Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
First, when it comes to SPED, my school is pretty adversarial to parents. It was shocking to me because in my old school we sort of viewed SPED as an educational safety net. We were always trying to get kids services, even if it's just speech. That isn't the case here. The default mentality is that no kid is getting referred to kid watch unless they were struggling academically and well...they aren't because they are meeting benchmarks on testing.

So, parents get frustrated. They get private testing, they get educational advocates, lawyers, etc. and it's such a contentious process. I never, ever sat through an IEP meeting that was contentious until I got here. It's crazy. This is the process when it comes to any issue, really. If you have a problem, better be ready to fight. I don't like that, but the parents are happy to scrap with the school and fight for their kids. And the cycle continues.

Second, there is a working expectation here that parents supplement. We will identify gaps, struggles, etc. but the expectation is that the parent is going to step in and fill those holes. My old school didn't do this. We were expected to do this work. If a kid doesn't get it, parents will begin the IEP/504 fight. See above.

Again, people may think I am ridiculous. I get it. This is a nice school with awesome families. But they are being shortchanged.

We moved from FCPS to APS and our Fairfax county school was definitely resistant to any SPED support. It was like pulling teeth to get anything and they seemed to resent it at every turn. Definitely adversarial. Our APS schools (el. and middle so far) have been far more proactive and do seem to view services more as a safety net than a big liability. Our school in APS has a lower great schools score (horrors!) but frankly it is a far more supportive place overall.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the whole thread but your post really struck a chord with me, OP. I am in a highly regarded FFX County Pyramid and I am stunned by how mediocre the the education has been overall. There have been a few exceptional teachers but they have been rare. I don't understand why so many parents continue to believe that our elementary school is an excellent school. The scores and test results have everything to do with the parents and the kids themselves, and not with what the school is teaching. I think the best you can say about some of these schools is that they offer a lot of possibilities to do accelerated work--and that isn't nothing. But as to what is taught and how it is taught, I am deeply disappointed.

We are at Wolftrap ES.. So far I cannot tell whether my child is learning much in class, or what they may be actually doing. I get very few materials back home, and I'm hoping that just means they keep a lot of it for some reason. They are coming home telling me school is pretty boring. On the bright side this means they often get excited when I teach them something at home.

So far I'm trying hard not to judge until at least half a year passes. It may just be that like PP above I have higher expectations at what is supposed to be a good elementary school. From reading these threads it seems low expectations of teaching seems to be the norm in elementary schools in FCPS. Personally I can't even tell whether it is a teacher quality problem, or just a lack of teaching time because of all the other admin type of stuff they have to do.

OP here. I know that school and I'm not going to out myself, but yeah. You should be worried and demand more fwiw.

I stand by my point. I don't think it matters to a lot of people and that makes me feel like my job is sort of pointless. But I have small kids and I am not 100 percent engaged in teaching at the moment, so being able to just get by might be for the best. I am treating my school as a sabbatical of sorts. I am tired of pushing and trying for more to no avail.

OP, I'm the PP at Wolftrap. What are some specific things you are pushing for? Change of culture to be more focused on teaching/teachers vs admin/testing type of work? Or something else? As a concerned parent about what I view as a general lack of teaching in schools despite tremendous resources and money available to these well off type of schools, I would like to help make things better, but not sure what I can do. What in your opinion can we do (other than supplement/enrich at home)? I don't want to just give up on the school, I do notice that families and the PTA are extremely active at our school, which suggests to me that they care and want to be involved in their children's education and enrichment opportunities. This is actually great and suggests the school shouldn't have many teaching issues and a bunch of great kids who are ready to learn. And indeed it seems to be the case by standard metrics such as test scores, SOLs, etc. But I think more can be done in terms of quality, content, and just good old fashioned passion and expertise for working with kids.

There are a few things that come to mind (as I end my day and reclaim planning time).

First, when it comes to SPED, my school is pretty adversarial to parents. It was shocking to me because in my old school we sort of viewed SPED as an educational safety net. We were always trying to get kids services, even if it's just speech. That isn't the case here. The default mentality is that no kid is getting referred to kid watch unless they were struggling academically and well...they aren't because they are meeting benchmarks on testing.

So, parents get frustrated. They get private testing, they get educational advocates, lawyers, etc. and it's such a contentious process. I never, ever sat through an IEP meeting that was contentious until I got here. It's crazy. This is the process when it comes to any issue, really. If you have a problem, better be ready to fight. I don't like that, but the parents are happy to scrap with the school and fight for their kids. And the cycle continues.

Second, there is a working expectation here that parents supplement. We will identify gaps, struggles, etc. but the expectation is that the parent is going to step in and fill those holes. My old school didn't do this. We were expected to do this work. If a kid doesn't get it, parents will begin the IEP/504 fight. See above.

Again, people may think I am ridiculous. I get it. This is a nice school with awesome families. But they are being shortchanged.

