Addressing Teaching Quality and Equity in Education at McLean High School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you the poster who uses Chatbot to air out your grievances like a letter to a politician on McLean/FCPS?

Not sure what you are talking about, but my concern here is that I have to hire a tutor and so do many other families. Makes you wonder if it's teaching quality or parent support that makes this school.

Student success is 80% what families did starting at birth and every single day til the present. It is 20% teaching quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Funny how posters are bringing up other schools when the OP is only talking about McLean.

Because McLean isn’t special in this regard. It’s a government-funded school, with pros and cons in common with others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You really do not get it, OP.

McLean already benefits from so much unearned white/Asian privilege.

No one - especially inside FCPS - is going to take your grievance seriously.

It is very entertaining reading complaining from Mclean parents and responds like above after McLean residents cast their votes in last Nov.

+100
Talk about the Leopard Eating People’s Faces party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny how posters are bringing up other schools when the OP is only talking about McLean.

Because McLean isn’t special in this regard. It’s a government-funded school, with pros and cons in common with others.

But it is special. Better teachers and students/families gravitate there. So, indeed, it is somewhat surprising that the OP's child has such a weak teacher. But this is what you get with unions. Good luck getting rid of the bad teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny how posters are bringing up other schools when the OP is only talking about McLean.

Because McLean isn’t special in this regard. It’s a government-funded school, with pros and cons in common with others.

But it is special. Better teachers and students/families gravitate there. So, indeed, it is somewhat surprising that the OP's child has such a weak teacher. But this is what you get with unions. Good luck getting rid of the bad teachers.

Richer families with more $ and resources?, Yes. Better? Umm, no. And I’m not sure about the teachers being better PP. The better scores and results are from family SES, not the teaching.

[Anonymous]

I assume the tutor is able to provide instruction 1:1, is that correct? As much as the teacher may try she won’t be able to provide that much attention and remediation. It’s not surprising to me that you are seeing more progress when instructed 1:1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I see lots of people saying no one should complain because of the privilege skewing things at McLean, and I get it. That said, I have a an 8th graders at Longfellow now and I'd say a 1/4 of his teachers over the 2 years have been there for many years and are phoning it in with no one questioning their poor organization, tired lessons, and lazy teaching because of the perception of "excellence." Scores here - and I presume at McLean, we'll see soon! - are absolutely padded by families supplementing at lot with at-home help and tutors.

So if 75% are not consider yourself fortunate.

Wow. Since your expectations are so low, I wonder why you're on this board at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I assume the tutor is able to provide instruction 1:1, is that correct? As much as the teacher may try she won’t be able to provide that much attention and remediation. It’s not surprising to me that you are seeing more progress when instructed 1:1.

THIS!!! As a former teacher and tutor, I always got much better results with working with a single child. Tutoring is a customized service. The tutor goes at your child’s pace, focuses on his or her weakest areas, and ensures proficiency on every single micro skill. Of course the child is going to learn more with the tutor.

Teaching is a complex and exhausting profession. I make exactly the same paycheck in a different, less stressful career. I miss the profession, but threads like this remind me why I got out. SMH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm reaching out to share a concern and seek your insights. At McLean High School, known for its excellence, we've encountered a situation where our child's performance in two subjects did not improve until we hired private tutors, despite months of trying to work with the teachers. This drastic change from Ds and Fs to As has raised serious questions about the teaching effectiveness and the reliance on external tutoring for academic success.

It's troubling that success in these subjects seems contingent upon additional tutoring, which not all families can afford. This disparity begs the question: Why aren't teachers who consistently underperform held accountable, and how can we ensure all students have equal opportunities to succeed without external help?

I believe it's crucial for our community to discuss these issues and advocate for a fair, high-quality educational experience for all students.

Maybe your child is in classes that they shouldn't be in if they require tutoring and extra hours studying? Not every kid needs to be in AP and Honors classes for every subject. It sound slike your child is capable of doing the work but needs a lot of extra support.

If that was the case why would tutoring fix the situation and same for other peers? Does it seem like a teaching problem?

We have no idea what the grade distribution is in the class that you are discussing, you don't have an idea of what the grade distribution looks like. You probably know how a few kids are doing because they are friends of your kid. I would be more prone to look at the Teacher if there was a class where 1/4 or more kids were struggling but I am not going to put it on the Teacher if a few kids are struggling.

