More Hypocrisy from Hynes & Palchik

[Anonymous]

As Pat Hynes (definitely not seeking re-election) and Dalia Palchik (possibly looking to run for Supervisor) wind down on the School Board, they are pushing FCPS to conduct a big study of AAP with the goal of reducing the percentage of Asian and white kids in AAP and increasing the percentage of black, Hispanic and low-income kids.

Great, but what have they actually done in their combined years on the School Board to keep schools from getting more segregated? Nothing. It sucks that they want to spend our money now to paper over their own hypocrisy.

[Anonymous]

So, their solution is more bureaucracy, metrics, etc.

You can close an achievement gap from the top or the bottom. This whole concept should be trashed.

Education should be getting the best from every child. Quit worrying about the gaps and focus on each student.

Get rid of the AAP program and provide for every child in every class.

[Anonymous]

They want us to pay for their virtue signaling. If they think AAP is a bad model, they have had years to unwind it. If they think elitism and segregation wrong, why did they keep voting to renew TJ and giving AAP students options unavailable to GenEd kids? What’s their end game - just finding a way to game the numbers at TJ and in AAP so they can get some award from the NAACP?

[Anonymous]

Every time you add more testing and metrics to the programs, you are adding more layers of bureaucracy and money that is not going to the classroom. More unintended consequences that are not helpful.

[Anonymous]

I think you have a valid point and I would suggest you bring it up with them. We had an issue related to schools and I asked to meet with them. They took time out of their Sunday afternoon and met with us for a couple of hours at a coffee shop - they both started as advocates for things and ended up running for school board so they are very open to hearing from parents. Their email addresses are public but in case you can't find: [e-mail] and [e-mail].

I agree the AAP system is a nightmare - when I was growing up, the gifted and talented program meant I was pulled out to do fun things like "political class (where we "ran for office") and "TV station" (where we learned how tv news programs operate while the other kids got remedial help. But now the AAP kids are learning the curricula a year ahead? It seems like a lot of pressure on the kids - and a good way for some parents to ensure that their kids aren't with the "special needs" children.

[Anonymous]

There are tons of special needs children in AAP -- "2E" or "twice exceptional."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, their solution is more bureaucracy, metrics, etc.

You can close an achievement gap from the top or the bottom. This whole concept should be trashed.

Education should be getting the best from every child. Quit worrying about the gaps and focus on each student.

Get rid of the AAP program and provide for every child in every class.

Yeah, right. The whole concept of differentiation is a mirage. In order for a teacher to teach to five different levels, she has to ignore 4 groups while focusing on one. In my experience, that meant my child got 15 min. of "small group" reading time with the teacher PER WEEK. The kids who were not getting any help learning to read at home (probably b/c no one told the parents that they should be coaching their child on reading every day), got small group sessions with the teacher 3-5 times a week. The rest of the time (which was usually a 90 min. language arts block every day), my child was left to her own devices at "stations" where she was supposed to self entertain. Newsflash -- kids who can't read won't make use of "read to self station."

I would support getting rid of AAP IF and only IF kids were grouped in classes that were based on their levels. You can call it tracking -- although I don't think that is an accurate term b/c kids should be allowed to change groups each year. But, we can't expect ONE teacher to teach five different speeds. If similar kids are put in classes together, then the teacher can spend 80% of her time teaching the whole group and perhaps 20% (or less) attending to specific needs. At least in that scenario, each kid would get 80% of the time being TAUGHT something -- as opposed to fiddling about waiting for their one 15-min. session per week when the teacher teaches them something.

Also, there is great variation among principals in understanding and/or supporting the needs of advanced learners. Some principals simply do not believe in advanced learners and would actively work to keep the faster kids back so as not to make the rest of the kids feel bad. Everyone must be uniformly in the middle so we don't look like we are favoring the smart kids. Some schools have large groups of AAP kids, but other feeder schools have very few. There is an advantage in putting advanced kids together.

