Is Western high school going to be sought after?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Luckily, “FARMS” is not contagious, so if your family has a good income, your kid will most likely do well despite higher FARMS percentage of students at a school. They might also get first “dibs” in leadership positions and athletic teams.

It negatively impacts the learning environment. Schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. If 25% of the students are below grade level, teachers waste alot of time trying to bring students up to grade level and neglect the higher performing students.

This doesn’t affect high schools as much when there are regular, honors and AP classes. The cohort of high achieving students is smaller at high FARMS schools, but the classes still follow the same fcps curriculum, and the students take the same AP exams. The high school might only offer two AP Lit sections instead of ten, but the coursework is the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Luckily, “FARMS” is not contagious, so if your family has a good income, your kid will most likely do well despite higher FARMS percentage of students at a school. They might also get first “dibs” in leadership positions and athletic teams.

It negatively impacts the learning environment. Schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. If 25% of the students are below grade level, teachers waste alot of time trying to bring students up to grade level and neglect the higher performing students.

This doesn’t affect high schools as much when there are regular, honors and AP classes. The cohort of high achieving students is smaller at high FARMS schools, but the classes still follow the same fcps curriculum, and the students take the same AP exams. The high school might only offer two AP Lit sections instead of ten, but the coursework is the same.

Unfortunately, the high FARMS schools tend to be IB schools.

[Anonymous]

We avoid high FARMS schools like the plague. Luckily, I know which ones to avoid and made sure to eliminate houses that fed into them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Luckily, “FARMS” is not contagious, so if your family has a good income, your kid will most likely do well despite higher FARMS percentage of students at a school. They might also get first “dibs” in leadership positions and athletic teams.

It negatively impacts the learning environment. Schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. If 25% of the students are below grade level, teachers waste alot of time trying to bring students up to grade level and neglect the higher performing students.

This doesn’t affect high schools as much when there are regular, honors and AP classes. The cohort of high achieving students is smaller at high FARMS schools, but the classes still follow the same fcps curriculum, and the students take the same AP exams. The high school might only offer two AP Lit sections instead of ten, but the coursework is the same.

+1
And, I disagree with PP who said that schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. Even in elementary school, that does not happen, and there are Honors classes offered in middle school.

As an elementary teacher, I taught a very wide span of achievers. It can be done. Ever heard of reading groups? The lowest achievers usually get additional help from specialists, so that helps. But, claiming that the teachers teach to the lowest denominator is flat wrong.
Of course, we all know that socio-economics makes a difference, but even in the poorest communities you find shining stars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Luckily, “FARMS” is not contagious, so if your family has a good income, your kid will most likely do well despite higher FARMS percentage of students at a school. They might also get first “dibs” in leadership positions and athletic teams.

It negatively impacts the learning environment. Schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. If 25% of the students are below grade level, teachers waste alot of time trying to bring students up to grade level and neglect the higher performing students.

This doesn’t affect high schools as much when there are regular, honors and AP classes. The cohort of high achieving students is smaller at high FARMS schools, but the classes still follow the same fcps curriculum, and the students take the same AP exams. The high school might only offer two AP Lit sections instead of ten, but the coursework is the same.

+1
And, I disagree with PP who said that schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. Even in elementary school, that does not happen, and there are Honors classes offered in middle school.

As an elementary teacher, I taught a very wide span of achievers. It can be done. Ever heard of reading groups? The lowest achievers usually get additional help from specialists, so that helps. But, claiming that the teachers teach to the lowest denominator is flat wrong.
Of course, we all know that socio-economics makes a difference, but even in the poorest communities you find shining stars.

DP. This is our 3rd year in FCPS, and my 4th and 1st grader have always answered NO/HUH/WHAT when I ask if they have a reading group at school. Whether that's true or not remains to be seen, but I've never heard anything from any teacher about any sort of reading groups either, to be fair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Luckily, “FARMS” is not contagious, so if your family has a good income, your kid will most likely do well despite higher FARMS percentage of students at a school. They might also get first “dibs” in leadership positions and athletic teams.

It negatively impacts the learning environment. Schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. If 25% of the students are below grade level, teachers waste alot of time trying to bring students up to grade level and neglect the higher performing students.

This doesn’t affect high schools as much when there are regular, honors and AP classes. The cohort of high achieving students is smaller at high FARMS schools, but the classes still follow the same fcps curriculum, and the students take the same AP exams. The high school might only offer two AP Lit sections instead of ten, but the coursework is the same.

