Predicted Enrollment Decline in FCPS Materializes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is an idea, why don’t we dust off curriculum from the 70s and 80s. We had the best schools back then. Not write new stuff but update that old stuff and get back on track.

Honestly it would be so much better. We have talented teachers here.. we just have relegated them to a role of implementing standardized curriculum which is not the same as teaching. Let the teachers TEACH.

Uhhhh...there was a lot more scripted curriculum back in the day.

And in fact scripted curricula are shown to close acheivement gaps better than just about any other kid. The talented teachers use them as a starting point, but the bad teachers have them to work from, which is better than what they'd otherwise do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is an idea, why don’t we dust off curriculum from the 70s and 80s. We had the best schools back then. Not write new stuff but update that old stuff and get back on track.

Honestly it would be so much better. We have talented teachers here.. we just have relegated them to a role of implementing standardized curriculum which is not the same as teaching. Let the teachers TEACH.

Uhhhh...there was a lot more scripted curriculum back in the day.

And in fact scripted curricula are shown to close acheivement gaps better than just about any other kid. The talented teachers use them as a starting point, but the bad teachers have them to work from, which is better than what they'd otherwise do.

Wrong. I taught "back in the day." I am a senior citizen. There were almost no scripts. We had teachers' manuals with activities suggested and techniques. But, we were not required to use them all.

Sounds pretty boring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is an idea, why don’t we dust off curriculum from the 70s and 80s. We had the best schools back then. Not write new stuff but update that old stuff and get back on track.

Honestly it would be so much better. We have talented teachers here.. we just have relegated them to a role of implementing standardized curriculum which is not the same as teaching. Let the teachers TEACH.

Uhhhh...there was a lot more scripted curriculum back in the day.

And in fact scripted curricula are shown to close acheivement gaps better than just about any other kid. The talented teachers use them as a starting point, but the bad teachers have them to work from, which is better than what they'd otherwise do.

What are you considering back in the day? Because this definitely was not my experience as a formed student and current parent of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is an idea, why don’t we dust off curriculum from the 70s and 80s. We had the best schools back then. Not write new stuff but update that old stuff and get back on track.

Honestly it would be so much better. We have talented teachers here.. we just have relegated them to a role of implementing standardized curriculum which is not the same as teaching. Let the teachers TEACH.

Uhhhh...there was a lot more scripted curriculum back in the day.

And in fact scripted curricula are shown to close acheivement gaps better than just about any other kid. The talented teachers use them as a starting point, but the bad teachers have them to work from, which is better than what they'd otherwise do.

What are you considering back in the day? Because this definitely was not my experience as a formed student and current parent of students.

Dp. I was taught out of a textbook back in the day. Felt scripted to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is that this is from layoffs as well as immigration enforcement activities in Northern Virginia. The area is getting hit hard from multiple angles.

I was at my family’s house in OH recently and there was a news report on declining enrollment numbers in Columbus by 11%, they linked it to several reasons including reduced birth rates.

It’s probably going to get worse if there isn’t any major changes. The birth rate is low, immigration is about to grind to a halt, as well as an increase in usage of alternative school choices (homeschool, charter, private).

Wrong.

ILLEGAL immigration will decrease (as it should).

Legal immigration will continue; a trend I support.

My spouse is a naturalized citizen. But an open Southern border as we had under Biden was a disaster for the U.S. in so many ways.

[Anonymous]

Legal immigration will slow too. America isn’t as attractive anymore. People don’t even want to visit.

[Anonymous]

I feel like language arts has been improved since covid. It was abysmal with Lucy Calkins. Hasn't this been an improvement?

I am still so very angry about this. My now HS Senior started with Lucy Calkins back in K. "We LOVE Lucy! We will go to workshops in New York to learn FROM Lucy! Lucy Lucy Lucy!"

I read to my kids every night from birth for a LONG time into Elementary School. I couldn't put my finger on why they hated (and continue to hate) reading. They couldn't spell. Don't get me started on writing. The reading nooks, the Red reading group vs. the Green reading group. You can only take books out of the yellow bin. It all turned out to be this failure of a "curriculum" that people ate up with a spoon. What a ruse.

