AAP vs. Private

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have experience with both DC privates and AAP in ES and/or MS? DC is bright and motivated -- and currently bored in a private. Is it worth exploring switching to AAP (specifically, Haycock/Longfellow)? What is the level of academic challenge for AAP vs privates? What are peers like academically for an AAP vs. private? I'm especially interested in the second question of whether DC would be around more peers that challenge DC at an AAP. I don't want to be more specific so will not name the private, but if you feel that one private may be a better fit than others, that would be helpful too.

Thanks for any help or experience that an anonymous stranger can provide! I would greatly appreciate it!

[Anonymous]

Ask in the private school forum as well. Maybe some privates are more rigorous than AAP/your current private

[Anonymous]

Generally, writing is better in privates but math and science is better at Haycock/Longfellow/McLean. It depends on your priorities.

[Anonymous]

Base on my experience (DC is in HS now) Haycock AAP/Longfellow has really strong cohort and academic. The cohort that was actually pull my kid up, as he is motivated and high achiever type. If that is what you are looking for then yes, not if you are looking for small class with personalized attention to your kid.

[Anonymous]

What grade is your child? There is no guarantee acceptance at AAP.

[Anonymous]

We do! Current 7th grader (was in AAP through ES), 5th grader (in AAP for 3rd and 4th) and 3rd grader (was admitted to both).

We are at a religious independent school known among fellow believers for rigor, but not one of the Big 3 or Big 5 or Big 10 or anything like that you'll see on the private school forum.

7th grade DC is especially academic and comes off as "smart" to peers. 5th and 3rd grade DCs worry less about peer group than 7th. I would say the oldest's peer group at the private is smaller, but still exists (oldest was fussing that a friend got all questions+bonus right on the most recent Honors Algebra 1 test while oldest got a mere A-). Oldest has complained about being - not meanly - teased as a "smarty pants" for placing above Pre-Algebra for math in 7th, but is not alone. Despite the gentle teasing, oldest actually seems to enjoy friends more at the private.

As far as academics, the mere existence of a defined curriculum at the private is huge. Also the math in ES goes at a slower pace for sure - 5th grader is about half a year ahead - but there is some extension and depth to the curriculum (Singapore) that they have never seen before. When they were confused on some questions I was able to pull up the textbook and we worked through the questions together. There are acceleration opportunities at our private but the math does top out well before FCPS does and I already have in the back of my mind that we may be looking at dual enrollment eventually. Other subjects, including science and computing, offer as much rigor as my kids will need.

I agree with PPs that the writing instruction is better. My kids are getting spelling and grammar for the first time and only one of them had vocabulary before (teacher driven) - now all of them are working on it. In addition, as many on the private school forum will tell you, the privates break down the writing process and explicitly teach it much better.

My 3rd grader is naturally a coaster - they'll basically rise to the standards set but no more. I find the standards for showing your work in math, writing full sentences during reading comprehension work, and lots more to be higher and that's been great for them.

TL;DR - it's been good enough for my kids (and we aren't even at a top school!), but I think kids can thrive in both and what works for us has been as much about my kids as anything.

[Anonymous]

Fwiw, FCPS now has a defined reading and writing curriculum, so parochial schools no longer have an edge there. Nor do other privates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, FCPS now has a defined reading and writing curriculum, so parochial schools no longer have an edge there. Nor do other privates.

For ES. Benchmark doesn't cover the older grades (at least right now). I'm the PP with kids who switched and it's my oldest who is getting the most value from detailed feedback on writing assignments. Maybe that would also be happening in our local MS and HS; I haven't asked around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Generally, writing is better in privates but math and science is better at Haycock/Longfellow/McLean. It depends on your priorities.

This has long been the case but private schools are catching up on STEM while public schools don't really seem to be catching up on writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally, writing is better in privates but math and science is better at Haycock/Longfellow/McLean. It depends on your priorities.

This has long been the case but private schools are catching up on STEM while public schools don't really seem to be catching up on writing.

