I grew up hearing that the NoVA public schools were the best in the state

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:North Arlington. Not FCC. And a number of FCPs in the top 20: McLean, Langley, Woodson, Oakton, Madison, Chantilly, W Springfield certainly come to mind. Several strong Loudoun schools. And TJ of course. The only non- NOVA school that competes is Maggie Walker, the other a Fat Governors school.

Plus the “down ballot schools”— especially those with strong AAP Centers.

There are some very strong schools in VB and Chesapeake.

I would guess Henrico and chesterfield counties as well.

And yes, Prince William County has some strong schools although I guess that counts as NOVA.

PWC has a huge MS-13 problem.

It’s in very isolated parts of PWC. My daughter is in 8th grade and I mentioned ms-13 to her and her friends and they had never heard of it. In fact they have never been exposed to or have any knowledge of gang activity at their school or anywhere they hang out.

[Anonymous]

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Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Just some of the states w stellar public high schools.

Historically, the northern states preceded the southern in education. Sadly, this still persists within some southern states today.


This. There are a lot of transplants from the north in NOVA just used to better quality. I have no idea what the schools are like in Southern Virginia compared to NOVA nor do I care if they aren't noted to be good.

Transplant here. I taught in NY before coming here to teach. I can verify the change. There were much higher standards in NY. The people who say it used to be better are also right to some degree (it really depends on the track and the school now). My experience is that the newer teachers are not the same caliber and have been schooled in monitoring the testing "data". There are some exceptions for sure, but in general this is the trend.

The new teachers don't know how to teach. I don't know if it is because they don't understand their material or for other reasons but they rely heavily on handouts and weekly mini quizzes/quizzes/classworks and tests. Kids spend more time taking tests and quizzes then actually learning.

+1
And working on ridiculous "group projects."

+1 more.
As a teacher, I think technology can be a valuable learning tool, but the group projects - ugh!

[Anonymous]

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Transplant here. I taught in NY before coming here to teach. I can verify the change. There were much higher standards in NY. The people who say it used to be better are also right to some degree (it really depends on the track and the school now). My experience is that the newer teachers are not the same caliber and have been schooled in monitoring the testing "data". There are some exceptions for sure, but in general this is the trend.

The new teachers don't know how to teach. I don't know if it is because they don't understand their material or for other reasons but they rely heavily on handouts and weekly mini quizzes/quizzes/classworks and tests. Kids spend more time taking tests and quizzes then actually learning.

DP. I have wondered about this. Is it because of NCLB? Principals? The way teaching is taught in college? Or just the teachers themselves?

It's my impression that this is not an FCPS issue, and not a not-a-northern-school issue, but is nationwide, to some extent.

In her book, Building a Better Teacher, Elizabeth Green posits that the problem is the way teaching is taught. In the US, teacher's colleges were subsumed by the university system in the 1960s and, thus, the decline began. My (admittedly limited) personal experience supports Green's position. One of my sons had an elementary school teacher from Ireland who went to teacher's college. She was one of the best teachers he ever had.

Now, in Virginia, anyone with a bachelors degree can become a certified teacher by taking a one-semester course. Sadly, I can tell which of my children's teachers took this route almost immediately. They have no idea how to communicate with children. The way they interact with children is no different from the way other adults interact with children.

Being smart does not make one a good teacher. Teaching is an art that is no longer being taught, and we should demand better.

Regarding the bolded, is this true? I looked into it and it was a multi-year endeavor. Do you have any links to the one semester course?

No. This is absolutely not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:
Transplant here. I taught in NY before coming here to teach. I can verify the change. There were much higher standards in NY. The people who say it used to be better are also right to some degree (it really depends on the track and the school now). My experience is that the newer teachers are not the same caliber and have been schooled in monitoring the testing "data". There are some exceptions for sure, but in general this is the trend.

The new teachers don't know how to teach. I don't know if it is because they don't understand their material or for other reasons but they rely heavily on handouts and weekly mini quizzes/quizzes/classworks and tests. Kids spend more time taking tests and quizzes then actually learning.

DP. I have wondered about this. Is it because of NCLB? Principals? The way teaching is taught in college? Or just the teachers themselves?

It's my impression that this is not an FCPS issue, and not a not-a-northern-school issue, but is nationwide, to some extent.

In her book, Building a Better Teacher, Elizabeth Green posits that the problem is the way teaching is taught. In the US, teacher's colleges were subsumed by the university system in the 1960s and, thus, the decline began. My (admittedly limited) personal experience supports Green's position. One of my sons had an elementary school teacher from Ireland who went to teacher's college. She was one of the best teachers he ever had.

