Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Public schools can only provide a very basic level of education. Don’t expect more and than you won’t be disappointed.

I totally disagree - what a narrow-minded focus.

Many other public school districts outside of FCPS can and are providing a consistent, excellent level of education for their populations. If they weren't, there wouldn't be the land rush on all the Ivies, "Elite" schools etc. etc. Look at application and acceptance stats from any state, nearly every (public and private) university/college. No way the only kids getting into those schools are privately educated.

Most of their parents get tutors and other outside enrichment. What the schools provide is pretty basic.

Nah, we’ve lived elsewhere and it is better. The kids are never in school here - too many holidays and days off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Public schools can only provide a very basic level of education. Don’t expect more and than you won’t be disappointed.

I totally disagree - what a narrow-minded focus.

Many other public school districts outside of FCPS can and are providing a consistent, excellent level of education for their populations. If they weren't, there wouldn't be the land rush on all the Ivies, "Elite" schools etc. etc. Look at application and acceptance stats from any state, nearly every (public and private) university/college. No way the only kids getting into those schools are privately educated.

Most of their parents get tutors and other outside enrichment. What the schools provide is pretty basic.

Anonymous wrote:

Public schools can only provide a very basic level of education. Don’t expect more and than you won’t be disappointed.

I totally disagree - what a narrow-minded focus.

Many other public school districts outside of FCPS can and are providing a consistent, excellent level of education for their populations. If they weren't, there wouldn't be the land rush on all the Ivies, "Elite" schools etc. etc. Look at application and acceptance stats from any state, nearly every (public and private) university/college. No way the only kids getting into those schools are privately educated.

Anonymous wrote:I graduated from Fairfax County schools. I'm a liberal Democrat. I agree the teaching has gone down hill. On the
Right you have crazy parents complaining about stupid shit like CRT and book banning. On the left you have crazy parents complaining about equity and renaming everything and disassembling AAP/TJ. The kids in the middle suffer because of this nonsense. Period. We pay way too much in taxes to get so little from our schools. I don't blame the teachers who are doing their best. But parents, administrators, the school board are ALL at fault.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know, is the writing terrible? Yes. But all other areas of instruction is far superior from when I was in school. From science to social studies to world history to even the electives they get to take. FCPS allowed my DD to take Alg 1 H in 6th. I was capable but it was never offered when I went to school. She is a freshman in PreCacl H now. Her biology class, despite not dissecting a frog, is light years ahead of what we did in terms of application of knowledge opportunities. They write a ton in WH 1 H. Lots of DBQs, the tests are not only multiple choice and every test has at least 2 writing sections. I think they're trying to mirror AP World a bit since most kids will take it next year. My daughter's programming elective seems to be really engaging and has allowed her to write some amazing code for the robotics club. She was already proficient in JAVA but it's helped her navigate what to do when she gets stuck. The teacher is incredible.

So she’s naturally smart and was also in AAP? Not a gen Ed student?

I would not say she's naturally smart. I'd say she works really hard. She is on the autism spectrum and has ADHD. She also has slow processing speed and poor working memory, but she tends to overcompensate for her deficits. She seems to always want to prove herself. She is not a kid who can sit and class and absorb knowledge. She HAS to study and often seeks out teachers after school. She has been in AAP since 4rd grade but I'd say prior to her diagnosis (6th) every teacher she had in 3-5 tried to counsel us OUT of AAP. Once she was diagnosed and started therapy all of that changed. I think she appreciated the explanation of why she is the way she is and she developed strategies with the help of EF coaches and her therapist. And to be clear, she was a terrible writer. Now she is ok. Not great. Not terrible. I wish FCPS could do more in that area. I don't know how to teach writing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the older generations are always doom and gloom about school. My dad is livid that kids aren't learning cursive anymore. I couldn't be happier that it's gone.

I understand the suspicion of quality of snippets, materials cobbled together from online sources, etc., but the reality is that with electronic media there is often no reason to have a textbook. As a college professor, I have moved in the last 15 years from relying primarily on a very popular textbook to teaching my class without a textbook. I've read all 8 or so well-known textbooks in the field and I feel that, through powerpoints and assigned brief readings, I am able to outperform any textbook on the topic (students seem to agree). There is no benefit to reading a 50 page chapter in a bloated book that gets key principles incorrect or has not been updated to reflect changing theories or evidence.

