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Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

An example of correlation, not causation.

If so, a happy coincidence. But, more likely, a refusal on your part to acknowledge what FCPS still does well.

Not a happy coincidence. This area has a large population of high earning, high achieving parents who invest heavily in their children’s education in time and/ or money. Higher rates of test prep, tutoring, homework support, etc all directly translate into higher test scores.

If the county had some magic formula for success, you’d see it across all the schools, not clustered in the most affluents parts of the county.

North Arlington and parts of Loudoun are more affluent than most of Fairfax yet their schools are generally not rated as highly by U.S. News.

It’s not a magic formula for success but suggesting it’s all purely a function of economics and parental effort on the side is misleading.

Niche ranks Arlington as #2, Loudoun as #4 and Fairfax as #6 for VA school districts.

US news rates, Loudoun#60 in the U.S., Arlington: #93 in the U.S Fairfax: #128 in the U.S.

So.. idk maybe that also supports what I’m saying. So thank you.

Also keep in mind TJ is a governors school, so Fairfax is behind even with the boost of the highest scorers from LCPS and APS added to FCPS.

And when you look at the SAT data, keep in mind TJ is pulling the county up by A LOT

The last year I think they released the data was 2021. The average SAT score from TJ was 1531. The FCPS average (with the boost from TJ included) was 1201.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia

8 out of 10 of the VA's best high schools are FFX County.

That’s 7.

And yes, nobody’s disputing that. We know that those pockets with heavily involved and wealthy parents translates to excellent test taking students who will have high graduation rates and high college acceptance rates.

It does not translate to best school system though, as the success is not seen across the county as it is dependent on the students family much more than the school.

That’s why you see that over all APS and LCPS are higher ranked than FCPS even when we do have the high achievement parents boosting FCPS.

All of this very much proves the point.

Your point, then, isn't that FCPS isn't doing a good job so much as that student demographics in APS and LCPS are now more affluent overall.

But, when you look at the affluent schools in each of these districts, it's the affluent schools in FCPS coming out on top.

Maybe comparing school districts is just a stupid exercise. These are vast areas with different socio-economic factor zones. If you want to compare districts then you need to compare schools (not even neighborhoods) like comparing highest scoring school in APS to highest scoring in FCPS.

I don't think that wealthy areas, especially "enclave-like" neighborhoods with large wealth concentration that represent majority of zoning always translates to highest performing schools, because at certain level of wealth parents just go with private schools and general population in these areas tends to be older. There are many examples across the US where wealthy neighborhoods do not have high performing schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

An example of correlation, not causation.

If so, a happy coincidence. But, more likely, a refusal on your part to acknowledge what FCPS still does well.

Not a happy coincidence. This area has a large population of high earning, high achieving parents who invest heavily in their children’s education in time and/ or money. Higher rates of test prep, tutoring, homework support, etc all directly translate into higher test scores.

If the county had some magic formula for success, you’d see it across all the schools, not clustered in the most affluents parts of the county.

North Arlington and parts of Loudoun are more affluent than most of Fairfax yet their schools are generally not rated as highly by U.S. News.

It’s not a magic formula for success but suggesting it’s all purely a function of economics and parental effort on the side is misleading.

Niche ranks Arlington as #2, Loudoun as #4 and Fairfax as #6 for VA school districts.

US news rates, Loudoun#60 in the U.S., Arlington: #93 in the U.S Fairfax: #128 in the U.S.

So.. idk maybe that also supports what I’m saying. So thank you.

Also keep in mind TJ is a governors school, so Fairfax is behind even with the boost of the highest scorers from LCPS and APS added to FCPS.

And when you look at the SAT data, keep in mind TJ is pulling the county up by A LOT

The last year I think they released the data was 2021. The average SAT score from TJ was 1531. The FCPS average (with the boost from TJ included) was 1201.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia

8 out of 10 of the VA's best high schools are FFX County.

That’s 7.

And yes, nobody’s disputing that. We know that those pockets with heavily involved and wealthy parents translates to excellent test taking students who will have high graduation rates and high college acceptance rates.

It does not translate to best school system though, as the success is not seen across the county as it is dependent on the students family much more than the school.

That’s why you see that over all APS and LCPS are higher ranked than FCPS even when we do have the high achievement parents boosting FCPS.

All of this very much proves the point.

Your point, then, isn't that FCPS isn't doing a good job so much as that student demographics in APS and LCPS are now more affluent overall.

