any county with a vibrant economy will as will any agricultural county or a county with any kind of commercial activity

Only if the borders are not secured and there’s a business community looking for low-wage, low-skill workers.

so everywhere?

Everywhere except Australia.

lol, no.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jun/19/australia-election-immigration-policies-labor-liberal-coalition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Don’t count on the schools to do as well by your children as they did by you. It’s all about supplementation, homeschooling and private school these days.

Colleague with kids in MCPS says the same general trends discussed here about FCPS also are true there. His oldest was MCPS all the way. Next bailed at MS for private, youngest was moved to private after 2nd grade. They watched the decline in their own kids. Neighbors here are reporting the same for FCPS.

Only the small township based school districts of the northeast and other parts of the U.S. appear to be largely immune from such trends. Of course, the problem there is funding problems for the poorer towns with more diverse housing types.

It's amazing what happens when you draw lines to exclude poor kids.

So too is what happens when you ignore borders and allow a flood of poorly educated.

My legal immigrant US citizen wife and myself are just waiting until the spring housing market cycle to sell and relocate our family. Job market and public schools brought us here, but with the direction FCPS is heading it no longer sits on the positive column of any decision making criteria. Might as well transfer my kids into the best HS pyramid in another county in VA where there's no influx of undocumented, poorly educated immigrants.

If you think any other county in VA is producing better results than FCPS than by all means, have at it.

You're statement is racist at best and translates to "I don't want my child to be in the vicinity of poor brown children so I shall seek out other whiter areas of the state to reside."

Unfortunately you can see Fairfax county is ranted 41th in Virginia https://www.schooldigger.com/go/VA/districtrank.aspx

Ironic that the top individual schools list is full of FCPS

only a few but most FCPS schools are poorly performing, other school districts have many highly performing schools

If those other districts were as oversized and bloated as FCPS they’d include additional schools just outside of their borders that would bring down their numbers.

Most of the top districts on that list are tiny and rural compared to FCPS. We have too many competing interests and too many different types of people to please that nobody ends up happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Don’t count on the schools to do as well by your children as they did by you. It’s all about supplementation, homeschooling and private school these days.

Colleague with kids in MCPS says the same general trends discussed here about FCPS also are true there. His oldest was MCPS all the way. Next bailed at MS for private, youngest was moved to private after 2nd grade. They watched the decline in their own kids. Neighbors here are reporting the same for FCPS.

Only the small township based school districts of the northeast and other parts of the U.S. appear to be largely immune from such trends. Of course, the problem there is funding problems for the poorer towns with more diverse housing types.

It's amazing what happens when you draw lines to exclude poor kids.

So too is what happens when you ignore borders and allow a flood of poorly educated.

My legal immigrant US citizen wife and myself are just waiting until the spring housing market cycle to sell and relocate our family. Job market and public schools brought us here, but with the direction FCPS is heading it no longer sits on the positive column of any decision making criteria. Might as well transfer my kids into the best HS pyramid in another county in VA where there's no influx of undocumented, poorly educated immigrants.

If you think any other county in VA is producing better results than FCPS than by all means, have at it.

You're statement is racist at best and translates to "I don't want my child to be in the vicinity of poor brown children so I shall seek out other whiter areas of the state to reside."

Unfortunately you can see Fairfax county is ranted 41th in Virginia https://www.schooldigger.com/go/VA/districtrank.aspx

Ironic that the top individual schools list is full of FCPS

only a few but most FCPS schools are poorly performing, other school districts have many highly performing schools

If those other districts were as oversized and bloated as FCPS they’d include additional schools just outside of their borders that would bring down their numbers.

Most of the top districts on that list are tiny and rural compared to FCPS. We have too many competing interests and too many different types of people to please that nobody ends up happy.

You make a good point about FCPS having too many competing interests. But isn't that self-inflicted? The school board is pushing policies like "One Fairfax" and equity initiatives as major priorities, focusing more on social issues like LGBTQ+ advocacy rather than the fundamentals like math, reading, writing, and science. These are the basics measured by SOL tests, and if FCPS isn’t excelling in those core areas, why is the board so focused on everything else?

It's time to question whether the board’s focus is where it should be. If our students aren't mastering the basics, maybe we need leadership that prioritizes actual education over political and social agendas. Shouldn’t getting back to the fundamentals be our main concern?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Don’t count on the schools to do as well by your children as they did by you. It’s all about supplementation, homeschooling and private school these days.

Colleague with kids in MCPS says the same general trends discussed here about FCPS also are true there. His oldest was MCPS all the way. Next bailed at MS for private, youngest was moved to private after 2nd grade. They watched the decline in their own kids. Neighbors here are reporting the same for FCPS.

Only the small township based school districts of the northeast and other parts of the U.S. appear to be largely immune from such trends. Of course, the problem there is funding problems for the poorer towns with more diverse housing types.

It's amazing what happens when you draw lines to exclude poor kids.

So too is what happens when you ignore borders and allow a flood of poorly educated.

