Truly challenging private schools in NoVA

[Anonymous]

Hey, defensive SSSAS poster, please stop calling all of us haters. You do it every.single.time, and it has gotten stale.

OP, we pulled our DD from SSSAS and put her in one of the "Big 3" because the academics were lacking. Doesn't mean I hate the school - there were many things I loved about it. But when your kid is sailing through getting As and A+s without effort, it is clear that she (or he) needs more.

I would have to say that no VA private can compare to most of the GT programs in VA public schools, which are really excellent.

[Anonymous]

19:28 -- Did you try the VA GT programs before you moved your kid either to SSSAS or across the river? Just curious what you saw as the differences that sent you to private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:none

What a real a++ to answer the quesiton in that manner. [/quot

As good as some of the privates are in VA, the poster asked for a truly challenging academic environment. The public GT's and TJ are academically far superior to any of the privates in VA. Yes privates can provide things they can't such as small classes, extra curriculars, etc but if you are matching academics, the privates don't compare in that area.

Just look at the stats where the TJ students end up. That should give you your answer.

[Anonymous]

Trinity school. We moved from SC and wow what a difference in education.

[Anonymous]

Which Trinity?
Holy Trinity?
Trinity Christian?
Trinity in Falls Church?

[Anonymous]

I have two kids at the most sought after AAP center in FCPS. The work is challenging and the teachers are wonderful, but the program is still not right for kids with very high IQs. My kids (WISC scores of 144 and 148) are still just being pushed to memorize and calculate and are drowning in homework, there is no room for higher thinking or reasoning and no room for their endless creativity and crazy passions.

If you simply have a high acheiving student that can work at a fast pace, its great, but if your child is highly capable an out of the box thinker, it may not be the best fit. We are looking at Howard Gardner and The New School for next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which Trinity?
Holy Trinity?
Trinity Christian?
Trinity in Falls Church?

Trinity christian

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:none

What a real a++ to answer the quesiton in that manner. [/quot

As good as some of the privates are in VA, the poster asked for a truly challenging academic environment. The public GT's and TJ are academically far superior to any of the privates in VA. Yes privates can provide things they can't such as small classes, extra curriculars, etc but if you are matching academics, the privates don't compare in that area.

Just look at the stats where the TJ students end up. That should give you your answer.


But what about the stats of where the kids at the private end up? True not ALL end up in the Ivies.....but that's not where all intended to go in the first....the issue must be drvien by where/whether the students ended up in the college of their choice....not the folks on this board who keep "stats" on this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:none

What a real a++ to answer the quesiton in that manner. [/quot

As good as some of the privates are in VA, the poster asked for a truly challenging academic environment. The public GT's and TJ are academically far superior to any of the privates in VA. Yes privates can provide things they can't such as small classes, extra curriculars, etc but if you are matching academics, the privates don't compare in that area.

Just look at the stats where the TJ students end up. That should give you your answer.


But what about the stats of where the kids at the private end up? True not ALL end up in the Ivies.....but that's not where all intended to go in the first....the issue must be drvien by where/whether the students ended up in the college of their choice....not the folks on this board who keep "stats" on this.

http://tjpartnershipfund.org/docs/TJ%20School%20Profile%2010-11.pdf

Where in my post did I say anything about Ivies. Look at the research the kids are doing. Look at the Sat scores. 23 kids accepted to MIT. This is what shows an academically rigorous environment.

[Anonymous]

In response to 11:46: We have one high IQ kid (141 WISC) in his 3th yr of Chesterbrook's LLIV program and have been super happy. Our 5th grade DS consistently tests in the 95+% on 8th grade math/language arts tests (CTY testing). Prior to Chesterbrook our kid was sailing through a private with no effort. We have found that the teachers in the LLIV program really ensure that each kid is properly challenged. Our DS loves school and has a great peer group in which he is not the smartest, which seems to motivate him a bit more. We opted for Chesterbrook over the center as we have more than 1 ES kid. Also, we liked the way Chesterbrook runs AAP vs the center, although I know Haycock always gets great reviews so no criticism of Haycock intended - just a personal preference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In response to 11:46: We have one high IQ kid (141 WISC) in his 3th yr of Chesterbrook's LLIV program and have been super happy. Our 5th grade DS consistently tests in the 95+% on 8th grade math/language arts tests (CTY testing). Prior to Chesterbrook our kid was sailing through a private with no effort. We have found that the teachers in the LLIV program really ensure that each kid is properly challenged. Our DS loves school and has a great peer group in which he is not the smartest, which seems to motivate him a bit more. We opted for Chesterbrook over the center as we have more than 1 ES kid. Also, we liked the way Chesterbrook runs AAP vs the center, although I know Haycock always gets great reviews so no criticism of Haycock intended - just a personal preference.

That is honestly the first good review of Chesterbrook AAP that I have heard. Every year at Haycock, my ds has had 2-3 new kids in his class that transferred over from Chesterbrook because if the lack of challenge.

[Anonymous]

Churchill AAP rocks, but I must say that I heard from the teachers that most of the kids got straight As, so if you are looking for intense activity, have your kid do the AMC 8 math test or online JH CTY courses or such ... Even at Longfellow AAP where my DC is now, the average in the
class for Algebra 1 Honors is near 90 percent... i.e., most of the middle school kids are getting an A in a high school honors course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Edlin: NO NO and NO. We were accepted along with friends' kids but fortunately went elsewhere. Friends got mired into a huge mess during a war between the two heads of the schools. They yanked their kids out and placed them in public school on emergency basis. Lawyer for Edlin called to insist they pay for remaining tuition - they said they would counter for educational malpractice. End of discussion. It is NOT what it pretends to be. Look closely. Ask questions. Sit in a class (I did - kids looked bored to death - didn't ask questions - clearly didn't want to be there). Nysmith also has a dubious reputation.

OP, the view copied above does have some adherents and, IMPO, some validity. We are familiar with several different cases involving actual or attempted transfers that have blown into threatened litigation, one involving pre-paid tuition that was not refunded. In all of these cases, parents had observed real, substantive deficiencies in the schools in question. I would also suggest that it might be a real mistake not to take a serious look at your local public schools, which we found to be roughly a year advanced vs. even some of the better-regarded privates. Good luck --

[Anonymous]

The Fairfax County public school AAP programs are advanced in math -- and probably science -- compared to ANY private school in the area in elementary and possibly middle school. We have looked. We have one DD in private for other reasons (too many special needs kids in her AAP program) and one DS in AAP middle school, but he looked at all the major privates (and had the test scores to get in any of them), but was disillusioned by the lack of math courses so we stayed public with him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have two kids at the most sought after AAP center in FCPS. The work is challenging and the teachers are wonderful, but the program is still not right for kids with very high IQs. My kids (WISC scores of 144 and 148) are still just being pushed to memorize and calculate and are drowning in homework, there is no room for higher thinking or reasoning and no room for their endless creativity and crazy passions.

If you simply have a high acheiving student that can work at a fast pace, its great, but if your child is highly capable an out of the box thinker, it may not be the best fit. We are looking at Howard Gardner and The New School for next year.

I agree -- finally someone says it. I felt the work was just being crammed in to my DS. He was making all As in FCPS, but so are/were 30% of the class. If 30% of the class are "excelling" that means a certain number are just waiting around. The busy/work homework was a joke also. In private school, he says much more in depth in Math. "At FCPS the teachers just threw it at us, work sheet after work sheet. I just filled them out and got my 100%. Now I understand what Math much better" It has been wonderful to see the joy of learning come back to my student after years of the glazed eyes. Nice to not be worrying all the time, either. He is not a super high IQ kid.