I don't know what the answer is, but what happened to the "common" curriculum (with each state teaching its own state history) we all - and I mean no matter where you grew up - learned through the 80s and 90s.

My kids can't even tell me the names of 10 presidents. State Capitals? Keep dreaming. Can your kid name all 50 states and/or point to them on a map? BASIC BASIC (or wow, what I thought was basic) stuff, schools can't even seem to teach. And art and music - forget about it. Does FCPS even try and pretend they do that anymore?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I feel like language arts has been improved since covid. It was abysmal with Lucy Calkins. Hasn't this been an improvement?

I am still so very angry about this. My now HS Senior started with Lucy Calkins back in K. "We LOVE Lucy! We will go to workshops in New York to learn FROM Lucy! Lucy Lucy Lucy!"

I read to my kids every night from birth for a LONG time into Elementary School. I couldn't put my finger on why they hated (and continue to hate) reading. They couldn't spell. Don't get me started on writing. The reading nooks, the Red reading group vs. the Green reading group. You can only take books out of the yellow bin. It all turned out to be this failure of a "curriculum" that people ate up with a spoon. What a ruse.

I don't know what the answer is, but what happened to the "common" curriculum (with each state teaching its own state history) we all - and I mean no matter where you grew up - learned through the 80s and 90s.

My kids can't even tell me the names of 10 presidents. State Capitals? Keep dreaming. Can your kid name all 50 states and/or point to them on a map? BASIC BASIC (or wow, what I thought was basic) stuff, schools can't even seem to teach. And art and music - forget about it. Does FCPS even try and pretend they do that anymore?

Um, yes? My kid is in 7th grade and it was the first unit they did for history honors this year. You're really helping take this thread off topic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like language arts has been improved since covid. It was abysmal with Lucy Calkins. Hasn't this been an improvement? The math they change every 3 to 5 years so its harder to track. I thought they found a middle ground between too much acceleration and too little. For awhile the state was talking about not even allowing acceleration which backfired. To me either the state and/or school board has improved these subjects over the years if for no other reason than they were going downhill and they had to do something different.

This new LA program is the worst. I have heard from multiple kids how bored they are with it and how it’s their least favorite subject now.

I think a balance between rigor and not killing kids enthusiasm to learn is possible. When LA is as fun as a root canal I’m not sure it’s a success though.

That seems pretty anecdotal. How is it actually doing in terms of test scores? Does anyone else have any actual larger analysis? It's only been around for about 2 or 3 years no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is an idea, why don’t we dust off curriculum from the 70s and 80s. We had the best schools back then. Not write new stuff but update that old stuff and get back on track.

Honestly it would be so much better. We have talented teachers here.. we just have relegated them to a role of implementing standardized curriculum which is not the same as teaching. Let the teachers TEACH.

Uhhhh...there was a lot more scripted curriculum back in the day.

And in fact scripted curricula are shown to close acheivement gaps better than just about any other kid. The talented teachers use them as a starting point, but the bad teachers have them to work from, which is better than what they'd otherwise do.

What are you considering back in the day? Because this definitely was not my experience as a formed student and current parent of students.

Dp. I was taught out of a textbook back in the day. Felt scripted to me.

Oh come on, think about it. A textbook is what 300 pages? That would take a teacher 8-12 hours to read to you as a script. No way they weren’t doing all sorts of other stuff to teach you.

Now they have a specific sheet to give for this lesson and everyone in the county reads the same thing each week in each grade and does the same one. And you sit and do your online reading and math.

If you’d have had friends back then to talk to I’m sure you’d have realized different classes weee learning different things in different ways because teachers weee given the frame work and taught in creative ways instead of this standardized bologna now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like language arts has been improved since covid. It was abysmal with Lucy Calkins. Hasn't this been an improvement? The math they change every 3 to 5 years so its harder to track. I thought they found a middle ground between too much acceleration and too little. For awhile the state was talking about not even allowing acceleration which backfired. To me either the state and/or school board has improved these subjects over the years if for no other reason than they were going downhill and they had to do something different.

This new LA program is the worst. I have heard from multiple kids how bored they are with it and how it’s their least favorite subject now.