My legal immigrant US citizen wife and myself are just waiting until the spring housing market cycle to sell and relocate our family. Job market and public schools brought us here, but with the direction FCPS is heading it no longer sits on the positive column of any decision making criteria. Might as well transfer my kids into the best HS pyramid in another county in VA where there's no influx of undocumented, poorly educated immigrants.

What county doesn't have an influx of immigrants? Any county with a vibrant economy will as will any agricultural county or a county with any kind of commercial activity

Only if the borders are not secured and there’s a business community looking for low-wage, low-skill workers.

so everywhere?

Everywhere except Australia.

lol, no.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jun/19/australia-election-immigration-policies-labor-liberal-coalition

Yes, even Australia has some raging RWNJs.

But they are discussing legal immigration/students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Don’t count on the schools to do as well by your children as they did by you. It’s all about supplementation, homeschooling and private school these days.

Colleague with kids in MCPS says the same general trends discussed here about FCPS also are true there. His oldest was MCPS all the way. Next bailed at MS for private, youngest was moved to private after 2nd grade. They watched the decline in their own kids. Neighbors here are reporting the same for FCPS.

Only the small township based school districts of the northeast and other parts of the U.S. appear to be largely immune from such trends. Of course, the problem there is funding problems for the poorer towns with more diverse housing types.

It's amazing what happens when you draw lines to exclude poor kids.

So too is what happens when you ignore borders and allow a flood of poorly educated.

My legal immigrant US citizen wife and myself are just waiting until the spring housing market cycle to sell and relocate our family. Job market and public schools brought us here, but with the direction FCPS is heading it no longer sits on the positive column of any decision making criteria. Might as well transfer my kids into the best HS pyramid in another county in VA where there's no influx of undocumented, poorly educated immigrants.

If you think any other county in VA is producing better results than FCPS than by all means, have at it.

You're statement is racist at best and translates to "I don't want my child to be in the vicinity of poor brown children so I shall seek out other whiter areas of the state to reside."

Unfortunately you can see Fairfax county is ranted 41th in Virginia https://www.schooldigger.com/go/VA/districtrank.aspx

Ironic that the top individual schools list is full of FCPS

only a few but most FCPS schools are poorly performing, other school districts have many highly performing schools

If those other districts were as oversized and bloated as FCPS they’d include additional schools just outside of their borders that would bring down their numbers.

Most of the top districts on that list are tiny and rural compared to FCPS. We have too many competing interests and too many different types of people to please that nobody ends up happy.

You make a good point about FCPS having too many competing interests. But isn't that self-inflicted? The school board is pushing policies like "One Fairfax" and equity initiatives as major priorities, focusing more on social issues like LGBTQ+ advocacy rather than the fundamentals like math, reading, writing, and science. These are the basics measured by SOL tests, and if FCPS isn’t excelling in those core areas, why is the board so focused on everything else?

It's time to question whether the board’s focus is where it should be. If our students aren't mastering the basics, maybe we need leadership that prioritizes actual education over political and social agendas. Shouldn’t getting back to the fundamentals be our main concern?

You are watching too much FoxNews misinformation.

FCPS isn’t focusing more on social issues than academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Don’t count on the schools to do as well by your children as they did by you. It’s all about supplementation, homeschooling and private school these days.

Colleague with kids in MCPS says the same general trends discussed here about FCPS also are true there. His oldest was MCPS all the way. Next bailed at MS for private, youngest was moved to private after 2nd grade. They watched the decline in their own kids. Neighbors here are reporting the same for FCPS.

Only the small township based school districts of the northeast and other parts of the U.S. appear to be largely immune from such trends. Of course, the problem there is funding problems for the poorer towns with more diverse housing types.

It's amazing what happens when you draw lines to exclude poor kids.

So too is what happens when you ignore borders and allow a flood of poorly educated.

My legal immigrant US citizen wife and myself are just waiting until the spring housing market cycle to sell and relocate our family. Job market and public schools brought us here, but with the direction FCPS is heading it no longer sits on the positive column of any decision making criteria. Might as well transfer my kids into the best HS pyramid in another county in VA where there's no influx of undocumented, poorly educated immigrants.

If you think any other county in VA is producing better results than FCPS than by all means, have at it.

You're statement is racist at best and translates to "I don't want my child to be in the vicinity of poor brown children so I shall seek out other whiter areas of the state to reside."

Unfortunately you can see Fairfax county is ranted 41th in Virginia https://www.schooldigger.com/go/VA/districtrank.aspx

Ironic that the top individual schools list is full of FCPS

only a few but most FCPS schools are poorly performing, other school districts have many highly performing schools

If those other districts were as oversized and bloated as FCPS they’d include additional schools just outside of their borders that would bring down their numbers.

Most of the top districts on that list are tiny and rural compared to FCPS. We have too many competing interests and too many different types of people to please that nobody ends up happy.

You make a good point about FCPS having too many competing interests. But isn't that self-inflicted? The school board is pushing policies like "One Fairfax" and equity initiatives as major priorities, focusing more on social issues like LGBTQ+ advocacy rather than the fundamentals like math, reading, writing, and science. These are the basics measured by SOL tests, and if FCPS isn’t excelling in those core areas, why is the board so focused on everything else?

