how is Pine Spring Elementary School? (McLean, Vienna: how much, college, subsidized)

[jrduck]

For leighland. . . no, not from the show, but from Ed Burns personal experience as a school teacher. The point being that nothing takes the place of a consistent, loving adult in the life of a child. In most cases, that should be a parent, in others it becomes teachers or other role models.

[Denton56]

How are schools segregated? They aren't. If you mean how are kids tracked, they aren't. FCPS doesn't believe in any kind of tracking/grouping. ALL classes must be thoroughly mixed, with students on multiple academic levels, from several years below grade level to several years beyond. You can guess who gets attention and who doesn't. No teacher can have that many different lesson plans.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

Timber Lane is 22046.

Colvin Run: 5% (0%)*

* Located in Vienna, but a majority of the kids live in Great Falls.

Timber Lane 41% (51%)*

* Located in 22046, but a feeder to the McLean/FC (22043) middle/high schools.

[jrduck]

Hi. Just sent my daughter off to Pine Spring ES this morning for her 2nd year. Prior to this school, my daughter never attended school in the United States, starting at international schools in Kenya and then in DODDS schools in Korea. In thinking about the comparisons, I think it would be good as well to look not only at the demographics, but how the various schools compare on their SOL performance. I wanted to look at all the schools previously listed, but due to lack of time I randomly picked a "Great Schools" "10" to compare it with Pine Spring. That school is Chesterbrook in McLean.

What did I find?

School Pine Spring Chesterbrook

Grade 3
Reading 82% 97%
History/Social Science 93% 100%
Science 82% 100%
Math 88% 100%

Grade 4
Reading 95% 95%
Math 90% 89%

Grade 5
Reading 98% 98%
Science 85% 94%
English Writing 93% 97%
Math 92% 95%

Grade 6
Reading 96% 96%
Math 91% 72%


These are for 2008. What do they show? That starting from behind in 3rd grade, Pine Spring students catch up to and in some cases surpass their more "well-off" peers at a school like Chesterbrook. By example, my daughters 4th grade SOL scores were 95th percentile Math, 100th percentile reading.

As far as whether FCPS segregates by student performance, sorry to say but in my life and work experience life is not segregagted. You live and work largely with people of varying abilities, and your need to be able to work with them will determine whether or not you are truly successful in life.

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by JEB77

Timber Lane 41% (51%)*

* Located in 22046, but a feeder to the McLean/FC (22043) middle/high schools.

I know that, but it was irrelevant to my post about McLean/FC (22043) and Vienna Elementary Schools.

It is interesting to note though, that Timber Lane does not seem to be a direct feeder only to Longfellow MS and McLean HS. Note how the boundaries do not overlap (eg. Longfellow MS and McLean HS boundary does not include the area south of Lee Highway, but Timberlane ES does).

http://www.fcps.edu/images/boundarym...mberlanees.pdf

http://www.fcps.edu/images/boundarym...ngfellowms.pdf

http://www.fcps.edu/images/boundarymaps/mcleanhs.pdf

In fact, that area south of Lee Highway is served by Luther Jackson MS and Falls Church HS.

http://www.fcps.edu/images/boundarymaps/jacksonms.pdf

http://www.fcps.edu/images/boundarym...lschurchhs.pdf

Therefore, you can cease with your constant inferences about how a "subpar" Timber Lane only feeds into to McLean HS.

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by jrduck

Hi. Just sent my daughter off to Pine Spring ES this morning for her 2nd year. Prior to this school, my daughter never attended school in the United States, starting at international schools in Kenya and then in DODDS schools in Korea. In thinking about the comparisons, I think it would be good as well to look not only at the demographics, but how the various schools compare on their SOL performance. I wanted to look at all the schools previously listed, but due to lack of time I randomly picked a "Great Schools" "10" to compare it with Pine Spring. That school is Chesterbrook in McLean.

What did I find?

School Pine Spring Chesterbrook

Grade 3
Reading 82% 97%
History/Social Science 93% 100%
Science 82% 100%
Math 88% 100%

Grade 4
Reading 95% 95%
Math 90% 89%

Grade 5
Reading 98% 98%
Science 85% 94%
English Writing 93% 97%
Math 92% 95%

Grade 6
Reading 96% 96%
Math 91% 72%


These are for 2008. What do they show? That starting from behind in 3rd grade, Pine Spring students catch up to and in some cases surpass their more "well-off" peers at a school like Chesterbrook. By example, my daughters 4th grade SOL scores were 95th percentile Math, 100th percentile reading.