I think a balance between rigor and not killing kids enthusiasm to learn is possible. When LA is as fun as a root canal I’m not sure it’s a success though.

That seems pretty anecdotal. How is it actually doing in terms of test scores? Does anyone else have any actual larger analysis? It's only been around for about 2 or 3 years no?

It’s new here not new to all the other school systems that already ditched it because students and teachers hate it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like language arts has been improved since covid. It was abysmal with Lucy Calkins. Hasn't this been an improvement? The math they change every 3 to 5 years so its harder to track. I thought they found a middle ground between too much acceleration and too little. For awhile the state was talking about not even allowing acceleration which backfired. To me either the state and/or school board has improved these subjects over the years if for no other reason than they were going downhill and they had to do something different.

This new LA program is the worst. I have heard from multiple kids how bored they are with it and how it’s their least favorite subject now.

I think a balance between rigor and not killing kids enthusiasm to learn is possible. When LA is as fun as a root canal I’m not sure it’s a success though.

That seems pretty anecdotal. How is it actually doing in terms of test scores? Does anyone else have any actual larger analysis? It's only been around for about 2 or 3 years no?

FCPS gained 1% in overall passing rate. Which is in line with the rest of the state so not really reasonable to chalk up to Benchmark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is an idea, why don’t we dust off curriculum from the 70s and 80s. We had the best schools back then. Not write new stuff but update that old stuff and get back on track.

Agree for the curriculum but back then, they didn't have significant numbers of ELL and you could put disruptive kids into a separate classroom so that they wouldn't distract others. You can't do that now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is an idea, why don’t we dust off curriculum from the 70s and 80s. We had the best schools back then. Not write new stuff but update that old stuff and get back on track.

Honestly it would be so much better. We have talented teachers here.. we just have relegated them to a role of implementing standardized curriculum which is not the same as teaching. Let the teachers TEACH.

Uhhhh...there was a lot more scripted curriculum back in the day.

And in fact scripted curricula are shown to close acheivement gaps better than just about any other kid. The talented teachers use them as a starting point, but the bad teachers have them to work from, which is better than what they'd otherwise do.

What are you considering back in the day? Because this definitely was not my experience as a formed student and current parent of students.

Dp. I was taught out of a textbook back in the day. Felt scripted to me.

Oh come on, think about it. A textbook is what 300 pages? That would take a teacher 8-12 hours to read to you as a script. No way they weren’t doing all sorts of other stuff to teach you.

Now they have a specific sheet to give for this lesson and everyone in the county reads the same thing each week in each grade and does the same one. And you sit and do your online reading and math.

If you’d have had friends back then to talk to I’m sure you’d have realized different classes weee learning different things in different ways because teachers weee given the frame work and taught in creative ways instead of this standardized bologna now.

A sheet a day is less than 300 pages. There are only 180 instructional days.

Agree that the online reading and math are problematic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is an idea, why don’t we dust off curriculum from the 70s and 80s. We had the best schools back then. Not write new stuff but update that old stuff and get back on track.

Honestly it would be so much better. We have talented teachers here.. we just have relegated them to a role of implementing standardized curriculum which is not the same as teaching. Let the teachers TEACH.

Uhhhh...there was a lot more scripted curriculum back in the day.

And in fact scripted curricula are shown to close acheivement gaps better than just about any other kid. The talented teachers use them as a starting point, but the bad teachers have them to work from, which is better than what they'd otherwise do.

What are you considering back in the day? Because this definitely was not my experience as a formed student and current parent of students.

Dp. I was taught out of a textbook back in the day. Felt scripted to me.

Oh come on, think about it. A textbook is what 300 pages? That would take a teacher 8-12 hours to read to you as a script. No way they weren’t doing all sorts of other stuff to teach you.

Now they have a specific sheet to give for this lesson and everyone in the county reads the same thing each week in each grade and does the same one. And you sit and do your online reading and math.

If you’d have had friends back then to talk to I’m sure you’d have realized different classes weee learning different things in different ways because teachers weee given the frame work and taught in creative ways instead of this standardized bologna now.

A sheet a day is less than 300 pages. There are only 180 instructional days.

Agree that the online reading and math are problematic.

What? Yes 180 sheets is less than 300. What’s your point?