It's time to question whether the board’s focus is where it should be. If our students aren't mastering the basics, maybe we need leadership that prioritizes actual education over political and social agendas. Shouldn’t getting back to the fundamentals be our main concern?

I’m not even talking about the board. We just have a lot of different families here with an extremely wide range of wealth and social beliefs and this isn’t something other school districts have to work through as much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm shocked by how little my kids are learning. Also by all the distruptions caused by kids who probably aren't being well served by a general ed classroom. One kid wears headphones all day because he gets stressed by the noise and starts throwing a fit when he is stressed. Why would you put him in a classroom of 30+ kids? He can't hear what the teacher is saying at all.

Mainstreaming kids who should be in special ed is a huge part of the problem.

[Anonymous]

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.

Professional writer with a grad degree in creative writing here. This is accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1

What an ugly human that pp is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Don’t count on the schools to do as well by your children as they did by you. It’s all about supplementation, homeschooling and private school these days.

Colleague with kids in MCPS says the same general trends discussed here about FCPS also are true there. His oldest was MCPS all the way. Next bailed at MS for private, youngest was moved to private after 2nd grade. They watched the decline in their own kids. Neighbors here are reporting the same for FCPS.

Only the small township based school districts of the northeast and other parts of the U.S. appear to be largely immune from such trends. Of course, the problem there is funding problems for the poorer towns with more diverse housing types.

It's amazing what happens when you draw lines to exclude poor kids.

So too is what happens when you ignore borders and allow a flood of poorly educated.

My legal immigrant US citizen wife and myself are just waiting until the spring housing market cycle to sell and relocate our family. Job market and public schools brought us here, but with the direction FCPS is heading it no longer sits on the positive column of any decision making criteria. Might as well transfer my kids into the best HS pyramid in another county in VA where there's no influx of undocumented, poorly educated immigrants.

What county doesn't have an influx of immigrants? Any county with a vibrant economy will as will any agricultural county or a county with any kind of commercial activity

Only if the borders are not secured and there’s a business community looking for low-wage, low-skill workers.

so everywhere?

Everywhere except Australia.

lol, no.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jun/19/australia-election-immigration-policies-labor-liberal-coalition

Yes, even Australia has some raging RWNJs.

But they are discussing legal immigration/students.

Asylum seekers (most immigrants here and australia) are legal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Don’t count on the schools to do as well by your children as they did by you. It’s all about supplementation, homeschooling and private school these days.

Colleague with kids in MCPS says the same general trends discussed here about FCPS also are true there. His oldest was MCPS all the way. Next bailed at MS for private, youngest was moved to private after 2nd grade. They watched the decline in their own kids. Neighbors here are reporting the same for FCPS.

Only the small township based school districts of the northeast and other parts of the U.S. appear to be largely immune from such trends. Of course, the problem there is funding problems for the poorer towns with more diverse housing types.

It's amazing what happens when you draw lines to exclude poor kids.

So too is what happens when you ignore borders and allow a flood of poorly educated.

My legal immigrant US citizen wife and myself are just waiting until the spring housing market cycle to sell and relocate our family. Job market and public schools brought us here, but with the direction FCPS is heading it no longer sits on the positive column of any decision making criteria. Might as well transfer my kids into the best HS pyramid in another county in VA where there's no influx of undocumented, poorly educated immigrants.

If you think any other county in VA is producing better results than FCPS than by all means, have at it.

You're statement is racist at best and translates to "I don't want my child to be in the vicinity of poor brown children so I shall seek out other whiter areas of the state to reside."

Unfortunately you can see Fairfax county is ranted 41th in Virginia https://www.schooldigger.com/go/VA/districtrank.aspx

Ironic that the top individual schools list is full of FCPS

only a few but most FCPS schools are poorly performing, other school districts have many highly performing schools

If those other districts were as oversized and bloated as FCPS they’d include additional schools just outside of their borders that would bring down their numbers.

Most of the top districts on that list are tiny and rural compared to FCPS. We have too many competing interests and too many different types of people to please that nobody ends up happy.

You make a good point about FCPS having too many competing interests. But isn't that self-inflicted? The school board is pushing policies like "One Fairfax" and equity initiatives as major priorities, focusing more on social issues like LGBTQ+ advocacy rather than the fundamentals like math, reading, writing, and science. These are the basics measured by SOL tests, and if FCPS isn’t excelling in those core areas, why is the board so focused on everything else?

It's time to question whether the board’s focus is where it should be. If our students aren't mastering the basics, maybe we need leadership that prioritizes actual education over political and social agendas. Shouldn’t getting back to the fundamentals be our main concern?

You are watching too much FoxNews misinformation.

FCPS isn’t focusing more on social issues than academics.

If my examples aren’t seen as the “competing interests,” then what are? Most of what I’ve seen come through from the superintendent focuses on policies like equity, gun control, One Fairfax, inclusion, and social justice-related issues. These are important topics, but they seem to dominate the conversation. If there are other major competing interests FCPS is dealing with, I haven’t seen them highlighted in the same way. So, the real question is—are these priorities being balanced effectively with core academics?

[Anonymous]

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.

Yeah, the teachers don’t want to grade narrative work.