Fleeing APS schools for FFX County

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FFX is a sprawling, overly large almost impossible to comprehend entity, spanning from the sad backwaters of the Springfield area to the gleaming McMansions of western FFX. You must choose your pyramid extremely carefully. But in general, the FFX high schools run circles around Arlington high schools.

Based on what? Certainly not based on the Holy Grail of NOVA high schools: admission to UVA and William & Mary. Virtually all the top students in NOVA apply to one or the other, and often both, and the admit rates last year were 42 and 47 percent for FCPS and 37 and 53 percent for APS. No discernible difference. But I wonder what FCPS would look like if TJ students were excluded? I bet FCPS would fall below APS.

Outside of Langley, which has an extraordinarily privileged population, no school in Fairfax even arguably "runs circles" around APS.

TJ students are FCPS students, for the most part. Why exclude them?

Because Arlington students can go to TJ just as easily as Fairfax kids. It’s open to both. Duh.

Is it really open, though? The small numbers of Latino and African American students suggest that something is woefully unfair about the process.

There is nothing woefully unfair in the process. There are families that invest a significant amount financially into getting tutors, having their kids attend Johns Hopkins CYT math camps, and participating in robotics and science camps. All of this costs money. Many minority families can't afford this, so their kids have a harder time competing for TJ slots. That's not something wrong with the TJ admissions process, it's just a result of wealth disparity. TJ applicants are also a self selecting group. All the Asian families I know start preparing from a very young age. TJ is probably at least 60 percent Asian. I also don't worry about whether there is anything woefully wrong with TJ admissions because I'm not sure that in its current state it's somewhere I think kids should aspire to be. I would worry more about making sure that minority kids across the board are getting a good education and forget about the hand wringing regarding whether minorities make it into TJ.

What you have described sounds like inequality — inequality of opportunity, to begin with. It should be the highest priority of decision makers and policy makers to better integrate this school via a holistic review that can take into account underrepresented minorities’ status. The numbers are gut wrenching. Justice O’Connor correctly observed that there must be room at elite institutions made possible via affirmative action.

[Anonymous]

Flee APS for FCPS? My kids are I elementary school in APS and i wouldn’t trade it for the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flee APS for FCPS? My kids are I elementary school in APS and i wouldn’t trade it for the world.

^^ in and I

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FFX is a sprawling, overly large almost impossible to comprehend entity, spanning from the sad backwaters of the Springfield area to the gleaming McMansions of western FFX. You must choose your pyramid extremely carefully. But in general, the FFX high schools run circles around Arlington high schools.

Based on what? Certainly not based on the Holy Grail of NOVA high schools: admission to UVA and William & Mary. Virtually all the top students in NOVA apply to one or the other, and often both, and the admit rates last year were 42 and 47 percent for FCPS and 37 and 53 percent for APS. No discernible difference. But I wonder what FCPS would look like if TJ students were excluded? I bet FCPS would fall below APS.

Outside of Langley, which has an extraordinarily privileged population, no school in Fairfax even arguably "runs circles" around APS.

TJ students are FCPS students, for the most part. Why exclude them?

Because Arlington students can go to TJ just as easily as Fairfax kids. It’s open to both. Duh.

Is it really open, though? The small numbers of Latino and African American students suggest that something is woefully unfair about the process.

There is nothing woefully unfair in the process. There are families that invest a significant amount financially into getting tutors, having their kids attend Johns Hopkins CYT math camps, and participating in robotics and science camps. All of this costs money. Many minority families can't afford this, so their kids have a harder time competing for TJ slots. That's not something wrong with the TJ admissions process, it's just a result of wealth disparity. TJ applicants are also a self selecting group. All the Asian families I know start preparing from a very young age. TJ is probably at least 60 percent Asian. I also don't worry about whether there is anything woefully wrong with TJ admissions because I'm not sure that in its current state it's somewhere I think kids should aspire to be. I would worry more about making sure that minority kids across the board are getting a good education and forget about the hand wringing regarding whether minorities make it into TJ.

