Anonymous wrote:I'm a longtime FxCo resident - attended FCPS as well. The elementary and middle schools are nowhere near as rigorous as they were in the 80s. The whole AAP nonsense has been such an unwelcome distraction. The county should have stuck to its very well-regarded GT program that only accepted a tiny percentage of kids. AAP has turned into a circus and isn't really much different from Gen Ed. That, in and of itself, has made elementary and middle school education somewhat of a joke.

However, the high schools do an excellent job of educating students - probably because at that point, AAP ends and all students have the opportunity to take whatever level they want to (regular, honors, or AP/IB). My kids all said that they didn't feel they were really learning anything until they got to high school - and then it was a brand new and interesting world. No more busy work and silly projects.

Two of my kids are now in college, and the third is still in high school. The college kids have been very well prepared. Maybe one day FCPS will come to its senses and do away with AAP; simply raise the bar for ALL kids.

New poster. Sorry that your particular AAP did not prepare your particular kids as well as you would have liked for their excellent HS education; however, the AAP my child did in FCPS was great preparation for the very rigorous education DC got in an FCPS high school. The kids who went through AAP at our ES and MS were more than ready to handle high school and benefit from it.

Your particular experience, and mine, do not define every family's experience with AAP.

There is a huge tendency on DCUM to tar AAP as horrible yet we and other families who went to our specific schools had good experiences overall and some kids had excellent experiences. The constant drumbeat here of "do away with all AAP" pretends that every school, every program, every teacher, every student is the same and has the same experiences. That's just not the real world. If AAP disappeared tomorrow, you'd get what you call "raise the bar for all kids" and teachers would call "differentiation in the classroom." Over time, the complain of parents like you would be this: "In our school there's not enough differentiation to keep kids who work at a higher level interested in learning! We need to give them more stimulation that meets their needs." That's exactly why AAP (whether at center schools or in all schools) exists. Make it vanish in favor of differentiation in the classroom and see how well that works over time. You'll go back to wanting some form of GT or AAP or separate "streams" for students at that level, because teachers just can't help the kids who need help and at the same time provide what other students need to keep engaged and be ready for MS and HS.

FCPS has been increasing teacher salaries and reducing class sizes in recent years.

The facilities management is bad, but this is mostly the School Board’s fault. At least FCPS has been renovating schools and adding capacity throughout the system, not overspending on shiny new buildings while failing to plan for adequate seats (as in Arlington - their Superintendent is bailing now, before the shit really hits the fan).

Eight of the top 10 high schools in VA are in FCPS. And about 1/2 are in the top 25. No other system in the area has nearly as many strong pyramids.

^^^Two great posts above ^^^^

The difference between private education and fcps is unbelievable. My kids were learning close to nothing in public school. Worksheets in the corner. One teacher posted on another thread that they teach 90 minutes of language arts per day. Yeah right. These teachers are not teaching much at all. They're assigning worksheets that the kids do on their own. Then the teachers will pull them out for some small group instruction that lasts for a minimal amount of time. Don't even get me started on the bloated AAP program. Pointless.

Well said :48.

I'm also a FCPS (2-12) graduate and when my parents first moved to the county in the mid 1970s, my parents were searching for a Catholic school for me. They wanted me to have the same educational opportunities and high expectations as the Catholic school I was leaving.

Someone told my parents (who both were products of Catholic schools) that FCPS were vastly superior and a better choice. They were always so proud of their decision!

Now, I'm a FCPS parent with teenagers. If I had to do it all over, I would have chosen private schools for them, starting in K.

As another PP said, when was the last time the FCPS Board rallied or even lobbied for something--anything--academic?
Entirely too much focus on political issues; meal tax, transgendered students, anti-bullying, equity...in the meantime, our schools get exponentially more crowded, schools have "temporary" trailers, cabins, learning cottages, modulate, annexes, whatever euphemism fits- for decades.

Most elementary schools serve breakfast and lunch out of necessity. My elementary school never had guidance counselors, social workers, a school psychologist or a parent liaison.

The school system is bloated and trying too hard to be accepting and diverse (which isn't a bad thing) but in trying to be inclusive, lost its edge and rigor.

I'm a longtime FxCo resident - attended FCPS as well. The elementary and middle schools are nowhere near as rigorous as they were in the 80s. The whole AAP nonsense has been such an unwelcome distraction. The county should have stuck to its very well-regarded GT program that only accepted a tiny percentage of kids. AAP has turned into a circus and isn't really much different from Gen Ed. That, in and of itself, has made elementary and middle school education somewhat of a joke.

