Anyone else educated by FCPS and sees the decline?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s all about One Fairfax, which is a race to the bottom engineered by politicians like Jeff McKay and Karen Keys Gamarra.

Oh please. One Fairfax has been all talk. There has been no action at all as far as FCPS being treated as "one." Poor schools are literally poorer than they ever have been now reaching record concentrations of 60%+ FARMs. If you're unhappy with your wealthy pyramid, that's all on you.

This.

If you look at the spending per school, FCPS has been channeling increasingly more resources per student to the poorer schools and hiring lots of specialists with "equity" in their job titles. Apparently too much is never enough for you, but then don't complain about the declining school quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from Fairfax County schools. I'm a liberal Democrat. I agree the teaching has gone down hill. On the
Right you have crazy parents complaining about stupid shit like CRT and book banning. On the left you have crazy parents complaining about equity and renaming everything and disassembling AAP/TJ. The kids in the middle suffer because of this nonsense. Period. We pay way too much in taxes to get so little from our schools. I don't blame the teachers who are doing their best. But parents, administrators, the school board are ALL at fault.

I wouldn’t say teachers are blameless. Most of this equity push is overcorrection. People are trying to overcompensate for the sins of the past and the consequences they caused others. If previous generations of teachers hadn’t been so biased and hateful against students with disabilities and minorities, folks wouldnt be demanding so much oversight and accountability now to overcompensate. It’s like when Trump got elected and all the liberals ran out of their minds to the far far left. Hopefully soon we’ll settle down somewhere in the middle.

A lot of it had to do with No Child Left Behind, which led to a focus on accountability measured solely by test scores. Everything flowed downhill and it made the lives of many teachers miserable.

If you're tired of getting constantly dinged for not being a miracle worker, then of course you're going to hop on an "equity" bandwagon if part of that platform is that tests are inherently racist and biased and need to be eliminated or scaled back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What you call a library I call a Socialist Book Repository!

Well said.

Dumbest posters on the thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I'd also point out that, in response to someone's comment about reading an abridged version of the Odyssey, this happened at both a public AND private school that I attended in the 90s, so this is not new unless you classify the mid-90s as "new."

+1

I read the abridged version in the 90s also, as did my freshman in Honors English 9 at a Catholic high school this year. There's only so much time in the school year and it's just one of multiple books they have to get through and take tests on, write essays, do character analysis, etc. I assume honors in public is the same. I don't think this one example is a sign of decline, more that the teacher has to make tradeoffs for how they want to allocate instructional time.

Her younger siblings want to go to Robinson for IB instead of a Catholic school so I'll be able to respond back with a direct comparison in a few years.

Went to Catholic School and graduated in the 90s and we did not read ANY of The Odyssey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the older generations are always doom and gloom about school. My dad is livid that kids aren't learning cursive anymore. I couldn't be happier that it's gone.

I understand the suspicion of quality of snippets, materials cobbled together from online sources, etc., but the reality is that with electronic media there is often no reason to have a textbook. As a college professor, I have moved in the last 15 years from relying primarily on a very popular textbook to teaching my class without a textbook. I've read all 8 or so well-known textbooks in the field and I feel that, through powerpoints and assigned brief readings, I am able to outperform any textbook on the topic (students seem to agree). There is no benefit to reading a 50 page chapter in a bloated book that gets key principles incorrect or has not been updated to reflect changing theories or evidence.

I'd also point out that, in response to someone's comment about reading an abridged version of the Odyssey, this happened at both a public AND private school that I attended in the 90s, so this is not new unless you classify the mid-90s as "new."

Finally, while I have been skeptical of the changes to learning, I don't observe that my oldest son is behind where I and my peers were (in an advanced program) in terms of reading, writing, and math. It seems that students can learn to spell and write without memorizing vocabulary/spelling lists for hours every month. I say this is a wonderful development.

I am not sure what field you are in, but as a Humanities professor, I can say that a shocking number of students these days are extremely weak writers. The lack of explicitly grammar and writing instruction has had a profound effect. Yes, some kids can learn to spell simply by reading but many cannot. And I would argue that most kids cannot earn to write well without being taught. Writing instruction should be organized and systematic and start at the elementary level. I personally don't care about cursive or even much about neatness but teaching grammar, vocabulary, how to construct a sentence, then a paragraph-these are very basic building blocks. Putting a blank paper in front of a third grader, handing him a rubric, and saying it's poetry week is not teaching writing!