Anonymous wrote:
First, when it comes to SPED, my school is pretty adversarial to parents. It was shocking to me because in my old school we sort of viewed SPED as an educational safety net. We were always trying to get kids services, even if it's just speech. That isn't the case here. The default mentality is that no kid is getting referred to kid watch unless they were struggling academically and well...they aren't because they are meeting benchmarks on testing.

So, parents get frustrated. They get private testing, they get educational advocates, lawyers, etc. and it's such a contentious process. I never, ever sat through an IEP meeting that was contentious until I got here. It's crazy. This is the process when it comes to any issue, really. If you have a problem, better be ready to fight. I don't like that, but the parents are happy to scrap with the school and fight for their kids. And the cycle continues.

Second, there is a working expectation here that parents supplement. We will identify gaps, struggles, etc. but the expectation is that the parent is going to step in and fill those holes. My old school didn't do this. We were expected to do this work. If a kid doesn't get it, parents will begin the IEP/504 fight. See above.

Again, people may think I am ridiculous. I get it. This is a nice school with awesome families. But they are being shortchanged.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the whole thread but your post really struck a chord with me, OP. I am in a highly regarded FFX County Pyramid and I am stunned by how mediocre the the education has been overall. There have been a few exceptional teachers but they have been rare. I don't understand why so many parents continue to believe that our elementary school is an excellent school. The scores and test results have everything to do with the parents and the kids themselves, and not with what the school is teaching. I think the best you can say about some of these schools is that they offer a lot of possibilities to do accelerated work--and that isn't nothing. But as to what is taught and how it is taught, I am deeply disappointed.

We are at Wolftrap ES.. So far I cannot tell whether my child is learning much in class, or what they may be actually doing. I get very few materials back home, and I'm hoping that just means they keep a lot of it for some reason. They are coming home telling me school is pretty boring. On the bright side this means they often get excited when I teach them something at home.

So far I'm trying hard not to judge until at least half a year passes. It may just be that like PP above I have higher expectations at what is supposed to be a good elementary school. From reading these threads it seems low expectations of teaching seems to be the norm in elementary schools in FCPS. Personally I can't even tell whether it is a teacher quality problem, or just a lack of teaching time because of all the other admin type of stuff they have to do.

OP here. I know that school and I'm not going to out myself, but yeah. You should be worried and demand more fwiw.

I stand by my point. I don't think it matters to a lot of people and that makes me feel like my job is sort of pointless. But I have small kids and I am not 100 percent engaged in teaching at the moment, so being able to just get by might be for the best. I am treating my school as a sabbatical of sorts. I am tired of pushing and trying for more to no avail.

OP, I'm the PP at Wolftrap. What are some specific things you are pushing for? Change of culture to be more focused on teaching/teachers vs admin/testing type of work? Or something else? As a concerned parent about what I view as a general lack of teaching in schools despite tremendous resources and money available to these well off type of schools, I would like to help make things better, but not sure what I can do. What in your opinion can we do (other than supplement/enrich at home)? I don't want to just give up on the school, I do notice that families and the PTA are extremely active at our school, which suggests to me that they care and want to be involved in their children's education and enrichment opportunities. This is actually great and suggests the school shouldn't have many teaching issues and a bunch of great kids who are ready to learn. And indeed it seems to be the case by standard metrics such as test scores, SOLs, etc. But I think more can be done in terms of quality, content, and just good old fashioned passion and expertise for working with kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the whole thread but your post really struck a chord with me, OP. I am in a highly regarded FFX County Pyramid and I am stunned by how mediocre the the education has been overall. There have been a few exceptional teachers but they have been rare. I don't understand why so many parents continue to believe that our elementary school is an excellent school. The scores and test results have everything to do with the parents and the kids themselves, and not with what the school is teaching. I think the best you can say about some of these schools is that they offer a lot of possibilities to do accelerated work--and that isn't nothing. But as to what is taught and how it is taught, I am deeply disappointed.

We are at Wolftrap ES.. So far I cannot tell whether my child is learning much in class, or what they may be actually doing. I get very few materials back home, and I'm hoping that just means they keep a lot of it for some reason. They are coming home telling me school is pretty boring. On the bright side this means they often get excited when I teach them something at home.

So far I'm trying hard not to judge until at least half a year passes. It may just be that like PP above I have higher expectations at what is supposed to be a good elementary school. From reading these threads it seems low expectations of teaching seems to be the norm in elementary schools in FCPS. Personally I can't even tell whether it is a teacher quality problem, or just a lack of teaching time because of all the other admin type of stuff they have to do.

OP here. I know that school and I'm not going to out myself, but yeah. You should be worried and demand more fwiw.