Has your child worked with the Teacher during office hours and still isn't understanding the material? If so then it might be a difference in how the Teacher presents the material and how your child learns. Have you seen the emails from your child to the Teacher asking for help? Have you seen emails from your child to the Teacher trying to better understand the material? Have you checked to see that your child is turning in that material? If not, start there. If the Teacher isn't responding to your child, talk to the Department Chair.

It could be that your child needs the extra support to understand the material for the class. It could be that your child needs the extra support to move at the pace that the class is moving at. It could be that the Tutor is effectively forcing your child to study when before they were not or maybe they are helping your child study more effectively. It could also be that the Teacher is awful, that does happen but it is normally not the case.

What are the ways parents can provide feedback about a teacher where 1/4 of the students are struggling? Is there a way to get that information so we can make the case for concerns with the teacher? These are all public servant so this information shouldn't be hidden.

The school isn't going to share information about teacher's performance with parents, as I am sure you wouldn't want your work performance being publicly shared.

If there is a problem that isn't being addressed reach out to the school admin. If they get enough complaints they will see it is a problem.

[Anonymous]

Which subjects?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most kids have outside tutors at Mclean. It's expensive, but that's what you are going to have to do to compete.

Same at Langley. It’s cheaper than private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids have outside tutors at Mclean. It's expensive, but that's what you are going to have to do to compete.

if this is the case do teachers just grade the papers and rely on the tutors to teach? That's how it feels for some of these teachers however some don't even grade and submit he grades on time. Maybe they are overwhelmed and need more help?

This is the nature of the high income parents here in Mclean. The kids have tutors from early grades to give them a leg up. kids also have other enrichment camps and clinics and travel in the summer. All of this raises the bar at Mclean. Also most kids get study drugs. Get your kid a tutor and stop trying to get extra help from the teacher. You will probably need an SAT prep course too. Tutors, drugs, camps, prep. That's how Mclean rolls.

I would venture to guess OPs real problem is that she wants her child to be able to compete with the other high achieving kids at McLean but the kid just isn't cut out for HN or AP level in that particular course. And instead of actually acknowledging that, she's blaming the teacher. If your kid can't hack it in an HN or AP class without tutors or high levels of extra one-on-one support, it's too hard for them. And many FCPS parents need to learn that that is ok.

it’s horrifying to see how many students need tutoring at the elementary level. I’m not from this state, but this was not going on in other states that we lived in. The teaching is quite poor at the elementary level, too, in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Sad to read this about McLean. The problem is exaggerated there because you have rich parents who are gunning for Top 10 schools and get frustrated when CNU and ODU are their real choices by senior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sad to read this about McLean. The problem is exaggerated there because you have rich parents who are gunning for Top 10 schools and get frustrated when CNU and ODU are their real choices by senior year.

Very few McLean kids go to ODU and the small percentage of kids going to CNU typically are happy with that decision. Conversely, the percentages going to top 10 schools and UVA/VT/W&M are as high as any school in FCPS besides TJ.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if part of the issue at a school like McLean is that a decent percentage, it would be hard to know exactly how many, of kids have been attending enrichment and those kids pick up the concepts in a class quickly because they have seen it before or because they know the old material cold. The Teacher moves at the pace set by those kids. The kids who did not go to enrichment and are less well versed in the material end up struggling.

I am thinking about math in particular. DS attends RSM, he started to do so in 3rd grade with distance learning and math being a joke. He liked it so he has continued, he is in 6th grade now. He ended up joining RSMs math competition class because it was fun. Math Honors at RSM moves too slowly for him because he has seen many of the concepts being taught in that class in his math competition class but there are sections in his Math Honors class that have been extended by a week or two because he peers are struggling with them. I can imagine a similar situation playing out in a HS math classroom except if half of the class has been in math enrichment since ES, they would all be picking up the new material quickly and the Teacher is moving at that pace.

The parents worrying about tutors in MS and HS are the parents that choose not to do enrichment in ES. An understandable choice, I get prioritizing other activities, but the long term effect is that their kids are now effectively behind the percentage that choose enrichment. Now the AP classes are a struggle for some kids because there is another group that has already seen the material.

Meaning, it isn’t the Teachers fault and thye tutor is effectively an attempt to even the playing field.