I can believe that you may be able to outperform all of the available textbooks, but can all the teachers?? Of course, not. Also, there used to be a value to having a text to go back to and reread, even if it was just s to have all the formulas in one place, all the dates easily accessible, all the verb forms and tenses well-organized. I don't know how kids study these days.

I wasn't educated in FCPS-I went to a private school in Massachusetts. But the education I received was immeasurably superior. The demands were greater, the expectations higher. To give a silly example, my highschooler in honors history has taken only multiple choice tests this year. What a waste of an opportunity to teach a kid to think and write critically, in addition to learn the material. Of course it's a lot easier to correct multiple choice and if you have 30 plus kids in every class, you do what you can to survive.

The biggest failing in FCPS (I can't compare to elsewhere). The writing (and reading, frankly) instructions is really bad. I've worked to fill in some of the gaps but it is still a failing. One big reason is that the teachers do not give writing feedback. They give a grade, they hand over a rubric, and expect kids to know what they did wrong. There's no written feedback, no redlining. As someone who did, and does, a lot of writing in school and in my profession, that sort of feedback is critical. It is the single best way to learn to write well. And it's not being done. (Read through other posts and teachers acknowledge this).

I'm sorry, it's shamefully unacceptable. This is a fundamental skill that kids are not being properly taught.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the older generations are always doom and gloom about school. My dad is livid that kids aren't learning cursive anymore. I couldn't be happier that it's gone.

I understand the suspicion of quality of snippets, materials cobbled together from online sources, etc., but the reality is that with electronic media there is often no reason to have a textbook. As a college professor, I have moved in the last 15 years from relying primarily on a very popular textbook to teaching my class without a textbook. I've read all 8 or so well-known textbooks in the field and I feel that, through powerpoints and assigned brief readings, I am able to outperform any textbook on the topic (students seem to agree). There is no benefit to reading a 50 page chapter in a bloated book that gets key principles incorrect or has not been updated to reflect changing theories or evidence.

I'd also point out that, in response to someone's comment about reading an abridged version of the Odyssey, this happened at both a public AND private school that I attended in the 90s, so this is not new unless you classify the mid-90s as "new."

Finally, while I have been skeptical of the changes to learning, I don't observe that my oldest son is behind where I and my peers were (in an advanced program) in terms of reading, writing, and math. It seems that students can learn to spell and write without memorizing vocabulary/spelling lists for hours every month. I say this is a wonderful development.

I am not sure what field you are in, but as a Humanities professor, I can say that a shocking number of students these days are extremely weak writers. The lack of explicitly grammar and writing instruction has had a profound effect. Yes, some kids can learn to spell simply by reading but many cannot. And I would argue that most kids cannot earn to write well without being taught. Writing instruction should be organized and systematic and start at the elementary level. I personally don't care about cursive or even much about neatness but teaching grammar, vocabulary, how to construct a sentence, then a paragraph-these are very basic building blocks. Putting a blank paper in front of a third grader, handing him a rubric, and saying it's poetry week is not teaching writing!

I can believe that you may be able to outperform all of the available textbooks, but can all the teachers?? Of course, not. Also, there used to be a value to having a text to go back to and reread, even if it was just s to have all the formulas in one place, all the dates easily accessible, all the verb forms and tenses well-organized. I don't know how kids study these days.

I wasn't educated in FCPS-I went to a private school in Massachusetts. But the education I received was immeasurably superior. The demands were greater, the expectations higher. To give a silly example, my highschooler in honors history has taken only multiple choice tests this year. What a waste of an opportunity to teach a kid to think and write critically, in addition to learn the material. Of course it's a lot easier to correct multiple choice and if you have 30 plus kids in every class, you do what you can to survive.

The biggest failing in FCPS (I can't compare to elsewhere). The writing (and reading, frankly) instructions is really bad. I've worked to fill in some of the gaps but it is still a failing. One big reason is that the teachers do not give writing feedback. They give a grade, they hand over a rubric, and expect kids to know what they did wrong. There's no written feedback, no redlining. As someone who did, and does, a lot of writing in school and in my profession, that sort of feedback is critical. It is the single best way to learn to write well. And it's not being done. (Read through other posts and teachers acknowledge this).

I'm sorry, it's shamefully unacceptable. This is a fundamental skill that kids are not being properly taught.

I am not sure the teachers know how to write, so expecting them to do much more than follow a check-the-box rubric may be asking too much.

[Anonymous]

Public schools can only provide a very basic level of education. Don’t expect more and than you won’t be disappointed.

I totally disagree - what a narrow-minded focus.

