Immersion versus AAP?
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Anonymous
| I know this is premature, but I believe our DS likely will get into AAP. Our base school is Spanish Immersion, which he loves. We don't speak Spanish at home so I don't have any particular personal attachment to it but I really like the program and think its good for him. If he gets into AAP, he would have to leave immersion. How do other people evaluate this choice? The schools are Fort Hunt and Stratford Landing if it matters. |
Anonymous
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Stratford Landing is a nightmare, with huge staff turnover there every year. I know teachers there or ones who left. Huge turnover is a big red flag.
I taught at an immersion school. It depends on how advanced your child is. If the immersion school has advanced math as an option, and your child is advanced in math, then stay. If the child’s areas of advanced learning are in language arts, it’s not hard for the regular teacher to provide enrichment. They can get weekly pull-out for AAP at Fort Hunt. There are so many kids in AAP now who are just bright kids who work hard. If your child is bored in school now, working two or more years ahead, then I’d try AAP school. Otherwise, stay where you are. SLES is really not the place to go. |
Anonymous
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DS is in Japanese Immersion and was selected for LIV, we deferred services and stayed in the JI program. I know of 2 kids who left JI for the Center but that is it. I am under the impression that most stayed with the language at our school.
Advanced Math was available starting in 3rd and all the Advanced Math JI kids were grouped into one class in 5th grade. We felt that the language was a challenge that our child enjoyed and wanted to continue. We also know that there are Gen Ed kids who go to the Center and return to the base because they find the social aspect of the Center lacking and the kids are unhappy. I know one of the kids who left JI for the Center said that it has been awful. The parents are keeping the kid there because they would return to the Gen Ed program at our school. The child is doing fine academically but struggling socially. We see this in the JI program. It is harder for the kids who are out of boundary to hang out and socialize with the kids who like in boundary. There are many more steps required to play or do things. I know that some of the out of boundary kids struggle socially in the program, so it is not a surprise that kids who move to the Center for LIV would have similar issues. |
Anonymous
| We opted for AAP and local school over immersion, which is the ES next to the one that we're zoned for. I didn't want to make the trek and forgo the walking to our current ES. I also prefer AAP course to the immersion. We never went through with immersion so I cannot speak to whether it was a good program. If immersion had been our base school, I may have felt differently as I'm more inclined to pick the closest school due to busy schedules/traffic |
Anonymous
| Will your school be offering local level IV? It’s possible to be in immersion and level IV. |
Anonymous
Not answering the question bc your kid isn’t even in immersion!🙄 |
Anonymous
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We faced the choice for child #2 and picked immersion; my experience with non-immersion AAP was subpar. Kid might as well be taught a language at school, because it's not like they were teaching much of anything else.
(Child #2 did do local level IV through immersion, but they didn't even cluster all the immersion LL4 kids together, so you can guess how well that went.) |
Anonymous
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Not OP but wrestling with same challenges and same schools. Fort Hunt does not have advanced math until 6th grade. New principal said he may introduce it down to 5th in the foreseeable future, and there is no LLIV, such AAP level III.
Also have a 2e kiddo (severe speech and ADHD mostly), and trying to figure out if that transition would be worth it. |
Anonymous
Op here - hello neighbor haha! My other child is also a speech and adhd kid but not in kinder yet. What is the difference between LLIV and AAP level III? Do they have III at FH? |
Anonymous
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Fort Hunt does have AAP Level III (essentially a once a week pull out), which my 6th grader is in. More details are here:
https://www.fcps.edu/academics/academic-overview/advanced-academic-programs |
Anonymous
Thank you!! Do you have any sense of how it compares to what they would get at Stratford? Are you happy with your choice? Really appreciate the info. |
Anonymous
| Friend who is a HS principal recommended that we avoid immersion. He said that kids who do language immersion are great at that language but suffer in other subjects like math. |
Anonymous
My kid is in Language Immersion. He has been in Advanced Math since 3rd, we deferred LIV placement to stay at the base and in LI. None of the kids in 5th grade advanced math, who all took the 6th grade SOL, failed the 6th grade SOL. There were 25 kids in 5th grade Advanced Math who took the 6th grade SOL. I don’t know what the numbers are for the 5th graders in regular math and LI but I know that over half of the LI kids are in Advanced Math and that none of those kids seem to be struggling with Advanced Math. I know kids who left LI because they were struggling with math or LA and their parents wanted them to have more focused time on the regular classes. There might be some kids in LI who are struggling more with Math or LA but I would be surprised if any kid selected for LIV is among the ones struggling. You would not be likely to get good GBRSs if you were struggling with math or LA. |
Anonymous
My daughter did not qualify for AAP IV, and AAP Level III is a good fit for her. From what I understand, level III is just one hour a week of advanced instruction, vs a full week / full year of instruction at essentially the year ahead. I would go to the AAP Level IV info night that the Fort Hunt AART (AAP teacher) is going to host in November (date TBD). At the general AAP meeting a few weeks ago, she emphasized that the kids take the SOL for the grade ahead (not sure if it’s only in math, or all subjects). If your kid struggles in math but excels in reading, it’s easier for the teacher to give harder reading assignments. If they excel in math, they would get challenges in AAP level IV (so Stratford Landing for our corner of FCPS) that they wouldn’t get at Fort Hunt. I have also heard about the challenges with the overall administration at Stratford that someone else brought up. But lots of parents I know have been happy there and say they don’t really notice it much on a day to day level, and the county seems to be keeping an eye on the principal and his management style…. So fingers crossed something changes soon, but I am not super worried about that based on what I have heard (both with kids in AAP and younger kids, but it’s their base school, and a neighbor who pupil placed her K due to a younger kid in special Ed preschool) |
Anonymous
| I know that the county is keeping a close eye on Stratford Landing, so we can hope for improvements, but truly, as a veteran teacher who is aware of the incredible turnover each year, I would avoid it, unless the child is so gifted that IQ scores are in the high 140s. |