However, the high schools do an excellent job of educating students - probably because at that point, AAP ends and all students have the opportunity to take whatever level they want to (regular, honors, or AP/IB). My kids all said that they didn't feel they were really learning anything until they got to high school - and then it was a brand new and interesting world. No more busy work and silly projects.

Two of my kids are now in college, and the third is still in high school. The college kids have been very well prepared. Maybe one day FCPS will come to its senses and do away with AAP; simply raise the bar for ALL kids.

Anonymous wrote:No summer book report does not indicate a problem! Here's a clue: You should have developed a love of reading long before your child learned to read. If you didn't do that, think about this? How about reading a book with your child now? Turn off the television and the phone and the computer. Let your child choose a book to read. Talk to your child and find something he/she is interested in.

While my kids both read every day, they did not become voracious readers on their own until they found something that really intrigued them.

They do plenty of required reading during the school year. Let them read something they enjoy.

+1
Agreed

No summer book report does not indicate a problem! Here's a clue: You should have developed a love of reading long before your child learned to read. If you didn't do that, think about this? How about reading a book with your child now? Turn off the television and the phone and the computer. Let your child choose a book to read. Talk to your child and find something he/she is interested in.

While my kids both read every day, they did not become voracious readers on their own until they found something that really intrigued them.

They do plenty of required reading during the school year. Let them read something they enjoy.

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Anonymous wrote:Can't say if they're in decline, but the reputation seems overblown compared to affluent NJ suburbs.

NJ suburbs have small, township-based school systems, so of course no single system there will attract as much attention as FCPS.

And the poorer systems in NJ really suffer, because they aren’t subsidized by the wealthier areas.

No they are subsidized due to court decisions. Camden and Newark in particular.

Nobody in Fairfax county gives a sh*t about New Jersey schools.

I live in Fairfax and I do. The education here is worse than what I got as a kid in wealthy suburban NJ, but it seems that the teaching style today and the subject matter covered is much different than what I had as a kid as well. Maybe the current style is better for most of the student population, but k-2 doesn't seem nearly challenging enough.

Then Go back to Jersey, and quit comparing apples and oranges.

I prefer higher standards. I don't understand why FCPS is so highly regarded.



No required summer reading so far in elementary.

It took me about 10 seconds to find this: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/2019-summer-reading-adventure

It's called "parenting". Give it a try.

Not required. Not the same thing as “read this book, write a report about it, and we’ll have a test on it the first week of school”.

That's a good thing!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't say if they're in decline, but the reputation seems overblown compared to affluent NJ suburbs.

NJ suburbs have small, township-based school systems, so of course no single system there will attract as much attention as FCPS.

And the poorer systems in NJ really suffer, because they aren’t subsidized by the wealthier areas.

No they are subsidized due to court decisions. Camden and Newark in particular.

Nobody in Fairfax county gives a sh*t about New Jersey schools.

I live in Fairfax and I do. The education here is worse than what I got as a kid in wealthy suburban NJ, but it seems that the teaching style today and the subject matter covered is much different than what I had as a kid as well. Maybe the current style is better for most of the student population, but k-2 doesn't seem nearly challenging enough.

Then Go back to Jersey, and quit comparing apples and oranges.

I prefer higher standards. I don't understand why FCPS is so highly regarded.



No required summer reading so far in elementary.

It took me about 10 seconds to find this: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/2019-summer-reading-adventure

It's called "parenting". Give it a try.

Not required. Not the same thing as “read this book, write a report about it, and we’ll have a test on it the first week of school”.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't say if they're in decline, but the reputation seems overblown compared to affluent NJ suburbs.

NJ suburbs have small, township-based school systems, so of course no single system there will attract as much attention as FCPS.

And the poorer systems in NJ really suffer, because they aren’t subsidized by the wealthier areas.

No they are subsidized due to court decisions. Camden and Newark in particular.

Nobody in Fairfax county gives a sh*t about New Jersey schools.

I live in Fairfax and I do. The education here is worse than what I got as a kid in wealthy suburban NJ, but it seems that the teaching style today and the subject matter covered is much different than what I had as a kid as well. Maybe the current style is better for most of the student population, but k-2 doesn't seem nearly challenging enough.

