FCPS Early Release Mondays

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is only responsible for providing a basic level of education. Anything more is not part of their mandate.

So if kids are gettings all Ds thats ok?

No child left behind!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; woe to the solidly average student who isn’t identified as eligible for AAP and doesn’t have an IEP, doesn’t need a mentor, isn’t at-risk and comes to kindergarten from a play-based preschool and English is spoken in the home.

You, as parents, will get nothing from the school. You’ll be told average is fine. You’ll also begin teaching your student how to read, write and learn math facts at home. Good preparation for being your DC’s kitchen table math tutor from 5-8th grades. By high school, you’ll likely need to turn instruction over to paid tutors and then a SAT prep company.

Just be prepared to fill the gaps either DIY or outsourcing.

Oh - you will get some attention ahead of SOLs - your DC will be identified as “needing extra help” and so every morning for two weeks ahead of SOL, you’ll drop your kiddo off early. You’ll also be notified by the AP that your DC really should retake the SOL and so re take boot camp onat the school starts ASAP.

This is the absolute truth. If your kid is basically well-behaved and an average or better student, be prepared to be ignored and any concerns blown off with those questionable test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is only responsible for providing a basic level of education. Anything more is not part of their mandate.

So if kids are gettings all Ds thats ok?

Actually YES!

It is passing and will fullfill the graduation requirements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parent/teacher divide within FCPS is wide and bitter from all sides, not to mention snarky. I don’t know how FCPS can ever be more successful as a system with this animosity.

The issue that I see is that parents want what is best for their child. However, we teachers simply cannot provide anything approaching this. We can only provide the very basics. There are too many children and many of the children are coming to school unprepared.

One way to help parents understand this is to think about school lunch. Consider the nutrition and quality of the food offered. What the exception of a few years during the Obama presidency, the food is low nutrition and at best low-medium quality. The fresh fruit is a small and mealy red delicious apple. The pizza is full of sugar. Chocolate milk is the exception.

Breakfast is almost entirely without a source of protein. The food the children are served by the school is safe and will keep them alive. It’s essentially prison-level quality food. It is not what an involved parent who cares about the nutrition of their child would choose for them. The child that comes to school with a packed and nutritious lunch from home will be miles ahead in nutrition than their peers who are eating the school lunch.

It is the same with what occurs in the classroom. The child that has had plenty of reading and enrichment at home will come to school miles ahead of the student who has gotten all of their education from FCPS. The child that has outside tutoring will master the concepts while the child that only had exposure during the school day will only have a rough appreciation for what was taught.

Something along these lines should be a sticky at the top of the FCPS board. Parents are expecting too much from FCPS.

It would help so many angry parents.

100% yes eye opening for parents and to adjust expectations

[Anonymous]

The new D minus is part of this trend. A student will be able to pass a class if they achieve anything above 62%.

If you turn over your child's report card, look at the description for Ds. It simply is labled "below average". Ds are perfectly fine for passing along kids to be ready for graduation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new D minus is part of this trend. A student will be able to pass a class if they achieve anything above 62%.

If you turn over your child's report card, look at the description for Ds. It simply is labled "below average". Ds are perfectly fine for passing along kids to be ready for graduation.

Sorry, the new D minus is actually 60%. So anything above 59.5% will be passing in FCPS>

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new D minus is part of this trend. A student will be able to pass a class if they achieve anything above 62%.

If you turn over your child's report card, look at the description for Ds. It simply is labled "below average". Ds are perfectly fine for passing along kids to be ready for graduation.

Sorry, the new D minus is actually 60%. So anything above 59.5% will be passing in FCPS>

Sounds like a return to traditional education. D is for diploma is a old saying and D used to start at 60%. If you didn't care about college, then a D average was no different than a C average, other than requiring less work. If you care about college, the threshold for a D vs an F should never matter

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Totally agree. As a veteran 5th grade teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools, I can only do so much with the limited resources, unprepared students, and huge class sizes. And my school has a relatively low FARMs rate, especially compared to other schools in the district with much higher percentages.

One clear example - last year, I noticed that most of my students couldn't grasp place value. Without a solid understanding of this basic 1st/2nd grade concept, they struggled with grade-level math topics. So, I spent most of my time reteaching these basics, which meant much less time for other critical areas of the math curriculum.

