Robyn Lady Wants to Eliminate AP in FCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to Lady’s platform when running for a School Board seat:
…”In addition to her work in Fairfax County Public Schools, Robyn owns a small business that helps students and their families navigate the complicated and highly competitive college admissions process”…

https://www.robynlady.com/issues

Therefore, she knows better than most that AP classes are a path for college admissions. So, why would she advise against them? Apparently, Lady is either proposing removal of AP classes in FCPS, which will be a disservice to high achieving students, or she may intend to do so in order to lower the curve to benefit her lower achieving clients. Whatever be the case, let’s hope her real motive does not represent a conflict of interest between her business and her position with the school board.

I can't imagine being so clueless about college admissions that I'd turn to Robyn Lady for help.

As far as I can tell, she just helped build the master schedule at Chantilly and served as a gatekeeper to keep out some kids who wanted to pupil place there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to Lady’s platform when running for a School Board seat:
…”In addition to her work in Fairfax County Public Schools, Robyn owns a small business that helps students and their families navigate the complicated and highly competitive college admissions process”…

https://www.robynlady.com/issues

Therefore, she knows better than most that AP classes are a path for college admissions. So, why would she advise against them? Apparently, Lady is either proposing removal of AP classes in FCPS, which will be a disservice to high achieving students, or she may intend to do so in order to lower the curve to benefit her lower achieving clients. Whatever be the case, let’s hope her real motive does not represent a conflict of interest between her business and her position with the school board.

I think she has been reading or talking to someone who works for Cambridge. I doubt this is to help her "lower achieving clients."
Like Reid, she may just be attracted to the "new, shiny thing."

I suspect that she went to a convention and had someone sell her on this idea. Vendors frequently try to convince people that what they are selling is the answer.
I taught school and went to a number of workshops and conventions. It's easy to fall in the trap. They love to swing the pendulum. And, that is what I suspect this is. Swinging the pendulum.

We don't need to swing this one. What works? Good, solid instruction. Right now, AP seems to be the best and most tested choice. Let's stick with that.

I hope Lady was just throwing out ideas. She was likely sold a bill of goods by a vendor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to Lady’s platform when running for a School Board seat:
…”In addition to her work in Fairfax County Public Schools, Robyn owns a small business that helps students and their families navigate the complicated and highly competitive college admissions process”…

https://www.robynlady.com/issues

Therefore, she knows better than most that AP classes are a path for college admissions. So, why would she advise against them? Apparently, Lady is either proposing removal of AP classes in FCPS, which will be a disservice to high achieving students, or she may intend to do so in order to lower the curve to benefit her lower achieving clients. Whatever be the case, let’s hope her real motive does not represent a conflict of interest between her business and her position with the school board.

I can't imagine being so clueless about college admissions that I'd turn to Robyn Lady for help.

As far as I can tell, she just helped build the master schedule at Chantilly and served as a gatekeeper to keep out some kids who wanted to pupil place there.

So, she no longer owns a college prep business?

[Anonymous]

She....sounds stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to Lady’s platform when running for a School Board seat:
…”In addition to her work in Fairfax County Public Schools, Robyn owns a small business that helps students and their families navigate the complicated and highly competitive college admissions process”…

https://www.robynlady.com/issues

Therefore, she knows better than most that AP classes are a path for college admissions. So, why would she advise against them? Apparently, Lady is either proposing removal of AP classes in FCPS, which will be a disservice to high achieving students, or she may intend to do so in order to lower the curve to benefit her lower achieving clients. Whatever be the case, let’s hope her real motive does not represent a conflict of interest between her business and her position with the school board.

I can't imagine being so clueless about college admissions that I'd turn to Robyn Lady for help.

As far as I can tell, she just helped build the master schedule at Chantilly and served as a gatekeeper to keep out some kids who wanted to pupil place there.

So, she no longer owns a college prep business?

Maybe as a School Board member. I'm guessing that she did it as the Student Services Coordinator before she was elected to School Board. Don't know about "gatekeeper" for pupil placement. But, some schools definitely need one.

I'm not a fan, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I support eliminating AP in FCPS. When a class is built around one national exam in May, the whole year bends toward that one and only finish line. Teachers feel the clock, units get rushed, and kids learn to chase coverage instead of wrestling with ideas. You get fewer long labs and no extended writing projects because those take time. That’s not a knock on our teachers, its just what the AP pacing guide demands. If FCPS were to ditch the AP exam treadmill, we can slow down and ask students to produce REAL work like papers, data analyses, product design and performances. This would allow students to actually learn how to think vs just learning how to just recall under a stopwatch.