Now, in Virginia, anyone with a bachelors degree can become a certified teacher by taking a one-semester course. Sadly, I can tell which of my children's teachers took this route almost immediately. They have no idea how to communicate with children. The way they interact with children is no different from the way other adults interact with children.

Being smart does not make one a good teacher. Teaching is an art that is no longer being taught, and we should demand better.

+1. The interesting part is when they ask you to nominate an excellent teacher at your kid’s school.

[Anonymous]

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I would say that there are more good schools in this area than just Langley, McLean, and Yorktown. YMMV

There's about 8 other Fairfax schools that are better than Yorktown.

I guess you do not understand what better really means.

I'm so entertained by parents trying to debate high school ratings.

[Anonymous]

For every taxpayer dollar NOVA taxpayers pay into the state, NOVA gets only 28cents. Not exactly a great way to keep Northern Virginia schools competitive and thriving.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:
Transplant here. I taught in NY before coming here to teach. I can verify the change. There were much higher standards in NY. The people who say it used to be better are also right to some degree (it really depends on the track and the school now). My experience is that the newer teachers are not the same caliber and have been schooled in monitoring the testing "data". There are some exceptions for sure, but in general this is the trend.

The new teachers don't know how to teach. I don't know if it is because they don't understand their material or for other reasons but they rely heavily on handouts and weekly mini quizzes/quizzes/classworks and tests. Kids spend more time taking tests and quizzes then actually learning.

DP. I have wondered about this. Is it because of NCLB? Principals? The way teaching is taught in college? Or just the teachers themselves?

It's my impression that this is not an FCPS issue, and not a not-a-northern-school issue, but is nationwide, to some extent.

In her book, Building a Better Teacher, Elizabeth Green posits that the problem is the way teaching is taught. In the US, teacher's colleges were subsumed by the university system in the 1960s and, thus, the decline began. My (admittedly limited) personal experience supports Green's position. One of my sons had an elementary school teacher from Ireland who went to teacher's college. She was one of the best teachers he ever had.

Now, in Virginia, anyone with a bachelors degree can become a certified teacher by taking a one-semester course. Sadly, I can tell which of my children's teachers took this route almost immediately. They have no idea how to communicate with children. The way they interact with children is no different from the way other adults interact with children.

Being smart does not make one a good teacher. Teaching is an art that is no longer being taught, and we should demand better.

Regarding the bolded, is this true? I looked into it and it was a multi-year endeavor. Do you have any links to the one semester course?

No. This is absolutely not true.

Truth is you can become a provisionally certified teacher in this way and then you have three years to take the rest of the courses you need to become certified.

[Anonymous]

I don't know why Principals aren't going into classrooms and seeing what's going on. They should be taking responsibility for what is happening in their schools. No movies, for example, not for pure entertainment. Why is that happening? Why does learning stop once SOLs are over. Teachers complaining that they have no time to do anything but teach to the test, and then when they do have time, they show movies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m from central Virginia, and the schools I went to have poor Great Schools ratings. They were also very segregated. We constantly heard that the schools in Northern Virginia were the best in the state. Our teachers told us that we would be competing with the kids up here when it came to getting into college, etc. Now I live up here and I’m looking at schools and reading about them on DC urban mom and it’s not quite as advertised! Where are the super high quality schools? Only in north Arlington, city of Falls Church, and select parts of Fairfax? I have to believe that the rest of the schools up here are fine, especially compared to the ones I grew up in, but when people rave about Northern Virginia schools, are they just talking about those three places?!

My particular schools in loudoun (Sterling) used to be great but ... I won’t say what truly happened because it sounds racist. It’s not about the race (to me). Basically it went from a VERY diverse place, as diverse as possible with every origin represented, to a place represented by mostly one race. And not the rich ones from Miami, or from SA/Mexican cities or suburbs, etc. Construction workers and their children. They’re great people, but in general every one else (except retirees) has fled and the housing and school ‘scores’ have settled in.

It makes me sad because it used to be a lovely town, with construction workers, govt workers, side by side. Now it’s concentrated of one type.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Transplant here. I taught in NY before coming here to teach. I can verify the change. There were much higher standards in NY. The people who say it used to be better are also right to some degree (it really depends on the track and the school now). My experience is that the newer teachers are not the same caliber and have been schooled in monitoring the testing "data". There are some exceptions for sure, but in general this is the trend.

