Gifted kid - APS, FCPS, or Nysmith?

[Anonymous]

You should tour Nysmith for yourself and see how incredible it is. We were planning to send our child to Flint Hill, but after visiting Nysmith we changed our minds. Nysmith is clearly the best option for gifted children in the entire DC/MD/VA area.

[Anonymous]

You should tour Nysmith for yourself and see how incredible it is. We were planning to send our child to Flint Hill, but after visiting Nysmith we changed our minds. Nysmith is clearly the best option for gifted children in the entire DC/MD/VA area.

[Anonymous]

If you can afford the tuition at Nysmith, it is more than worth it. We are paying for two children to attend and don't regret the expense at all.

[Anonymous]

Plus, if your kid goes to Nysmith, you get one of those car magnets that says "Nysmith School for the Gifted" so everyone knows how special your snowflake is!

If I was shelling out $30K to send my kid to private, Nysmith would not be on my list. With a 150 IQ, there are better places to spend that tuition money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plus, if your kid goes to Nysmith, you get one of those car magnets that says "Nysmith School for the Gifted" so everyone knows how special your snowflake is!

If I was shelling out $30K to send my kid to private, Nysmith would not be on my list. With a 150 IQ, there are better places to spend that tuition money.

The kids do that at academic competitions too. It’s super obnoxious and the kids from other schools make fun of them behind their back— public school kids and private school kids. Larla introduces herself at a debate tournament and says “I’m Larla from my Nysmith School for the Gifted”. Meanwhile, the Carson and Sidwell kids just say, “I’m Larlo from Rachel Carson/ Sidwell Friends”. Then Carson and Sidwell sweep the awards and Nysmith comes in at the bottom. Without saying “I’m Larlo from Rachel’s Carson’s Advanced Adademics Program”. As parents, we tell the kids to knock it off and remind them that that is the name of the school and not the kids being pompous. But, they have a point. It’s obnoxious. Especially since all the FCPS kids know kids from their base school who were sent to Nysmith because they couldn’t get into AAP.

If you really are gifted, you should have to announce it every 5 minutes. And since this happens every single time across 3 different academic competitions involving my 2 kids, it has to be something the school coaches them to do, rather than one kid or one team. Don’t they realize how their kids come off?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, Nysmith is $32,000? That's crazy. For that price, can't you go somewhere good like Sidwell Friends

It's average for a private school but I think many are more.

Nysmith parent here (6 years and counting). Most private schools in this area are hugely (college level) expensive. One of the things that impressed us when visiting Nysmith is how obvious it is that most of the tuition money goes straight into educating the students. Some of the other private schools have large and expensive campuses, fancy ostentatious buildings full of over-furnished non-classroom impressive spaces designed to impress. Nysmith has clean modern facilities but it's all workaday and child focused type spaces. I'm not saying this is the only factor, and I have a second child at a private school that fits more into the other category here, but the down to earth spending priorities at Nysmith have always impressed me by comparison.

But they aren’t paying their teachers, which is where I would want a school to invest money. DS has ADHD and uses an organizational tutor. His tutor went to Nysmith for a couple years after her DC was born, rather than back to FCPS,because she could get a half time schedule. But was actively trying to move to Franklin, RRMS or Carson when I met her. I was shocked when she told me how much less she would make FT at Nysmith vs FCPS— before factoring in Nysmith crappy benefits. She also said teacher turnover was very high at Nysmith, there was less support for teachers and the math program at Nysmith was a lot weaker. Which lines up with Nysmith’s crappy TJ admissions rates vs Carson and RRMS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, Nysmith is $32,000? That's crazy. For that price, can't you go somewhere good like Sidwell Friends

It's average for a private school but I think many are more.

Nysmith parent here (6 years and counting). Most private schools in this area are hugely (college level) expensive. One of the things that impressed us when visiting Nysmith is how obvious it is that most of the tuition money goes straight into educating the students. Some of the other private schools have large and expensive campuses, fancy ostentatious buildings full of over-furnished non-classroom impressive spaces designed to impress. Nysmith has clean modern facilities but it's all workaday and child focused type spaces. I'm not saying this is the only factor, and I have a second child at a private school that fits more into the other category here, but the down to earth spending priorities at Nysmith have always impressed me by comparison.

