Interesting initiative at FCPS. Could this address the achievement gap in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Probably unworkable in MCPS give all the complaints from W school parents. But at least FCPS is doing something about inequality in its schools. Maybe MCPS should consider doing the same. From today's Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/garza-to-announce-shake-up-in-fairfax-schools-administration/2014/05/16/6f7e6e8c-dcc3-11e3-8009-71de85b9c527_story.html#

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Probably unworkable in MCPS give all the complaints from W school parents. But at least FCPS is doing something about inequality in its schools. Maybe MCPS should consider doing the same. From today's Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/garza-to-announce-shake-up-in-fairfax-schools-administration/2014/05/16/6f7e6e8c-dcc3-11e3-8009-71de85b9c527_story.html#

I don't really see how this is addressing inequality in Fairfax schools. It is an administrative reorganization that may save a bit of money, but it's not going to affect schools in any way that would be particularly meaningful or noticeable to parents or students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably unworkable in MCPS give all the complaints from W school parents. But at least FCPS is doing something about inequality in its schools. Maybe MCPS should consider doing the same. From today's Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/garza-to-announce-shake-up-in-fairfax-schools-administration/2014/05/16/6f7e6e8c-dcc3-11e3-8009-71de85b9c527_story.html#

I don't really see how this is addressing inequality in Fairfax schools. It is an administrative reorganization that may save a bit of money, but it's not going to affect schools in any way that would be particularly meaningful or noticeable to parents or students.

Read on. The idea is to have a more equal distribution of resources and help eliminate "pockets of excellence". It would separate Langley and McLean into different clusters so the wealthy areas are not packed together. In the end, if done right, this could affect schools in a meaningful way by ensuring a better distribution of resources.

[Anonymous]

I thought the article was interesting too but unless the school feeding triangles are being altered which it did not sound like was the case, I don't get where the impact will be aside from administratively.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Probably unworkable in MCPS give all the complaints from W school parents. But at least FCPS is doing something about inequality in its schools. Maybe MCPS should consider doing the same. From today's Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/garza-to-announce-shake-up-in-fairfax-schools-administration/2014/05/16/6f7e6e8c-dcc3-11e3-8009-71de85b9c527_story.html#

I don't really see how this is addressing inequality in Fairfax schools. It is an administrative reorganization that may save a bit of money, but it's not going to affect schools in any way that would be particularly meaningful or noticeable to parents or students.

Read on. The idea is to have a more equal distribution of resources and help eliminate "pockets of excellence". It would separate Langley and McLean into different clusters so the wealthy areas are not packed together. In the end, if done right, this could affect schools in a meaningful way by ensuring a better distribution of resources.

Unless you move the kids, these "pockets of excellence" will remain exactly where they are. It's not like these schools have more resource.

[Anonymous]

Read on. The idea is to have a more equal distribution of resources and help eliminate "pockets of excellence". It would separate Langley and McLean into different clusters so the wealthy areas are not packed together

Its a good plan but its not designed to eliminate pockets of excellence. The regions have geographic affinity and it isn't really breaking up the great schools its widening the regions so you have great schools and good schools. The areas in Fairfax that aren't as high as Langley are still higher than most of MCPS. They are getting richer while the MCPS areas are getting poorer.

The plan saves money by cutting out higher paid central administration positions something MCPS would NEVER do. VA isn't obsessed with eliminating excellence like MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone explain how / if the plan will impact students and where they go at all? It is it just administrative job switches? If the latter, then the big deal is ???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone explain how / if the plan will impact students and where they go at all? It is it just administrative job switches? If the latter, then the big deal is ???

The change has no impact on where students go or where teachers teach. It's a "big deal" in that FCPS is the 11th largest school system in the country and hasn't had an organizational restructuring in almost 15 years. If you're a principal or higher, it's a big deal. But the rest of the world isn't really impacted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Read on. The idea is to have a more equal distribution of resources and help eliminate "pockets of excellence". It would separate Langley and McLean into different clusters so the wealthy areas are not packed together

Its a good plan but its not designed to eliminate pockets of excellence. The regions have geographic affinity and it isn't really breaking up the great schools its widening the regions so you have great schools and good schools. The areas in Fairfax that aren't as high as Langley are still higher than most of MCPS. They are getting richer while the MCPS areas are getting poorer.

