Transferring to FCPS - AAP eligibility

[Anonymous]

Hello, we are currently in APS and plan to eventually move to FCPS. Son is currently in kindergarten. What is the best grade level to move to FCPS to apply for the AAP program? Are students allowed to apply at any grade level? Please let me know how best to prepare my son coming from Arlington to make sure he gets into the AAP program. Thanks!!

[Anonymous]

You can apply at any grade. Program is 3-8 but mainly important for 3-6 elementary years.

Best is to get into it just before 3rd so they can make friends from the outset especially if your kid would go to a center school rather than the local AAP program at their base school.

Info here: https://www.fcps.edu/registration/advanced-academics-identification-and-placement/students-new-fcps

We applied over the summer before 3rd and it worked out well. Had to get GMU testing though since the main testing for normal screening for FCPS kids is done in Fall.

[Anonymous]

Level II services can start in K but tend to be pretty minimal at most schools. My child was in a higher reading group and received different math worksheets when he finished his work.

LIII and Level IV services start in 3rd grade. LIV you have to apply for, 10% of second graders are identified to be evaluated without a referral, those kids are in-pool. The rest of the kids evaluated were referred by a parent or teacher, mostly parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can apply at any grade. Program is 3-8 but mainly important for 3-6 elementary years.

Best is to get into it just before 3rd so they can make friends from the outset especially if your kid would go to a center school rather than the local AAP program at their base school.

Info here: https://www.fcps.edu/registration/advanced-academics-identification-and-placement/students-new-fcps

We applied over the summer before 3rd and it worked out well. Had to get GMU testing though since the main testing for normal screening for FCPS kids is done in Fall.

It's possible the summer before third works as a transfer student but in county parent referrals (applications) are generally due December the year before you would start. Id double check all dates.

[Anonymous]

It’s much easier to apply from within. Our neighbors are military and moved here over the summer. Their son was in the GT/advanced program in his last school, and they had a bear of a time getting him placed in an AAP class. FCPS didn’t approve it until second quarter.

I would plan to start in FCPS in the fall of second grade, so your child can take the COGAT with his/her class. First would be better, so that he/she can take the NNAT and be on the AART’s radar for a full year (instead of basically just the first quarter).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s much easier to apply from within. Our neighbors are military and moved here over the summer. Their son was in the GT/advanced program in his last school, and they had a bear of a time getting him placed in an AAP class. FCPS didn’t approve it until second quarter.

I would plan to start in FCPS in the fall of second grade, so your child can take the COGAT with his/her class. First would be better, so that he/she can take the NNAT and be on the AART’s radar for a full year (instead of basically just the first quarter).

The bolded is important. At our ES the AART met with all the level II kids regularly in 2nd grade so she could put together the best possible packet for the kids most likely to be in-pool or parent referred. I known not every AART does this, but ours absolutely did.

[Anonymous]

What does AART stand for? Thank you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does AART stand for? Thank you

Advanced Academic Resource Teacher.

Our base school is also the center school, so this might not be the standard for all schools, but my child’s class had AART as a “special” in K-2. They would basically do project-based learning and other enrichment activities. So when AAP selection time came around, the person who runs the process knew my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What does AART stand for? Thank you

Advanced Academic Resource Teacher. They help put together the packet submission that goes to the committee and handle pull-outs for level II and III. Some elementary schools have knowledgeable and helpful AARTs and others not-so-much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does AART stand for? Thank you

Advanced Academic Resource Teacher.

Our base school is also the center school, so this might not be the standard for all schools, but my child’s class had AART as a “special” in K-2. They would basically do project-based learning and other enrichment activities. So when AAP selection time came around, the person who runs the process knew my kid.

Our non-center school does this too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does AART stand for? Thank you

Advanced Academic Resource Teacher. They help put together the packet submission that goes to the committee and handle pull-outs for level II and III. Some elementary schools have knowledgeable and helpful AARTs and others not-so-much.

+1. We moved into FCPS in 3rd, and the AART did nothing to help even though our student was in the TAG program in another school district.

[Anonymous]

Does Haycock elementary have a good AART?