Staying at Laurel Ridge vs White Oaks for AAP

[Anonymous]

One comment about LRES AAP offerings - the AAP teacher is out sick, very sick, unfortunately, and has been gone since January. Based on the nature of the illness, I expect that a new teacher will be there next year. Right now they are using a permanent sub, who is a parent at the school. My kid is a Level III student who does immersion, and loves the AAP teacher, but I will tell you that I don't think my student gets enough out of the enrichment program there. That said, I recall the AAP teacher saying that many many Level IV students choose to stay at the school. But I don't know what the split is for immersion vs general ed kids...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've been generally happy (with a few hiccups) with White Oaks AAP from Laurel Ridge, but I get what you are saying--Laurel Ridge is a lovely neighborhood school and it was hard to give it up. But we found the challenge of AAP to be good --and there is not overwhelming homework by any stretch of the imagination.

Can you speak more about this? Following

Sure. We've had two kids do the LR/WO to Robinson route (one currently in upper elementary at WO, one now in MS at Robinson).

Great: Some really good teachers, and I like the AAP curriculum. It's both faster paced and more in-depth learning. When I have volunteered, the class discussions are impressive. There is designated time in school to do homework and both our kids were able to get most of it done then. The projects have very clear timelines with most of the work done in school though some is out of school. The friendship groups are strong and yet flexible. I think the experience of everyone switching schools in 3rd grade creates this new group sense which has been good for both our kids. Child at Robinson has kept all the WO friends --many went to Robinson, reconnected with Laurel Ridge friends (some were friends all along from neighborhood), and made new friends.

Hiccups: This current year the school is being renovated which has limited the number of community events that can be held at the school. It lessens the sense of community--which is already can be lessened when you're not at your neighborhood school. Laurel Ridge has a particularly strong sense of community with families and I haven't found that to be as true at WO (even before the renovation).

One piece that is both an advantage and disadvantage is that on days that our child rides the bus, it makes our child's day a little long--but also just long enough that we don't need SACC, just do a little flexible scheduling where one parent goes in a little earlier so is available when gets home from the bus (and the stop is right on our street so on the odd day we don't make it home in time, they can be home on their own for just a little bit). Our child also really likes the bus ride--lots of friends from multiple years of the AAP program--complains on the days of the week we do kiss & ride for classes. So oddly it has streamlined our life with two working parents--no more aftercare!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One comment about LRES AAP offerings - the AAP teacher is out sick, very sick, unfortunately, and has been gone since January. Based on the nature of the illness, I expect that a new teacher will be there next year. Right now they are using a permanent sub, who is a parent at the school. My kid is a Level III student who does immersion, and loves the AAP teacher, but I will tell you that I don't think my student gets enough out of the enrichment program there. That said, I recall the AAP teacher saying that many many Level IV students choose to stay at the school. But I don't know what the split is for immersion vs general ed kids...

What does it take to get local level iv into a school? It would seem to be a good idea based upon the responses here.

[Anonymous]

The LR AAP teacher was not strong. It should be different next year. The interim teacher is doing a great job.

[Anonymous]

“. I heard homework horror stories (we have zilch now beyond reading) and tons of projects (also none now). If AAP means more busy work, I don't think it's worth it.”

This is not our current experience at WO. Typical homework for 4th: read (only really counts as “homework” I think if your kid normally doean’t read for pleasure so that you need to enforce this), 1 math worksheet, practice on online math system (we do this sometimes not every night and teacher has not told us that’s a problem). other items are spread over the week (ceasar’s English activities) or a month (longer term projects). I find the projects really important at helping develop longer term HW / time planning skills.

With that said, if our local had LLIV that would be a great option as the administration and school community feel at WO are lacking. Kids make friends but the admin does not do anything at all to help foster a “school spirit” atmosphere.

[Anonymous]

We made the decision to pass on White Oaks. I think a few things went into the choice.

First, I looked at the school's SOL performance/pass advance performance and it tracked right where Laurel Ridge was despite being an AAP center. I don't know why that was, particularly in math, but I found that troubling.

Second, I didn't like that it was a Lake Braddock feeder. We live walking distance to Robinson and our plan was always to do honors in middle and let the kids to K-12 as walkers. I didn't like the bus and the whole split feeder thing turned me off since we live closer to Woodson (so we can't pupil place to Lake Braddock and do a single transition).

Third, my kids LOVED their experience at Laurel Ridge. It really is a gem of a place and the teachers, admin, parent community are so tight nit that I couldn't see pulling my kids out of it.

Fourth, my kids all got accelerated math. They do offer one section of compacted math. I didn't feel I was missing out on that.

[Anonymous]

If your kid likes after school activities- stay at Laurel Ridge. White oaks won’t have any after school activities until 2019.
A third of their incoming AAP kids left mid year to return to their base school. They lost a lot of teachers last year too.

Also: their fifth grade class fails a quarter of its kids in math. It performs very low, considering. The school has problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid likes after school activities- stay at Laurel Ridge. White oaks won’t have any after school activities until 2019.
A third of their incoming AAP kids left mid year to return to their base school. They lost a lot of teachers last year too.

Also: their fifth grade class fails a quarter of its kids in math. It performs very low, considering. The school has problems.

What's the story behind all of that? Are teachers unhappy for some particular reason? Are the kids unprepared for math or is it rumored to be the teaching?Were they also failing in 3rd and 4th at that same rate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid likes after school activities- stay at Laurel Ridge. White oaks won’t have any after school activities until 2019.
A third of their incoming AAP kids left mid year to return to their base school. They lost a lot of teachers last year too.

Also: their fifth grade class fails a quarter of its kids in math. It performs very low, considering. The school has problems.

What's the story behind all of that? Are teachers unhappy for some particular reason? Are the kids unprepared for math or is it rumored to be the teaching?Were they also failing in 3rd and 4th at that same rate?

I guess that explains the under performance compared to other AAP centers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid likes after school activities- stay at Laurel Ridge. White oaks won’t have any after school activities until 2019.
A third of their incoming AAP kids left mid year to return to their base school. They lost a lot of teachers last year too.

Also: their fifth grade class fails a quarter of its kids in math. It performs very low, considering. The school has problems.

Do you know the reason why a third of AAP kids left mid year? Are they all from the same base school?

[Anonymous]

We're in an older grade so not direct knowledge, but this is what I heard: there was a new 3rd grade teacher who was a last-minute hire due to scheduling changes/enrollment shifts requiring the need for an extra class. The teacher wasn't considered very effective and between that and maybe general frustration with the construction/major renovations, a number of students in her class decided to return to their base schools . They ended up dissolving her class and shifting students into the other classes. So for that particular 3rd grade class--there were some problems but they seem to be resolved.

Whoever said something about 5th grade math failing--I don't see that --from what I can see of that grade's AAP math there isn't a problem--the students seem to do quite well.
I haven't reviewed AAP's SOL scores, but in general, SOL scores aren't the best measure of AAP because by 5th grade the content they are tested on is from a year or two earlier--so kids might just make dumb little mistakes--they still do tend to pass advance on average. Better to look at the IOWA test scores for algebra aptitude as a reflection of a measure of where they are at. White Oaks has consistently placed kids into Algebra Honors in 7th grade and also consistently has a cohort of kids who take it in 6th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, we went to orientation. I'm just wondering how it's turned out for others. She's not in immersion and unfortunately there is no local level iv at LR. We really love LR, but I think she'd also benefit from the AAP program. It's a difficult choice.