Reply to Anyone else educated by FCPS and sees the decline?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DH and I are both FCPS graduates from the mid 1980s.

Parents of FCPS students from 2005-present.

[b]DH was one of the early GT program participants, as was one of my siblings. GT program was initially a pull out enrichment and quasi socialization opportunity for the then often socially maligned bright students to form friendships and be challenged academically - together. GT teachers enjoyed their relatively small group of 5th-6th grade students. GT students met for a class period to work on enrichment projects and accept challenging homework projects. [/b]

FCPS thought was that these highly intelligent students would be so utterly bored in upper ES that they’d begin to act out and completely lose interest and pursue a life of delinquency or just about as terrible, not attend college.

Overlay all with a steep population decline particularly in older suburbs, leading to formerly “neighborhood” ES (all walked) and suddenly FCPS had to confront closing schools.

Some did close or get converted to admin or municipal offices.

But circa late 1980s, there was a wave of boundary changes and every ES formerly on chopping block needed a “hook” to boost population and keep the infrastructure viable. Examples include GT/AAP Centers (and levels), TJHSST, Head Start, academies, language immersion, AP v. IB.

I’ve been called overly dramatic when I’ve PP on similar threads, but clearly FCPS newest initiative to view schools through an equity lens means that academic excellence is no longer important; becoming world citizens or other such blather is emphasized. Read a few principal-written mission statements on the official school websites and tell me I’m wrong.[/quote]

This is what gifted was for me too - in Florida in the 90s. I don't remember ever getting any sort of advanced coursework in regular classes but once a week, every week, we'd go to the gifted room and do brain teasers, enrichment projects, Odyssey of the Mind, etc. It's actually interesting that they've shifted from that to providing advanced work in actual core subjects - I don't know which is "better" - but is there a reason so many school districts shifted away from this model?[/quote]

DP.  This was our GT program too, although it varied each year from one period of pull out groups to one day bused to a central school for a whole day of GT pull out programming. I think this is still the way most GT programs are - the AAP center school implementation is pretty unusual.[/quote]

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