But they aren’t paying their teachers, which is where I would want a school to invest money. DS has ADHD and uses an organizational tutor. His tutor went to Nysmith for a couple years after her DC was born, rather than back to FCPS,because she could get a half time schedule. But was actively trying to move to Franklin, RRMS or Carson when I met her. I was shocked when she told me how much less she would make FT at Nysmith vs FCPS— before factoring in Nysmith crappy benefits. She also said teacher turnover was very high at Nysmith, there was less support for teachers and the math program at Nysmith was a lot weaker. Which lines up with Nysmith’s crappy TJ admissions rates vs Carson and RRMS.

I'm the PP who used to work at Nysmith. The bolded is true, and it's hugely important. I saw at least ten very good, experienced teachers leave for public schools during my relatively short time there. They were replaced by teachers who were either not licensed or who had very little classroom experience. Nysmith is, first and foremost, a business. They are not going to pay a licensed teacher with a Masters +10 years experience anywhere close to what FCPS will pay. I think it's telling that a lot of the teachers who teach upper-level math or science send their kids to FCPS AAP schools.

[Anonymous]

I can’t figure out why people keep falsely saying that Nysmith is for AAP rejects. In our 9 years there, never heard of this happening. Maybe there are some kids that tried to get into AAP that I don’t know about, but most kids started Nysmith in pre-K through 1st grade, well before AAP testing/applications. We hear far more stories about kids coming to Nysmith because they were not challenged enough in the early grades at their public schools, and in our case because our public school still only had 1/2 day Kindergarten.

With regard to the assertion regarding them not getting into TJ- that’s just false. Almost all the kids who took the TJ test this year made it to the semi-final pool (about 20 kids). Not bragging - just a fact. While we don’t know the final result, that seems pretty good out of a class of about 60, many of whom didn’t apply. About a third of the 8th graders are in Algebra II Honors or higher. Not a bragging point but just rebutting the insinuation that these kids wouldn’t be able to make it in AAP. This year’s graduating class has been accepted to various private chools such as Phillips Exeter, Sidwell, NCS, Holton, Potomac and other great schools, and many will go to their awesome public schools that we are very fortunate to have in this area.

The kids are not obnoxious or rude, they are nice kids just trying their hardest, like everyone else’s. We don’t judge your kids. I know many kids who have thrived in AAP and good for them! I am happy for them. Seems to me that the obnoxious people are not the kids, but the parents on this board who think it is okay to bash kids for no reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t figure out why people keep falsely saying that Nysmith is for AAP rejects. In our 9 years there, never heard of this happening. Maybe there are some kids that tried to get into AAP that I don’t know about, but most kids started Nysmith in pre-K through 1st grade, well before AAP testing/applications. We hear far more stories about kids coming to Nysmith because they were not challenged enough in the early grades at their public schools, and in our case because our public school still only had 1/2 day Kindergarten.

With regard to the assertion regarding them not getting into TJ- that’s just false. Almost all the kids who took the TJ test this year made it to the semi-final pool (about 20 kids). Not bragging - just a fact. While we don’t know the final result, that seems pretty good out of a class of about 60, many of whom didn’t apply. About a third of the 8th graders are in Algebra II Honors or higher. Not a bragging point but just rebutting the insinuation that these kids wouldn’t be able to make it in AAP. This year’s graduating class has been accepted to various private chools such as Phillips Exeter, Sidwell, NCS, Holton, Potomac and other great schools, and many will go to their awesome public schools that we are very fortunate to have in this area.

The kids are not obnoxious or rude, they are nice kids just trying their hardest, like everyone else’s. We don’t judge your kids. I know many kids who have thrived in AAP and good for them! I am happy for them. Seems to me that the obnoxious people are not the kids, but the parents on this board who think it is okay to bash kids for no reason.

