Underwhelmed by FCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mosby Woods/Luther Jackson/Oakton high poster here. I gave you OUR experience. Has very little to do with anything other than the admin and the teachers. Try to spin it as you may, but we LOVED all 3 schools, and LJ was our kids' favorite! Again, this is OUR experience. Nothing to do with funding or center schools.

The point is it means very little to general ed parents who don't have the option of a center school if their school is declining while these schools are improving. The entire pyramid should be strong.

+100
Personally, I'm really sick and tired of hearing about how great center schools are, when my own children don't have that "option." Why aren't all schools equally good? Why must one have a child in AAP before they can say how "great" their school is? Forget AAP - every school should be excellent, for ALL students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mosby Woods/Luther Jackson/Oakton high poster here. I gave you OUR experience. Has very little to do with anything other than the admin and the teachers. Try to spin it as you may, but we LOVED all 3 schools, and LJ was our kids' favorite! Again, this is OUR experience. Nothing to do with funding or center schools.

The point is it means very little to general ed parents who don't have the option of a center school if their school is declining while these schools are improving. The entire pyramid should be strong.

I draw a different inference, which is that elementary school parents tend to be critical and worried that their kids aren't getting enough attention, and that parents gain perspective and become more positive as their kids get older and their parents see them thriving (and doing considerably better than their peers elsewhere in the region, state and country).

I don't know. I see a lot of parents pulling their kids for high school. However FCPS has always prided itself on its high schools and spend less money on their elementary schools, so that probably raises their reputation. FCPS has a history of having weak elementary schools.

In retrospect, I wish I had placed my kids in private for elementary and middle school, and then returned to FCPS for high school.

[Anonymous]

I was underwhelmed with some professors at Harvard. Others were amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was underwhelmed with some professors at Harvard. Others were amazing.

Excellent!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mosby Woods/Luther Jackson/Oakton high poster here. I gave you OUR experience. Has very little to do with anything other than the admin and the teachers. Try to spin it as you may, but we LOVED all 3 schools, and LJ was our kids' favorite! Again, this is OUR experience. Nothing to do with funding or center schools.

The point is it means very little to general ed parents who don't have the option of a center school if their school is declining while these schools are improving. The entire pyramid should be strong.

+100
Personally, I'm really sick and tired of hearing about how great center schools are, when my own children don't have that "option." Why aren't all schools equally good? Why must one have a child in AAP before they can say how "great" their school is? Forget AAP - every school should be excellent, for ALL students.

I agree. Our AAP center is not a "great" center school. Why are we stuck with the lesser center school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mosby Woods/Luther Jackson/Oakton high poster here. I gave you OUR experience. Has very little to do with anything other than the admin and the teachers. Try to spin it as you may, but we LOVED all 3 schools, and LJ was our kids' favorite! Again, this is OUR experience. Nothing to do with funding or center schools.

The point is it means very little to general ed parents who don't have the option of a center school if their school is declining while these schools are improving. The entire pyramid should be strong.

+100
Personally, I'm really sick and tired of hearing about how great center schools are, when my own children don't have that "option." Why aren't all schools equally good? Why must one have a child in AAP before they can say how "great" their school is? Forget AAP - every school should be excellent, for ALL students.

I agree. Our AAP center is not a "great" center school. Why are we stuck with the lesser center school?

My kids were at a lesser base school and a lesser center school. The lesser center school was exponentially better. I feel bad for the kids at our base school. Luckily, by middle school honors classes are an option for all kids. There is a built-in difference in schools based on demographics, which you can't really blame on FCPS. However, our base and center schools have very similar demographics, and the curriculum at the center is way better than the base. FCPS can do something about that. I know the curriculum is on paper supposed to be the same, but it isn't. One example is there is no compacted math at the base school even though it's supposed to be available at all schools. I'm not impressed with FCPS and, other than TJ, can't understand why it's so highly regarded.

[Anonymous]

IME an AAP center school just equals more work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was underwhelmed with some professors at Harvard. Others were amazing.

Surely you're not comparing FCPS with Harvard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mosby Woods/Luther Jackson/Oakton high poster here. I gave you OUR experience. Has very little to do with anything other than the admin and the teachers. Try to spin it as you may, but we LOVED all 3 schools, and LJ was our kids' favorite! Again, this is OUR experience. Nothing to do with funding or center schools.

The point is it means very little to general ed parents who don't have the option of a center school if their school is declining while these schools are improving. The entire pyramid should be strong.

+100
Personally, I'm really sick and tired of hearing about how great center schools are, when my own children don't have that "option." Why aren't all schools equally good? Why must one have a child in AAP before they can say how "great" their school is? Forget AAP - every school should be excellent, for ALL students.