The plan saves money by cutting out higher paid central administration positions something MCPS would NEVER do. VA isn't obsessed with eliminating excellence like MCPS.

And yet, even though MCPS has significantly more poor black and Hispanic students they do just as well on the SAT and better on AP exam pass rates. The magnet HS Blair also significantly out-performs TJ on a per-capita basis. Somehow this doesn't sound like MCPS is doing that poorly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Read on. The idea is to have a more equal distribution of resources and help eliminate "pockets of excellence". It would separate Langley and McLean into different clusters so the wealthy areas are not packed together

Its a good plan but its not designed to eliminate pockets of excellence. The regions have geographic affinity and it isn't really breaking up the great schools its widening the regions so you have great schools and good schools. The areas in Fairfax that aren't as high as Langley are still higher than most of MCPS. They are getting richer while the MCPS areas are getting poorer.

The plan saves money by cutting out higher paid central administration positions something MCPS would NEVER do. VA isn't obsessed with eliminating excellence like MCPS.

And yet, even though MCPS has significantly more poor black and Hispanic students they do just as well on the SAT and better on AP exam pass rates. The magnet HS Blair also significantly out-performs TJ on a per-capita basis. Somehow this doesn't sound like MCPS is doing that poorly.

Where are you getting this information? Yes, it is true for blacks, but not for Hispanics.

FCPS 181K total 23% Hispanic 10% Black
MCPS 145 total 23% Hispanic 23% Black

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Read on. The idea is to have a more equal distribution of resources and help eliminate "pockets of excellence". It would separate Langley and McLean into different clusters so the wealthy areas are not packed together

Its a good plan but its not designed to eliminate pockets of excellence. The regions have geographic affinity and it isn't really breaking up the great schools its widening the regions so you have great schools and good schools. The areas in Fairfax that aren't as high as Langley are still higher than most of MCPS. They are getting richer while the MCPS areas are getting poorer.

The plan saves money by cutting out higher paid central administration positions something MCPS would NEVER do. VA isn't obsessed with eliminating excellence like MCPS.

And yet, even though MCPS has significantly more poor black and Hispanic students they do just as well on the SAT and better on AP exam pass rates. The magnet HS Blair also significantly out-performs TJ on a per-capita basis. Somehow this doesn't sound like MCPS is doing that poorly.

Where are you getting this information? Yes, it is true for blacks, but not for Hispanics.

FCPS 181K total 23% Hispanic 10% Black
MCPS 145 total 23% Hispanic 23% Black

I was talking about the total: I.e. 33% vs. 46%. FCPS also has a larger share of Asian student compared to MCPS; 19% compared to 15%. The fact that MCPS has roughly equal SAT scores is very impressive IMO when considering the differences in demographics.

[Anonymous]

Good grief if you think Blair is better than TJ (the best high school in the country) then you are living in a fantasy land.

[Anonymous]

FCPS also has a larger share of Asian student compared to MCPS;

Yes the Asian population has been growing rapidly in Fairfax since MCPS ended math acceleration and launched 2.0. Good job MCPS kick out the high performers seeking the best education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good grief if you think Blair is better than TJ (the best high school in the country) then you are living in a fantasy land.

The Blair magnet is better than TJ for the 100 or so students that qualify. The awards/opportunities these kids get is significantly more impressive than TJ. Take a look at the numbers for the Intel Talent Search: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Science_Talent_Search

Blair has more semi-finalists and three times as many finalists (and more finalists than any school in the nation I might add) even though it's ~1/5th the size of TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

FCPS also has a larger share of Asian student compared to MCPS;

Yes the Asian population has been growing rapidly in Fairfax since MCPS ended math acceleration and launched 2.0. Good job MCPS kick out the high performers seeking the best education.

Yes, that must be it...