We know ACPS is bad but WHY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What elementary schools tend to have Maryland residents. Never seen or heard about it at our neighborhood elementary.

Not saying it doesn’t ever happen, but not sure it’s widespread like some are suggesting. A car’s license plate doesn’t tell a family’s full story in terms of where they reside. It may actually be more of a car registration issue than a school registration problem.

LC, Maury (Brooks), Mt Vernon- basically the ones closest to the bridge and Central Office.

Registered our children this summer, if we had said we were homeless there was no residency verification.

That is true in every jurisdiction.

[Anonymous]

Size for MS/HS but elementary is so dependent on specific school. The teachers at ours really make it. But it's also grade dependent ie K and 4th was good, 3rd sucked. Both our kids had the MOST amazing K teachers. We are in private schools now and I'm going to say that those 2 K teachers were still the best both my kids are is MS and 5th grade now.

In terms of ACPS in general, the whole equity thing is ridiculous. They want everyone to achieve to mediocrity. If you do better, it doesn't matter. So you'll never have a great school just them wanting to pretend they don't suck.

In terms of public education, you tend to find this par for the course but esp for ACPS the testing is out of control. I think APS does it a bit differently where you may still need to test but ACPS just blatantly has weeks of testing. No homework, no teaching happens, just testing weeks at a time. Hate it.

I don't know that any of the publics are really great. I agree with PP about the fact that private is a stone's throw away. Expensive but avail if you really need it (like us!) so you really just leave for MS to go private when you need or of course, even before if you'd like. People talk about how great APS is but I think post COVID, they even have lost a lot of their shiny reputation and overcrowding was always a sore point there. FCPS is another system people talk about being great but that's a huge territory and it depends on what location/school you speak of. In general, my understanding is that FCPS is well run but I still feel that there are specific schools that suck.

Finally, ACPS has TAG which is supposed to be phased out in the near future. The biggest thing about this program is that getting into it is a horrid experience. Unless your kid happens to test really well, the measurements for the program are wrong - they don't select kids who show that TAG potential and have the ability to learn - they rely simply on test scores. The TAG program itself is also to me not worth it. The exception is that in math, you get the opportunity to get ahead in prep for MS - they fit 2 years into 1 but for reading, it's just more tests. On some level the regular classes are almost better.

We pulled our kids out late in elementary and probably could have stuck it out until end. I think on the whole they are better off leaving for private earlier but I can't say it was horrible. The curriculum sucks but the teachers didn't. The whole idea of 20 min to talk to 2 teachers for parent teacher conf is also a big joke. There are def better schools in APS, FCPS, LCPS and FCC where in ACPS that probably numbers 2-3 tops elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

It makes me so mad that this city keeps approving more and more housing developments while failing to address overcrowding. This just adds to the problem.

[Anonymous]

Finally, ACPS has TAG which is supposed to be phased out in the near future. The biggest thing about this program is that getting into it is a horrid experience. Unless your kid happens to test really well, the measurements for the program are wrong - they don't select kids who show that TAG potential and have the ability to learn - they rely simply on test scores. The TAG program itself is also to me not worth it. The exception is that in math, you get the opportunity to get ahead in prep for MS - they fit 2 years into 1 but for reading, it's just more tests. On some level the regular classes are almost better.

We haven't found it to be just more tests for reading. My child had essays and projects. It was fairly vigorous, to the extent that I considered pulling him out of the program (he does test well, but has ADHD, and is a lot more interested in math than language arts. All of the language arts projects were sort of a drag).

I agree that the testing to get in is not a great way to go. My child had friends that could have definitely done TAG, but did not test in. His TAG classes were mostly white kids, with a few exceptions. They need to find a way to give more minority students the ability to participate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not convinced that the size of the schools is the/an issue. Lake Braddock and Robinson were each 4k students back when I attended in the 1990s (albeit a combined 7-12 grades) and I'm sure they're larger now. We all certainly felt the size, but it wasn't a detriment - it was simply our reality. Like living in NYC instead of Des Moines - neither is better than the other, per se.

Though I do appreciate the complaints about sports team sizes.

Either way, my daughter is thriving at GWMS. We'll keep our fingers crossed for ACHS.

