Fairfax County Schools -- Is there a deterioration?

[Anonymous]

I agree that this thread has devolved from its original purpose to something bordering on the ugly. Until and unless this region can embrace the changing demographics of our schools with the acceptance, determination, and work necessary to make our schools better places for every student -- then we will not see any improvement in our schools. The previous posters' example of how California public schools (the vanguard of public education in the 50s-70s) have evolved to embrace and integrate all of their demographics more successfully should give us hope and not this ugly fear.

[Anonymous]

California is a bellweather for the rest of the country in many respects, with its large and largely successful confluence of immigrant populations from Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.

For many decades the schools segregated themselves by SES. All CA public schools are very diverse communities, but those with more affluent parent communities, higher on the SES, tended to be the best public schools. Families in less successful public school districts tended to use the private schools -- of which many developed to meet their demands and needs.

Now, with the exception of the poor, urban neighborhoods, you are seeing families return to the local public schools, even in traditionally not-so-great districts. Why? I think families reconsidered the ever-increasing costs if private schools. Also, Californians -- once perhaps wary of the immigrant influx -- came to value and embrace their new neighbors as the first-generation learners turned into successful second-generation strivers, and as a very high-achieving new immigrant populations moved in and brought new life to the public schools.

This renewed influx and investment in the schools has again created a healthy, traditional, successful, and thriving public schools environment. -- like you may remember growing up. The California public schools are currently very socio-economically, racially, ethnically, and socially diverse places -- and increasingly a model of success in public education again on many fronts.

The DC metropolitan region seems to be at the beginning of a cycle that for California began decades ago, and which is finally working its way to a more positive place today.

[Anonymous]

2013 Siemens Finalists.

http://www.siemens-foundation.org/pool/siemens_com...2013_web_listing_sfs_final.pdf

California has fifty-one students represented among the finalists. Most of those students attend California public schools.

Of course, I recognize that California is the most populous State, but these national achievements (among others) are but one recognition of the fact that California schools are doing an increasingly excellent job in educating its diverse student population, and leading as an example for the others to follow.


2014 Intel Finalists

https://student.societyforscience.org/intel-sts-2014-finalists

There are eleven student finalists from California public schools alone. The second-place finisher, New York, has eight student finalists, and I believe that Maryland has four or five.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately to me the future of FCPS is going to be more like Montgomery County than California

In MoCo you basically have the haves and the havenot school pyramids. All efforts to try and redistribute the wealth/iq/parental involvement etc have failed to this point

and besides do you really think people in the good schools are going to allow their PC to go to the lesser schools without a fight

.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the number of lower SES kids is growing exponentially relative to the number of higher SES kids, which is helping to fuel the budget crisis. The number of kids in the system is growing at a very fast pace, but the real estate tax base is not moving in the same direction because many of the new families live in apartments. The county will have to figure out how to meet the growing needs without sacrificing quality, which is a very difficult task.

We need to make sure our zoning decisions keep a good balance of housing so that the taxes are there to support the schools.

That said, apartments aren't cheap, either. Many rents are close to what a mortgage would cost. The apartment buildings should be paying real estate taxes that are sufficient to offset the school costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2013 Siemens Finalists.

http://www.siemens-foundation.org/pool/siemens_com...2013_web_listing_sfs_final.pdf

California has fifty-one students represented among the finalists. Most of those students attend California public schools.

Of course, I recognize that California is the most populous State, but these national achievements (among others) are but one recognition of the fact that California schools are doing an increasingly excellent job in educating its diverse student population, and leading as an example for the others to follow.


2014 Intel Finalists

https://student.societyforscience.org/intel-sts-2014-finalists

There are eleven student finalists from California public schools alone. The second-place finisher, New York, has eight student finalists, and I believe that Maryland has four or five.

The Siemens link doesn't show any students. A quick look at the Intel list and the high schools represented by those California students are some pretty wealthy areas of California. I'm not disagreeing with your conclusions about California public schools, but I don't see how this data shows much, if anything at all.

[Anonymous]

The main topic of this discussion is diverted so let's stick to it.

Bad management,and unethical behaviours are the biggest problem in FCPS. Unless that changes, FCPS is not going to get any better but worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2013 Siemens Finalists.

http://www.siemens-foundation.org/pool/siemens_com...2013_web_listing_sfs_final.pdf

California has fifty-one students represented among the finalists. Most of those students attend California public schools.

Of course, I recognize that California is the most populous State, but these national achievements (among others) are but one recognition of the fact that California schools are doing an increasingly excellent job in educating its diverse student population, and leading as an example for the others to follow.


2014 Intel Finalists

https://student.societyforscience.org/intel-sts-2014-finalists

There are eleven student finalists from California public schools alone. The second-place finisher, New York, has eight student finalists, and I believe that Maryland has four or five.

The Siemens link doesn't show any students. A quick look at the Intel list and the high schools represented by those California students are some pretty wealthy areas of California. I'm not disagreeing with your conclusions about California public schools, but I don't see how this data shows much, if anything at all.

At least two of the CA finalists are at private schools. And the others listed are widely known as the best schools in the state. It's like people from another state looking at Langley and TJ and assuming our whole state is like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2013 Siemens Finalists.

http://www.siemens-foundation.org/pool/siemens_com...2013_web_listing_sfs_final.pdf

California has fifty-one students represented among the finalists. Most of those students attend California public schools.

Of course, I recognize that California is the most populous State, but these national achievements (among others) are but one recognition of the fact that California schools are doing an increasingly excellent job in educating its diverse student population, and leading as an example for the others to follow.


2014 Intel Finalists

https://student.societyforscience.org/intel-sts-2014-finalists

There are eleven student finalists from California public schools alone. The second-place finisher, New York, has eight student finalists, and I believe that Maryland has four or five.