The new teachers don't know how to teach. I don't know if it is because they don't understand their material or for other reasons but they rely heavily on handouts and weekly mini quizzes/quizzes/classworks and tests. Kids spend more time taking tests and quizzes then actually learning.

DP. I have wondered about this. Is it because of NCLB? Principals? The way teaching is taught in college? Or just the teachers themselves?

It's my impression that this is not an FCPS issue, and not a not-a-northern-school issue, but is nationwide, to some extent.

In her book, Building a Better Teacher, Elizabeth Green posits that the problem is the way teaching is taught. In the US, teacher's colleges were subsumed by the university system in the 1960s and, thus, the decline began. My (admittedly limited) personal experience supports Green's position. One of my sons had an elementary school teacher from Ireland who went to teacher's college. She was one of the best teachers he ever had.

Now, in Virginia, anyone with a bachelors degree can become a certified teacher by taking a one-semester course. Sadly, I can tell which of my children's teachers took this route almost immediately. They have no idea how to communicate with children. The way they interact with children is no different from the way other adults interact with children.

Being smart does not make one a good teacher. Teaching is an art that is no longer being taught, and we should demand better.

Regarding the bolded, is this true? I looked into it and it was a multi-year endeavor. Do you have any links to the one semester course?

No. This is absolutely not true.

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/teaching/educator_preparation/career_switcher/index.shtml

It's provisional at first, but I've never heard of anyone losing it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:
Also some good public high schools in the midwest . . . Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois suburban areas.

+1000 western Minneapolis inner (St. Louis Park) and outer (Lake Minnetonka) suburbs, northern Chicago suburbs (New Trier), East Grand Rapids HS and Grosse Pointe South HS in Detroit.

Who cares? This thread is about Northern Virginia schools and how they compare to the rest of the state.

[Anonymous]

OP, Fairfax County is enormous, so people without a better frame of reference equate that with good. No, not good - poorly mismanaged? Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Also some good public high schools in the midwest . . . Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois suburban areas.

+1000 western Minneapolis inner (St. Louis Park) and outer (Lake Minnetonka) suburbs, northern Chicago suburbs (New Trier), East Grand Rapids HS and Grosse Pointe South HS in Detroit.

Who cares? This thread is about Northern Virginia schools and how they compare to the rest of the state.

Np. It's a good point, because people act like FCPS (or the DMV public schools in general) are these untouchable institutions of learning to which no other region of the country could possibly compare...and that's just plain silly and not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools are overall pretty mediocre compared to schools in the Northeast.

Hilarious as if you have any real life experience. Lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Transplant here. I taught in NY before coming here to teach. I can verify the change. There were much higher standards in NY. The people who say it used to be better are also right to some degree (it really depends on the track and the school now). My experience is that the newer teachers are not the same caliber and have been schooled in monitoring the testing "data". There are some exceptions for sure, but in general this is the trend.

The new teachers don't know how to teach. I don't know if it is because they don't understand their material or for other reasons but they rely heavily on handouts and weekly mini quizzes/quizzes/classworks and tests. Kids spend more time taking tests and quizzes then actually learning.

DP. I have wondered about this. Is it because of NCLB? Principals? The way teaching is taught in college? Or just the teachers themselves?

It's my impression that this is not an FCPS issue, and not a not-a-northern-school issue, but is nationwide, to some extent.

In her book, Building a Better Teacher, Elizabeth Green posits that the problem is the way teaching is taught. In the US, teacher's colleges were subsumed by the university system in the 1960s and, thus, the decline began. My (admittedly limited) personal experience supports Green's position. One of my sons had an elementary school teacher from Ireland who went to teacher's college. She was one of the best teachers he ever had.

Now, in Virginia, anyone with a bachelors degree can become a certified teacher by taking a one-semester course. Sadly, I can tell which of my children's teachers took this route almost immediately. They have no idea how to communicate with children. The way they interact with children is no different from the way other adults interact with children.

Being smart does not make one a good teacher. Teaching is an art that is no longer being taught, and we should demand better.

Regarding the bolded, is this true? I looked into it and it was a multi-year endeavor. Do you have any links to the one semester course?

No. This is absolutely not true.

Truth is you can become a provisionally certified teacher in this way and then you have three years to take the rest of the courses you need to become certified.

In Virginia, undergrads who plan on becoming teachers have to major in a specific subject and take an extra year of education classes on top of that. This does not include student teaching. It would be very difficult for a provisional teacher to earn 30 college credits within three years while teaching full time. Very few teachers have provisional licenses and they are usually only hired for critical shortage subjects.