At Stake For Stakeholders

At stake for stakeholders
(by Lake Anne & Fox Mill parents)

Here’s a sample of what’s at stake for stakeholders if FCPS eliminates key programs, including elementary school foreign language in future years...

Students
•Unmet potential in reaching maximum levels of cognitive development resulting from superior education programs.
•Decreased number of students who become bilingual or multilingual, especially at advanced-proficiency levels that many early language learners achieve.
•Reduced opportunities for cognitive development including enhanced creativity (what researchers call "mentally flexible") and improved literacy and skills.*
•Decreased opportunities to develop a life-long positive attitude and cultural sensitivity toward speakers of other languages.*
•Decreased opportunities to enter growing number of careers that require multiple languages and cultural fluency.
•Loss of competitiveness in global workplace.

*from Kendall King and Alison Mackey (2007), The Bilingual Edge

Fairfax County Public Schools
•Difficulty meeting its Student Achievement Goal 1.2: To communicate in at least two languages.
•Loss of world-class education programs built by the Fairfax community over several decades.
•Loss of perceived or real value of a FCPS education.
•Potential loss in national and international reputation as county that provides superior education programs.
•Potential difficulty in recruiting and keeping high-quality teachers and administrators.

Fairfax County
•Potential continued loss in revenue over time as families and businesses choose to locate to communities that support superior education programs.
•Potential loss in reputation as progressive if its school system regresses.

Local community members
•Potential decline in property values as perceived or real value of education declines.
•Potential loss of programs and world-class school system fought for and built over several decades.

Government, academic and business communities
•Potential difficulty in recruiting top-notch professionals who want a world-class education for their families.
•Decreased candidate pool with foreign language and cultural fluency skills that are increasingly in demand.

Politicians
•Potential difficulty in supporting constituents’ expectations for a world-class public education system.
•Potentially could no longer represent a region that is considered progressive if its school system declines.