Less competitive schools/Fairfax county

[Anonymous]

Looking for feedback on good Fairfax county elementary schools in the Vienna or Falls Church area which are not overly competitive. In other words, where the focus is on the children getting a good balanced education rather than on competitive testing, advanced placement, gifted program, etc.

[Anonymous]

I don't live in that specific area, but I do live in and work for FCPS. I don't think it's the goal of any elementary school in FCPS to focus on advanced placement and gifted programs over a balanced education. It's the goal of some of the parents to focus on those things, thus creating the hype on these boards. But the goal of the schools is generally to make sure the kids are placed appropriately so they can learn the best that they can. So if you're not overly concerned with those things, and you can ignore the parents that are, I'm sure there are plenty of FCPS schools you'll be happy at (and trust me, they'll be very happy with you as well!).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking for feedback on good Fairfax county elementary schools in the Vienna or Falls Church area which are not overly competitive. In other words, where the focus is on the children getting a good balanced education rather than on competitive testing, advanced placement, gifted program, etc.

I think unfortunately testing is a major influence in ALL American public schools at the moment. It's just the state of the system. The testing drives the curriculum. I also think the AAP program is a presence in all the Fairfax schools to some degree. All that being said, I do not think most of the kids get wrapped up too much in the competitiveness until closer to middle school, despite being constantly tested, categorized, and compared. We're in the Haycock neighborhood, and while we don't like the strong presence of the center and would prefer a smaller neighborhood school without this scale of separation, the kids all seem to be happy and relaxed, and to enjoy school without a lot of stress and worry. From talking to friends I think this same experience can be found at all the area schools.

[Anonymous]

My kids are in Shrevewood. It's right by West Falls Church metro (zip code 22043). It used to be very so-so, but the new principal is really great! I think Shrevewood is up and coming. It is very diverse, but has a nice community feel. It's not crazy competitive. We are getting local level IV next year, but the principal seems like she will not let the crazy level IV folks overrun the school.

It's crowded and will be getting worse, but I think every school in this part of the county is overcrowded.

[Anonymous]

Go to a school that does not have a aap center or Lliv then. Vienna elementary fits the bill or Cunningham park. I think just about all the other Vienna schools have LLiV at least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go to a school that does not have a aap center or Lliv then. Vienna elementary fits the bill or Cunningham park. I think just about all the other Vienna schools have LLiV at least.

Unfortunately, I heard that Vienna Elementary is getting an AAP program.

[Anonymous]

I, along with others, have a belief that FCPS is going away from the center model and therefore you will see LLIV in every elementary school. Whether or not this is good depends on your perspective, as with everything. The review of the AAP program which the school board has recently started will be enlightening. I am a fan of centers, but understand they can take over a neighborhood school if they are too large. I also understand the desire to keep a child as his/her base school with friends.

[Anonymous]

Which school won't have an AAP program then? Is this going to cause a lot of boundary shifting? Some of the schools can't handle the extra students. The whole argument this fall was how there needed to be "critical mass" for an AAP program. The Shrevewood parents thought Lemon Road wouldn't have enough AAP students for their snowflakes, yet now they are considering their own LLIV program. Shows how sincere they really were.

[Anonymous]

All creatures are lazy. Without competition the human race would not excel and stagnate. This is the building blocks of our country's success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which school won't have an AAP program then? Is this going to cause a lot of boundary shifting? Some of the schools can't handle the extra students. The whole argument this fall was how there needed to be "critical mass" for an AAP program. The Shrevewood parents thought Lemon Road wouldn't have enough AAP students for their snowflakes, yet now they are considering their own LLIV program. Shows how sincere they really were.

The LLIV program was the idea of the principal, not the parents. It's the direction FCPS is going. I think there is still a real concern that there won't be critical mass at Lemon Road, so many rising 3rd grade parents feel that it may not be worth it to change schools and move their kids away from their friends to send them to a center that will not have critical mass anyway After the Haycock experience, a lot of Shrevewood AAP parents are cautious about going to another school where they will be perceived to be outsiders and may prefer to keep their kids where they are if they can get LLIV. Also, a lot of those families really like the Shrevewood community. Keep in mind, they are 2 different groups of parents. The rising 4th and 5th grade parents were the ones saying Lemon Road might not have critical mass -- and it's still a concern because Shrevewood's LLIV program would start with rising 3rd, so those kids wouldn't be part of it. I hope that explains the thinking of many of the parents so the quoted poster can stop questioning their sincerity. I wish people like the quoted poster could have a little compassion. Those parents were doing what they could for their parents and they are still trying to do what they can.

[Anonymous]

Who else is getting LLIV next year? Personally,
I think Fairfax County should do away with all these centers. I say this as a parent of 1 child in the pool, and 1 kid who I highly doubt will be in the pool when the time comes. How on earth can there it not be a major detriment to children who not eligible for LLIV, who are in a school that has 40-50% Center eligible children? The whole system creates this have vs. have-not feeling.

If this county would stop focusing so much energy on advanced academics and work on making class size reasonable, maybe parents would feel their kids in k-2
are getting differentiated education in the general setting that is meeting their child's needs.

[Anonymous]

I think most schools will get LLIV in the next 5 years as they move away from the center model. It's cheaper if they don't have to bus kids to centers and parents at some of the center schools don't like having a center there (although there are base parents at center schools who do like having a center there). They can also qualify more kids for AAP if it's just a matter of separating them within the same school, which up to this year, seemed to be the trend.

I don't necessarily agree with this approach, but I suspect that's where they are going. I mentioned to our principal that I thought centers would be gone in 5-10 years and she agreed. Of course, a new superintendent is coming in, so anything could happen.

[Anonymous]

I think Centers will be gone from some parts of the County but not in other parts of the County. For example, Centers will likely disappear from Clusters 1 and 2 since all the teachers will have been trained to use elements of the AAP Curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most schools will get LLIV in the next 5 years as they move away from the center model. It's cheaper if they don't have to bus kids to centers and parents at some of the center schools don't like having a center there (although there are base parents at center schools who do like having a center there). They can also qualify more kids for AAP if it's just a matter of separating them within the same school, which up to this year, seemed to be the trend.

I don't necessarily agree with this approach, but I suspect that's where they are going. I mentioned to our principal that I thought centers would be gone in 5-10 years and she agreed. Of course, a new superintendent is coming in, so anything could happen.

I think LLIV is a good model because most kids are not advanced in ALL subjects. This way a budding writing genuis who isn't so hot in math can have access to the AAP English (and possible history) and take regular math or even get extra help in math. It will be closer to the HS model where kids can take the advanced classes where they excel. Certainly there will always students who take all AAP.

[Anonymous]

That sounds right, PP. I suspect there will be some areas where LLIV would not be viable because the classes might be too small and the center model will work better. I suspect those may also be the areas where parents welcome a center in their school, so the center model works well.