But, when you look at the affluent schools in each of these districts, it's the affluent schools in FCPS coming out on top.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Ew. Any public school comment always brings out the supposed non MAGA Catholics.

DP. I’m not a MAGA Catholic, but I am a person who has taught in both public and Catholic high schools. They simply don’t compare. In public, I was tasked with performing miracles with no resources. I burned out. In private, I am given the resources and respect to do my job well.

It’s about teacher support and teacher morale, and the publics aren’t doing well on either front right now.

And this has nothing to do with politics or religion. It’s about resources.

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

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

An example of correlation, not causation.

If so, a happy coincidence. But, more likely, a refusal on your part to acknowledge what FCPS still does well.

Not a happy coincidence. This area has a large population of high earning, high achieving parents who invest heavily in their children’s education in time and/ or money. Higher rates of test prep, tutoring, homework support, etc all directly translate into higher test scores.

If the county had some magic formula for success, you’d see it across all the schools, not clustered in the most affluents parts of the county.

North Arlington and parts of Loudoun are more affluent than most of Fairfax yet their schools are generally not rated as highly by U.S. News.

It’s not a magic formula for success but suggesting it’s all purely a function of economics and parental effort on the side is misleading.

Niche ranks Arlington as #2, Loudoun as #4 and Fairfax as #6 for VA school districts.

US news rates, Loudoun#60 in the U.S., Arlington: #93 in the U.S Fairfax: #128 in the U.S.

So.. idk maybe that also supports what I’m saying. So thank you.

Also keep in mind TJ is a governors school, so Fairfax is behind even with the boost of the highest scorers from LCPS and APS added to FCPS.

And when you look at the SAT data, keep in mind TJ is pulling the county up by A LOT

The last year I think they released the data was 2021. The average SAT score from TJ was 1531. The FCPS average (with the boost from TJ included) was 1201.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia

8 out of 10 of the VA's best high schools are FFX County.

That’s 7.

And yes, nobody’s disputing that. We know that those pockets with heavily involved and wealthy parents translates to excellent test taking students who will have high graduation rates and high college acceptance rates.

It does not translate to best school system though, as the success is not seen across the county as it is dependent on the students family much more than the school.

That’s why you see that over all APS and LCPS are higher ranked than FCPS even when we do have the high achievement parents boosting FCPS.

All of this very much proves the point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Ew. Any public school comment always brings out the supposed non MAGA Catholics.

DP. I’m not a MAGA Catholic, but I am a person who has taught in both public and Catholic high schools. They simply don’t compare. In public, I was tasked with performing miracles with no resources. I burned out. In private, I am given the resources and respect to do my job well.

It’s about teacher support and teacher morale, and the publics aren’t doing well on either front right now.

And this has nothing to do with politics or religion. It’s about resources.

But, no when you teach or have your kids attend a Catholic school, it absolutely IS about the religion. That is the point of their religion classes and chapel. It is very, very clear. You may be happier with being able to kick behavior issues out, or problem parents out or whatever, but that doesn’t change the fact that religious schools teach religion. They aren’t sponsoring public schools, they aren’t tending to the poor students en mass. These are Catholics who accept money from people to teach their children reading, writing, socialstudies and religion.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our friends who have moved here from the Midwest and Southern states told us that their kids were behind when they got to FCPS and that they needed help to catch up with FCPS classmates. Our friends who move in from California have varying experiences, based on if their kid attended a charter school or their local public schools. Most of the local public school kids need to catch up, the charter school kids tend to slide in fine.

The only people I hear grumbling about FCPS not being a strong school district come from the middle class to high SES sections of New England where the school districts are small and class sizes are smaller than in FCPS.

FCPS is a huge public school system with large classes. You are not likely to hear from your kids teacher unless there is a serious problem. A C is not a serious problem. ES teachers have classes between 25-32 kids. MS and HS teachers have 120-150 kids, I can never remember what the max is. They don't have time to contact parents whose kids are getting Cs or Bs, no matter how much parents want that. They have to focus on the kids getting Fs and Ds because those are the kids who are in need of the most help.

Public schools are meant to educate everyone and the metrics for success are set so that the kids who are failing don't fail.

If you want a more individualized education, with more teacher contact, and limited issues in the classroom you have to go private. Private schools screen out the kids who are going to get Fs - Cs and the kids with behavior issues, never mind the emotionally dysregulated kids that the public schools have to deal with.

Kids who are engaged, or kids who have engaged parents, will get an excellent education in FCPS but it is not something that is handed to them. You have to learn what is available and work towards it. Your HS kid who is getting a C or a B should be reaching out to their teacher asking for help with your support if needed.