What you have described sounds like inequality — inequality of opportunity, to begin with. It should be the highest priority of decision makers and policy makers to better integrate this school via a holistic review that can take into account underrepresented minorities’ status. The numbers are gut wrenching. Justice O’Connor correctly observed that there must be room at elite institutions made possible via affirmative action.

DP. TJ isn't an elite institution, it's a STEM school. And from what I've heard about their math classes (so needlessly difficult), I will not encourage my DC who loves math to go there. Why should kids who do not want a STEM school go there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FFX is a sprawling, overly large almost impossible to comprehend entity, spanning from the sad backwaters of the Springfield area to the gleaming McMansions of western FFX. You must choose your pyramid extremely carefully. But in general, the FFX high schools run circles around Arlington high schools.

Based on what? Certainly not based on the Holy Grail of NOVA high schools: admission to UVA and William & Mary. Virtually all the top students in NOVA apply to one or the other, and often both, and the admit rates last year were 42 and 47 percent for FCPS and 37 and 53 percent for APS. No discernible difference. But I wonder what FCPS would look like if TJ students were excluded? I bet FCPS would fall below APS.

Outside of Langley, which has an extraordinarily privileged population, no school in Fairfax even arguably "runs circles" around APS.

TJ students are FCPS students, for the most part. Why exclude them?

Because Arlington students can go to TJ just as easily as Fairfax kids. It’s open to both. Duh.

Is it really open, though? The small numbers of Latino and African American students suggest that something is woefully unfair about the process.

There is nothing woefully unfair in the process. There are families that invest a significant amount financially into getting tutors, having their kids attend Johns Hopkins CYT math camps, and participating in robotics and science camps. All of this costs money. Many minority families can't afford this, so their kids have a harder time competing for TJ slots. That's not something wrong with the TJ admissions process, it's just a result of wealth disparity. TJ applicants are also a self selecting group. All the Asian families I know start preparing from a very young age. TJ is probably at least 60 percent Asian. I also don't worry about whether there is anything woefully wrong with TJ admissions because I'm not sure that in its current state it's somewhere I think kids should aspire to be. I would worry more about making sure that minority kids across the board are getting a good education and forget about the hand wringing regarding whether minorities make it into TJ.

What you have described sounds like inequality — inequality of opportunity, to begin with. It should be the highest priority of decision makers and policy makers to better integrate this school via a holistic review that can take into account underrepresented minorities’ status. The numbers are gut wrenching. Justice O’Connor correctly observed that there must be room at elite institutions made possible via affirmative action.

DP. TJ isn't an elite institution, it's a STEM school. And from what I've heard about their math classes (so needlessly difficult), I will not encourage my DC who loves math to go there. Why should kids who do not want a STEM school go there?

Because their parents have bet the farm on it and force them to go through the aforementioned process?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ FCPS has schools with higher FRL percentages than Yorktown, but they have better scores.
Why is that?
- APS parent

The non-FARMS kids in FCPS are challenged more and score higher.

[Anonymous]

From Virginia DOE school profiles for systems as a whole:

APS:
Fully Accredited Schools: 100%
Reading Proficiency: 87%
Math Proficiency: 86%
Science Proficiency: 86%
Social Studies Proficiency: 88%

FCPS:
Fully Accredited Schools: 96.4%
Reading Proficiency: 84%
Math Proficiency: 83%
Science Proficiency: 85%
Social Studies Proficiency: 90%

Doesn't look like FCPS is producing superior results overall, even with TJ.

[Anonymous]

The top schools in the area are in FCPS, not APS.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The top schools in the area are in FCPS, not APS.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia

There’s already been a big discussion about the inconsistencies in their rankings and how certain APS schools by every measure beat out some of the FCPS schools in the top 10.

