Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same issues in LCPS. We're at a title 1 school and most of the parents just don't care. They don't care about behavior, they don't care about scores and they don't care about what their kids are learning. The other 1/3 of the school is middle class and cares deeply about all of that and is constantly upset at the school, admin, and teachers about what's not being taught. I think most schools don't have differences as stark as our school, but it's still there. Year after year, teachers can't make it through the curriculum or teach to the grade level. Which just isn't fair to students who could be doing grade level appropriate work. Obviously the answer is differentiated classrooms (because the current system is failing everyone), but that's not politically feasible.

You're a terrible person. You are equating poverty and lack of resources in the home with not "caring." Shame on you.

Anonymous wrote:I remember thinking FCPS was faltering in 2012-13. Our kids are young adults now. Parents in NOVA have a lot of heavy mental investment in the phrase "but the schools are good, we live here for the schools". The cost of living is insane, but at least the schools make the financial pain worth it. So it's very tough to get people in Fairfax to admit the hard truth to themselves that the schools have declined substantially, because if you admit that, then it means the cost of living is insane AND the schools aren't as great anymore and you're staying for both why, exactly?? Answering the question requires getting real. It would force hard decisions about one's life decisions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No standards in elementary. Passing kids that should be held back. No more classroom novels with discussions. No spelling tests. Kids can’t read and write on grade-level and are pushed through the system.

Escape if you can.

That's an every school district problem, not just FCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is very common for parents to remember their own experiences with rose-colored glasses. When my kids started in FCPS I was very wary of certain ways of doing things that were different from when I was in school. I had a hard time with the lack of physical text books and differentiated learning was a very new type of learning than I had experienced.

But what I have come to learn is that different doesn't mean worse and that education is an evolving discipline. There is a lot in 2026 that is different than it was in the 1990s. Namely, the internet and computers have reshaped education completely.

Now as the parent of two FCPS educated college students both of whom are at universities that attract students from all over the country, I can say that comparatively speaking, my students are better prepared than many of their peers. Not just in the knowledge accrued, but in work habits and their approach to education.

If you look at statistics of outcomes, FCPS also ranks very well when compared across the country.

I think it's easy to criticize without fully understanding the whole picture. But also, comparing today's educational landscape to the landscape of 30 years ago when most of us were just children ourselves and probably didn't grasp the larger picture of what was going on around us is probably not the most accurate assessment of the reality and the evolution.

See, you were doing real well until this. I had four kids go to various colleges, including highly prestigious ones, and I couldn't tell you how prepared they are compared to their peers. How on earth can you possibly know that?

DP here. I'm a teacher and have many graduates each year come and say the same thing. Just as in high school where everyone knows who the smart ones and the less-smart ones are, college students know who is prepared and who is not.

Well, I'll tell you this: I've never had a discussion with any of my kids, ever, about how "prepared" their college classmates and friends are compared to them. Certainly not enough to come up with a hierarchy of a "preparedness" to come to the conclusion that they are more prepared than "many." That's just plain weird.

On top of that, with the average GPA in almost every college being well above a 3.0 how the hell can you possibly know?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is very common for parents to remember their own experiences with rose-colored glasses. When my kids started in FCPS I was very wary of certain ways of doing things that were different from when I was in school. I had a hard time with the lack of physical text books and differentiated learning was a very new type of learning than I had experienced.

But what I have come to learn is that different doesn't mean worse and that education is an evolving discipline. There is a lot in 2026 that is different than it was in the 1990s. Namely, the internet and computers have reshaped education completely.

Now as the parent of two FCPS educated college students both of whom are at universities that attract students from all over the country, I can say that comparatively speaking, my students are better prepared than many of their peers. Not just in the knowledge accrued, but in work habits and their approach to education.

If you look at statistics of outcomes, FCPS also ranks very well when compared across the country.

I think it's easy to criticize without fully understanding the whole picture. But also, comparing today's educational landscape to the landscape of 30 years ago when most of us were just children ourselves and probably didn't grasp the larger picture of what was going on around us is probably not the most accurate assessment of the reality and the evolution.

See, you were doing real well until this. I had four kids go to various colleges, including highly prestigious ones, and I couldn't tell you how prepared they are compared to their peers. How on earth can you possibly know that?

DP here. I'm a teacher and have many graduates each year come and say the same thing. Just as in high school where everyone knows who the smart ones and the less-smart ones are, college students know who is prepared and who is not.

