ACPS -- what am I missing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Empty platitudes on equity and “everyone succeeds” mottos.
Wasted money on pointless initiatives, useless resources, overpaid consultants, and worthless curricula (that do nothing to advance equity or academic success).
Underfunded capital resources.
Lack of transparency and accountability.
Overpaid high-level underperforming, unqualified management.
Underpaid, disenfranchised and disempowered mid level managers and line staff.

These problems existed before Hutchings, but he has made all of them worse.

I mean, this is basically it.

[Anonymous]

I don't know but it should be fun to watch tonight if the same SB that buried a violent rape of a 14 year old girl will vote to keep SROs out of schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know but it should be fun to watch tonight if the same SB that buried a violent rape of a 14 year old girl will vote to keep SROs out of schools.

Speaking of SROs, what is the status of the removal for engaging in inappropriate sexual communications with a student? It’s been complete silence since that was disclosed to the public months ago. We deserve an update (at least acknowledging whether investigation is complete or ongoing).

[Anonymous]

My youngest is in elementary and oldest now in MS but pvt. I would say that public elementary for us wasn’t bad. It wasn’t OMG amazing and I do not drink the KoolAid that most In my community to on public schools here. I would say that George Mason and Barrett are relatively strong. What makes the, really nice is the strong PTA and community. The families here are warm, educated and kids are well adjusted and just really good kids. A close knit community. Academically it’s not academically strong but I’m not that parent that wants my kid to go to Catholic school and know 8th grade vocabulary words in 5th grade. My expectations are for love of learning, engaging and caring teachers and a really healthy social experience. These boxes are checked.

Where things are wrong is more the public curriculum of all the SOL and MAP testing, the work is just really not that hard and the TAG program is not productive in who gets n. The idea of academic equity is ridiculous. Getting everyone to the same level should not be goal rather promoting excellence among all. So philosophically ACOS has a problem there.

But I have told you about the pros and cons we experienced. In terms of MS, I have friends whose kids do great there. You really have to be a well adjuster, very mature and responsible kid who is going to be in honors classes to make it there. If so, it will likely be fine. I would never put my kids there but if they were like perfect kids maybe I would reconsider but I would still be uneasy about it. That’s me. I have pretty high standards when it comes to conceptual learning ~ that is ~ I want more than just transactional pass a test learning. Esp after grade school, personally I think it’s too overwhelming socially with 599 kids per grade on each floor.

We are going to however try to get ours back in public for HS.

A lot depends on your kids. ACPS is not a strong public system in total, but Alex is a really great place to be. We would never want to live in Arl or Falls Church or Fairfax. We are city folk. But I would say that by MS you’d be hard pressed to keep kids in public. I did A lOT of research into the various public elementary school systems around NOVA and if you are strictly concerned about academics, run away from Alex public schools. But if it’s more than just that you seek, elementary I think is good enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My youngest is in elementary and oldest now in MS but pvt. I would say that public elementary for us wasn’t bad. It wasn’t OMG amazing and I do not drink the KoolAid that most In my community to on public schools here. I would say that George Mason and Barrett are relatively strong. What makes the, really nice is the strong PTA and community. The families here are warm, educated and kids are well adjusted and just really good kids. A close knit community. Academically it’s not academically strong but I’m not that parent that wants my kid to go to Catholic school and know 8th grade vocabulary words in 5th grade. My expectations are for love of learning, engaging and caring teachers and a really healthy social experience. These boxes are checked.

Where things are wrong is more the public curriculum of all the SOL and MAP testing, the work is just really not that hard and the TAG program is not productive in who gets n. The idea of academic equity is ridiculous. Getting everyone to the same level should not be goal rather promoting excellence among all. So philosophically ACOS has a problem there.

But I have told you about the pros and cons we experienced. In terms of MS, I have friends whose kids do great there. You really have to be a well adjuster, very mature and responsible kid who is going to be in honors classes to make it there. If so, it will likely be fine. I would never put my kids there but if they were like perfect kids maybe I would reconsider but I would still be uneasy about it. That’s me. I have pretty high standards when it comes to conceptual learning ~ that is ~ I want more than just transactional pass a test learning. Esp after grade school, personally I think it’s too overwhelming socially with 599 kids per grade on each floor.

We are going to however try to get ours back in public for HS.

A lot depends on your kids. ACPS is not a strong public system in total, but Alex is a really great place to be. We would never want to live in Arl or Falls Church or Fairfax. We are city folk. But I would say that by MS you’d be hard pressed to keep kids in public. I did A lOT of research into the various public elementary school systems around NOVA and if you are strictly concerned about academics, run away from Alex public schools. But if it’s more than just that you seek, elementary I think is good enough.