Students who come in unprepared are becoming the norm even in “good” schools. I’m not sure what is going on - maybe too much iPad? But Covering the entire curriculum is a pipe dream.

From my experience, it's clear that public education can only aim to provide the essentials and Virginia needs to do more to adjust the standards. We need to have the hard conversations around AAP/honors. If public education is to survive, we need to ensure EVERY student has a solid foundation by graduation instead of pushing the kids who are already ahead even further ahead.

So if you want more advanced learning, look elsewhere and stop blaming your child’s teacher or the school system.

As a parent of a kid who just finished 5th grade.... He was in 1st grade when the pandemic hit....2nd grade was all virtual....of course your students this year didn't know what wasn't taught to them and missed out on crucial foundational 1st and 2nd grade topics! The schools were closed then. And as many have pointed out on these threads, parents aren't experienced educators....

Blame the pandemic for what you experienced in the classroom this year, blame ineffective virtual classrooms....but not the parents!

If we’re talking about behavior issues that due to the parents. It’s their job to set the standard behavior-wise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re: pandemic years. I’d argue against this being a source of FCPS problems.

The basics are simply no longer being taught and haven’t since my own DC began kindergarten in 2006 in FCPS.

Here’s what is NOT taught in FCPS ES in no particular order: handwriting/penmanship, phonics, math facts, geography/state capitals, spelling, reading fundamentals, grammar and usage and the school system has done away with worksheets, homework and textbooks.

Parents flock to AAP/Center schools because they see this track as their only option for their
TJHSST-bound or at the minimum, their college-bound student. And I understand. AAP is considered to be more rigorous with specially-trained and certified teachers. What the parents don’t or won’t admit to is that to achieve an AAP designation means your DC will no longer be in a classroom with ESOL students and/or a new student every month until the last few weeks of school - and all the chaos and distractions in an overcrowded classroom. There simply isn’t time for the basics because it’s daily survival for teachers and students.


Parents like to think their AAP student is getting a superior education when I’d argue the AAP education now pales in comparison to the rigor of “ regular” FCPS a decade ago. We’re in a downward spiral.

The current AAP curriculum is what I taught in Gen Ed 10 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Here’s what is NOT taught in FCPS ES in no particular order: handwriting/penmanship, phonics, math facts, geography/state capitals, spelling, reading fundamentals, grammar and usage and the school system has done away with worksheets, homework and textbooks.

Phonics and reading fundamentals are back (Science of Reading)

AAP is considered to be more rigorous with specially-trained and certified teachers.

The AAP training and endorsement is a few extra classes. I wouldn't say AAP teachers are "specially-trained" per se.

What the parents don’t or won’t admit to is that to achieve an AAP designation means your DC will no longer be in a classroom with ESOL students and/or a new student every month until the last few weeks of school

This is 100% untrue. There are students in AAP who are speakers of other languages and who might even be receiving some ESOL support, just as there are AAP students who have disabilities and might be receiving special education support.

New students come into AAP, as well. There might not be a new student every month, but at most schools, that's also rare in general education classes, to have a new student every month.

If they aren't advanced in English, why admit them to AAP? Why not just advanced math?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; woe to the solidly average student who isn’t identified as eligible for AAP and doesn’t have an IEP, doesn’t need a mentor, isn’t at-risk and comes to kindergarten from a play-based preschool and English is spoken in the home.

You, as parents, will get nothing from the school. You’ll be told average is fine. You’ll also begin teaching your student how to read, write and learn math facts at home. Good preparation for being your DC’s kitchen table math tutor from 5-8th grades. By high school, you’ll likely need to turn instruction over to paid tutors and then a SAT prep company.

Just be prepared to fill the gaps either DIY or outsourcing.

Oh - you will get some attention ahead of SOLs - your DC will be identified as “needing extra help” and so every morning for two weeks ahead of SOL, you’ll drop your kiddo off early. You’ll also be notified by the AP that your DC really should retake the SOL and so re take boot camp at the school starts ASAP.