No one said the kids themselves are obnoxious or rude. But, they are coached to say things that are offputting. I do think the point is that the school does the kids no favors by making them announce themselves as being from”Nysmith School for the Gifted” at every opportunity, rather than just having them say they are from Nysmith and letting the winds (or lack thereof) speak for themselves. Since the kids all do this— at debate and OOTM and Math contests, etc, I assume it’s what the school tells them to do, not their choice. So, that’s not on the kids. That’s on the school. But it is obnoxious. As obnoxious as it would be for a RRMS kid to announce that they were from the RRMS AAP Center, rather than just giving the name of the school.

As for TJ admissions, any decent MS will have 2/3 or more of the applicants make the semifinals(up to last year. I assume the new testing would cut down on semifinalists, but haven’t seen the numbers). That’s the easy part. The hard part is getting admitted. And most years, Nysmith is listed as having “ts” admits, which is either less than 10 or less than 5, depending on they are. The only year I remember them crossing the ts threshold was 2020, when DS was admitted.

I’m sure they are all great, super special kids. But in my DCs’ ES alone, every single year we knew of a couple kids who were not admitted to AAP and whose parents moved them to Nysmith. At least one also moved to Flint Hill. They must either lose kids to AAP in 3rd or add an extra 3rd grade class to deal with the influx. Because my kids can’t attend the only ES where Nysmith is the AAP backup.

[Anonymous]

My DS is at TJ and knows a couple of the Nysmith kids in his grade. And both kids were underprepared in math. They both came in with a class called Alebra II under their belt. But were apparently not prepared to handle Math 4, which is the normal placement for a FCPS kid who has completed A2. One kid ended up placing into Math 2.5, which is for weaker math students who have not yet taken A2. The other went into Math 4, tanking the class and having to remediate in Algebra and Geometry and retake Math 4 the next semester.

All A2 classes are not created equal. And apparently Nysmith engages in the math version of vanity sizing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, Nysmith is $32,000? That's crazy. For that price, can't you go somewhere good like Sidwell Friends

It's average for a private school but I think many are more.

Nysmith parent here (6 years and counting). Most private schools in this area are hugely (college level) expensive. One of the things that impressed us when visiting Nysmith is how obvious it is that most of the tuition money goes straight into educating the students. Some of the other private schools have large and expensive campuses, fancy ostentatious buildings full of over-furnished non-classroom impressive spaces designed to impress. Nysmith has clean modern facilities but it's all workaday and child focused type spaces. I'm not saying this is the only factor, and I have a second child at a private school that fits more into the other category here, but the down to earth spending priorities at Nysmith have always impressed me by comparison.

But they aren’t paying their teachers, which is where I would want a school to invest money. DS has ADHD and uses an organizational tutor. His tutor went to Nysmith for a couple years after her DC was born, rather than back to FCPS,because she could get a half time schedule. But was actively trying to move to Franklin, RRMS or Carson when I met her. I was shocked when she told me how much less she would make FT at Nysmith vs FCPS— before factoring in Nysmith crappy benefits. She also said teacher turnover was very high at Nysmith, there was less support for teachers and the math program at Nysmith was a lot weaker. Which lines up with Nysmith’s crappy TJ admissions rates vs Carson and RRMS.

I'm the PP who used to work at Nysmith. The bolded is true, and it's hugely important. I saw at least ten very good, experienced teachers leave for public schools during my relatively short time there. They were replaced by teachers who were either not licensed or who had very little classroom experience. Nysmith is, first and foremost, a business. They are not going to pay a licensed teacher with a Masters +10 years experience anywhere close to what FCPS will pay. I think it's telling that a lot of the teachers who teach upper-level math or science send their kids to FCPS AAP schools.

I have no connection to Nysmith whatsoever--my kids are in public. You should not present this info as though it is unique to Nysmith. Private school teachers across the board get paid less than public school teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS is at TJ and knows a couple of the Nysmith kids in his grade. And both kids were underprepared in math. They both came in with a class called Alebra II under their belt. But were apparently not prepared to handle Math 4, which is the normal placement for a FCPS kid who has completed A2. One kid ended up placing into Math 2.5, which is for weaker math students who have not yet taken A2. The other went into Math 4, tanking the class and having to remediate in Algebra and Geometry and retake Math 4 the next semester.