I'd also point out that, in response to someone's comment about reading an abridged version of the Odyssey, this happened at both a public AND private school that I attended in the 90s, so this is not new unless you classify the mid-90s as "new."

Finally, while I have been skeptical of the changes to learning, I don't observe that my oldest son is behind where I and my peers were (in an advanced program) in terms of reading, writing, and math. It seems that students can learn to spell and write without memorizing vocabulary/spelling lists for hours every month. I say this is a wonderful development.

I disagree. Math hasn’t changed very much at least in middle school. I wish they use textbooks for, algebra and geometry.

The interactive media resources are far easier to learn math from--seriously, what does a textbook have for learning that even Khan Academy doesn't? All math textbooks are is some descriptive text and static pages of problems. Problems that are worked out in front of you are so much more effective for learning. I really don't understand why people are holding up textbooks as this thing they really want. Have you tried to learn math from a textbook? workbooks, sure--that would be useful, but that's essentially what the online resources are.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the older generations are always doom and gloom about school. My dad is livid that kids aren't learning cursive anymore. I couldn't be happier that it's gone.

I understand the suspicion of quality of snippets, materials cobbled together from online sources, etc., but the reality is that with electronic media there is often no reason to have a textbook. As a college professor, I have moved in the last 15 years from relying primarily on a very popular textbook to teaching my class without a textbook. I've read all 8 or so well-known textbooks in the field and I feel that, through powerpoints and assigned brief readings, I am able to outperform any textbook on the topic (students seem to agree). There is no benefit to reading a 50 page chapter in a bloated book that gets key principles incorrect or has not been updated to reflect changing theories or evidence.

I'd also point out that, in response to someone's comment about reading an abridged version of the Odyssey, this happened at both a public AND private school that I attended in the 90s, so this is not new unless you classify the mid-90s as "new."

Finally, while I have been skeptical of the changes to learning, I don't observe that my oldest son is behind where I and my peers were (in an advanced program) in terms of reading, writing, and math. It seems that students can learn to spell and write without memorizing vocabulary/spelling lists for hours every month. I say this is a wonderful development.

I disagree. Math hasn’t changed very much at least in middle school. I wish they use textbooks for, algebra and geometry.

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Because of changing demographics fcps is educating to the lowest level for equity

Anonymous wrote:I think the older generations are always doom and gloom about school. My dad is livid that kids aren't learning cursive anymore. I couldn't be happier that it's gone.

I understand the suspicion of quality of snippets, materials cobbled together from online sources, etc., but the reality is that with electronic media there is often no reason to have a textbook. As a college professor, I have moved in the last 15 years from relying primarily on a very popular textbook to teaching my class without a textbook. I've read all 8 or so well-known textbooks in the field and I feel that, through powerpoints and assigned brief readings, I am able to outperform any textbook on the topic (students seem to agree). There is no benefit to reading a 50 page chapter in a bloated book that gets key principles incorrect or has not been updated to reflect changing theories or evidence.

I'd also point out that, in response to someone's comment about reading an abridged version of the Odyssey, this happened at both a public AND private school that I attended in the 90s, so this is not new unless you classify the mid-90s as "new."

Finally, while I have been skeptical of the changes to learning, I don't observe that my oldest son is behind where I and my peers were (in an advanced program) in terms of reading, writing, and math. It seems that students can learn to spell and write without memorizing vocabulary/spelling lists for hours every month. I say this is a wonderful development.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know, is the writing terrible? Yes. But all other areas of instruction is far superior from when I was in school. From science to social studies to world history to even the electives they get to take. FCPS allowed my DD to take Alg 1 H in 6th. I was capable but it was never offered when I went to school. She is a freshman in PreCacl H now. Her biology class, despite not dissecting a frog, is light years ahead of what we did in terms of application of knowledge opportunities. They write a ton in WH 1 H. Lots of DBQs, the tests are not only multiple choice and every test has at least 2 writing sections. I think they're trying to mirror AP World a bit since most kids will take it next year. My daughter's programming elective seems to be really engaging and has allowed her to write some amazing code for the robotics club. She was already proficient in JAVA but it's helped her navigate what to do when she gets stuck. The teacher is incredible.

So she’s naturally smart and was also in AAP? Not a gen Ed student?

