Math differentiation in APS, FCCPS

[Anonymous]

Hi,

We are considering buying a house in either APS or FCCPS. Do elementary schools track math groups in either district? When we were last in APS, I remember this as being somewhat of an issue, in that kids weren’t terribly challenged in math due to the lack of differentiation. That was a few kids ago and a few years ago. I’d appreciate more current information. Ty.

[Anonymous]

In our APS ES, it is very teacher specific.

[Anonymous]

APS offers push-in gifted services. Varies by school, gifted teacher/math coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS offers push-in gifted services. Varies by school, gifted teacher/math coach.

There is no acceleration, just deeper focus on the current class math topics.

[Anonymous]

In FCCPS, 4th graders start moving to different classrooms for math and some kids are placed in accelerated math, which sets them up for Algebra in 7th grade. In third grade, there are pull-out small groups for kids identified as gifted in math. The pull-outs are great and the kids do math competitions, but they are generally only once a week.

[Anonymous]

I've had two kids go through APS and taking math up to multivariable calc by the time they graduated. This was more than enough to get them set for STEM majors in college.

[Anonymous]

Math is the one subject where APS differentiates pretty well. Note that the teacher can't be expected to know if your kid is bored and needs more challenging work. I told DD's teacher in first grade and she was bumped up to a more advanced level, and it has been great. She's now in intensified algebra in 7th and I think she will wind up taking way more math than necessary, but she enjoys having a class that teaches her things she doesn't already know. (Although in subjects like art and language arts, teachers have been great about giving her more advanced work. It's just not built into the curriculum)

[Anonymous]

FCCPS is very small and is IB. They have limited options because of their size at the high school level. There are a couple more now because of Virtual Virginia, but then your kid needs to take an online class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our APS ES, it is very teacher specific.

This. In 1st and 2nd my son was so bored in math, both teachers flagged him as either a trouble-maker or possible ADD. Neither tried to engage him with extra work (altho he was very interested in math games on ipad) and he was too young to be evaluated for gifted services.

We switched him to private for 3rd and at beginning of school year, in Math he ranked in 95th percentile nationwide on assessment tests (SCAN?). He is no longer bored in math and no suspicion of ADD in past few years.

[Anonymous]

Push-in services aren't great. Math differentiate was much better in ES when the kids were pulled out. At least in upper grades, they do divide the kids into different math groups. That helps.