Thank you for this very balanced, kind and honest post & while I agree with much of it, I have to disagree with you about George Mason.

It's not a good school. Math instruction is particularly weak. Good teachers were run off by the previous principal.

Some current teachers are so obsessed with equity that they refuse to help students because that's "not equitable". When they asked a question, my child was told by their math teacher, "too bad. you must not have been paying attention. you'll have to figure it out."

The "grading" is wildly inconsistent since there isn't a standard (this may be more of a ACPS problem). No homework (that's inequitable too). Never saw a test or any classroom work after kinder. Our fourth grade homeroom teacher lied to me for months on an issue and the administration wouldn't provide any resolution. In fact, they didn't seem concerned at all or see an issue.

Friends with kids in other ACPS ES assure me that it isn't like that at their schools.

It's pretty telling that GM had the most departures over the last two years of any ES in ACPS.

I know test scores aren't the end all and be all but check out the proficiency numbers on the VA DOE website over the years, including pre-pandemic. The results are pretty awful.

[Anonymous]

Central office's dependency on consultants for everything, big and small initiatives, is very disappointing. As far as I can tell, they just come up with jargon-filled slide decks that are vague and incomprehensible.

Pre-pandemic, there were many schools that had achievement gaps. The pandemic has only exacerbated the gaps. ACPS elementary schools should not have done worst than schools in poorer school districts elsewhere in the Commonwealth, where per pupil spending is less than in ACPS.

As far as dads - take a gander at the ones at Tucker and Patrick Henry - Mason and Brooks don't have anything on them.

[Anonymous]

Op, we were in the MacArthur district for several years with two in that school.

What you will find is the more affluent (white) schools you have targeted for ES are fine. But when the elementary schools consolidate into middle school, the poverty and all its attendant issues present themselves more plainly. And so by about third grade, you start to see families exiting ACPS, either to privates or moving to Arlington, Fairfax or Loudoun. It is true that some of these moves are based on perception of future risk rather than reality — your kid CAN and WILL get a good education at the middle schools and high school. But they will have to operate in kind of a bubble to do so. Remember this whenever people extol “diversity” as a virtue — if their kids are high achievers, they are probably segregated within school from the lower-achieving students, who also happen to be poor and brown.

It’s a weird dynamic, for sure. There is some thinking that if you can excel in a school like that, it looks attractive to colleges. But I consider that to be kind of a cynical perspective as high school shouldn’t be something to endure.

Unfortunately, affluenza is an issue too in some of the schools these people transfer to.

Hard to get the balance right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, we were in the MacArthur district for several years with two in that school.

What you will find is the more affluent (white) schools you have targeted for ES are fine. But when the elementary schools consolidate into middle school, the poverty and all its attendant issues present themselves more plainly. And so by about third grade, you start to see families exiting ACPS, either to privates or moving to Arlington, Fairfax or Loudoun. It is true that some of these moves are based on perception of future risk rather than reality — your kid CAN and WILL get a good education at the middle schools and high school. But they will have to operate in kind of a bubble to do so. Remember this whenever people extol “diversity” as a virtue — if their kids are high achievers, they are probably segregated within school from the lower-achieving students, who also happen to be poor and brown.

It’s a weird dynamic, for sure. There is some thinking that if you can excel in a school like that, it looks attractive to colleges. But I consider that to be kind of a cynical perspective as high school shouldn’t be something to endure.

Unfortunately, affluenza is an issue too in some of the schools these people transfer to.

Hard to get the balance right.

Yea I don't really get the "diversity" cult in Alexandria when there is a pretty visible racial achievement gap and the way to get a good education is to segregate. Seems a bit 1950s-ish just without the blatant racism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, we were in the MacArthur district for several years with two in that school.

What you will find is the more affluent (white) schools you have targeted for ES are fine. But when the elementary schools consolidate into middle school, the poverty and all its attendant issues present themselves more plainly. And so by about third grade, you start to see families exiting ACPS, either to privates or moving to Arlington, Fairfax or Loudoun. It is true that some of these moves are based on perception of future risk rather than reality — your kid CAN and WILL get a good education at the middle schools and high school. But they will have to operate in kind of a bubble to do so. Remember this whenever people extol “diversity” as a virtue — if their kids are high achievers, they are probably segregated within school from the lower-achieving students, who also happen to be poor and brown.

