AAP at Sandburg and West Potomac?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any experience with going the AAP route -- full time or part time -- at Sandburg and/or West Potomac as an alternative to a private (or a better public) school? Are these programs well run, do kids like them, etc.? Thanks for any input.

[Anonymous]

Is "AAP" different than the GT center at Sandburg? And does W. Potomac have something other than AP classes? We, too, are trying to decide whether these schools might work for our kids, and would love any info folks have on them.

[Anonymous]

Do you mean AP? I went through those two schools 20 years ago - I liked them quite a bit. Good teachers, and the whole track was almost like you were in a different school from the non AP/GT track...

[Anonymous]

OP here. I don't think there's any difference betwen GT and AAP -- I only referred to them as AAP because the FCPS website does: http://www.fcps.edu/DIS/gt/faqs.html

As far as I can tell, students can either take just a few GT/AAP/AP/Honors classes in middle school and high school or he/she can enroll in a full time or "Level IV" AAP program, in which he/she follows a separate track entirely. Some FCPS offer IB, too, but not the West Potomac pyramid.

We like the Alexandria area and, all else being equal, would continue living there, but it's concerning to us how many students seem to bail on the public schools after elementary school (or get skimmed off to go to TJ). I went to a big, diverse public high school that had a great honors program and I think it was the best of both worlds. I'd love for my kids to have the same opportunity, but Sandburg and West Potomac seem to be suffering from a major collective action problem so I was hoping to figure out whether anyone had any first hand experience at these schools.

[Anonymous]

I'm 15:18. I knew there was a GT track in middle school--is there a separate GT track in high school also? I wasn't able to find anything about that on the website (just a listing of AP classes). I'm actually fairly optimistic about Sandburg--I've heard other parents say good things about it--but those same parents seem to be pulling their kids out for high school. We're debating moving now, even though we love the elementary school, because of our concerns about the high school (and don't want to have move our kids when they're older). Like you, we'd love to learn that WP is better than we thought because we want to stay!

[Anonymous]

I did the AP courses at West Potomac from 1996-1999. I loved the school and the teachers. They have some great ones there. If I had the time I would get into more detail, but I had a great experience going to this school. They were also very good at helping kids prepare and go to college. If you didn't go to college it was because you didn't want to, not because they didn't give you the tools.

[Anonymous]

Well, I don't have first hand experience since our kids are in mid/upper elementary and will eventually go to those schools, but I have been hearing great things about Sandburg and the honors tracks - I'm not sure if they'll have 2 next year - AAP and honors because I believe FCPS is going to open honors. Nevertheless, AAP parents who I know are very picky have been pleased - even though the most recent principal had to be "reassigned". A new one, moving from Robinson? - first name is Terrence (can't remember last name) starts July 1.

I've also heard lots of very good things about West Potomac - there is definitely a group of people who do send their kids to private school at JH and HS - when chatting, I often discover they are Catholic (lots of strong Catholic high schools in the area), and/or went to private school themselves, or seem to be nervous about the "diversity".

Actually last year I went to the big choral event at the end of the year and found myself so excited about what my kids will have available to them! It was phenomenal - truly like a 3 hour Glee performance with over 100 kids of all types (without the adult stuff, of course). Many music alumnae were there and you could tell how the director had inspired them to pursue their dreams. I found out about the show because I was there for something else and saw some HS kids who seemed all excited about something - they were hanging outside the building. I asked them what they were there for and they were bursting at the seams with pride about their show that started the next night. It was so infectious I took one of my kids to see it and WOW - the kids and music director there were beyond amazing from what we saw.

Both Sandburg and West Potomac draw from the full spectrum of socio-economic classes, thus the lower test scores, compared to other areas that are less diverse economically. However, there are plenty of AP opportunities at West Potomac and like the PP poster said, if you're college-bound, you'll get there without problems. We know plenty of HSers who've gotten into the universities of their choice.

Hopefully, someone with direct experience will answer.

[Anonymous]

Interested in the same issue so bumping the topic. Thanks for any help.

[Anonymous]

I graduated from West Potomac in 1990 and took a few AP classes. I am sad to hear that it is getting a bad reputation as it was a great school back when I went. I can only imagine that it has changed a lot since 20 years ago!

Not helpful, but I just had to say that!

[Anonymous]

We just moved to the area last Sept. I have a freshman on the AAP track at West Po. Overall I like West Potomac. There is a lot available as one previous poster suggested, and there is a good group of kids in the honors classes. My daughter's experience has probably been typical in that she had a couple of fantastic teachers and a couple of mediocre teachers. We move often and I think this is the case in the best of schools. Teacher quality means more than overall school quality day to day. One thing I will say is that the staff is very responsive. I try to stay out of things - it is high school after all - but on the couple of occasions I've needed it, I have had great (fast!) courteous and helpful responses from the school. They seem to welcome my questions and I always think this is a good sign in a school. It is true that socioeconomically west po is more of a mix than other schools in FFx co. Thus scores overall are lower, but the opportunities are there and actually I don't think exposure to that mix is a bad thing.

Re: the middle school.. I don't completely understand the two tracks. My son will be starting tthere as a 7th grader this fall taking honors classes. My impression is that there is a completely separate gifted track available for core classes excluding math, but I didn't figure that out until way too late to try to get into it. Math is tracked according to test scores pure and simple, gifted or no. I have heard excellent things about Sandburg and am looking forward to a better experience there than our elem 6th grade experience, which has been mixed at best.

[Anonymous]

I graduated from WP in 96 and just moved back to the area with my two kids. Just wanted to chime in that I really thrived at WP. Was involved in lots of activities, sports and ended up going to UVA. Academically I loved it. Some teachers were better than others and the student population was very diverse. My sister on the other end got completely lost in the shuffle and never made it to college and ran in the wrong crowds. But she was a different type of student than I was. I guess I agree with previous posters that the tools were there you just had to utilize them.