+1
And, I disagree with PP who said that schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. Even in elementary school, that does not happen, and there are Honors classes offered in middle school.

As an elementary teacher, I taught a very wide span of achievers. It can be done. Ever heard of reading groups? The lowest achievers usually get additional help from specialists, so that helps. But, claiming that the teachers teach to the lowest denominator is flat wrong.
Of course, we all know that socio-economics makes a difference, but even in the poorest communities you find shining stars.

DP. This is our 3rd year in FCPS, and my 4th and 1st grader have always answered NO/HUH/WHAT when I ask if they have a reading group at school. Whether that's true or not remains to be seen, but I've never heard anything from any teacher about any sort of reading groups either, to be fair.

I was the one who brought up reading groups. I admit that I am a dinosaur and have not taught in some years. Hopefully, with the "Science of Reading" (which is NOT new--good teachers have always known the way to teach kids to read), they will go back to reading groups. It may not be perfect, but it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Luckily, “FARMS” is not contagious, so if your family has a good income, your kid will most likely do well despite higher FARMS percentage of students at a school. They might also get first “dibs” in leadership positions and athletic teams.

It negatively impacts the learning environment. Schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. If 25% of the students are below grade level, teachers waste alot of time trying to bring students up to grade level and neglect the higher performing students.

Western is going to have the same population as Carson minus some of the AAP kids. HOWEVER - my Carson kid is NOT in AAP and therefore has no classes with the AAP kids, which means that my kid at Western will be with the same kids she's with now at Carson in regular and honors classes. She's had zero problems with the students at Carson in any of her classes and will likely have zero problems with those same students in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Luckily, “FARMS” is not contagious, so if your family has a good income, your kid will most likely do well despite higher FARMS percentage of students at a school. They might also get first “dibs” in leadership positions and athletic teams.

It negatively impacts the learning environment. Schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. If 25% of the students are below grade level, teachers waste alot of time trying to bring students up to grade level and neglect the higher performing students.

This doesn’t affect high schools as much when there are regular, honors and AP classes. The cohort of high achieving students is smaller at high FARMS schools, but the classes still follow the same fcps curriculum, and the students take the same AP exams. The high school might only offer two AP Lit sections instead of ten, but the coursework is the same.

+1
And, I disagree with PP who said that schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. Even in elementary school, that does not happen, and there are Honors classes offered in middle school.

As an elementary teacher, I taught a very wide span of achievers. It can be done. Ever heard of reading groups? The lowest achievers usually get additional help from specialists, so that helps. But, claiming that the teachers teach to the lowest denominator is flat wrong.
Of course, we all know that socio-economics makes a difference, but even in the poorest communities you find shining stars.

DP. This is our 3rd year in FCPS, and my 4th and 1st grader have always answered NO/HUH/WHAT when I ask if they have a reading group at school. Whether that's true or not remains to be seen, but I've never heard anything from any teacher about any sort of reading groups either, to be fair.

I was the one who brought up reading groups. I admit that I am a dinosaur and have not taught in some years. Hopefully, with the "Science of Reading" (which is NOT new--good teachers have always known the way to teach kids to read), they will go back to reading groups. It may not be perfect, but it works.

Um, no, reading groups are very Lucy Calkins. We don't want reading groups. All of our kids are using Benchmark right now, which is probably 2-3 grade levels higher than the curriculum kids were being taught at every grade just 3 years ago. The kids who are not doing as well don't have special reading groups anymore, they get pull outs with other teachers or with the "high impact tutors". It's much better now than it used to be -- speaking as a parent of a current middle schooler who was taught using the old method and current 3rd grader who is being taught using the new method. 3rd grader is doing SO MUCH more now than my older child did at the same age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Luckily, “FARMS” is not contagious, so if your family has a good income, your kid will most likely do well despite higher FARMS percentage of students at a school. They might also get first “dibs” in leadership positions and athletic teams.

It negatively impacts the learning environment. Schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. If 25% of the students are below grade level, teachers waste alot of time trying to bring students up to grade level and neglect the higher performing students.

Western is going to have the same population as Carson minus some of the AAP kids. HOWEVER - my Carson kid is NOT in AAP and therefore has no classes with the AAP kids, which means that my kid at Western will be with the same kids she's with now at Carson in regular and honors classes. She's had zero problems with the students at Carson in any of her classes and will likely have zero problems with those same students in high school.