I stand by my point. I don't think it matters to a lot of people and that makes me feel like my job is sort of pointless. But I have small kids and I am not 100 percent engaged in teaching at the moment, so being able to just get by might be for the best. I am treating my school as a sabbatical of sorts. I am tired of pushing and trying for more to no avail.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the whole thread but your post really struck a chord with me, OP. I am in a highly regarded FFX County Pyramid and I am stunned by how mediocre the the education has been overall. There have been a few exceptional teachers but they have been rare. I don't understand why so many parents continue to believe that our elementary school is an excellent school. The scores and test results have everything to do with the parents and the kids themselves, and not with what the school is teaching. I think the best you can say about some of these schools is that they offer a lot of possibilities to do accelerated work--and that isn't nothing. But as to what is taught and how it is taught, I am deeply disappointed.

We are at Wolftrap ES.. So far I cannot tell whether my child is learning much in class, or what they may be actually doing. I get very few materials back home, and I'm hoping that just means they keep a lot of it for some reason. They are coming home telling me school is pretty boring. On the bright side this means they often get excited when I teach them something at home.

So far I'm trying hard not to judge until at least half a year passes. It may just be that like PP above I have higher expectations at what is supposed to be a good elementary school. From reading these threads it seems low expectations of teaching seems to be the norm in elementary schools in FCPS. Personally I can't even tell whether it is a teacher quality problem, or just a lack of teaching time because of all the other admin type of stuff they have to do.

OP here. I know that school and I'm not going to out myself, but yeah. You should be worried and demand more fwiw.

I stand by my point. I don't think it matters to a lot of people and that makes me feel like my job is sort of pointless. But I have small kids and I am not 100 percent engaged in teaching at the moment, so being able to just get by might be for the best. I am treating my school as a sabbatical of sorts. I am tired of pushing and trying for more to no avail.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the whole thread but your post really struck a chord with me, OP. I am in a highly regarded FFX County Pyramid and I am stunned by how mediocre the the education has been overall. There have been a few exceptional teachers but they have been rare. I don't understand why so many parents continue to believe that our elementary school is an excellent school. The scores and test results have everything to do with the parents and the kids themselves, and not with what the school is teaching. I think the best you can say about some of these schools is that they offer a lot of possibilities to do accelerated work--and that isn't nothing. But as to what is taught and how it is taught, I am deeply disappointed.

We are at Wolftrap ES.. So far I cannot tell whether my child is learning much in class, or what they may be actually doing. I get very few materials back home, and I'm hoping that just means they keep a lot of it for some reason. They are coming home telling me school is pretty boring. On the bright side this means they often get excited when I teach them something at home.

So far I'm trying hard not to judge until at least half a year passes. It may just be that like PP above I have higher expectations at what is supposed to be a good elementary school. From reading these threads it seems low expectations of teaching seems to be the norm in elementary schools in FCPS. Personally I can't even tell whether it is a teacher quality problem, or just a lack of teaching time because of all the other admin type of stuff they have to do.

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the whole thread but your post really struck a chord with me, OP. I am in a highly regarded FFX County Pyramid and I am stunned by how mediocre the the education has been overall. There have been a few exceptional teachers but they have been rare. I don't understand why so many parents continue to believe that our elementary school is an excellent school. The scores and test results have everything to do with the parents and the kids themselves, and not with what the school is teaching. I think the best you can say about some of these schools is that they offer a lot of possibilities to do accelerated work--and that isn't nothing. But as to what is taught and how it is taught, I am deeply disappointed.

Anonymous wrote:The whole thread seems like it was started by someone who probably isn’t even a teacher and can’t deal with the fact that kids get better educations when they have smart peers and parents who actually care.

Anonymous wrote:The whole thread seems like it was started by someone who probably isn’t even a teacher and can’t deal with the fact that kids get better educations when they have smart peers and parents who actually care.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the whole thread but your post really struck a chord with me, OP. I am in a highly regarded FFX County Pyramid and I am stunned by how mediocre the the education has been overall. There have been a few exceptional teachers but they have been rare. I don't understand why so many parents continue to believe that our elementary school is an excellent school. The scores and test results have everything to do with the parents and the kids themselves, and not with what the school is teaching. I think the best you can say about some of these schools is that they offer a lot of possibilities to do accelerated work--and that isn't nothing. But as to what is taught and how it is taught, I am deeply disappointed.

I don't think elementary schools in FCPS particularly stand out. The middle and high schools do.

Anonymous wrote:I haven't read the whole thread but your post really struck a chord with me, OP. I am in a highly regarded FFX County Pyramid and I am stunned by how mediocre the the education has been overall. There have been a few exceptional teachers but they have been rare. I don't understand why so many parents continue to believe that our elementary school is an excellent school. The scores and test results have everything to do with the parents and the kids themselves, and not with what the school is teaching. I think the best you can say about some of these schools is that they offer a lot of possibilities to do accelerated work--and that isn't nothing. But as to what is taught and how it is taught, I am deeply disappointed.

Anonymous wrote:I'm more underwhelmed by the OP than I am by the majority of enthusiastic teachers at our very good FCPS school, so I'll take them and the kids and families in our pyramid. Thanks for playing.