[Anonymous]

So it’s important to have AAP, but it’s also important to make sure every race and SES group is equally represented, so it’s necessary to do yet another study to address why that hasn’t happened despite the prior five studies and action plans, and if we try hard enough we can find a way to blame it on teachers and administrators, and then have a program that’s called AAP and still polarized parents even though it’s not really an advanced program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As Pat Hynes (definitely not seeking re-election) and Dalia Palchik (possibly looking to run for Supervisor) wind down on the School Board, they are pushing FCPS to conduct a big study of AAP with the goal of reducing the percentage of Asian and white kids in AAP and increasing the percentage of black, Hispanic and low-income kids.

Great, but what have they actually done in their combined years on the School Board to keep schools from getting more segregated? Nothing. It sucks that they want to spend our money now to paper over their own hypocrisy.

They did this I think 8 years ago, complete with public meetings.

It did not work, per their numbers.

Casting a wider net only resulted in ballooning the numbers of asian and white kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So it’s important to have AAP, but it’s also important to make sure every race and SES group is equally represented, so it’s necessary to do yet another study to address why that hasn’t happened despite the prior five studies and action plans, and if we try hard enough we can find a way to blame it on teachers and administrators, and then have a program that’s called AAP and still polarized parents even though it’s not really an advanced program?

You are incorrect.

Equal is not fair or correct.

[Anonymous]

The solution to the AAP problem is to get rid of TJ, or, more specifically, restore it to a regular high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every time you add more testing and metrics to the programs, you are adding more layers of bureaucracy and money that is not going to the classroom. More unintended consequences that are not helpful.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every time you add more testing and metrics to the programs, you are adding more layers of bureaucracy and money that is not going to the classroom. More unintended consequences that are not helpful.

+1

And, don't forget, LOTS more money for those conducting the "studies."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, their solution is more bureaucracy, metrics, etc.

You can close an achievement gap from the top or the bottom. This whole concept should be trashed.

Education should be getting the best from every child. Quit worrying about the gaps and focus on each student.

Get rid of the AAP program and provide for every child in every class.

Yeah, right. The whole concept of differentiation is a mirage. In order for a teacher to teach to five different levels, she has to ignore 4 groups while focusing on one. In my experience, that meant my child got 15 min. of "small group" reading time with the teacher PER WEEK. The kids who were not getting any help learning to read at home (probably b/c no one told the parents that they should be coaching their child on reading every day), got small group sessions with the teacher 3-5 times a week. The rest of the time (which was usually a 90 min. language arts block every day), my child was left to her own devices at "stations" where she was supposed to self entertain. Newsflash -- kids who can't read won't make use of "read to self station."

I would support getting rid of AAP IF and only IF kids were grouped in classes that were based on their levels. You can call it tracking -- although I don't think that is an accurate term b/c kids should be allowed to change groups each year. But, we can't expect ONE teacher to teach five different speeds. If similar kids are put in classes together, then the teacher can spend 80% of her time teaching the whole group and perhaps 20% (or less) attending to specific needs. At least in that scenario, each kid would get 80% of the time being TAUGHT something -- as opposed to fiddling about waiting for their one 15-min. session per week when the teacher teaches them something.

Also, there is great variation among principals in understanding and/or supporting the needs of advanced learners. Some principals simply do not believe in advanced learners and would actively work to keep the faster kids back so as not to make the rest of the kids feel bad. Everyone must be uniformly in the middle so we don't look like we are favoring the smart kids. Some schools have large groups of AAP kids, but other feeder schools have very few. There is an advantage in putting advanced kids together.

I teach elementary students and I agree with you. I am stretched thin. It's pretty much impossible to plan quality Reading Workshop, Writing Workshop, and reading groups (in addition to a morning meeting, math workshop, social studies and science) to meet the needs of 25 students in a classroom with DRA instructional levels that fall between 16-40. Having a class of students all at the same (or similar) reading levels would help with planning and instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, their solution is more bureaucracy, metrics, etc.

You can close an achievement gap from the top or the bottom. This whole concept should be trashed.

Education should be getting the best from every child. Quit worrying about the gaps and focus on each student.

Get rid of the AAP program and provide for every child in every class.

THIS x1,000,000