Positive Momentum in Alexandria?

[Anonymous]

Alexandria private school parent here. Our DC brings home math and grammar worksheets for homework. I also find that we are doing a good part of the teaching of the subject matter at home -- sometimes. Now, I don't know if DC is not paying attention in class, or if DC is just not being taught.

How does this stack with other parents with kids at private schools? How about public? I'm trying to figure out if this is the same situation everywhere or not.

[Anonymous]

pp, is your kid at Burgundy Farms?

[Anonymous]

Nothing wrong with the occasional worksheet. But if that's all there is...

[Anonymous]

mummifying mice and giving them Pharaonic burials in sarcophagi made by the students

The other activities you mentioned sound awesome, this one sounds a little disturbing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

mummifying mice and giving them Pharaonic burials in sarcophagi made by the students

The other activities you mentioned sound awesome, this one sounds a little disturbing.

Agreed. Way too reverential of mice. I prefer my DC to grow up hating rodents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria private school parent here. Our DC brings home math and grammar worksheets for homework. I also find that we are doing a good part of the teaching of the subject matter at home -- sometimes. Now, I don't know if DC is not paying attention in class, or if DC is just not being taught.

How does this stack with other parents with kids at private schools? How about public? I'm trying to figure out if this is the same situation everywhere or not.

My kid is at Burgundy. She does worksheets in class. She does worksheets for homework.

She does the exact same type and style of homework that public school kids do. (and yes, I have compared)

There are no kids in her class with any real learning difficulties nor are there any kids with any real behavior problems. They made sure those kids moved on in the early years. As a result, they are able to do more in the classroom as the teachers don't spend time worry about kids lagging seriously behind or a kid who can't control themselves.

[Anonymous]

You might talk to your fellow BFCDS parent from a few posts ago--apparently your kids are at two different schools. According to the PP for BFCDS, only the poor, neglected kids at Maury have to do worksheets. At BFCDS, the kids only learn through imaginitive, creative, activities that stimulate a love of learning.

--An extremely happy Maury parent

[Anonymous]

only the poor, neglected kids at Maury have to do worksheets.

Given the size and cost of many of the homes that feed into Maury, I suspect many of the students are neither "poor" nor "neglected." :0

[Anonymous]

NO, Burgundy kids do worksheets too-- but they ALSO spend a huge amount of time on experiential leaning. At Maury, where there are indeed plenty of affluent kids from educated families, the rigidity of the curriculum meant there was little space for teachers to experiment, do "fun" stuff, or deviate from the set curriculum. A Maury teacher told me the school literally tells the teachers what to do half hour by half hour, and virtually no teacher independence was permitted. This was a 30 year ACPS vet who was very sad about the lost freedom to experiment that accompanied NCLB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NO, Burgundy kids do worksheets too-- but they ALSO spend a huge amount of time on experiential leaning. At Maury, where there are indeed plenty of affluent kids from educated families, the rigidity of the curriculum meant there was little space for teachers to experiment, do "fun" stuff, or deviate from the set curriculum. A Maury teacher told me the school literally tells the teachers what to do half hour by half hour, and virtually no teacher independence was permitted. This was a 30 year ACPS vet who was very sad about the lost freedom to experiment that accompanied NCLB.

10:47 poster here - Burgundy has a very set curriculum that I don't see changes that much. The same projects are done year in and year out so I am not sure if the teachers really have the flexibility to change those projects as many of them are viewed as "tradition" so in fact the teachers may be just as stuck with the curriculum at Burgundy as at ACPS. Like I pointed out above, Burgundy is self selecting students to be at and remain in the school. When you have 20 kids who are all well behaved and are average or above average learners, and whose home life is stable, comfortable and includes very involved parents, a teacher regardless of the school, public or private, is going to have more time in class to devote to more creative and experiential learning.

[Anonymous]

If NCLB is the problem in terms of flexibility of curriculum, then the problem necessarily affects all public schools, not just Alexandria schools.

[Anonymous]

Indeed, NCLB is a national tragedy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that might just be a reflection of the housing bubble burst and the economy problems. People couldn't afford to move to better districts and couldn't afford to send their kids to privates.

This is a ridiculous statement. The areas of Alexandria that the OP is pointing to have some of the most expensive realestate in NoVA -- we are talking at least $500k for a simple two or three bedroom house. And the area did not experience much of a decline in housing prices, if any, during the recession. So families in this area could easily move out of Alexandria to parts of NoVa which traditionally have reputations for better schools if they wanted to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure who is reading this thread all the way to the end -- but I am a parent with kids in the Spanish immersion program at an ACPS school, and have served as a parent representative on the dual langauge curriculum committee. The link that an earlier post included (to the Center for Applied Linguistics) is totally on point when evalulaing the program at Mt Vernon, as ACPS has used a consultant from CAL this year to review and re-work the immersion curriculum and make the Spanish literacy component more rigorous. This process also included extensive parent involvement (meetings and a school wide survey of parents). My kids (native english speakers growing up in an english-only home) are well on their way to becoming bilingual. My 4th grader is currently reading chapter books from Beverly Cleary to the Secret Garden in Spanish -- on her own time. If potential parents are interested in the dual language program, they should attend the school's open house, talk to current parents and read some of the research from CAL for a full picture.
I hope this helps.

It is great to hear that kids in DI are acquiring this much Spanish by the 4th grade. Does anyone else have specifics to report about the successes of ACPS's DI programs? Where does there remain room for improvement?

Signed,
future Mount Vernon Coomunity School parent

[Anonymous]

If I were a future MVCS parent I would be more concerned about having stable, competent leadership and a solid teaching team than DI issues.