Then Go back to Jersey, and quit comparing apples and oranges.

I prefer higher standards. I don't understand why FCPS is so highly regarded.



No required summer reading so far in elementary.

It took me about 10 seconds to find this: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/2019-summer-reading-adventure

It's called "parenting". Give it a try.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't say if they're in decline, but the reputation seems overblown compared to affluent NJ suburbs.

NJ suburbs have small, township-based school systems, so of course no single system there will attract as much attention as FCPS.

And the poorer systems in NJ really suffer, because they aren’t subsidized by the wealthier areas.

No they are subsidized due to court decisions. Camden and Newark in particular.

Nobody in Fairfax county gives a sh*t about New Jersey schools.

I live in Fairfax and I do. The education here is worse than what I got as a kid in wealthy suburban NJ, but it seems that the teaching style today and the subject matter covered is much different than what I had as a kid as well. Maybe the current style is better for most of the student population, but k-2 doesn't seem nearly challenging enough.

Then Go back to Jersey, and quit comparing apples and oranges.

I prefer higher standards. I don't understand why FCPS is so highly regarded.

They never even taught penmanship. No instruction on how to letters properly with correct stroke order. They sure know how to draw on a computer and listen to stories on an ipad though!

No actual tests? No mad minutes? No quizzes on reading? No feedback on actual comprehension of reading? There's no actual objective feedback that lets me know what progress my child is making in school. Report cards are entirely subjective and worthless. Progress reports provide minimal textual feedback on challenges and successes. No notes coming home from the teacher saying good or bad feedback.

No required summer reading so far in elementary.

I have to spend money on weekends and get my kid to do workbooks on their own to give them a more challenging education. If I have to determine on my own what my child is learning in school, how well they're learning it, and challenging my own kids so they actually learn something new why the heck are they in school for 7 hours a day?

The only reasons I can see so far why the system is highly rated is because you have a lot of educated wealthy parents, and a relatively large recent immigrant demographic that takes learning seriously outside of school. This means you have a large number of engaged parents, a lot of support, and a more highly intelligent school cohort than the nation at large.

This is so true. What are they doing for 7+ hours each day? I'm serious when I ask this? Are there any teachers who can answer this? It seems there is a lot of sitting around. My child gets work sent home that is marked correct even when the answer is not actually correct.

I teach 4th grade and my day consists of 60 minutes of math, 90 minutes of language arts, 30 minutes of writing, 45 minutes of history, 30 minutes of science, 30 minutes of recess, 30 minutes of lunch and 60 minutes of specials. All the extra time is transition time, bathroom breaks, morning meetings, clean-up, pack-up, etc. I have a schedule and lesson plans and follow them every day. Things get cut if we have an assembly, field trip, delays or early releases, or I need to spend a little more time on one subject. My students are always busy. If they finish something early, they can read, start their homework, or go to the library.

In my class, the students correct their own math (sometimes lang arts) homework after I check that they did it. After they check it, I review it to look for trends, and sometimes they forget to mark something incorrect. Lastly, I am human, and although I grade every assignment that affects their progress report, I sometimes make mistakes when grading. I figure that I grade at least 250 pieces of paper a week.

I hope that answers your question on how I spend my 7+ hours a day.

Teachers are told what to do even when they don't agree with it. I am a teacher and I am told I have to go small groups in both math and reading. Okay, fine but I am also told to use nearly the entire math and reading blocks to do so. So my students spend most of their day in small groups. They are first graders and most of them do not have the maturity to do their work rather than talk or fool around. We offer incentives of course but I don't agree that I should spend most of my day doing this. My students might get 15 minutes of my time once or twice a day and the rest of the time they are on their own.

Taught first grade back in the day when we had control over how we taught our classes. Some years, I did more small group instruction than others, but I always did large group instruction, as well.
Math was large group with extra help for those struggling and extra work for those who needed a challenge. Reading was reading groups in small groups=--but, we always did additional work with the whole group. I also did whole group phonics, but phonics was also included in reading groups. Spelling was whole group.
The morning always started with large group--writing a story of some type on the board and some type of social interaction. It was not directed from above, but responsive to the kids I was teaching. The writing was generally about whatever social studies or science unit was going on at the time.

The pendulum will swing back.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't say if they're in decline, but the reputation seems overblown compared to affluent NJ suburbs.

NJ suburbs have small, township-based school systems, so of course no single system there will attract as much attention as FCPS.

