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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm not sure why we think Fairfax County Public Schools are "failing."

Just last week, we honored 191 FCPS students for being named National Merit Semi-Finalists.  For those looking at the stats, there were approx 16,000 students in that category nationwide which is an average of 320 per state.  In Virginia there were 397 honorees.

A full HALF of the VA honorees were from a single county - FCPS.  The next largest school district in the state, Prince William County, had 6 honorees.

[b]It seems like FCPS is still producing a high level of excellence in comparison to other districts in the state and country.[/b]

We are ALSO working hard to educate students whose 1st language is not English, who have special needs and who struggle academically.

We can accomplish both things simultaneously without being labelled as "failing" - it's not an either or situation.[/quote]

As a county yes, but there are still failing schools within the county. Langley or Chantilly excelling doesn't make Lewis or Justice good schools [/quote]

But shouldn't we be measuring student outcomes by the progress and growth a student makes during their educational journey?  Maybe the teachers at Lewis and Justice are working wonders with a higher population of students who need more support.  I'd be more impressed to know what the growth trajectory is for students at those schools.  How many students improved test scores during their years? What are the growth trends.  To be honest, it's a whole hell of a lot easier to take credit for students' educational outcomes at a school like Langley when they come to you with affluent English speaking educated parents who can afford their own private tutoring and enrichment programming outside of school time in order to bolster a school's outcomes.

This doesn't mean that schools like Lewis or Justice are "failing" - maybe it means that they are working harder and achieving more incremental success with a more challenging subset of students to educate.[/quote]

What about the kids with potential at those schools? Sorry your parents can't afford a good district, sorry for you? Growth is a ridiculous measurement. Either the school can get students to a state standard or it can't. The factors may be outside of the teacher and school's control, but that doesn't make it a good school [/quote]

How do you know kids with potential aren't being well educated at those schools??  I happen to live in a pyramid that gets crapped on all the time on this forum.  I have two HS kids who are receiving an excellent education. My senior has excelled in almost a dozen AP classes and exams and is applying to several Ivies.  He is far from the only student in this category at his school.  It is possible to serve both high-achieving and under-achieving students under the same roof.  The only way to compare a "good" school with a "bad" school is to give them a level playing field and then assess the effectiveness of its teaching staff and administration.[/quote]

Look at the SOL results. One or two kids with a pass advanced in most classes most years. Those kids belong at schools that are able to teach to their level. Your kid is at a HS that offers a dozen APs which means not MVHS, not Lewis and not Justice.   [/quote]

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