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Schools and Education General Discussion
Falls Church City vs. Vienna
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Anonymous
| I have a young child and am wondering which public school system is best for him. I hear Vienna is great, but has large class sizes and FCC is smaller, but because of the composition of the classes the level of learning can be slower. Any advice? We are willing to relocate in order to get into a good school area. |
Anonymous
| We faced the same challenge as you and decided to go with Vienna. Part of the reason is that DH would have a closer (reverse) commute; the other reason is the FCPS has the GT program, which FCC does not. |
Anonymous
| PP here. If my child would not have been in FCPS GT, I probably would have preferred FCC for the smaller class size. |
Anonymous
|
Does FCC not have anything for gifted children or kids that are ahead in certain areas?
Also, I'm curious, OP, what you have heard about the slower learning and "composition" of classes in FCC... |
Anonymous
|
Slower learning and composition of classes? Not sure where you're going with that, but small class sizes and schools aren't detrimental to academics.
FCC has a pull-out GT program that is well-regarded. |
Anonymous
Honestly, both are good, so I'd probably make the decision based on commuting. A good commute means more quality time spent w/ the kid. 
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Anonymous
| We thought about moving to FCC because of the smaller class sizes, but our experience in the FCPS GT Center is excellent, and the class size isn't that bad (20 students in DS' 3rd grade) so we opted to stay put. |
Anonymous
| 16:55 here. I had called the FCC elementary school and spoke with someone there. She said the class size is around 20 (FCPS has been 24 and 28 for us in the two years we've been here), and that GT is done via in-class differentiation. I can't remember if she said there was a pull-out program, but I'm not a big fan of pull-outs. Kids are gifted all the time, not just 1 hour a week, and need to be taught accordingly in all the regular subjects. Enrichment isn't enough, and having a peer group in which one can feel "normal" is tremendously important. |
Anonymous
| to 18:33 - I was referring to the OP's comment that she (?) heard that "because of the composition of the classes the level of learning can be slower" in FCC...I was wondering what that meant. |
Anonymous
| Both have great schools. GL |