The Siemens link doesn't show any students. A quick look at the Intel list and the high schools represented by those California students are some pretty wealthy areas of California. I'm not disagreeing with your conclusions about California public schools, but I don't see how this data shows much, if anything at all.

At least two of the CA finalists are at private schools. And the others listed are widely known as the best schools in the state. It's like people from another state looking at Langley and TJ and assuming our whole state is like that.

Yes, and the fact is there are always people who are going to succeed and some of them are immigrants or children of immigrants. But there are also many kids who are not succeeding and this is true in CA as well as FCPS. My high school in FCPS has a lot of success stories, but it also has kids who drop out or just coast through high school and get out with the bare minimum of skills. We always push our kids toward going to college, and this is the right path for many, but there are also many kids who just need skills so that they can succeed outside of school without a 4 year college degree.

[Anonymous]

Guys, we NEED immigrants to grow our tax-paying population. Want to keep getting social security and Medicare? We need to boost the population of workers, and since most of us aren't having more than 2 children, the only way to do that is to allow immigration. So let's not turn away the hard-working, go-getters who are seeking new opportunities and a better life for their children. Let's welcome them in and educate their children to the best of our ability. Their successes will be ours as well.

USA!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2013 Siemens Finalists.

http://www.siemens-foundation.org/pool/siemens_com...2013_web_listing_sfs_final.pdf

California has fifty-one students represented among the finalists. Most of those students attend California public schools.

Of course, I recognize that California is the most populous State, but these national achievements (among others) are but one recognition of the fact that California schools are doing an increasingly excellent job in educating its diverse student population, and leading as an example for the others to follow.


2014 Intel Finalists

https://student.societyforscience.org/intel-sts-2014-finalists

There are eleven student finalists from California public schools alone. The second-place finisher, New York, has eight student finalists, and I believe that Maryland has four or five.

The Siemens link doesn't show any students. A quick look at the Intel list and the high schools represented by those California students are some pretty wealthy areas of California. I'm not disagreeing with your conclusions about California public schools, but I don't see how this data shows much, if anything at all.

At least two of the CA finalists are at private schools. And the others listed are widely known as the best schools in the state. It's like people from another state looking at Langley and TJ and assuming our whole state is like that.

Yes, and the fact is there are always people who are going to succeed and some of them are immigrants or children of immigrants. But there are also many kids who are not succeeding and this is true in CA as well as FCPS. My high school in FCPS has a lot of success stories, but it also has kids who drop out or just coast through high school and get out with the bare minimum of skills. We always push our kids toward going to college, and this is the right path for many, but there are also many kids who just need skills so that they can succeed outside of school without a 4 year college degree.

And so why is FCPS trying to educate 16-22 year olds at a 3rd grade academic level to be ready for college? If there is no federal requirement, isn't there another path for them that will still make them successful but not be so daunting for the teachers or students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:2013 Siemens Finalists.

http://www.siemens-foundation.org/pool/siemens_com...2013_web_listing_sfs_final.pdf

California has fifty-one students represented among the finalists. Most of those students attend California public schools.

Of course, I recognize that California is the most populous State, but these national achievements (among others) are but one recognition of the fact that California schools are doing an increasingly excellent job in educating its diverse student population, and leading as an example for the others to follow.


2014 Intel Finalists

https://student.societyforscience.org/intel-sts-2014-finalists

There are eleven student finalists from California public schools alone. The second-place finisher, New York, has eight student finalists, and I believe that Maryland has four or five.

The Siemens link doesn't show any students. A quick look at the Intel list and the high schools represented by those California students are some pretty wealthy areas of California. I'm not disagreeing with your conclusions about California public schools, but I don't see how this data shows much, if anything at all.

At least two of the CA finalists are at private schools. And the others listed are widely known as the best schools in the state. It's like people from another state looking at Langley and TJ and assuming our whole state is like that.

Yes, and the fact is there are always people who are going to succeed and some of them are immigrants or children of immigrants. But there are also many kids who are not succeeding and this is true in CA as well as FCPS. My high school in FCPS has a lot of success stories, but it also has kids who drop out or just coast through high school and get out with the bare minimum of skills. We always push our kids toward going to college, and this is the right path for many, but there are also many kids who just need skills so that they can succeed outside of school without a 4 year college degree.

And so why is FCPS trying to educate 16-22 year olds at a 3rd grade academic level to be ready for college? If there is no federal requirement, isn't there another path for them that will still make them successful but not be so daunting for the teachers or students?

These students aren't necessarily being prepared for college, are they? Won't something greater than a 3rd grade reading level will serve them in almost any path they choose? You don't, technically, need to know how to read to, for example, be a cook, but it sure helps if you can read a recipe with ease.

I can't imagine why anyone thinks Fairfax County or our society in general would be better off if these students were denied these educational opportunities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I can't imagine why anyone thinks Fairfax County or our society in general would be better off if these students were denied these educational opportunities.

I think the argument could be made that the schools would be safer without 22 year old men hanging around in the same classrooms as 13 year old girls? I don't really see why it's the taxpayers' responsibility to foot the bill for high school education for people who reached adulthood four years ago, sorry.

[Anonymous]

They are trying to teach ESOL children over 18 in high school so they can achieve a high school diploma. According to one of the posters if children are not ESOL, they have to get their GED certificate instead of a high school diploma. If we are not allowing non-ESOL children who are probably ahead of a 3rd grade level at 16 to achieve a high school diploma over 18, why are we allowing ESOL children to work on this till age 22? Of course they should have training, but I'm not sure I agree it needs to be a high school diploma to go onto college.

[Anonymous]

And then at age 22 when they get this degree, what can they now do that they couldn't before? Do they then need more schooling? When will they be able to start working? Most kids are done with college by age 22.