My understanding is that contrary to the statements implying that there is some question about whether all Honors English 9 courses are in fact deserving of weight, the focus of the staff committee on weighting has been to figure out which vocational education courses should also be weighted. fuzzy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I notice that in last night's
Forum: Fairfax County General

Suburbanite, I know about the Transportation Task Force. However, it appears that a significant group of other well-meaning FCPS parents have concerns about the staff-designed version of the proposed revenue-neutral bell schedule that may not have been fully considered during the TTF meetings. I think that if a larger group of parents - from SLEEP, the high school Athletic Booster groups, etc.
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Totally Anonymouse and Suburbanite, It might be more productive for parents with different perspectives and concerns to get together first, rather than relying on FCPS to "come up with a reasonable solution." Totally Anonymous Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Suburbanite, > > Oppose the bell schedule proposal so that no one > gets the "short straw".
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I think it's time to go back to the drawing board. Parents should research what they do in other school districts, then see if FCPS is normal or out of line. If other school districts can find ways to start all or almost all their schools between 8 AM and 9 AM and still maintain extra-curricular activities, then parents should figure out what FCPS would have to do to achieve that goal. It mi
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Mr. Mephisto, Sandy Evans' child would not benefit from a change in the bell schedules. She also lives in the Mason District, not in the McLean or Langley HS pyramids. SLEEP's co-founders have donated thousands of hours because they cared about all children, even if their own children would not benefit. It's possible to disagree with SLEEP about the relative strength of the arguments for and
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The staff-drafted proposed bell schedule assumes that FCPS will not hire additional bus drivers. One wonders whether the staff's proposed bell schedule also was designed to maximize inconvenience and generate as much parental opposition as possible. I'm told that many FCPS bus drivers have three morning runs and three afternoon runs. That's why some of our schools start and end so much earlier
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It is difficult to persuade a principal to let your child change classes mid-year. As for volunteering, some options don't require involvement in PTA politics. For example, many schools have chess clubs, robotics teams, Girls on the Run, math teams, etc. Parents who don't enjoy organizing wrapping paper sales can coach or organize these extra-curricular activities. Teachers are often very a
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It's true that Kumon is basically selling proprietary worksheets. However, they are exceptionally effective worksheets, because they are designed to force children to master basic computation skills before moving on to the next level. I sent all of my children to Kumon when they were in second grade. It was the only challenging math they got in second grade, and they liked being challenged. K
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I think some teachers will use the same tests, etc. so that many if not all of their students who would have received a B+ will get an A-. Others probably will make their tests harder or give less extra credit, etc. One question is what percentage of the teachers fall into the first and second groups.
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Steve K, My child is a varsity athlete at a FCPS high school where practices last for 1.5 to 2 hours/day after school. And, the team often wins. Is it really true that some high schools hold practices that last for over 2.5 hours or longer? Does this depend more on the sport, or on the high school? Steve K Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > You find 2.
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Almost everyone seems to like numeric grades in concept. And if FCPS had nothing but numeric grades, colleges would convert them into letter grades and/or GPAs using some type of 10 point scale - as long as FCPS did not have its own grading scale. Perhaps because only a small percentage of US high schools use numeric grades (and most seem to be in New York), though, I have not heard or read abo
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The main difference between the two candidates, when it comes to FCPS-related issues, was the extent to which they would write a blank check to FCPS. Herrity believes in asking FCPS to provide detailed answers to tough questions, even if it makes FCPS staff unhappy. That approach appears to have yielded some benefits this school year. At one meeting, a School Board member indicated to Dale tha
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Some students buy an AP prep book at the local bookstore. Students who take AP exams without taking the corresponding AP courses usually buy at least one of these prep books. I haven't heard about FCPS teachers giving As or Bs to students who fail their AP exams. But, I have heard about the opposite. In an extreme case, one McLean HS teacher's approach to grades reportedly caused a group of s
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Sorry I wasn't more clear. Colleges care more about high school grades than SAT scores, once the SAT scores clear their de facto minimum. If you take two boys with essentially identical SAT scores and activities, the boy in FCPS generally will have lower grades than the boy outside FCPS. That causes the typical college (especially outside of Virginia) to admit the non-FCPS boy over the FCPS bo
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Deflated high school grades caused many FCPS students to end up in colleges where they had higher SAT scores than the average student in their college. Some couldn't even get into their college honors programs, because of their deflated high school grades. Over the years, I've heard FCPS graduates say that college was easier than high school, and that they were much better prepared than their