Well, I'll tell you this: I've never had a discussion with any of my kids, ever, about how "prepared" their college classmates and friends are compared to them. Certainly not enough to come up with a hierarchy of a "preparedness" to come to the conclusion that they are more prepared than "many." That's just plain weird.

On top of that, with the average GPA in almost every college being well above a 3.0 how the hell can you possibly know?

Anonymous wrote:Same issues in LCPS. We're at a title 1 school and most of the parents just don't care. They don't care about behavior, they don't care about scores and they don't care about what their kids are learning. The other 1/3 of the school is middle class and cares deeply about all of that and is constantly upset at the school, admin, and teachers about what's not being taught. I think most schools don't have differences as stark as our school, but it's still there. Year after year, teachers can't make it through the curriculum or teach to the grade level. Which just isn't fair to students who could be doing grade level appropriate work. Obviously the answer is differentiated classrooms (because the current system is failing everyone), but that's not politically feasible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is very common for parents to remember their own experiences with rose-colored glasses. When my kids started in FCPS I was very wary of certain ways of doing things that were different from when I was in school. I had a hard time with the lack of physical text books and differentiated learning was a very new type of learning than I had experienced.

But what I have come to learn is that different doesn't mean worse and that education is an evolving discipline. There is a lot in 2026 that is different than it was in the 1990s. Namely, the internet and computers have reshaped education completely.

Now as the parent of two FCPS educated college students both of whom are at universities that attract students from all over the country, I can say that comparatively speaking, my students are better prepared than many of their peers. Not just in the knowledge accrued, but in work habits and their approach to education.

If you look at statistics of outcomes, FCPS also ranks very well when compared across the country.

I think it's easy to criticize without fully understanding the whole picture. But also, comparing today's educational landscape to the landscape of 30 years ago when most of us were just children ourselves and probably didn't grasp the larger picture of what was going on around us is probably not the most accurate assessment of the reality and the evolution.

See, you were doing real well until this. I had four kids go to various colleges, including highly prestigious ones, and I couldn't tell you how prepared they are compared to their peers. How on earth can you possibly know that?

DP here. I'm a teacher and have many graduates each year come and say the same thing. Just as in high school where everyone knows who the smart ones and the less-smart ones are, college students know who is prepared and who is not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is very common for parents to remember their own experiences with rose-colored glasses. When my kids started in FCPS I was very wary of certain ways of doing things that were different from when I was in school. I had a hard time with the lack of physical text books and differentiated learning was a very new type of learning than I had experienced.

But what I have come to learn is that different doesn't mean worse and that education is an evolving discipline. There is a lot in 2026 that is different than it was in the 1990s. Namely, the internet and computers have reshaped education completely.

Now as the parent of two FCPS educated college students both of whom are at universities that attract students from all over the country, I can say that comparatively speaking, my students are better prepared than many of their peers. Not just in the knowledge accrued, but in work habits and their approach to education.

If you look at statistics of outcomes, FCPS also ranks very well when compared across the country.

I think it's easy to criticize without fully understanding the whole picture. But also, comparing today's educational landscape to the landscape of 30 years ago when most of us were just children ourselves and probably didn't grasp the larger picture of what was going on around us is probably not the most accurate assessment of the reality and the evolution.

See, you were doing real well until this. I had four kids go to various colleges, including highly prestigious ones, and I couldn't tell you how prepared they are compared to their peers. How on earth can you possibly know that?

Anonymous wrote:I think it is very common for parents to remember their own experiences with rose-colored glasses. When my kids started in FCPS I was very wary of certain ways of doing things that were different from when I was in school. I had a hard time with the lack of physical text books and differentiated learning was a very new type of learning than I had experienced.

But what I have come to learn is that different doesn't mean worse and that education is an evolving discipline. There is a lot in 2026 that is different than it was in the 1990s. Namely, the internet and computers have reshaped education completely.

Now as the parent of two FCPS educated college students both of whom are at universities that attract students from all over the country, I can say that comparatively speaking, my students are better prepared than many of their peers. Not just in the knowledge accrued, but in work habits and their approach to education.

If you look at statistics of outcomes, FCPS also ranks very well when compared across the country.

I think it's easy to criticize without fully understanding the whole picture. But also, comparing today's educational landscape to the landscape of 30 years ago when most of us were just children ourselves and probably didn't grasp the larger picture of what was going on around us is probably not the most accurate assessment of the reality and the evolution.