AAP @ Vienna Elementary School

[Anonymous]

Vienna E kids who go to LA are with a group of cohorts who are more like them intellectually and go through the curriculum at a faster pace with more in depth analysis. That is my view as a teacher who has taught at both schools. If my base were VE would I send my kid to LA? Absolutely unless the school start times were an issue.

[Anonymous]

I have kids at both and love both schools. VES has much more of a community feel and is still strong on academics. We don't feel like a part of the Archer community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vienna E kids who go to LA are with a group of cohorts who are more like them intellectually and go through the curriculum at a faster pace with more in depth analysis. That is my view as a teacher who has taught at both schools. If my base were VE would I send my kid to LA? Absolutely unless the school start times were an issue.

A "group of cohorts"? That's redundant.

[Anonymous]

My child goes to LA ES but not from VES. I have limited time to be at LA ES due to work but in general, the times I have been able to volunteer and help the parents have been super friendly. My child has become good friends with kids with LA ES as a base and they are terrific. Our base school was welcoming as well yet within times there were really a lot of cliques. I did not move this child to LA due to cliques - I have a younger daughter still at the base school. Anyway, it is night and day at LA and my youngest child's base school. LA has been so welcoming and friendly meanwhile our base school uses volunteer time to clique. I'm not in high school so I don't care but I do appreciate the LA environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone weigh in on AAP services at VES? Especially interested in hearing from those whose child was eligible for LIV and decided to stay at VES as well as those who decided to move their child to LA. Any positives/negatives? TIA.

The kids we know who stayed had several brothers and sisters and the parents wanted them all at the same school. They also liked the school a lot and I guess felt the LLIII program was good enough. The other problem with Louise Archer is that it doesn't have SACC. The kids I know who moved to Louise Archer are happy too.

If there's no SACC at LA, do they get bussed to SACC at nearby school (e.g., VES)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone weigh in on AAP services at VES? Especially interested in hearing from those whose child was eligible for LIV and decided to stay at VES as well as those who decided to move their child to LA. Any positives/negatives? TIA.

The kids we know who stayed had several brothers and sisters and the parents wanted them all at the same school. They also liked the school a lot and I guess felt the LLIII program was good enough. The other problem with Louise Archer is that it doesn't have SACC. The kids I know who moved to Louise Archer are happy too.

If there's no SACC at LA, do they get bussed to SACC at nearby school (e.g., VES)?

Yes if they can get in. Typically the kids just stay in their base SACC school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^and now, the program has come full circle, at least at Vienna Elem. This is exactly the Gifted and Talented Program that I recall in the program's infancy in FCPS, circa 1977.

+1
I attended Great Falls Elem. in the late 70's and this is what the GT program was. It was all "in-house" and worked great. Also, very few kids were in it since the admittance criteria was much higher.

Admittance criteria was higher? Would you have the specifics? The current AAP pool requirement is 98 percentile on either the NNAT or the CogAT, is it not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^and now, the program has come full circle, at least at Vienna Elem. This is exactly the Gifted and Talented Program that I recall in the program's infancy in FCPS, circa 1977.

+1
I attended Great Falls Elem. in the late 70's and this is what the GT program was. It was all "in-house" and worked great. Also, very few kids were in it since the admittance criteria was much higher.

Admittance criteria was higher? Would you have the specifics? The current AAP pool requirement is 98 percentile on either the NNAT or the CogAT, is it not?

Admittance to GT at that time didn't include appeals or parental referrals, for one thing.

[Anonymous]

Bump!
We are considering buying a house in VES district. My concern is that we will be forced to go to LA, because VES will not be able to provide a challenging academic environment to my child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bump!
We are considering buying a house in VES district. My concern is that we will be forced to go to LA, because VES will not be able to provide a challenging academic environment to my child.

In what grade is your child? Are you coming from another school in or out of FCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^and now, the program has come full circle, at least at Vienna Elem. This is exactly the Gifted and Talented Program that I recall in the program's infancy in FCPS, circa 1977.

+1
I attended Great Falls Elem. in the late 70's and this is what the GT program was. It was all "in-house" and worked great. Also, very few kids were in it since the admittance criteria was much higher.

Admittance criteria was higher? Would you have the specifics? The current AAP pool requirement is 98 percentile on either the NNAT or the CogAT, is it not?

Admittance to GT at that time didn't include appeals or parental referrals, for one thing.

This is not accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bump!
We are considering buying a house in VES district. My concern is that we will be forced to go to LA, because VES will not be able to provide a challenging academic environment to my child.

This is Fairfax County, and specifically the VES district. Probably 80% of the kids will end up going to college. I wouldn't worry about it too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone weigh in on AAP services at VES? Especially interested in hearing from those whose child was eligible for LIV and decided to stay at VES as well as those who decided to move their child to LA. Any positives/negatives? TIA.

The kids we know who stayed had several brothers and sisters and the parents wanted them all at the same school. They also liked the school a lot and I guess felt the LLIII program was good enough. The other problem with Louise Archer is that it doesn't have SACC. The kids I know who moved to Louise Archer are happy too.

If there's no SACC at LA, do they get bussed to SACC at nearby school (e.g., VES)?

Yes. SACC at base schools for AAP kids, and either Flint Hill or Vienna ES SACC for the kids zoned for Louise Archer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child goes to LA ES but not from VES. I have limited time to be at LA ES due to work but in general, the times I have been able to volunteer and help the parents have been super friendly. My child has become good friends with kids with LA ES as a base and they are terrific. Our base school was welcoming as well yet within times there were really a lot of cliques. I did not move this child to LA due to cliques - I have a younger daughter still at the base school. Anyway, it is night and day at LA and my youngest child's base school. LA has been so welcoming and friendly meanwhile our base school uses volunteer time to clique. I'm not in high school so I don't care but I do appreciate the LA environment.

Good to hear. Same hear and would be happy to deal with fewer parent and child cliques. Are the academics good as well?

[Anonymous]

Our experience at Archer has been quite different. I guess if you are a SAHM and able to break into the volunteering group, it may be different, but, for example, PTA meetings at Archer are held during the day on a weekday. So, if you're a working parent, you have to take a day off to be an active member of the PTA, and I do find the folks whose schedules are flexible enough to volunteer regularly to be pretty cliquey.