Equity is a good thing, but who gets to decide what is equitable? Who's making sure that we are using policies that are truly equitable? Not just enforcing an achievement penalty and calling it equity so that the perpetrators can be anointed Heroes of Social Justice and walk away with their profits and burgeoning reputations.

When I say achievement penalty, I mean this. Suppose two people start with the same means, but one achieves more through effort and talent. Unfortunately, since that person is the wrong race/ethnicity, someone else decides that their outcomes need to scaled back relative to the norm, in order to equalize their relative advantage. What, this doesn't happen? You can tell that to someone else, but don't lie to someone who's had it happen to themselves.

Throwing away the proven ability of some kids for the potential ability of others. #equity

You think smart poor kids are a unicorn? Wow.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we truly want this country to be great, we can’t continue to ignore talented kids who happen to be poor.

In Fairfax County, at least, this is the demographic that has been receiving the most attention and resources for a long time.

If this were true, low income students would not be so woefully underrepresented at TJ and in the AAP program.

Not necessarily. You have to take into account all that FCPS does for students who are otherwise woefully unprepared to perform even at grade level.

We’re talking about highly talented kids who happen to also be poor. These are not the students performing *below* grade level. They may not be reaching their full potential, but they also aren’t the students falling most behind.

You can talk about all the unicorns you want. It doesn’t prove anything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we truly want this country to be great, we can’t continue to ignore talented kids who happen to be poor.

In Fairfax County, at least, this is the demographic that has been receiving the most attention and resources for a long time.

If this were true, low income students would not be so woefully underrepresented at TJ and in the AAP program.

Not necessarily. You have to take into account all that FCPS does for students who are otherwise woefully unprepared to perform even at grade level.

We’re talking about highly talented kids who happen to also be poor. These are not the students performing *below* grade level. They may not be reaching their full potential, but they also aren’t the students falling most behind.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we truly want this country to be great, we can’t continue to ignore talented kids who happen to be poor.

In Fairfax County, at least, this is the demographic that has been receiving the most attention and resources for a long time.

If this were true, low income students would not be so woefully underrepresented at TJ and in the AAP program.

Not necessarily. You have to take into account all that FCPS does for students who are otherwise woefully unprepared to perform even at grade level.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we truly want this country to be great, we can’t continue to ignore talented kids who happen to be poor.

In Fairfax County, at least, this is the demographic that has been receiving the most attention and resources for a long time.

If this were true, low income students would not be so woefully underrepresented at TJ and in the AAP program.

Anonymous wrote:If we truly want this country to be great, we can’t continue to ignore talented kids who happen to be poor.

In Fairfax County, at least, this is the demographic that has been receiving the most attention and resources for a long time.

Right but you have the 'middle class' kids, and not all of them of course, who are busting their hump, proving themselves and now people like you saying they didn't do anything after all, anyone with 'middle class' parents could do the same thing so get to the back of the line kid.

Did anyone speak at board meeting last night to get to bottom of this?

Or they had the benefit of having middle class parents who provided them the best environment to learn. The kids didn’t do anything that equally capable underprivileged ones didn’t.

If we truly want this country to be great, we can’t continue to ignore talented kids who happen to be poor.

And others have been showing all along they can learn at high levels.

Anonymous wrote:It’s fine to provide extra supports to some but not at the expense of providing appropriate opportunities for all. That means that some children move faster because they are capable of learning at a higher level. That’s what’s being misunderstood.

Some children are capable of learning at a higher level when the barriers have been removed.

Life is not fair. Talented kids may end up in mediocre career while the not so smart ones can become a multi millionaire. USA is the land of opportunity. It does not matter where one started. With hardwork, consistent effort and a bit of luck ANyONE in this country can get ahead.

May be instead of pursuing the utopian equity, FCPS should educate kids to compete at each of their own level and not compare themselves to others who may or may not be “privileged” - perceived or real?

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PP. In my DD's case, this all happened before the pandemic. Equity meant completely ignoring the above average kids and not teaching them much of anything.

That just means FCPS class sizes are too large.

True, but it also means that FCPS has no idea how to handle below grade level learners and not a lot of interest in teaching kids who are going to pass the SOLs even if ignored. If year after year, the below grade level kids are getting 30+ minutes per day working in small reading groups with the teacher and another 30+ minutes in even smaller groups with reading specialists, and they're still never catching up to grade level, some part of the process is malfunctioning pretty badly.