As a native of NYC and former ACPS parent, I assure you this is comparison is deeply flawed.

I'm glad you're happy at GW. We liked GW, too. But it's indeed excessively, unambiguously overcrowded. And that affects almost everyting else. Glad your daughter is thriving there, but kids do get lost in the shuffle there. And the English/language arts curriculum is terrible.

PP here. Fair enough re: my comparison.

What do you mean by lost in the shuffle? We've had to teach/encourage our daughter to advocate for herself, but we see that as a positive learning experience rather than a negative result of student body sizes.

[Anonymous]

To those complaining about the testing, just pull your kids out of the tests. We did. Less stress on the kid and it sends a message to the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To those complaining about the testing, just pull your kids out of the tests. We did. Less stress on the kid and it sends a message to the school.

But more tests still mean less instructional time and a focus on teaching to the test. That affects kids who opt out of the testing as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have heard for so many years that ACPS is not a great school district. But why is that the case? Many Alexandria residents care about education, pay high taxes and support the city bettering the schools. It seems like there is an invisible barrier to progress here and I can't understand why that is. Not much seems to have changed in decades. Can anyone provide any insights?

Democracy breeds mediocrity.

[Anonymous]

I lived there and went private too. I found that no one really was invested in improving the public schools so they never improved. Everyone who has money goes parochial or private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having had kids at various schools over the years including expensive privates I have to say, and my kids would agree, that Lyles Crouch was our absolutely favorite school of them all. Great teachers, amazing community, and so many go on to attend top college or vocational programs. The place was so well run - such a focus on kindness and character. An amazing foundation. Wish all of the ACPS schools could follow their model.

They go to top colleges and vocational programs out of elementary school???? Impressive.

Sorry if my post was confusing - I was just pointing out that LCTA seems to consistantly turn out lovely kids from many different backgrounds and circumstances. How do I know this? Starting a few years ago grads of Lyles Crouch are invited back prior to their HS graduation to take part in an LCTA assembly where they share their plans for after college and favorite memories from LCTA. While I'm pretty sure many ACPS elementary schools do this, having now been for both of my kids, I was amazed by not only the high number of students that return, but the number of parents too. TC offers a bus, but word gets out and many private school kids and kids that have moved away return for the event as well. ACPS get's a lot of bad press, but here is an example of lots of happy memories and accomplished young people thankful for their ES years and teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lived there and went private too. I found that no one really was invested in improving the public schools so they never improved. Everyone who has money goes parochial or private

That's not remotely true. There are plenty of kids from wealthy families at ACHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lived there and went private too. I found that no one really was invested in improving the public schools so they never improved. Everyone who has money goes parochial or private

That's not remotely true. There are plenty of kids from wealthy families at ACHS.

Define 'wealthy'

If you're talking about the dme a dozen two fed families making 350k HHI, sure, there are tons of them. But, the families with the HHI exceeding a million almost all go private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lived there and went private too. I found that no one really was invested in improving the public schools so they never improved. Everyone who has money goes parochial or private

That's not remotely true. There are plenty of kids from wealthy families at ACHS.

Define 'wealthy'

If you're talking about the dme a dozen two fed families making 350k HHI, sure, there are tons of them. But, the families with the HHI exceeding a million almost all go private.

I think that households making million+ a year would go private, no matter the school district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lived there and went private too. I found that no one really was invested in improving the public schools so they never improved. Everyone who has money goes parochial or private

That's not remotely true. There are plenty of kids from wealthy families at ACHS.

Define 'wealthy'

If you're talking about the dme a dozen two fed families making 350k HHI, sure, there are tons of them. But, the families with the HHI exceeding a million almost all go private.

Sure. And I'm reasonably sure that the public schools are no worse off for their loss.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Largest high school in state of Virginia because ACPS can’t figure out how to build a new school. Superintendent and Board Chair send their kids to private schools rather than their own district.

I know there isn’t a lot of land in Alexandria to build schools, but there a lot if smart, connected rich people there. You’d think they could come up with a solution. We moved when our kids turned 5.

If only local politicians had to foresight to require the DoD to set aside some land for a school or two at the Cameron Station development before they sold the land to the developer who was probably the brother of the DoD person in charge.