All A2 classes are not created equal. And apparently Nysmith engages in the math version of vanity sizing.

I’m a former Fcps teacher. I’ve said this on this site many times. Most kids taking higher level math classes in private schools ARE far behind the public school kids. While many hate the sols, I think the sols and the uniform pacing guides require a certain end result for every student. Kids in private school also have gaps in their working math knowledge that is only discovered when they falter for awhile and we can see the problem is deeper than not understanding the present lesson. Kids in the “highest” math group in a private are typically not equal to the same math groups in public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is at TJ and knows a couple of the Nysmith kids in his grade. And both kids were underprepared in math. They both came in with a class called Alebra II under their belt. But were apparently not prepared to handle Math 4, which is the normal placement for a FCPS kid who has completed A2. One kid ended up placing into Math 2.5, which is for weaker math students who have not yet taken A2. The other went into Math 4, tanking the class and having to remediate in Algebra and Geometry and retake Math 4 the next semester.

All A2 classes are not created equal. And apparently Nysmith engages in the math version of vanity sizing.

I’m a former Fcps teacher. I’ve said this on this site many times. Most kids taking higher level math classes in private schools ARE far behind the public school kids. While many hate the sols, I think the sols and the uniform pacing guides require a certain end result for every student. Kids in private school also have gaps in their working math knowledge that is only discovered when they falter for awhile and we can see the problem is deeper than not understanding the present lesson. Kids in the “highest” math group in a private are typically not equal to the same math groups in public.

That makes sense that the elite kids at public fair better than those at private when many public schools have 3000 kids and most private’s have about 400.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is at TJ and knows a couple of the Nysmith kids in his grade. And both kids were underprepared in math. They both came in with a class called Alebra II under their belt. But were apparently not prepared to handle Math 4, which is the normal placement for a FCPS kid who has completed A2. One kid ended up placing into Math 2.5, which is for weaker math students who have not yet taken A2. The other went into Math 4, tanking the class and having to remediate in Algebra and Geometry and retake Math 4 the next semester.

All A2 classes are not created equal. And apparently Nysmith engages in the math version of vanity sizing.

I’m a former Fcps teacher. I’ve said this on this site many times. Most kids taking higher level math classes in private schools ARE far behind the public school kids. While many hate the sols, I think the sols and the uniform pacing guides require a certain end result for every student. Kids in private school also have gaps in their working math knowledge that is only discovered when they falter for awhile and we can see the problem is deeper than not understanding the present lesson. Kids in the “highest” math group in a private are typically not equal to the same math groups in public.

That makes sense that the elite kids at public fair better than those at private when many public schools have 3000 kids and most private’s have about 400.

The notable exception is Basis in McLean which has a very robust math program with high level competitors in math competitions for a small and relatively new school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is at TJ and knows a couple of the Nysmith kids in his grade. And both kids were underprepared in math. They both came in with a class called Alebra II under their belt. But were apparently not prepared to handle Math 4, which is the normal placement for a FCPS kid who has completed A2. One kid ended up placing into Math 2.5, which is for weaker math students who have not yet taken A2. The other went into Math 4, tanking the class and having to remediate in Algebra and Geometry and retake Math 4 the next semester.

All A2 classes are not created equal. And apparently Nysmith engages in the math version of vanity sizing.

I’m a former Fcps teacher. I’ve said this on this site many times. Most kids taking higher level math classes in private schools ARE far behind the public school kids. While many hate the sols, I think the sols and the uniform pacing guides require a certain end result for every student. Kids in private school also have gaps in their working math knowledge that is only discovered when they falter for awhile and we can see the problem is deeper than not understanding the present lesson. Kids in the “highest” math group in a private are typically not equal to the same math groups in public.

That makes sense that the elite kids at public fair better than those at private when many public schools have 3000 kids and most private’s have about 400.

What public elementary or middle school has 3000 kids?