We moved to Fairfax for the schools and were underwhelmed with the quality of the education in elementary and early middle, even at a "good" Level IV AAP center. Left FCPS for Catholic, which has been much better,

Anonymous wrote:FCPS used to be strong and even with/if all the teachers are still some of the best in country, their hands are tied on what they can do and resources they are given. Their classes are too big, the mandatory paperwork is overwhelming (from FCPS Gatehouse). It is very different from what is was. So not that it’s overhyped it’s just that it is riding off old hype.

+1. Covid really exposed how much hype there was. I was told for so long "FCPS is the best." When you can see the cliff between your two kids, 4 school years apart, it's not good.

Anonymous wrote:Yes this is why we went private

+1

Best decision we ever made.

Yes this is why we went private

My oldest attends a NOVA Catholic high school (certainly a sports-focused environment) where the class sizes are reasonable and we don't get phone calls or emails about poor performance. The thing to remember is that the kids are in high school now so they're expected to manage their work load and be proactive in reaching out to the teacher for help if they need it.

Have you looked at your child's grades in SIS? Are they doing poorly? I generally don't contact parents unless a student's grade is a D or lower.

You can always reach out to the teacher and ask for feedback on your student's performance. Take an active role, don't just wait for the teacher to contact you (as they may think your student is doing fine)

FCPS (and MCPS) used to be academically strong. They have been sliding downhill for many years now - started long before COVID.

FCPS used to be strong and even with/if all the teachers are still some of the best in country, their hands are tied on what they can do and resources they are given. Their classes are too big, the mandatory paperwork is overwhelming (from FCPS Gatehouse). It is very different from what is was. So not that it’s overhyped it’s just that it is riding off old hype.

Did you buy in the Madison pyramid? If you did, yes, the focus for us has pretty much been sports all of school. My kids are in HS now you said it perfectly as alternative universe. Elementary, middle and high school, the focus has been sports in our community.

We are a sports family and wished we bought elsewhere so they had a less competitive sports experience and more of a regular experience without as much pressure (for sports). You are right, academics aren’t mentioned that much or it’s the people we know.

I have a HS freshman, and her grades are up to date. So far, she has had no academic need for extras from a teacher or from us.

All the info is in color coded folders in schoology for each class (school wide syste) and we were instructed as parents in every class (7 times) how to get the information during back to school night.

It has been pretty clearly laid out even for a new high school parent like me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What grade levels are you talking about?

early MS and HS, both have similar vibes.

Which schools? Maybe the schools are overwhelmed by worse students.

What do you mean by "worse" students? Those who are failing everything and consume all teachers resources, so there is no time left for students that aren't failing every class? Or you mean something else? These are affluent communities where parents have a lot of resources, most students are from well to do backgrounds, at least seems like.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What grade levels are you talking about?

early MS and HS, both have similar vibes.

Which schools? Maybe the schools are overwhelmed by worse students.

Anonymous wrote:What grade levels are you talking about?

early MS and HS, both have similar vibes.

What grade levels are you talking about?

We came from city public elementary/middle which I thought would be bar set low. But we would get teachers calls and emails if kids would do poorly on assessments and would be invited to talk to teachers to set a plan to improve and know exactly where children need help or more advanced material. I am surprised with the level of indifference and "cattle-like" experience from what was touted as top suburban publics in one of the top educated metro areas. Classes are overcrowded and teachers seem overwhelmed and overloaded. Grading is incredibly slow and it's hard to see if your kid is truly thriving or failing based on this info posted online, it's this unclear. Not to mention try to get access to the information where exactly they need help.

I do see tons of test prep places of all kinds. Is this what essentially becomes the necessary extension of school here? There is a lot of focus on sport, but we aren't a sports family, so it's like an alternative universe. I don't see the academic culture, am I completely off base?