As far as whether FCPS segregates by student performance, sorry to say but in my life and work experience life is not segregagted. You live and work largely with people of varying abilities, and your need to be able to work with them will determine whether or not you are truly successful in life.

Which GT school does Pine Spring send their kids after 2nd grade? Chesterbrook sends kids who qualify to Haycock, so that may explain the decrease in scores.

[claremarie]

"As far as whether FCPS segregates by student performance, sorry to say but in my life and work experience life is not segregagted. You live and work largely with people of varying abilities, and your need to be able to work with them will determine whether or not you are truly successful in life."

Many successful professionals -- doctors, lawyers, academics, research scientists come to mind -- spend most of their college and graduate school years surrounded by people with intelligence levels that are considerably above average. They go on to work in institutions -- law firms, hospitals, universities, research labs -- where they can by and large insulate themselves from those with average intellectual gifts. Lots of these folks don't suffer fools, and they can be extraordinarily successful despite their inability to "work with" mere mortals.
Refusing to separate students by academic ability is absurd.

[michgc]

In my daughter's elementary school, the children are all mixed in by homeroom. There are students of all academic levels in each classroom. However, within each classroom, they are separated out by reading level into separate reading groups. For mathematics, they are separated out by level among all of the classrooms. Before each unit, the children are given a pretest and then put in either Teacher A, Teacher B, or Teacher C's class for math for that particular unit. If a student is on the gifted or special need end, he/she might be pulled out for extra/different attention. This was how it worked in first grade anyway. It is my understanding that grade 2 will be similar.

[live_strong28]

Originally Posted by michgc

In my daughter's elementary school, the children are all mixed in by homeroom. There are students of all academic levels in each classroom. However, within each classroom, they are separated out by reading level into separate reading groups. For mathematics, they are separated out by level among all of the classrooms. Before each unit, the children are given a pretest and then put in either Teacher A, Teacher B, or Teacher C's class for math for that particular unit. If a student is on the gifted or special need end, he/she might be pulled out for extra/different attention. This was how it worked in first grade anyway. It is my understanding that grade 2 will be similar.

So what happens if a kid is better in reading and not so good in math? I don't think kids switch teachers for different subjects.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

I know that, but it was irrelevant to my post about McLean/FC (22043) and Vienna Elementary Schools.

It is interesting to note though, that Timber Lane does not seem to be a direct feeder only to Longfellow MS and McLean HS. Note how the boundaries do not overlap (eg. Longfellow MS and McLean HS boundary does not include the area south of Lee Highway, but Timberlane ES does).

http://www.fcps.edu/images/boundarym...mberlanees.pdf

http://www.fcps.edu/images/boundarym...ngfellowms.pdf

http://www.fcps.edu/images/boundarymaps/mcleanhs.pdf

In fact, that area south of Lee Highway is served by Luther Jackson MS and Falls Church HS.

http://www.fcps.edu/images/boundarymaps/jacksonms.pdf

http://www.fcps.edu/images/boundarym...lschurchhs.pdf

Therefore, you can cease with your constant inferences about how a "subpar" Timber Lane only feeds into to McLean HS.

Your list was arbitrary. It was neither a complete list of schools in Vienna and McLean/FC, nor a complete list of schools that Vienna and McLean/FC students attend. I just noted a few more schools to point out how arbitrary your list was (the demographic inferences that you apparently were urging others to draw from your list were not themselves particularly compelling).

I think you're being more than a little defensive about Timber Lane. I never said nor implied that it was "subpar" (?) and it definitely feeds into both McLean and Falls Church HS, although it is part of the McLean HS, not Falls Church HS, "pyramid" for administrative purposes. I expect that, just as at Pine Spring, many students there receive a good education, and I decline your invitation to start parsing the demographics of those students who attend Timber Lane and live north of Lee Highway and those who attend Timber Lane and live south of Lee Highway. It's not as "interesting to note" as you suggest.