Also, the research on AP for college prep is pretty dim. High scores do not correlate with better outcomes because those students never really learned the material. Simply sitting in an AP seat doesn’t move the needle much. FCPS can build equally rigorous advanced courses that are writing and analysis heavy, with capstones and move away from just enriching the College Board.

If students were not learning the material, colleges would not be granting credit.

When colleges are $40,000/year for the "cheap" schools and almost $100 000/year for the expensive schools, FCPS needs to stick with the program that gives grads the best outcome on receiving college credit, which is far and away AP.

There is no comparison. Paying money for any program like IB or whatever this Cambridge program is, is a complete waste of taxpayer money. The school board would be more fiscally responsible if they were sitting on the steps of gatehouse lighting cash on fire to roast marshmallows, than switching from AP to some European program that does not have the portability across the US and outcome in college credits that AB provides.

Actually the best program for college credit is dual enrollment.

No, it is not.

Dual enrollment has lower expectations than AP and has zero value to our many transient students, such as our military population, and is only helpful if the students attend in state schools.

Dual enrollment is helpful for the lower tier schools, and the B range kids, and definitely better than IB.

But AP is far superior than DE.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would fully support eliminating AP and instead increasing DE classes.

De only works for in state kids and is useless for transient kids like military

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would fully support eliminating AP and instead increasing DE classes.

Did you mean to say eliminate IB and make all high schools AP fpr the most rigorous curticulum, with DE for a useful but lighter level class?

I think most parents could get behind no IB and just AP with DE as a supplement

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would fully support eliminating AP and instead increasing DE classes.

+1

DE really is a solid but overlooked option.

GMU and NOVA DE classes aren’t rigorous. AP classes are more challenging and interesting.

This.

My kids have taken both.

DE is well known to be less demanding or rigorous than AP, and as a great class option for B kids looking for a challenge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would fully support eliminating AP and instead increasing DE classes.

+1

DE really is a solid but overlooked option.

GMU and NOVA DE classes aren’t rigorous. AP classes are more challenging and interesting.

You have no basis to make this claim, and “interesting” or “challenging” don’t make a justification for AP or DE. The entire point of AP is college credit. Dual enrollment accomplishes that without relying on an expensive corporate testing scheme.

Dual enrollment is not useful if your kid is going to a private or out of state university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would fully support eliminating AP and instead increasing DE classes.

+1

DE really is a solid but overlooked option.

GMU and NOVA DE classes aren’t rigorous. AP classes are more challenging and interesting.

You do realize that the teachers teaching AP classes have less credentials than those teaching DE classes? Thats the challenge with DE: getting qualified teachers.

But, sure, AP has done a better job branding itself as the go to thing.

All of our kids have taken those classes.

AP is by far more challenging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Robyn Lady said at the work session on KAA yesterday that she wants to eliminate AP in FCPS because it's too expensive.

What exactly does she want to replace AP with - clearly she doesn't want to replace it with IB, which she knows is even more expensive - and how would this serve FCPS students?

Robyn Lady is a quack job that should have never been elected. Now we're stuck with her! The entire Board is a $hit$how act and it's getting worse by the year. I really wish it could swing back to the other side already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to Lady’s platform when running for a School Board seat:
…”In addition to her work in Fairfax County Public Schools, Robyn owns a small business that helps students and their families navigate the complicated and highly competitive college admissions process”…

https://www.robynlady.com/issues

Therefore, she knows better than most that AP classes are a path for college admissions. So, why would she advise against them? Apparently, Lady is either proposing removal of AP classes in FCPS, which will be a disservice to high achieving students, or she may intend to do so in order to lower the curve to benefit her lower achieving clients. Whatever be the case, let’s hope her real motive does not represent a conflict of interest between her business and her position with the school board.

I think she has been reading or talking to someone who works for Cambridge. I doubt this is to help her "lower achieving clients."
Like Reid, she may just be attracted to the "new, shiny thing."

I suspect that she went to a convention and had someone sell her on this idea. Vendors frequently try to convince people that what they are selling is the answer.
I taught school and went to a number of workshops and conventions. It's easy to fall in the trap. They love to swing the pendulum. And, that is what I suspect this is. Swinging the pendulum.

We don't need to swing this one. What works? Good, solid instruction. Right now, AP seems to be the best and most tested choice. Let's stick with that.

I hope Lady was just throwing out ideas. She was likely sold a bill of goods by a vendor.

I have no inside information but I agree this is very likely. She didn't think this up out of the blue overnight.

[Anonymous]

Don't you have to do dual enrollment online or at a college? How would that be cheaper? My kid wants to attend their high school and take classes in person with friends that are challenging. I graduated from FCPS and AP was great and still is. Get rid of IB and just do AP and lower the number of tests FCPS pays for.