It’s a weird dynamic, for sure. There is some thinking that if you can excel in a school like that, it looks attractive to colleges. But I consider that to be kind of a cynical perspective as high school shouldn’t be something to endure.

Unfortunately, affluenza is an issue too in some of the schools these people transfer to.

Hard to get the balance right.

Yea I don't really get the "diversity" cult in Alexandria when there is a pretty visible racial achievement gap and the way to get a good education is to segregate. Seems a bit 1950s-ish just without the blatant racism.

For a certain segment of the community, it really assuages their white guilt, yet they fail to acknowledge the internal segregation within the system, which of course takes a lot of work to dismantle (and ACPS is not really up for the task). The person who mentions vague, jargon-filled slide decks prepared by consultants is spot on. Even the whole Virtual Plus+ thing was a racket, but they loved promoting that catchy phrase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, we were in the MacArthur district for several years with two in that school.

What you will find is the more affluent (white) schools you have targeted for ES are fine. But when the elementary schools consolidate into middle school, the poverty and all its attendant issues present themselves more plainly. And so by about third grade, you start to see families exiting ACPS, either to privates or moving to Arlington, Fairfax or Loudoun. It is true that some of these moves are based on perception of future risk rather than reality — your kid CAN and WILL get a good education at the middle schools and high school. But they will have to operate in kind of a bubble to do so. Remember this whenever people extol “diversity” as a virtue — if their kids are high achievers, they are probably segregated within school from the lower-achieving students, who also happen to be poor and brown.

It’s a weird dynamic, for sure. There is some thinking that if you can excel in a school like that, it looks attractive to colleges. But I consider that to be kind of a cynical perspective as high school shouldn’t be something to endure.

Unfortunately, affluenza is an issue too in some of the schools these people transfer to.

Hard to get the balance right.

Yea I don't really get the "diversity" cult in Alexandria when there is a pretty visible racial achievement gap and the way to get a good education is to segregate. Seems a bit 1950s-ish just without the blatant racism.

I agree except I think it is pretty blatant albeit under the guise of "look, we have a black superintendent" so we aren't racist at all. <blink blink side eye smirk>

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, we were in the MacArthur district for several years with two in that school.

What you will find is the more affluent (white) schools you have targeted for ES are fine. But when the elementary schools consolidate into middle school, the poverty and all its attendant issues present themselves more plainly. And so by about third grade, you start to see families exiting ACPS, either to privates or moving to Arlington, Fairfax or Loudoun. It is true that some of these moves are based on perception of future risk rather than reality — your kid CAN and WILL get a good education at the middle schools and high school. But they will have to operate in kind of a bubble to do so. Remember this whenever people extol “diversity” as a virtue — if their kids are high achievers, they are probably segregated within school from the lower-achieving students, who also happen to be poor and brown.

It’s a weird dynamic, for sure. There is some thinking that if you can excel in a school like that, it looks attractive to colleges. But I consider that to be kind of a cynical perspective as high school shouldn’t be something to endure.

Unfortunately, affluenza is an issue too in some of the schools these people transfer to.

Hard to get the balance right.

Yea I don't really get the "diversity" cult in Alexandria when there is a pretty visible racial achievement gap and the way to get a good education is to segregate. Seems a bit 1950s-ish just without the blatant racism.

I agree except I think it is pretty blatant albeit under the guise of "look, we have a black superintendent" so we aren't racist at all. <blink blink side eye smirk>

I think there a good deal of truth to these comments. I would add the following:

(1) in Alexandria generally, and within ACPS specifically, there is a lot of back slapping claiming Alexandria/ACPS does not have the systemic racism problems that other communities/ school districts have. I think this may arise in part because of the racial diversity within the city and the significant African American leadership (former and current (mixed race) Mayor, former police chief (Cook), current superintendent and School Board chair, and many in the ACPS central office).

(2) The problem is the outcome data suggests Alexandria still suffers from systemic racism. In ACPS, this is seen by the test scores broken down by race. Dr. Hutchings and others do not seem to want to address this head on (for example completely downplaying last year’s horrendous SOL scores) even though their whole strategic plan is focused on equity. Rather than be laser focused on how to facilitate academic improvement for those behind (provide additional supports on equity grounds), Hutchings seems to focus on equity to: (1) sell himself as a so-called educational visionary and (2) as an excuse to say no to or ignore well off (many white) parents who have often legitimate concerns about the education/experience ACPS provides (particularly some special needs students.