I agree. Our AAP center is not a "great" center school. Why are we stuck with the lesser center school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have had the completely opposite experience. My son was in private school through 3rd grade. It wasn't a school like Sidwell, but a school with a good reputation with the corresponding price tag. I was underwhelmed by the teachers and the curriculum. The only great thing about the private was the student/teacher ratio. That was GREAT. So I expected more and a deeper delving into subjects, particularly with such a small group of kids. Nothing. I just didn't see the cost/benefit of spending the money for what my son was getting. After speaking many times with my neighbors (who all love our local FCPS school), I decided to go for it. I was terrified because my husband and I went to private schools and had zero experience with public schools. My son went into AAP (local) and I have since loved every teacher he's had and the curriculum. They move faster and go really in depth. The curriculum is creative and he was inspired and challenged from day one. The downside is that there are a lot of kids. He is an independent worker, so that works for him. But I can see that it is a challenge for kids that might struggle to push themselves. I say so what works for YOU and YOUR FAMILY. If you hate public, give private a year to see if it is worth it. You might be surprised.

Same experience here. I'll add that the AAP kids at public seem generally much brighter, independent, and hard-working, while a great many of the private school kids seemed like they "needed" the extra attention and small classes,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like a couple of other PPs, I also grew up here and attended FCPS. At the time, they really were wonderful schools. There was a huge emphasis on writing, which has paid dividends throughout my life. We also moved back here so our kids could have the same experience. Sadly, the "world-class" schools FCPS loves to brag about are no more. They've been coasting on their reputation for far too long, with little to back it up.

My 7th grader is in Honors English. Her assignments so far include making a group video talking about a "classroom of the future" (?) and a book project which consisted of presenting the book she read as a movie poster (?). No writing, just some pretty pictures. In fact, there has been no writing instruction at all this year, and next to none in elementary school. To say we are disappointed is an understatement. If we could afford it, we would absolutely go private.

I'm not sure the reason for this is coasting. I think this is in part due to the whole project based learning emphasis and the backlash against homework and standardized testing. Also class size issues make it difficult to complete writing assignments well. When people advocate for changes and additions to the school day, I wish they'd take into consideration what that change or addition will replace and how each year builds on the previous toward an end goal.

PP here. I really don't think it's too much to ask that a book report actually require *writing* about the book. Such an incredibly lazy assignment (the movie poster).

PBL is another big, big mistake FCPS has made. It's the worst kind of "learning" experience. My DD just put in hours on a group science project. She did 99% of the work because the other kids refused to do their parts. She got a C because of them, and could have gotten an A on her own.

The poster idea is fine as long as writing is part of it too I think. The group science project issue is one we've all had. It's still important to do group projects. But if they aren't effective ways to learn because the project is mismanaged, that's another issue.

Which speaks to management in the teacher's end, not to the merit of the instructional strategy itself.

If the teacher doesn't have enough support from FCPS, than I blame FCPS. Other schools are using PBL just fine.

PBL is one of the laziest ways of teaching ever. Just teach the kids, stop with the ridiculous busy work and "cutesy" projects!

As a teacher I totally agree with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not class size. We had 30+ in elementary school in Montgomery County and I received a better education.

How long ago was this?

I'm just wondering because I have 30 in my third grade class and the expected methods of instruction are very different today than when I was in third grade ~35 years ago. When I was in school it was pretty much one size fits all.

I think the real problem is with the expected methods of instruction, not the class sizes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not class size. We had 30+ in elementary school in Montgomery County and I received a better education.

How long ago was this?

I'm just wondering because I have 30 in my third grade class and the expected methods of instruction are very different today than when I was in third grade ~35 years ago. When I was in school it was pretty much one size fits all.

I think the real problem is with the expected methods of instruction, not the class sizes.

I don't know. I think things like guided reading groups, math workshop, and writing workshop are beneficial. They're just difficult to manage and implement with 30+ students in a room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not class size. We had 30+ in elementary school in Montgomery County and I received a better education.

How long ago was this?

I'm just wondering because I have 30 in my third grade class and the expected methods of instruction are very different today than when I was in third grade ~35 years ago. When I was in school it was pretty much one size fits all.

I think the real problem is with the expected methods of instruction, not the class sizes.

I don't know. I think things like guided reading groups, math workshop, and writing workshop are beneficial. They're just difficult to manage and implement with 30+ students in a room.

Guided reading groups, maybe. The rest, no. And I'm not sure that guided reading groups are really that beneficial, given that they necessarily mean that all the other students are doing make-work centers for much of LA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not class size. We had 30+ in elementary school in Montgomery County and I received a better education.

How long ago was this?

I'm just wondering because I have 30 in my third grade class and the expected methods of instruction are very different today than when I was in third grade ~35 years ago. When I was in school it was pretty much one size fits all.

I think the real problem is with the expected methods of instruction, not the class sizes.

I don't know. I think things like guided reading groups, math workshop, and writing workshop are beneficial. They're just difficult to manage and implement with 30+ students in a room.

Guided reading groups, maybe. The rest, no. And I'm not sure that guided reading groups are really that beneficial, given that they necessarily mean that all the other students are doing make-work centers for much of LA.

I have a class of students with DRA levels that range from 12 to 40+. They can't all read the same material. In order to reach all of their needs while teaching the standards there has to be some differentiation. I want to be able to enrich and remediate to meet the needs of all students. Guided reading helps to do that, but with a class of 30 I am not able to cycle through the students with enough frequency. Therefore some of the instructional time reverts back to a "one size fits all" instruction that is not beneficial. I don't think that's best and it is definitely not want my administrators want to see, but it happens due to pure numbers and falling into survival mode.