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[quote=Anonymous][quote]Also missing: there are very few true neighborhood schools anymore. Schools that serve one neighborhood or development only that would be compromised of all "walkers."

There used to be community pride and spirit and "buy-in" where the school served th neighborhood, often with teachers from the same or close-by area. We all knew each other.

Now every ES needs to [b]have some special niche[/b] whether it's an AAP/Headstart/Chinese immersion, etc. and a goal to have 800 students at every ES.[/quote]

I agree that there is too much eye candy in the window and not enough basic utility cookware in the store.

There are so many good thoughts in this thread. One is to let the teachers structure time with students based on student needs. They need to hire competent people and let them run the ball. It makes the teaching and learning much more responsive and that works. Often the simple and most obvious solutions are the best. There is no need to go fancy. Many people on here want textbooks that students can easily reference and where they can see their goals and progress. That makes sense. It also makes sense to try to develop reading and writing skills (unless there are accommodations needed for dyslexia, etc.). For the average student this type of education works and for students who are more advanced, independent materials can be given. I think FCPS has too many cooks stirring too many pots. Just give the teachers a reasonable range of students in a classroom and some autonomy to use materials and strategies that work.

Someone mentioned New York schools being good. Yes, I taught there and they have rules (union rules I might add) that limit the number of special needs/ESOL students that can be in a classroom. The combined limit when I was there was 3! They also did not allow a secondary teacher to have more than 3 preps. Here a teacher can have 5! They also had much better in-service opportunities and much higher state standards. Of course this does not mean that a child won't go far here, but it helps the average student to have those standards. FCPS rides on its educated parents. It's the value added that counts in determining if a school district is "good".

And finally, yes, FCPS is too big with too many moving parts. [/quote]

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