Cardinal elementary?

[Anonymous]

We will be moving back to Arlington in the summer and are wondering about the strength of Cardinal, especially for gifted kids. Have people found that it does a good job clustering and differentiating? Trying to think through whether any private options would be preferable, though I know options will be limited.

[Anonymous]

It's a good school as far as APS goes. I doubt that any private you could get into now would be better.

[Anonymous]

No APS school is good for gifted kids but it's fine as an elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Gifted programming at all APS comes in the form of an extra worksheet. Parents take it upon themselves to supplement at home.

Private school won’t be an option for this upcoming year (not at any of the good ones anyway), but you can always apply for the year after.

[Anonymous]

the principal is a horrible person

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gifted programming at all APS comes in the form of an extra worksheet. Parents take it upon themselves to supplement at home.

Private school won’t be an option for this upcoming year (not at any of the good ones anyway), but you can always apply for the year after.

OP here, I should’ve said parochial school is the other option. Paying $40k for a “good” private school isn’t in the cards anyway.

[Anonymous]

Assuming it is run like Mckinley, and why wouldn’t it be, they do a good job at clustering the gifted students together. There will be tons of kids who are labeled gifted. Unfortunately, about nine years ago APS decided to move from a pull out to a push in program. They claim it’s better, but most parents would disagree. I think part of the reason may be that they only staff one gifted teacher per school regardless of population size. My kid used to get pulled up for specialized instruction, but the resource teacher coming in usually means a lesson for everyone and there’s very little differentiation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the principal is a horrible person

I agree, but most of the teachers are very well-qualified, effective and nice! The community is wonderful.

I pulled my DC out during covid virtual year to attend a religious private school in-person, but I regret not sending DC back to Cardinal once the kids returned to the classroom. DC would have received a better education in math and science (instead of heavy on religious instruction) and would have been better prepared for middle school. Instead, DC was way behind in Math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the principal is a horrible person

I think he's great! Why don't you like him?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the principal is a horrible person

This. He's an awful person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the principal is a horrible person

Former Cardinal parent. He’s a very good principal and really supports the kids and teachers. No one is perfect. I definitely had some ups and downs with the school, but overall it is a very strong school and community. I recommend it, but don’t be shy to speak up if your kid is struggling with anything.

[Anonymous]

Cardinal has a lot of strengths with engaged parents and consistent staff who are loving and experienced. I couldn't recommend it enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Assuming it is run like Mckinley, and why wouldn’t it be, they do a good job at clustering the gifted students together. There will be tons of kids who are labeled gifted. Unfortunately, about nine years ago APS decided to move from a pull out to a push in program. They claim it’s better, but most parents would disagree. I think part of the reason may be that they only staff one gifted teacher per school regardless of population size. My kid used to get pulled up for specialized instruction, but the resource teacher coming in usually means a lesson for everyone and there’s very little differentiation.

If you look at the budget, over 30% of the kids are "gifted" at Cardinal. That's statistically impossible. My kid went there and was in a gifted cluster. Not sure there was any differentiation. And the principal is a horrible person.

[Anonymous]

Cardinal parent here. We feel very positive about the caring teachers, counselors, front staff, and Principal Brown. The school is well run and we've had no problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gifted programming at all APS comes in the form of an extra worksheet. Parents take it upon themselves to supplement at home.

Private school won’t be an option for this upcoming year (not at any of the good ones anyway), but you can always apply for the year after.

OP here, I should’ve said parochial school is the other option. Paying $40k for a “good” private school isn’t in the cards anyway.

DCUM is absurdly focused on $40K+ privates, but there are are a number of non-name-brand schools that do really well, and might have space (and, in fact, I send my advanced kids to one of them, and I am in FCPS, which has much more emphasis than APS on gifted education.) I do think it is worth your while to check.