Many other public school districts outside of FCPS can and are providing a consistent, excellent level of education for their populations. If they weren't, there wouldn't be the land rush on all the Ivies, "Elite" schools etc. etc. Look at application and acceptance stats from any state, nearly every (public and private) university/college. No way the only kids getting into those schools are privately educated.

[Anonymous]

I’ve tried to supplement with the writing but it’s a struggle. Any recommendations on tutors? I don’t see after school writing programs like math.

[Anonymous]

We left FCPS for a more rural part of Virginia, and the quality of our kids' education went up in spades.

In fact, our younger one had to reach really deep initially to catch up on writing, because FCPS hadn't been making the students in her grade do any real writing. This kid went from filling in blanks on worksheets in FCPS to having to compose three-page essays overnight on the same subject matter.

Also, math class moves A LOT faster and is structured differently. This year, our HS freshman is taking geometry but it just became trig and is quickly steaming ahead toward basic calculus concepts by the end of the year.

Our kid's new math, English, and history teachers didn't seem particularly shocked by these learning deficits; it's like it all made sense to them as soon as we mentioned where we had moved from. Just our experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We left FCPS for a more rural part of Virginia, and the quality of our kids' education went up in spades.

In fact, our younger one had to reach really deep initially to catch up on writing, because FCPS hadn't been making the students in her grade do any real writing. This kid went from filling in blanks on worksheets in FCPS to having to compose three-page essays overnight on the same subject matter.

Also, math class moves A LOT faster and is structured differently. This year, our HS freshman is taking geometry but it just became trig and is quickly steaming ahead toward basic calculus concepts by the end of the year.

Our kid's new math, English, and history teachers didn't seem particularly shocked by these learning deficits; it's like it all made sense to them as soon as we mentioned where we had moved from. Just our experience.

I am not impressed with FCPS either but that is not what I've heard about schools in rural Virginia. Which school district is this PP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No meaningful homework. Or graded homework. No novels. Test retakes. Minimum grading for breathing. No discipline allowed. LRE allowing truly troubled kids to become the other children’s responsibility vs the parents. The list goes on and on. Add in the spike of post Covid child behavioral issues. Sad.

The behavior changes are based on trying to reduce the disparity in disipline between blacks and whites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One data point:

My child in Honors 9th grade English at Langley is reading an abridged version of the Odyssey. It’s about 1/3 the length of the original book and the language is simplified.

I read the full book when I was in 9th grade in FCPS and her older cousin also read the full book about 10 years ago in another FCPS high school.

In Greek?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One data point:

My child in Honors 9th grade English at Langley is reading an abridged version of the Odyssey. It’s about 1/3 the length of the original book and the language is simplified.

I read the full book when I was in 9th grade in FCPS and her older cousin also read the full book about 10 years ago in another FCPS high school.

Wow! My 6th grader is reading 2 versions of the Odyssey. She's reading the long version I read in highschool and a graphic novel. She has to write a compare and contrast essay. She's in a private episcopal school.

We're out in rural VA and The Odyssey (original text and abridged) was the first book our freshman read this year back in August. I guess it's a ninth-grade staple in VA publics? Now the kids in class are each reading a different book they picked from a long list and will do a report on it. My kid picked something by TS Eliot, I think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One data point:

My child in Honors 9th grade English at Langley is reading an abridged version of the Odyssey. It’s about 1/3 the length of the original book and the language is simplified.

I read the full book when I was in 9th grade in FCPS and her older cousin also read the full book about 10 years ago in another FCPS high school.

I've heard the reason that middle school classes read excerpts now instead of novels, analyze short passages instead of long ones, is that kids today just don't have the reading ability and stamina that previous children did. When I think of the doorstoppers that I read in grade school and middle school, compared to the books that my bookworm DC reads, I can see that kids today simply cannot read as well as kids used to. The best readers today, compared to the best readers of the past. How do the middling readers compare?

In high school, our teacher gave us a week to read The Fountainhead, which I think is over 1000 pages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We left FCPS for a more rural part of Virginia, and the quality of our kids' education went up in spades.

In fact, our younger one had to reach really deep initially to catch up on writing, because FCPS hadn't been making the students in her grade do any real writing. This kid went from filling in blanks on worksheets in FCPS to having to compose three-page essays overnight on the same subject matter.

Also, math class moves A LOT faster and is structured differently. This year, our HS freshman is taking geometry but it just became trig and is quickly steaming ahead toward basic calculus concepts by the end of the year.

Our kid's new math, English, and history teachers didn't seem particularly shocked by these learning deficits; it's like it all made sense to them as soon as we mentioned where we had moved from. Just our experience.

Name it. Because this is directly contrary to my understanding about the more rural school districts in VA.