Are we talking grade school or high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally, writing is better in privates but math and science is better at Haycock/Longfellow/McLean. It depends on your priorities.

This has long been the case but private schools are catching up on STEM while public schools don't really seem to be catching up on writing.

Which privates track as aggressively as publics in math?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally, writing is better in privates but math and science is better at Haycock/Longfellow/McLean. It depends on your priorities.

This has long been the case but private schools are catching up on STEM while public schools don't really seem to be catching up on writing.

Which privates track as aggressively as publics in math?

Maybe Nysmith, BASIS, and Idea Vations but those are all schools that sell themselves on accepting gifted students and/or STEM rigor. Most private schools do not have the same focu on math and science as the public schools. That has to be saying something because science in ES is seriously lacking. The private forums seem to think that the schools focus much more on depth of math exposure in ES but that there is little differentiation offered for any subject. It is easier to deal with the lack of differentiation in English and Scoial Studies, you allow kids to read different books and can see that some kids are stronger writers, then in math.

Public has the option for acceleration for kids that does not exist in most private schools because it has the numbers and more Teachers so they can set up classes like Advanced Math and offer Algebra 1 H in 7th grade. That said, private schools tend to have excellent college results without kids taking DE math classes as Juniors and Seniors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally, writing is better in privates but math and science is better at Haycock/Longfellow/McLean. It depends on your priorities.

This has long been the case but private schools are catching up on STEM while public schools don't really seem to be catching up on writing.

Which privates track as aggressively as publics in math?

Maybe Nysmith, BASIS, and Idea Vations but those are all schools that sell themselves on accepting gifted students and/or STEM rigor. Most private schools do not have the same focu on math and science as the public schools. That has to be saying something because science in ES is seriously lacking. The private forums seem to think that the schools focus much more on depth of math exposure in ES but that there is little differentiation offered for any subject. It is easier to deal with the lack of differentiation in English and Scoial Studies, you allow kids to read different books and can see that some kids are stronger writers, then in math.

Public has the option for acceleration for kids that does not exist in most private schools because it has the numbers and more Teachers so they can set up classes like Advanced Math and offer Algebra 1 H in 7th grade. That said, private schools tend to have excellent college results without kids taking DE math classes as Juniors and Seniors.

Our private tracks a small number of kids before 7th, and also has a separate science teacher throughout elementary to make sure that someone with a science background is teaching the kids science before they get to middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally, writing is better in privates but math and science is better at Haycock/Longfellow/McLean. It depends on your priorities.

This has long been the case but private schools are catching up on STEM while public schools don't really seem to be catching up on writing.

Which privates track as aggressively as publics in math?

Maybe Nysmith, BASIS, and Idea Vations but those are all schools that sell themselves on accepting gifted students and/or STEM rigor. Most private schools do not have the same focu on math and science as the public schools. That has to be saying something because science in ES is seriously lacking. The private forums seem to think that the schools focus much more on depth of math exposure in ES but that there is little differentiation offered for any subject. It is easier to deal with the lack of differentiation in English and Scoial Studies, you allow kids to read different books and can see that some kids are stronger writers, then in math.

Public has the option for acceleration for kids that does not exist in most private schools because it has the numbers and more Teachers so they can set up classes like Advanced Math and offer Algebra 1 H in 7th grade. That said, private schools tend to have excellent college results without kids taking DE math classes as Juniors and Seniors.

Our private tracks a small number of kids before 7th, and also has a separate science teacher throughout elementary to make sure that someone with a science background is teaching the kids science before they get to middle school.

OP wrote about AAP, so her kid would be on an advanced math track in public that would allow them to test into algebra in 7th. I think that's more than most privates offer for math

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fwiw, FCPS now has a defined reading and writing curriculum, so parochial schools no longer have an edge there. Nor do other privates.

This isn’t necessarily true. Just because there is a defined curriculum doesn’t meant that is as good as private/parochial. A lot of the teachers are skeptical. The jury will be out for while on this.