This even comes up in the SRO debate. I acknowledge the case for ACPS requesting SROs because: (a) the safety issues this past year and (b) ACPS (Contreas’s) many failures. But, Hutchings/Alderton ignore that the opponents also likely have a legitimate concern about the danger minorities may face with the SROs in the schools (since they ignore that ACPS/Alexandria really is not so different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My youngest is in elementary and oldest now in MS but pvt. I would say that public elementary for us wasn’t bad. It wasn’t OMG amazing and I do not drink the KoolAid that most In my community to on public schools here. I would say that George Mason and Barrett are relatively strong. What makes the, really nice is the strong PTA and community. The families here are warm, educated and kids are well adjusted and just really good kids. A close knit community. Academically it’s not academically strong but I’m not that parent that wants my kid to go to Catholic school and know 8th grade vocabulary words in 5th grade. My expectations are for love of learning, engaging and caring teachers and a really healthy social experience. These boxes are checked.

Where things are wrong is more the public curriculum of all the SOL and MAP testing, the work is just really not that hard and the TAG program is not productive in who gets n. The idea of academic equity is ridiculous. Getting everyone to the same level should not be goal rather promoting excellence among all. So philosophically ACOS has a problem there.

But I have told you about the pros and cons we experienced. In terms of MS, I have friends whose kids do great there. You really have to be a well adjuster, very mature and responsible kid who is going to be in honors classes to make it there. If so, it will likely be fine. I would never put my kids there but if they were like perfect kids maybe I would reconsider but I would still be uneasy about it. That’s me. I have pretty high standards when it comes to conceptual learning ~ that is ~ I want more than just transactional pass a test learning. Esp after grade school, personally I think it’s too overwhelming socially with 599 kids per grade on each floor.

We are going to however try to get ours back in public for HS.

A lot depends on your kids. ACPS is not a strong public system in total, but Alex is a really great place to be. We would never want to live in Arl or Falls Church or Fairfax. We are city folk. But I would say that by MS you’d be hard pressed to keep kids in public. I did A lOT of research into the various public elementary school systems around NOVA and if you are strictly concerned about academics, run away from Alex public schools. But if it’s more than just that you seek, elementary I think is good enough.

Thank you for this very balanced, kind and honest post & while I agree with much of it, I have to disagree with you about George Mason.

It's not a good school. Math instruction is particularly weak. Good teachers were run off by the previous principal.

Some current teachers are so obsessed with equity that they refuse to help students because that's "not equitable". When they asked a question, my child was told by their math teacher, "too bad. you must not have been paying attention. you'll have to figure it out."

The "grading" is wildly inconsistent since there isn't a standard (this may be more of a ACPS problem). No homework (that's inequitable too). Never saw a test or any classroom work after kinder. Our fourth grade homeroom teacher lied to me for months on an issue and the administration wouldn't provide any resolution. In fact, they didn't seem concerned at all or see an issue.

Friends with kids in other ACPS ES assure me that it isn't like that at their schools.

It's pretty telling that GM had the most departures over the last two years of any ES in ACPS.

I know test scores aren't the end all and be all but check out the proficiency numbers on the VA DOE website over the years, including pre-pandemic. The results are pretty awful.

I'm PP and yes the math is not strong I agree and also on the work front it's a joke. My kid will collaborate on her own with friends in writing stories together which I think is amazing. They enjoy it and it's a shame in class they aren't getting that opportunity to learn via homework assignments and other projects which is why we are leaving for pvt next year, on the whole I do still stand by my comments on the pros of Mason.

I would add that she has a stellar teacher - one out of the two abs that has made a really big impact on how happy I've been this year there. I think there are still good ones and I will tell you I hated beyond words the previous principal who is at least out now. I'm not sure the new one who was promoted into the role is all that as I know her from experience with my other kid but at least it's someone new at the helm. For years the principal at Barrett was amazing until they left last year I think. They have a very very strong program, worth exploring for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My youngest is in elementary and oldest now in MS but pvt. I would say that public elementary for us wasn’t bad. It wasn’t OMG amazing and I do not drink the KoolAid that most In my community to on public schools here. I would say that George Mason and Barrett are relatively strong. What makes the, really nice is the strong PTA and community. The families here are warm, educated and kids are well adjusted and just really good kids. A close knit community. Academically it’s not academically strong but I’m not that parent that wants my kid to go to Catholic school and know 8th grade vocabulary words in 5th grade. My expectations are for love of learning, engaging and caring teachers and a really healthy social experience. These boxes are checked.