And, Western will also have the addition of non-AAP Oak Hill kids and the Oak Hill kids who chose to go to Franklin for AAP.
It should be a very good school.

[Anonymous]

Western is going to be opt in special track and Oak Hill and maybe Floris (my prediction) and will be a powerhouse academically. I don’t think the traditional boundaries will go far beyond those two schools once the opts ins are counted. Sports who knows - anyone picking a school for sports as a primary reason has different priorities than those who are opting in to Western though it would be nice to have decent sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Luckily, “FARMS” is not contagious, so if your family has a good income, your kid will most likely do well despite higher FARMS percentage of students at a school. They might also get first “dibs” in leadership positions and athletic teams.

It negatively impacts the learning environment. Schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. If 25% of the students are below grade level, teachers waste alot of time trying to bring students up to grade level and neglect the higher performing students.

This doesn’t affect high schools as much when there are regular, honors and AP classes. The cohort of high achieving students is smaller at high FARMS schools, but the classes still follow the same fcps curriculum, and the students take the same AP exams. The high school might only offer two AP Lit sections instead of ten, but the coursework is the same.

+1
And, I disagree with PP who said that schools have to teach to the lowest common denominator. Even in elementary school, that does not happen, and there are Honors classes offered in middle school.

As an elementary teacher, I taught a very wide span of achievers. It can be done. Ever heard of reading groups? The lowest achievers usually get additional help from specialists, so that helps. But, claiming that the teachers teach to the lowest denominator is flat wrong.
Of course, we all know that socio-economics makes a difference, but even in the poorest communities you find shining stars.

DP. This is our 3rd year in FCPS, and my 4th and 1st grader have always answered NO/HUH/WHAT when I ask if they have a reading group at school. Whether that's true or not remains to be seen, but I've never heard anything from any teacher about any sort of reading groups either, to be fair.

I was the one who brought up reading groups. I admit that I am a dinosaur and have not taught in some years. Hopefully, with the "Science of Reading" (which is NOT new--good teachers have always known the way to teach kids to read), they will go back to reading groups. It may not be perfect, but it works.

Um, no, reading groups are very Lucy Calkins. We don't want reading groups. All of our kids are using Benchmark right now, which is probably 2-3 grade levels higher than the curriculum kids were being taught at every grade just 3 years ago. The kids who are not doing as well don't have special reading groups anymore, they get pull outs with other teachers or with the "high impact tutors". It's much better now than it used to be -- speaking as a parent of a current middle schooler who was taught using the old method and current 3rd grader who is being taught using the new method. 3rd grader is doing SO MUCH more now than my older child did at the same age.

Reading groups are a grouping based on levels. Classroom teachers used them successfully for years. I speak from experience. It is just a way to be sure all are moving forward. I never used Lucy Calkins. Phonics is not a new invention. Sadly, FCPS ignored it, apparently..

[Anonymous]

My son had a reading group, it met with the teacher when she wasn’t working with the kids in the lower reading groups. Otherwise they read and answered worksheets and then drew or colored or read on their own. He didn’t work with the teacher in LA much through ES because he was above grade level, not by much but technically above grade level.

There are not enough reading specialists to help the kids who are behind. We refuse to hold kids back when they are not on grade level. I can see advancing a K or 1st grade kid who is struggling with reading, some kids don’t pick it up until 2nd grade. But a kid not reading by the end of 2nd grade needs to not be promoted. Mississippi started doing this in 3rd grade and it has made a huge difference.

I doubt that a kid who is struggling in school is all that confident when they stay with their peer group but knows that they are in the remedial group, and the kids know. Staying back a year and learning the foundation that you need to succeed in every class is necessary.

[Anonymous]

Did anyone go to the open house this weekend? Anything new?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to the open house this weekend? Anything new?

It is tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did anyone go to the open house this weekend? Anything new?

Nothing new that I could see. They had people on hand to discuss sports, clubs, transportation, and academics. There were a good number of folks to have the conversation so people were able to ask their questions. And then it was just walking around the school to see what it looked like.

They said that they had three sessions that needed to end on time to clear out the parking for the next session. It sounded like there were about 1,800 people registered to attend, they expected full parking lots and there are 600 parking spaces.

Overall, the people who were there were positive and looking to answer as many questions and take suggestions.