Local level IV or level IV at center?
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Anonymous
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Curious to hear experiences from those whose child attended local LIV and LIV at a center in schools that were in comparable neighborhoods. I hear some saying that LIV at a center is a lower quality experience. Why would that be? I would think the opposite?
How many went to a center and then switched back, or vice versa? |
Anonymous
| Every school is different. You might get more helpful info if you ask about a specific LLIV and center. |
Anonymous
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Each Cohort is different for our LLIV and Center school. Last year, nearly all students stayed at the Local school, so the class was complete with mostly IV level students, which brought up the qualifications of the class. (I understood that the popular kid in the grade influenced many of the others)
This year, nearly everyone left, meaning that cohort is limited to 2-3 students who are truly IV qualified, and filled in with (potentially equally qualified students overlooked), as well as those who would normally be in gen-ed |
Anonymous
It depends on the schools but generally, the academic and social experience is better at the center school. Parents choose Local Level IV because they don't want their children to change schools, not because the academics or cohort are better. |
Anonymous
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Parents return from the Center to the base at our school because the Center schools social scene is non-existent. There are very few after school hang outs or birthday parties. Academically families are happy but socially not so much.
I am guesstimating that about half the kids who leave for the Center return to the base. I know families that didn’t send siblings because of the older kids experience. We didn’t have LLIV until a few years ago either so it wasn’t that LLIV was amazing. We did have Advanced Math and regular LIII pull outs. The Teachers do a good job with differentiation. A good number of kids go on to Algebra in 7th grade from the base. |
Anonymous
Our base is a center and my kids are in AAP. I agree that it’s lacking socially from a neighborhood-feel standpoint. Once the classmates are no longer in your immediate vicinity and are bussed or driven, you lose the convenience of impromptu play dates and the social connection that comes w/ talking with parents at pickup or seeing them around the neighborhood. That said, my older child found a strong group of friends in AAP and felt like they finally fit in w/ a crew. They weren’t really connecting w/ peers during pre-AAP base grades. Could’ve been coincidental but that was our experience. |
Anonymous
| Any info on this for Flint Hill? |
Anonymous
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DD did a center school.
DS did a LLIV. I think honestly that DD had stronger academics but DS had a better overall experience as the social side is important too. You have to pick based on the kid you have not a blank rule of thumb. |
Anonymous
What school is your center? Are you moving to the area or thinking about next year? I have heard good things about LA and Flint Hill for level IV. I have not heard much about Sunrise Valley. I don’t have personal experience though. |
Anonymous
| I heard that every school has its own LLIV, which appeases most parents. The centers will offer LV to gifted students. |
Anonymous
We decided to stay. LA is good, math is OK. All SOLs passed Advanced. Our center is Sunrise Valley. My friend's DC was in LIV in SVES and they were not happy, they left for a private. |
Anonymous
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Find out if your LLIV is a self contained room or a “cluster model”.
If it’s cluster, choose the center, no question. If it’s self contained, either is probably fine. I’d probably choose the local program for social reasons and forgo a bit of academic rigor. Our LLIV is cluster. We went to the center and have never second guessed the decision. |
Anonymous
Ours is two LIV classes with about 20% LIV kids and the rest principal placed. DD is in middle school now and the kids from her ES do just as well as the center kids in AA classes. |
Anonymous
Interesting! |
Anonymous
That's not cluster though. Cluster is ~5 LIV kids, and then a mix of gen ed, ESOL, and SPED kids. It is trying to mimic the 2nd grade classroom makeup in 3rd grade. Our principal was raving about how it would be a mix of english language learners alongside kids reading middle school novels in 3rd grade. Which sounds good if there are multiple adults in the room to run different levels of instruction and have history projects for both kids who are capable of reading source documents AND kids who need plain english texts, but the reality is its one teacher who now has to differentiate for 5 levels of students instead of 4. It's not sustainable (done well), and will end up teaching to the middle like every other classroom does out of necessity. A self contained room with only hand picked LIII and LIV kids is totally different. |