My relatives in suburban Kansas City got a much better education than here. There are definitely parts of the midwest (New Trier in IL also springs to mind) with sneaky good schools.

Schools within exclusively wealthy townships or villages like New Trier HS, South Pasadena HS, Lexington HS or Scarsdale HS will always have the best of the best courses, facilities, teachers, and of course, students. In the Southeast (Md, Va, NC, etc.), schools are county based for the most part.

We lived in one of those school districts in Massachusetts. A few towns have extremely good schools and the rest are “fine”. The mid Atlantic is not organized that way, so if you take into consideration how the school systems are organized FCPS is very good.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our friends who have moved here from the Midwest and Southern states told us that their kids were behind when they got to FCPS and that they needed help to catch up with FCPS classmates. Our friends who move in from California have varying experiences, based on if their kid attended a charter school or their local public schools. Most of the local public school kids need to catch up, the charter school kids tend to slide in fine.

The only people I hear grumbling about FCPS not being a strong school district come from the middle class to high SES sections of New England where the school districts are small and class sizes are smaller than in FCPS.

FCPS is a huge public school system with large classes. You are not likely to hear from your kids teacher unless there is a serious problem. A C is not a serious problem. ES teachers have classes between 25-32 kids. MS and HS teachers have 120-150 kids, I can never remember what the max is. They don't have time to contact parents whose kids are getting Cs or Bs, no matter how much parents want that. They have to focus on the kids getting Fs and Ds because those are the kids who are in need of the most help.

Public schools are meant to educate everyone and the metrics for success are set so that the kids who are failing don't fail.

If you want a more individualized education, with more teacher contact, and limited issues in the classroom you have to go private. Private schools screen out the kids who are going to get Fs - Cs and the kids with behavior issues, never mind the emotionally dysregulated kids that the public schools have to deal with.

Kids who are engaged, or kids who have engaged parents, will get an excellent education in FCPS but it is not something that is handed to them. You have to learn what is available and work towards it. Your HS kid who is getting a C or a B should be reaching out to their teacher asking for help with your support if needed.

My relatives in suburban Kansas City got a much better education than here. There are definitely parts of the midwest (New Trier in IL also springs to mind) with sneaky good schools.

Schools within exclusively wealthy townships or villages like New Trier HS, South Pasadena HS, Lexington HS or Scarsdale HS will always have the best of the best courses, facilities, teachers, and of course, students. In the Southeast (Md, Va, NC, etc.), schools are county based for the most part.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

An example of correlation, not causation.

If so, a happy coincidence. But, more likely, a refusal on your part to acknowledge what FCPS still does well.

Not a happy coincidence. This area has a large population of high earning, high achieving parents who invest heavily in their children’s education in time and/ or money. Higher rates of test prep, tutoring, homework support, etc all directly translate into higher test scores.

If the county had some magic formula for success, you’d see it across all the schools, not clustered in the most affluents parts of the county.

North Arlington and parts of Loudoun are more affluent than most of Fairfax yet their schools are generally not rated as highly by U.S. News.

It’s not a magic formula for success but suggesting it’s all purely a function of economics and parental effort on the side is misleading.

Niche ranks Arlington as #2, Loudoun as #4 and Fairfax as #6 for VA school districts.

US news rates, Loudoun#60 in the U.S., Arlington: #93 in the U.S Fairfax: #128 in the U.S.

So.. idk maybe that also supports what I’m saying. So thank you.

Also keep in mind TJ is a governors school, so Fairfax is behind even with the boost of the highest scorers from LCPS and APS added to FCPS.

And when you look at the SAT data, keep in mind TJ is pulling the county up by A LOT

The last year I think they released the data was 2021. The average SAT score from TJ was 1531. The FCPS average (with the boost from TJ included) was 1201.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia

8 out of 10 of the VA's best high schools are FFX County.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Ew. Any public school comment always brings out the supposed non MAGA Catholics.

DP. I’m not a MAGA Catholic, but I am a person who has taught in both public and Catholic high schools. They simply don’t compare. In public, I was tasked with performing miracles with no resources. I burned out. In private, I am given the resources and respect to do my job well.

It’s about teacher support and teacher morale, and the publics aren’t doing well on either front right now.

And this has nothing to do with politics or religion. It’s about resources.

Anonymous wrote:Seven of the top 10 high schools in Virginia are in FCPS according to U.S. News.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

Ew. Any public school comment always brings out the supposed non MAGA Catholics.