Positives of FCPS

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10/24/2015 13:02

Subject: Re:Positives of FCPS

quote

Anonymous

My kids are in immersion. I can't say enough great things about immersion. So glad we turned down AAP to stay in immersion. (and my child find kid is rocking immersion, his language test for the same age was higher than my AAP kid) Immersion works for all kids. Oldest in in 8th grade right now, so will be back with the IB/AP outcome later. there are very few programs like those in other parts of the country, but it's the norm elsewhere in the world to have a robust language exposure. My level IV kid will have 4 HS classes going into 9th grade, AAP kids only can get 2.

Immersion does not work for all kids. I've got 3 kids (the oldest is now a freshman). Our oldest started in the program (DH is a native speaker of the target language and his family all live in the area) and was identified with LDs in 1st grade. Special education was not available in the target language and because he received his special ed pull outs during the immersion portion, he had no hope of keeping up in the target language. We pulled him from the program in 1st grade and even though he had 7 years of special education in math, he was still well below grade level by the time he hit middle school. He is now well above grade level in all subjects but math where he continues to struggle and is likely to be one of those kids who takes the math SOL multiple times before he passes it. Immersion, as it was provided by FCPS is not an appropriate placement for him.

I've got another kid with a language disorder. I've written about him on the SN Forum. Immersion is not an appropriate placement for him even if special education were provided in the target language. Even FLES is not appropriate for him and he receives other services during that time.

I have one child in the immersion program and it is an excellent placement for him. He scores advanced on the SOLs and likes the class. However, until last week, he didn't have a teacher for the target language and only had math instruction once a week and science only periodically. There have been a series of substitutes that have had inappropriate and unprofessional behavior. On a recent standardized test that all students in his grade take, he scored 4/20. He typically scores 18 or 19/20. Parents have started contacting outside administrators and SB members. The class below DS's has the same problem, experienced similar teacher problems last year and so many kids have dropped out of the program this year that there's only 1 immersion class of 23 kids in that grade - there should be 2 classes. My DS is having an very difficult time with the lack of instruction and chaos. It may be that immersion is no longer an appropriate placement for him.

So, you can say that immersion works for all kids. It does not.

To get back to OP's question, I've had over 10 years of experience with FCPS. I have no regrets about keeping my kids in it rather than going private. Of course, with the exception of 1 kid, standard private schools wouldn't accept my kids because they have LDs and require too much intervention. I'll give higher marks for the teachers than a PP did, 65% of the teachers have been good, 10% have been poor and 25% have been great. I have been especially impressed with our middle school. Stunned. I can't say enough good things about it and, after all my experience, I believe it is a direct result of leadership. When you've got good leadership, the sum of the parts is exponentially greater than the whole. Unfortunately, my experience in FCPS is that poor leadership is more common than good leadership and by the time management makes a change, the school environment has been poor for years. Once it gets bad enough (like at our school) the good/great teachers go elsewhere. Eventually, like in my case, there is a poor learning environment and even the kids from high SES households like mine - kids that you want to raise scores and parents donate to the PTA - don't do well.

I have to say I NEVER expected this in FCPS. The school system can only be a good as its schools. There are enough good ones that FCPS is very good overall. But, if you're at one of the schools with poor leadership, you're not any better off than if you were in DCPS or PGCS.