Is FCPS overhyped? even top rated schools seem meh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

An example of correlation, not causation.

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

What does it still do well?

Most of my kids' teachers have been very good. And the schools offer lots of courses and extra-curricular opportunities that most schools around the country cannot and do not offer.

[Anonymous]

I have been very happy with FCPS. I have two kids in college right now, who went in well-prepared and are kicking a$$. One is graduating a year early; the other is graduating with a double degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I see, thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

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

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

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

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

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

My relatives in suburban Kansas City got a much better education than here. There are definitely parts of the midwest (New Trier in IL also springs to mind) with sneaky good schools.

Northbrook, IL. All the wealthy Chicago suburbs have AMAZING schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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

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

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

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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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

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

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

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

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

My relatives in suburban Kansas City got a much better education than here. There are definitely parts of the midwest (New Trier in IL also springs to mind) with sneaky good schools.

Northbrook, IL. All the wealthy Chicago suburbs have AMAZING schools.

Sweetie, FCPS has high schools twice the size of ALL the school aged kids in that district.
This is like comparing half of McLean to all of FCPS. It isn’t the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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

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

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

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

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

My relatives in suburban Kansas City got a much better education than here. There are definitely parts of the midwest (New Trier in IL also springs to mind) with sneaky good schools.

Northbrook, IL. All the wealthy Chicago suburbs have AMAZING schools.

Sweetie, FCPS has high schools twice the size of ALL the school aged kids in that district.
This is like comparing half of McLean to all of FCPS. It isn’t the same.

DP. I think you stepped in it, there. The high schools that serve Glenbrook are FCPS sized (Glenbrook North) or bigger (Glenbrook South).

The issue isn't the size of the high schools but the size of the district. There are also going to be people who wish Fairfax wasn't a county-wide system but instead only served smaller, wealthier parts of the county. Were that ever to happen, the size of the districts would be much smaller and less bureaucratic.

But every few years members of both parties in the state legislature renew the moratorium on the incorporation of new cities in Virginia, so it's a pipe dream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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

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

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

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

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

My relatives in suburban Kansas City got a much better education than here. There are definitely parts of the midwest (New Trier in IL also springs to mind) with sneaky good schools.

Northbrook, IL. All the wealthy Chicago suburbs have AMAZING schools.

Sweetie, FCPS has high schools twice the size of ALL the school aged kids in that district.
This is like comparing half of McLean to all of FCPS. It isn’t the same.

DP. I think you stepped in it, there. The high schools that serve Glenbrook are FCPS sized (Glenbrook North) or bigger (Glenbrook South).

The issue isn't the size of the high schools but the size of the district. There are also going to be people who wish Fairfax wasn't a county-wide system but instead only served smaller, wealthier parts of the county. Were that ever to happen, the size of the districts would be much smaller and less bureaucratic.

But every few years members of both parties in the state legislature renew the moratorium on the incorporation of new cities in Virginia, so it's a pipe dream.

^ Sorry, the two Glenbrook schools serve Northbrook, IL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

An example of correlation, not causation.

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

What does it still do well?

Most of my kids' teachers have been very good. And the schools offer lots of courses and extra-curricular opportunities that most schools around the country cannot and do not offer.

There are very good teachers everywhere. There are also lots of courses and extra-curricular opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

An example of correlation, not causation.

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

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

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

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

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

Niche ranks Arlington as #2, Loudoun as #4 and Fairfax as #6 for VA school districts.

US news rates, Loudoun#60 in the U.S., Arlington: #93 in the U.S Fairfax: #128 in the U.S.

So.. idk maybe that also supports what I’m saying. So thank you.

Also keep in mind TJ is a governors school, so Fairfax is behind even with the boost of the highest scorers from LCPS and APS added to FCPS.

And when you look at the SAT data, keep in mind TJ is pulling the county up by A LOT

The last year I think they released the data was 2021. The average SAT score from TJ was 1531. The FCPS average (with the boost from TJ included) was 1201.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

An example of correlation, not causation.

+1. It correlates with HHI and also with parents tutoring outside school - despite FCPS wasting tons of money on Gatehouse and failing to support teachers working in classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

An example of correlation, not causation.

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

What does it still do well?

Most of my kids' teachers have been very good. And the schools offer lots of courses and extra-curricular opportunities that most schools around the country cannot and do not offer.

There are very good teachers everywhere. There are also lots of courses and extra-curricular opportunities.

Everywhere? Some districts offer very few options. I know of districts that offer only one foreign language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

An example of correlation, not causation.

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

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

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

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

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

Niche ranks Arlington as #2, Loudoun as #4 and Fairfax as #6 for VA school districts.

US news rates, Loudoun#60 in the U.S., Arlington: #93 in the U.S Fairfax: #128 in the U.S.

So.. idk maybe that also supports what I’m saying. So thank you.

Also keep in mind TJ is a governors school, so Fairfax is behind even with the boost of the highest scorers from LCPS and APS added to FCPS.

And when you look at the SAT data, keep in mind TJ is pulling the county up by A LOT

The last year I think they released the data was 2021. The average SAT score from TJ was 1531. The FCPS average (with the boost from TJ included) was 1201.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia

8 out of 10 of the VA's best high schools are FFX County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

An example of correlation, not causation.

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

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

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

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

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

Niche ranks Arlington as #2, Loudoun as #4 and Fairfax as #6 for VA school districts.

US news rates, Loudoun#60 in the U.S., Arlington: #93 in the U.S Fairfax: #128 in the U.S.

So.. idk maybe that also supports what I’m saying. So thank you.

Also keep in mind TJ is a governors school, so Fairfax is behind even with the boost of the highest scorers from LCPS and APS added to FCPS.

And when you look at the SAT data, keep in mind TJ is pulling the county up by A LOT

The last year I think they released the data was 2021. The average SAT score from TJ was 1531. The FCPS average (with the boost from TJ included) was 1201.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia

8 out of 10 of the VA's best high schools are FFX County.

It’s 7, not 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

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

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

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

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

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

My relatives in suburban Kansas City got a much better education than here. There are definitely parts of the midwest (New Trier in IL also springs to mind) with sneaky good schools.

Northbrook, IL. All the wealthy Chicago suburbs have AMAZING schools.

Sweetie, FCPS has high schools twice the size of ALL the school aged kids in that district.
This is like comparing half of McLean to all of FCPS. It isn’t the same.

DP. I think you stepped in it, there. The high schools that serve Glenbrook are FCPS sized (Glenbrook North) or bigger (Glenbrook South).

The issue isn't the size of the high schools but the size of the district. There are also going to be people who wish Fairfax wasn't a county-wide system but instead only served smaller, wealthier parts of the county. Were that ever to happen, the size of the districts would be much smaller and less bureaucratic.

But every few years members of both parties in the state legislature renew the moratorium on the incorporation of new cities in Virginia, so it's a pipe dream.

It amounts to the same point I was making. When you have a district the size of a high school (or two) it keeps wealth in a very small area. So basically you are just measuring only a top performing FCPS school and not the entire district with rich and poor areas sharing wealth.

Many places are like this. Personally, I’m proud of the fact that we share the wealth in FCPS as far as schools are concerned. Wanting to keep all the wealth concentrated when trying to help better children and society goes against my morals.