The “average” student should pass the SOL. That is what the test is measuring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Here’s what is NOT taught in FCPS ES in no particular order: handwriting/penmanship, phonics, math facts, geography/state capitals, spelling, reading fundamentals, grammar and usage and the school system has done away with worksheets, homework and textbooks.

Phonics and reading fundamentals are back (Science of Reading)

AAP is considered to be more rigorous with specially-trained and certified teachers.

The AAP training and endorsement is a few extra classes. I wouldn't say AAP teachers are "specially-trained" per se.

What the parents don’t or won’t admit to is that to achieve an AAP designation means your DC will no longer be in a classroom with ESOL students and/or a new student every month until the last few weeks of school

This is 100% untrue. There are students in AAP who are speakers of other languages and who might even be receiving some ESOL support, just as there are AAP students who have disabilities and might be receiving special education support.

New students come into AAP, as well. There might not be a new student every month, but at most schools, that's also rare in general education classes, to have a new student every month.

If they aren't advanced in English, why admit them to AAP? Why not just advanced math?

Well, the verbal section of the CogAT is picture-based in 2nd grade. So you have to take that up with the criteria to get in.

[Anonymous]

PP and at our center school I can think of one student who was an ELL and was in AAP. More segregation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Totally agree. As a veteran 5th grade teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools, I can only do so much with the limited resources, unprepared students, and huge class sizes. And my school has a relatively low FARMs rate, especially compared to other schools in the district with much higher percentages.

One clear example - last year, I noticed that most of my students couldn't grasp place value. Without a solid understanding of this basic 1st/2nd grade concept, they struggled with grade-level math topics. So, I spent most of my time reteaching these basics, which meant much less time for other critical areas of the math curriculum.

Students who come in unprepared are becoming the norm even in “good” schools. I’m not sure what is going on - maybe too much iPad? But Covering the entire curriculum is a pipe dream.

From my experience, it's clear that public education can only aim to provide the essentials and Virginia needs to do more to adjust the standards. We need to have the hard conversations around AAP/honors. If public education is to survive, we need to ensure EVERY student has a solid foundation by graduation instead of pushing the kids who are already ahead even further ahead.

So if you want more advanced learning, look elsewhere and stop blaming your child’s teacher or the school system.

As a parent of a kid who just finished 5th grade.... He was in 1st grade when the pandemic hit....2nd grade was all virtual....of course your students this year didn't know what wasn't taught to them and missed out on crucial foundational 1st and 2nd grade topics! The schools were closed then. And as many have pointed out on these threads, parents aren't experienced educators....

Blame the pandemic for what you experienced in the classroom this year, blame ineffective virtual classrooms....but not the parents!

If we’re talking about behavior issues that due to the parents. It’s their job to set the standard behavior-wise.

No, she was upset that kids who were completely virtual in second grade were struggling with math concepts that should have been taught in 2nd grade in later grades...

If the parents were supposed to teach the rest of second grade math at home then the school should have been up front with the parents about what gaps they needed to fill... instead they told us not to worry about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re: pandemic years. I’d argue against this being a source of FCPS problems.

The basics are simply no longer being taught and haven’t since my own DC began kindergarten in 2006 in FCPS.

Here’s what is NOT taught in FCPS ES in no particular order: handwriting/penmanship, phonics, math facts, geography/state capitals, spelling, reading fundamentals, grammar and usage and the school system has done away with worksheets, homework and textbooks.

Parents flock to AAP/Center schools because they see this track as their only option for their
TJHSST-bound or at the minimum, their college-bound student. And I understand. AAP is considered to be more rigorous with specially-trained and certified teachers. What the parents don’t or won’t admit to is that to achieve an AAP designation means your DC will no longer be in a classroom with ESOL students and/or a new student every month until the last few weeks of school - and all the chaos and distractions in an overcrowded classroom. There simply isn’t time for the basics because it’s daily survival for teachers and students.


Parents like to think their AAP student is getting a superior education when I’d argue the AAP education now pales in comparison to the rigor of “ regular” FCPS a decade ago. We’re in a downward spiral.

The current AAP curriculum is what I taught in Gen Ed 10 years ago.

And is what they are teaching in cluster schools, but DCUM hates cluster schools.