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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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.

As someone mentioned upthread, many of us are transplants. I came from an excellent pulblic school system elsewhere and think FCPS compares well. Many of my complaints seem to be more about how they do school and teaching nowadays, rather than specific to my kid's school or Fairfax. I also know, from friends and family, of some pretty mediocre school systems elsewhere in the country.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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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.

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.

This link shows that it’s a career switcher program designed for people who have at least 5 years relevant work experience related to the subject they want to teach. This is not “anyone with a Bachelors degree”. and they still have to get certified within 3 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1 we are transplants, moved to Vienna from what is a good-not-great school district in Florida, which is a state that always gets shit on around these parts for its public schools (we were in Broward County with a Pompano Beach HS feed) and yeah, I don't get all the hype surrounding FCPS. It's a good school district, but not special in any way. (Save for TJ, which is very unique.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1 we are transplants, moved to Vienna from what is a good-not-great school district in Florida, which is a state that always gets shit on around these parts for its public schools (we were in Broward County with a Pompano Beach HS feed) and yeah, I don't get all the hype surrounding FCPS. It's a good school district, but not special in any way. (Save for TJ, which is very unique.)

[Anonymous]

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.

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

Yeah, I never fill that one out. And maybe it's not the teacher's fault. But I don't otherwise know how to send a message to admin about the quality of their school system. Not willing to risk everything on my child.

[Anonymous]

Thank goodness for the internet. Our kids wouldn't know their educations were subpar if we didn't have a group of know-it-all complainers.

[Anonymous]

A "bad" school in FCPS is still better than a lot of schools elsewhere. The curriculum and initiatives comes from the county. There are good and bad teachers in each and every school

[Anonymous]

I'm a transplant. In some ways, the schools here are better than where I came from but in some ways not.

The schools here ignore the basics. There are larger class sizes, not enough busing, too much overcrowding, crumbling old facilities, overuse of technology without anyone knowing what they're doing.

But the teachers here are better than what I had.

Also the parental culture of achievement/high expectations is completely different for better (smart is value) and for worse (stress, pressure and way too much homework).

[Anonymous]

Yeah. Well I grew up believing in Santa, the tooth fairy and that I could be anything I wanted to be when I got older.

[Anonymous]

Its basically the tallest midget contest in this country. Sure, the NVq schools are the shiniest turd in the litterbox. Impressive if you are a turd too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A "bad" school in FCPS is still better than a lot of schools elsewhere. The curriculum and initiatives comes from the county. There are good and bad teachers in each and every school

How are the curriculum and initiatives in FCPS any different than elsewhere in the state?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a transplant. In some ways, the schools here are better than where I came from but in some ways not.

The schools here ignore the basics. There are larger class sizes, not enough busing, too much overcrowding, crumbling old facilities, overuse of technology without anyone knowing what they're doing.

But the teachers here are better than what I had.

Also the parental culture of achievement/high expectations is completely different for better (smart is value) and for worse (stress, pressure and way too much homework).

NP here. Another thing lacking in FCPS is that they do not offer sports in middle school, which I find shocking. Middle school sports are a standard where I came from.

[Anonymous]

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

+1

Also, I find that when people say (your post) OP, they have a really poor gauge/point of reference; and/or they learn about the gang activity in Northern VA, and their mission becomes to avoid that. Since you asked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a transplant. In some ways, the schools here are better than where I came from but in some ways not.

The schools here ignore the basics. There are larger class sizes, not enough busing, too much overcrowding, crumbling old facilities, overuse of technology without anyone knowing what they're doing.

But the teachers here are better than what I had.

Also the parental culture of achievement/high expectations is completely different for better (smart is value) and for worse (stress, pressure and way too much homework).

NP here. Another thing lacking in FCPS is that they do not offer sports in middle school, which I find shocking. Middle school sports are a standard where I came from.

x1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its basically the tallest midget contest in this country. Sure, the NVq schools are the shiniest turd in the litterbox. Impressive if you are a turd too.

+1

This is a rather harsh way of putting it, but this PP has a valid point because Fairfax County is terribly large and mismanaged. Their class sizes alone should have been managed differently, but that won't happen.