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Changing the FCPS grading scale will not increase FCPS students' chances of being admitted to Virginia public colleges, since these colleges do not want to admit "too many" FCPS students. It will, however, increase FCPS students' chances of being admitted to the honors programs or receiving merit-based scholarships from many of those Virginia public colleges. FCPS students also apply to out-of-
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If FCPS votes to adopt a new grading scale with minuses as well as pluses, then the 90 in FCPS will turn into an A-, while students will need a 93 or perhaps a somewhat unusual 94 to earn an A, without the minus. That's bringing FCPS into alignment with most other school districts, not lowering standards. The FCPS staff report acknowledged that over half the colleges FCPS surveyed (which were a
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I had similar experiences about a decade ago at Franklin Sherman ES. dono Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I dont know about Jack Dale but the teachers and > admin at Ravensworth Elementary School are lying > about reading evaluations in the first grade. They > are claiming 3 students in particular are only > reading at DRA2 10 (translated that mean
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Recent FCPS Student, Do your FCPS friends and classmates who attended out of state colleges also feel like they are more qualified than most of their college classmates? recent fcps student Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I went to uva from fcps, and as any other > observant fcps student (especially one from a > north county hs) will tell you, we are
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Dale's recommendation probably would reduce the number of colleges at which FCPS kids were admitted, because they would continue to have more Bs on their transcripts than if they attended other schools. When it comes to admissions, selective colleges like to see As, not Bs. And, they hate Cs. Increasing weighting for advanced courses will help FCPS kids get more merit scholarships and get into
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Westfield Dad and ExportYourJobs, FCPS staff said that on January 2nd, they will post their report on the FCPS web site. This report should include data comparing FCPS grades to non-FCPS grades. The research I have done on grade distributions indicates that FCPS gives far fewer As than other school districts. Many FCPS teachers give extra credit, etc. to raise students' grades, but it appears
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In addition, Fairgrade sent a collection of personal comments and anecdotes from the online petition to members of the School Board, Board of Supervisors, Dale and other FCPS staff a few weeks ago. KeepOnTruckin Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Fairgrade realizes that some opponents ask where > the actual affected students are. Now they are > collectin
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Over 1000 7th grade students in FCPS are now taking Algebra 1 in 7th grade (or earlier). About 400 FCPS students will be admitted to TJ next year, and a significant number take Algebra 1 rather than Geometry in 8th grade. That leaves 700+ FCPS students per grade who will not attend TJ, but who may want to take post-AP multivariable calculus and post-AP linear algebra in 12th grade. Admittedly,
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FCPS schools (including but not limited to TJ) have students who are legal residents but not citizens. Usually, their parents are here on work visas or student visas. These children are not here illegally. I've known many students with visas that allowed them and their parents to live in the US. Some of the very best students at TJ were not born in the US. These foreign-born students attend
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No doubt those 15 students at Madison HS want to take post-AP multivariable calculus and linear algebra in 12th grade. While many TJ students take these post-AP math classes in 10th through 12th grades, some never get past AP Calculus AB or AP Calculus BC. So, the answer to your question is yes. taxpayer Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Are those 15 to
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TJ question, TJ students who are not particularly strong at math/science include both boys and girls. But girls may be overrepresented among students who take AP Calculus AB instead of AP Calculus BC after precalculus. Usually, this means that they did not do well in precalculus. And if they didn't do well in precalculus, they probably aren't going to try and take other advanced STEM classes.
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Some advanced classes and activities can only exist in a school like TJ. FCPS high schools - including TJ - seem to have a general rule that at least when it comes to advanced classes, they will cancel the class unless there are over 20 students who sign up and can fit the class into their schedule. At TJ, over 20 students every year who take differential equations, because they took AP Calcu
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I've seen more kids from Northern Virginia attend boarding schools and private schools in DC or Maryland in recent years. Including some who are admitted to TJ, but whose parents think one of the private schools would be a better fit. Catholic schools sometimes appeal to parents who aren't Catholic. One Jewish friend considered sending her son to St. Anselm's Abbey, and a Muslim friend conside
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Carol Horn has made several presentations about Young Scholars to the GTAC over the years. The only data provided showed that the kids were, in general, scoring pass or pass advanced on their SOL tests. There also was a panel of YS students, YS parents and YS teachers (i.e., GT resource teachers who spent much or most of their time with YS students). The students on that panel loved the YS prog
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Admissions data for the students who currently are juniors at TJ is available on this web site: http://www.ceousa.org/content/view/582/101/ The data is in excel format, so that parents can use it to figure out what is going on. Briefly, the holistic admissions process that was adopted four years ago is resulting in the admission of much more "academically diverse" classes. Geometry in 8th Wro
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