I would not say she's naturally smart. I'd say she works really hard. She is on the autism spectrum and has ADHD. She also has slow processing speed and poor working memory, but she tends to overcompensate for her deficits. She seems to always want to prove herself. She is not a kid who can sit and class and absorb knowledge. She HAS to study and often seeks out teachers after school. She has been in AAP since 4rd grade but I'd say prior to her diagnosis (6th) every teacher she had in 3-5 tried to counsel us OUT of AAP. Once she was diagnosed and started therapy all of that changed. I think she appreciated the explanation of why she is the way she is and she developed strategies with the help of EF coaches and her therapist. And to be clear, she was a terrible writer. Now she is ok. Not great. Not terrible. I wish FCPS could do more in that area. I don't know how to teach writing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know, is the writing terrible? Yes. But all other areas of instruction is far superior from when I was in school. From science to social studies to world history to even the electives they get to take. FCPS allowed my DD to take Alg 1 H in 6th. I was capable but it was never offered when I went to school. She is a freshman in PreCacl H now. Her biology class, despite not dissecting a frog, is light years ahead of what we did in terms of application of knowledge opportunities. They write a ton in WH 1 H. Lots of DBQs, the tests are not only multiple choice and every test has at least 2 writing sections. I think they're trying to mirror AP World a bit since most kids will take it next year. My daughter's programming elective seems to be really engaging and has allowed her to write some amazing code for the robotics club. She was already proficient in JAVA but it's helped her navigate what to do when she gets stuck. The teacher is incredible.

So she’s naturally smart and was also in AAP? Not a gen Ed student?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know, is the writing terrible? Yes. But all other areas of instruction is far superior from when I was in school. From science to social studies to world history to even the electives they get to take. FCPS allowed my DD to take Alg 1 H in 6th. I was capable but it was never offered when I went to school. She is a freshman in PreCacl H now. Her biology class, despite not dissecting a frog, is light years ahead of what we did in terms of application of knowledge opportunities. They write a ton in WH 1 H. Lots of DBQs, the tests are not only multiple choice and every test has at least 2 writing sections. I think they're trying to mirror AP World a bit since most kids will take it next year. My daughter's programming elective seems to be really engaging and has allowed her to write some amazing code for the robotics club. She was already proficient in JAVA but it's helped her navigate what to do when she gets stuck. The teacher is incredible.

Where did she learn Java? Glad to hear the positive school experience and hoping it is our pyramid or that our school will offer a similar experience.

Anonymous wrote:I don't know, is the writing terrible? Yes. But all other areas of instruction is far superior from when I was in school. From science to social studies to world history to even the electives they get to take. FCPS allowed my DD to take Alg 1 H in 6th. I was capable but it was never offered when I went to school. She is a freshman in PreCacl H now. Her biology class, despite not dissecting a frog, is light years ahead of what we did in terms of application of knowledge opportunities. They write a ton in WH 1 H. Lots of DBQs, the tests are not only multiple choice and every test has at least 2 writing sections. I think they're trying to mirror AP World a bit since most kids will take it next year. My daughter's programming elective seems to be really engaging and has allowed her to write some amazing code for the robotics club. She was already proficient in JAVA but it's helped her navigate what to do when she gets stuck. The teacher is incredible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We left FCPS for a more rural part of Virginia, and the quality of our kids' education went up in spades.

In fact, our younger one had to reach really deep initially to catch up on writing, because FCPS hadn't been making the students in her grade do any real writing. This kid went from filling in blanks on worksheets in FCPS to having to compose three-page essays overnight on the same subject matter.

Also, math class moves A LOT faster and is structured differently. This year, our HS freshman is taking geometry but it just became trig and is quickly steaming ahead toward basic calculus concepts by the end of the year.

Our kid's new math, English, and history teachers didn't seem particularly shocked by these learning deficits; it's like it all made sense to them as soon as we mentioned where we had moved from. Just our experience.

Name it. Because this is directly contrary to my understanding about the more rural school districts in VA.

As a product of rural VA schools, I can tell you that the quality is much better, if by “quality” you mean “adherence to myths like the Lost Cause.” If you wanted to take a math class harder than Adv Alg/Trig, you had to dual enroll at a community college. There were 5 total AP classes for the district and not every HS offered them all, so kids had to be bused to one of the other 2.

Real quality stuff.