Where things are wrong is more the public curriculum of all the SOL and MAP testing, the work is just really not that hard and the TAG program is not productive in who gets n. The idea of academic equity is ridiculous. Getting everyone to the same level should not be goal rather promoting excellence among all. So philosophically ACOS has a problem there.

But I have told you about the pros and cons we experienced. In terms of MS, I have friends whose kids do great there. You really have to be a well adjuster, very mature and responsible kid who is going to be in honors classes to make it there. If so, it will likely be fine. I would never put my kids there but if they were like perfect kids maybe I would reconsider but I would still be uneasy about it. That’s me. I have pretty high standards when it comes to conceptual learning ~ that is ~ I want more than just transactional pass a test learning. Esp after grade school, personally I think it’s too overwhelming socially with 599 kids per grade on each floor.

We are going to however try to get ours back in public for HS.

A lot depends on your kids. ACPS is not a strong public system in total, but Alex is a really great place to be. We would never want to live in Arl or Falls Church or Fairfax. We are city folk. But I would say that by MS you’d be hard pressed to keep kids in public. I did A lOT of research into the various public elementary school systems around NOVA and if you are strictly concerned about academics, run away from Alex public schools. But if it’s more than just that you seek, elementary I think is good enough.

Thank you for this very balanced, kind and honest post & while I agree with much of it, I have to disagree with you about George Mason.

It's not a good school. Math instruction is particularly weak. Good teachers were run off by the previous principal.

Some current teachers are so obsessed with equity that they refuse to help students because that's "not equitable". When they asked a question, my child was told by their math teacher, "too bad. you must not have been paying attention. you'll have to figure it out."

The "grading" is wildly inconsistent since there isn't a standard (this may be more of a ACPS problem). No homework (that's inequitable too). Never saw a test or any classroom work after kinder. Our fourth grade homeroom teacher lied to me for months on an issue and the administration wouldn't provide any resolution. In fact, they didn't seem concerned at all or see an issue.

Friends with kids in other ACPS ES assure me that it isn't like that at their schools.

It's pretty telling that GM had the most departures over the last two years of any ES in ACPS.

I know test scores aren't the end all and be all but check out the proficiency numbers on the VA DOE website over the years, including pre-pandemic. The results are pretty awful.

These are such privileged white family complaints. You want to see what equity really looks like in ACPS? It’s all the white kids leaving for tag and all the brown and black kids staying behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My youngest is in elementary and oldest now in MS but pvt. I would say that public elementary for us wasn’t bad. It wasn’t OMG amazing and I do not drink the KoolAid that most In my community to on public schools here. I would say that George Mason and Barrett are relatively strong. What makes the, really nice is the strong PTA and community. The families here are warm, educated and kids are well adjusted and just really good kids. A close knit community. Academically it’s not academically strong but I’m not that parent that wants my kid to go to Catholic school and know 8th grade vocabulary words in 5th grade. My expectations are for love of learning, engaging and caring teachers and a really healthy social experience. These boxes are checked.

Where things are wrong is more the public curriculum of all the SOL and MAP testing, the work is just really not that hard and the TAG program is not productive in who gets n. The idea of academic equity is ridiculous. Getting everyone to the same level should not be goal rather promoting excellence among all. So philosophically ACOS has a problem there.

But I have told you about the pros and cons we experienced. In terms of MS, I have friends whose kids do great there. You really have to be a well adjuster, very mature and responsible kid who is going to be in honors classes to make it there. If so, it will likely be fine. I would never put my kids there but if they were like perfect kids maybe I would reconsider but I would still be uneasy about it. That’s me. I have pretty high standards when it comes to conceptual learning ~ that is ~ I want more than just transactional pass a test learning. Esp after grade school, personally I think it’s too overwhelming socially with 599 kids per grade on each floor.

We are going to however try to get ours back in public for HS.

A lot depends on your kids. ACPS is not a strong public system in total, but Alex is a really great place to be. We would never want to live in Arl or Falls Church or Fairfax. We are city folk. But I would say that by MS you’d be hard pressed to keep kids in public. I did A lOT of research into the various public elementary school systems around NOVA and if you are strictly concerned about academics, run away from Alex public schools. But if it’s more than just that you seek, elementary I think is good enough.

Thank you for this very balanced, kind and honest post & while I agree with much of it, I have to disagree with you about George Mason.

It's not a good school. Math instruction is particularly weak. Good teachers were run off by the previous principal.