But this also goes to the differing philosophies of the systems generally, which is reflected in things like AAP/TJ and the lack of a serious push for a similar program in APS. FCPS is focused on maximizing the potential of its best students while letting the rest skate by, zoned away to other schools, so you see more advanced, but fewer overall that are even proficient. APS chooses to spread its resources in a much more balanced fashion, so they’re perhaps not fully meeting the needs of their highest-achieving students but they do a better job of getting students at least proficient. It’s a community vs me-and-mine mindset, which does reinforce the self-selecting nature of the populations who have the luxury of choosing where to live.

[Anonymous]

What are the FARMS number for FCPS as a whole? I can’t find that data anywhere on their website. Do they have school-by-school figures published anywhere?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the FARMS number for FCPS as a whole? I can’t find that data anywhere on their website. Do they have school-by-school figures published anywhere?

https://www.fcps.edu/about-fcps

29% FARMS
29% ESOL
39% white

10th largest school system in the US. Yikes.

[Anonymous]

By school
http://schoolprofiles.fcps.edu/schlprfl/f?p=108:8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax has its own issues. Elementary and middle is extremely segregated between AAP and “regular”. Larger class sizes.

+1
Knowing now what I did not know years ago, I would never have chosen FCPS. The AAP/Gen Ed system is atrocious and real learning doesn't start until high school. High schools are very good - elementary and middle are just ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax has its own issues. Elementary and middle is extremely segregated between AAP and “regular”. Larger class sizes.

The dichotomy between AAP and regular can be socially devastating and humiliating to families whose kids don’t make the cut.

OP, please take posts about how "devastating" AAP is with a huge grain of salt. You're going to get a LOT of this AAP-bashing on here. The whole "dichotomy, segregation, social humiliation" line. Angry, grossly generalized, vague claims. DCUM is rife with posters who come here mostly to write posts like this for whatever reason. Families who had or have kids in AAP can tell a different story about the positives--and families with kids in general ed at AAP center schools do not all resent AAP, no matter what some posters will claim. Every AAP center school is different and there surely are some with "us versus them" parents, but that doesn't mean Every. Single. Center. is a segregated nightmare of haves and have nots. That wasn't our experience or the experience of the many families we knew through six years of AAP.

Make your choice based on the overall pyramid. Don't rely much on DCUM other than as general guidelines and treat intensely negative posts like you'd treat extreme outlier reviews on a travel web site--set aside the extreme ones. Put in a lot of time in the actual areas you'd consider. I know parents who moved and who attended a PTA meeting or two at schools they were considering. Any way you can meet people in real life is better than taking our word (including mine) on an anonymous forum known for posters with axes to grind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax has its own issues. Elementary and middle is extremely segregated between AAP and “regular”. Larger class sizes.

The dichotomy between AAP and regular can be socially devastating and humiliating to families whose kids don’t make the cut.

OP, please take posts about how "devastating" AAP is with a huge grain of salt. You're going to get a LOT of this AAP-bashing on here. The whole "dichotomy, segregation, social humiliation" line. Angry, grossly generalized, vague claims. DCUM is rife with posters who come here mostly to write posts like this for whatever reason. Families who had or have kids in AAP can tell a different story about the positives--and families with kids in general ed at AAP center schools do not all resent AAP, no matter what some posters will claim. Every AAP center school is different and there surely are some with "us versus them" parents, but that doesn't mean Every. Single. Center. is a segregated nightmare of haves and have nots. That wasn't our experience or the experience of the many families we knew through six years of AAP.

Make your choice based on the overall pyramid. Don't rely much on DCUM other than as general guidelines and treat intensely negative posts like you'd treat extreme outlier reviews on a travel web site--set aside the extreme ones. Put in a lot of time in the actual areas you'd consider. I know parents who moved and who attended a PTA meeting or two at schools they were considering. Any way you can meet people in real life is better than taking our word (including mine) on an anonymous forum known for posters with axes to grind.

I’m not entirely sure what you’re trying to say. Is there jealousy about AAP? Yes, based on thread after thread. Does it not matter much in the long run? It doesn’t. Kids will be just fine either way. APS has a much more holistic, laid back approach toward GT. That may or may not work for everyone.