And the poorer systems in NJ really suffer, because they aren’t subsidized by the wealthier areas.

No they are subsidized due to court decisions. Camden and Newark in particular.

Nobody in Fairfax county gives a sh*t about New Jersey schools.

I live in Fairfax and I do. The education here is worse than what I got as a kid in wealthy suburban NJ, but it seems that the teaching style today and the subject matter covered is much different than what I had as a kid as well. Maybe the current style is better for most of the student population, but k-2 doesn't seem nearly challenging enough.

Then Go back to Jersey, and quit comparing apples and oranges.

I prefer higher standards. I don't understand why FCPS is so highly regarded.

They never even taught penmanship. No instruction on how to letters properly with correct stroke order. They sure know how to draw on a computer and listen to stories on an ipad though!

No actual tests? No mad minutes? No quizzes on reading? No feedback on actual comprehension of reading? There's no actual objective feedback that lets me know what progress my child is making in school. Report cards are entirely subjective and worthless. Progress reports provide minimal textual feedback on challenges and successes. No notes coming home from the teacher saying good or bad feedback.

No required summer reading so far in elementary.

I have to spend money on weekends and get my kid to do workbooks on their own to give them a more challenging education. If I have to determine on my own what my child is learning in school, how well they're learning it, and challenging my own kids so they actually learn something new why the heck are they in school for 7 hours a day?

The only reasons I can see so far why the system is highly rated is because you have a lot of educated wealthy parents, and a relatively large recent immigrant demographic that takes learning seriously outside of school. This means you have a large number of engaged parents, a lot of support, and a more highly intelligent school cohort than the nation at large.

This is so true. What are they doing for 7+ hours each day? I'm serious when I ask this? Are there any teachers who can answer this? It seems there is a lot of sitting around. My child gets work sent home that is marked correct even when the answer is not actually correct.

Teachers are told what to do even when they don't agree with it. I am a teacher and I am told I have to go small groups in both math and reading. Okay, fine but I am also told to use nearly the entire math and reading blocks to do so. So my students spend most of their day in small groups. They are first graders and most of them do not have the maturity to do their work rather than talk or fool around. We offer incentives of course but I don't agree that I should spend most of my day doing this. My students might get 15 minutes of my time once or twice a day and the rest of the time they are on their own.

It's all about the achievement gap. You can close it from the top or from the bottom........

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't say if they're in decline, but the reputation seems overblown compared to affluent NJ suburbs.

NJ suburbs have small, township-based school systems, so of course no single system there will attract as much attention as FCPS.

And the poorer systems in NJ really suffer, because they aren’t subsidized by the wealthier areas.

No they are subsidized due to court decisions. Camden and Newark in particular.

Nobody in Fairfax county gives a sh*t about New Jersey schools.

I live in Fairfax and I do. The education here is worse than what I got as a kid in wealthy suburban NJ, but it seems that the teaching style today and the subject matter covered is much different than what I had as a kid as well. Maybe the current style is better for most of the student population, but k-2 doesn't seem nearly challenging enough.

Then Go back to Jersey, and quit comparing apples and oranges.

I prefer higher standards. I don't understand why FCPS is so highly regarded.

They never even taught penmanship. No instruction on how to letters properly with correct stroke order. They sure know how to draw on a computer and listen to stories on an ipad though!

No actual tests? No mad minutes? No quizzes on reading? No feedback on actual comprehension of reading? There's no actual objective feedback that lets me know what progress my child is making in school. Report cards are entirely subjective and worthless. Progress reports provide minimal textual feedback on challenges and successes. No notes coming home from the teacher saying good or bad feedback.

No required summer reading so far in elementary.

I have to spend money on weekends and get my kid to do workbooks on their own to give them a more challenging education. If I have to determine on my own what my child is learning in school, how well they're learning it, and challenging my own kids so they actually learn something new why the heck are they in school for 7 hours a day?

The only reasons I can see so far why the system is highly rated is because you have a lot of educated wealthy parents, and a relatively large recent immigrant demographic that takes learning seriously outside of school. This means you have a large number of engaged parents, a lot of support, and a more highly intelligent school cohort than the nation at large.

This is so true. What are they doing for 7+ hours each day? I'm serious when I ask this? Are there any teachers who can answer this? It seems there is a lot of sitting around. My child gets work sent home that is marked correct even when the answer is not actually correct.