Some current teachers are so obsessed with equity that they refuse to help students because that's "not equitable". When they asked a question, my child was told by their math teacher, "too bad. you must not have been paying attention. you'll have to figure it out."

The "grading" is wildly inconsistent since there isn't a standard (this may be more of a ACPS problem). No homework (that's inequitable too). Never saw a test or any classroom work after kinder. Our fourth grade homeroom teacher lied to me for months on an issue and the administration wouldn't provide any resolution. In fact, they didn't seem concerned at all or see an issue.

Friends with kids in other ACPS ES assure me that it isn't like that at their schools.

It's pretty telling that GM had the most departures over the last two years of any ES in ACPS.

I know test scores aren't the end all and be all but check out the proficiency numbers on the VA DOE website over the years, including pre-pandemic. The results are pretty awful.

These are such privileged white family complaints. You want to see what equity really looks like in ACPS? It’s all the white kids leaving for tag and all the brown and black kids staying behind.

Devil’s advocate: what are they supposed to do if the black and brown kids don’t get the CogAT scores to test into TAG?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My youngest is in elementary and oldest now in MS but pvt. I would say that public elementary for us wasn’t bad. It wasn’t OMG amazing and I do not drink the KoolAid that most In my community to on public schools here. I would say that George Mason and Barrett are relatively strong. What makes the, really nice is the strong PTA and community. The families here are warm, educated and kids are well adjusted and just really good kids. A close knit community. Academically it’s not academically strong but I’m not that parent that wants my kid to go to Catholic school and know 8th grade vocabulary words in 5th grade. My expectations are for love of learning, engaging and caring teachers and a really healthy social experience. These boxes are checked.

Where things are wrong is more the public curriculum of all the SOL and MAP testing, the work is just really not that hard and the TAG program is not productive in who gets n. The idea of academic equity is ridiculous. Getting everyone to the same level should not be goal rather promoting excellence among all. So philosophically ACOS has a problem there.

But I have told you about the pros and cons we experienced. In terms of MS, I have friends whose kids do great there. You really have to be a well adjuster, very mature and responsible kid who is going to be in honors classes to make it there. If so, it will likely be fine. I would never put my kids there but if they were like perfect kids maybe I would reconsider but I would still be uneasy about it. That’s me. I have pretty high standards when it comes to conceptual learning ~ that is ~ I want more than just transactional pass a test learning. Esp after grade school, personally I think it’s too overwhelming socially with 599 kids per grade on each floor.

We are going to however try to get ours back in public for HS.

A lot depends on your kids. ACPS is not a strong public system in total, but Alex is a really great place to be. We would never want to live in Arl or Falls Church or Fairfax. We are city folk. But I would say that by MS you’d be hard pressed to keep kids in public. I did A lOT of research into the various public elementary school systems around NOVA and if you are strictly concerned about academics, run away from Alex public schools. But if it’s more than just that you seek, elementary I think is good enough.

Thank you for this very balanced, kind and honest post & while I agree with much of it, I have to disagree with you about George Mason.

It's not a good school. Math instruction is particularly weak. Good teachers were run off by the previous principal.

Some current teachers are so obsessed with equity that they refuse to help students because that's "not equitable". When they asked a question, my child was told by their math teacher, "too bad. you must not have been paying attention. you'll have to figure it out."

The "grading" is wildly inconsistent since there isn't a standard (this may be more of a ACPS problem). No homework (that's inequitable too). Never saw a test or any classroom work after kinder. Our fourth grade homeroom teacher lied to me for months on an issue and the administration wouldn't provide any resolution. In fact, they didn't seem concerned at all or see an issue.

Friends with kids in other ACPS ES assure me that it isn't like that at their schools.

It's pretty telling that GM had the most departures over the last two years of any ES in ACPS.

I know test scores aren't the end all and be all but check out the proficiency numbers on the VA DOE website over the years, including pre-pandemic. The results are pretty awful.

These are such privileged white family complaints. You want to see what equity really looks like in ACPS? It’s all the white kids leaving for tag and all the brown and black kids staying behind.

Devil’s advocate: what are they supposed to do if the black and brown kids don’t get the CogAT scores to test into TAG?

Not speaking to the so-called privileged complaints. Just noting that TAG will be changing soon. It will not be pull-outs or a segregated separate 4th/5th grade classroom. And it seems that there may no longer be as much reliance on NNAT or CogAT scores for identification purposes. There will be differentiated plans for all students who need accelerated or more challenging material in any subject area and it will be push-in support. For students from underrepresented groups, there will continue to be more after-school or summer support and enrichment.