Stay in APS? Or move to McLean

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s generally understood that elementary school class sizes are smaller in APS and MS and HS is more rigorous in McLean. Look at the earlier statistics comparing Yorktown with Langley and McLean.

The Langley and McLean pyramids each also send over 115 kids to TJHSST, the regional STEM magnet. Yorktown sends about 40.

I think your number for how many kids Yorktown and TJ is off. Last time I checked, it was about 40 per year for the whole county

APS reports 42 at TJ from Yorktown, 34 from W-L, and 32 from Wakefield. This is after FCPS adopted a quota system that assures a minimum number of spots to kids at every participating middle school. The remaining seats are then drawn from a general pool.

So the number is a good bit higher than 40 now for the whole county, but each of Langley and McLean still get more kids into TJ than all the APS schools.

But APS chooses to send less to TJ than the allotted seats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s generally understood that elementary school class sizes are smaller in APS and MS and HS is more rigorous in McLean. Look at the earlier statistics comparing Yorktown with Langley and McLean.

The Langley and McLean pyramids each also send over 115 kids to TJHSST, the regional STEM magnet. Yorktown sends about 40.

I think your number for how many kids Yorktown and TJ is off. Last time I checked, it was about 40 per year for the whole county

APS reports 42 at TJ from Yorktown, 34 from W-L, and 32 from Wakefield. This is after FCPS adopted a quota system that assures a minimum number of spots to kids at every participating middle school. The remaining seats are then drawn from a general pool.

So the number is a good bit higher than 40 now for the whole county, but each of Langley and McLean still get more kids into TJ than all the APS schools.

42 per year or 42 total?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s generally understood that elementary school class sizes are smaller in APS and MS and HS is more rigorous in McLean. Look at the earlier statistics comparing Yorktown with Langley and McLean.

The Langley and McLean pyramids each also send over 115 kids to TJHSST, the regional STEM magnet. Yorktown sends about 40.

I think your number for how many kids Yorktown and TJ is off. Last time I checked, it was about 40 per year for the whole county

APS reports 42 at TJ from Yorktown, 34 from W-L, and 32 from Wakefield. This is after FCPS adopted a quota system that assures a minimum number of spots to kids at every participating middle school. The remaining seats are then drawn from a general pool.

So the number is a good bit higher than 40 now for the whole county, but each of Langley and McLean still get more kids into TJ than all the APS schools.

42 per year or 42 total?

Total.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friends moved out of McLean because the K class had 30 kids and no-co teacher and I was in Arlington and had 24 kids with two. Grass is never perfectly green anywhere.

there is an aide in kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s generally understood that elementary school class sizes are smaller in APS and MS and HS is more rigorous in McLean. Look at the earlier statistics comparing Yorktown with Langley and McLean.

The Langley and McLean pyramids each also send over 115 kids to TJHSST, the regional STEM magnet. Yorktown sends about 40.

I think your number for how many kids Yorktown and TJ is off. Last time I checked, it was about 40 per year for the whole county

APS reports 42 at TJ from Yorktown, 34 from W-L, and 32 from Wakefield. This is after FCPS adopted a quota system that assures a minimum number of spots to kids at every participating middle school. The remaining seats are then drawn from a general pool.

So the number is a good bit higher than 40 now for the whole county, but each of Langley and McLean still get more kids into TJ than all the APS schools.

But APS chooses to send less to TJ than the allotted seats.

Then APS is curtailing access to the top magnet school in the region. In any event, the difference in the number of National Merit Semifinalists from Langley and McLean compared to Yorktown, even when Langley and McLean send so many more kids to TJHSST than Yorktown, speaks to the difference in the number of top students at Langley and McLean compared to Yorktown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s generally understood that elementary school class sizes are smaller in APS and MS and HS is more rigorous in McLean. Look at the earlier statistics comparing Yorktown with Langley and McLean.

The Langley and McLean pyramids each also send over 115 kids to TJHSST, the regional STEM magnet. Yorktown sends about 40.

I think your number for how many kids Yorktown and TJ is off. Last time I checked, it was about 40 per year for the whole county

APS reports 42 at TJ from Yorktown, 34 from W-L, and 32 from Wakefield. This is after FCPS adopted a quota system that assures a minimum number of spots to kids at every participating middle school. The remaining seats are then drawn from a general pool.

So the number is a good bit higher than 40 now for the whole county, but each of Langley and McLean still get more kids into TJ than all the APS schools.

But APS chooses to send less to TJ than the allotted seats.

Then APS is curtailing access to the top magnet school in the region. In any event, the difference in the number of National Merit Semifinalists from Langley and McLean compared to Yorktown, even when Langley and McLean send so many more kids to TJHSST than Yorktown, speaks to the difference in the number of top students at Langley and McLean compared to Yorktown.

Yorktown has been a more sports focused school for generations and that is widely known, even while still well regarded in terms of academics. (In other words, Yorktown may be a sports powerhouse but it does not have the reputation of an academic powerhouse, per se.) There are plenty of smart kids in Arlington, but in general the county does not attract the wealthy Asian families focused on education you find in McLean. There exceptions of course—a high number of high achieving Mongolian students in APS for example—but nothing close to Fairfax County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:October 2025 Enrollment:

McLean 2360
Yorktown 2204
Langley 2181

2024-25 FARMS (Free and Reduced Meals) Rates:

Yorktown 15.73%
McLean 12.18%
Langley 4.68%

Minority Enrollment (2025-26)

McLean 53.42%
Langley 50.98%
Yorktown 43.78%

Class of 2026 National Merit Semifinalists

Langley 23
McLean 20
Yorktown 5

The diversity numbers are misleading, because Langley and McLean are much more heavily Asian while Yorktown has a much larger Hispanic population. That also explains the difference in NMSs. There is much less of a cramming culture in Yorktown, but the typical student does very well in the end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been happy with APS for the most part, although it's been far from perfect. The neighborhood elem schools are nice communities. I had kids in gifted, but don't think we would have wanted the while AAP scene in FCPS. They were challenged once ID'ed for gifted for the most part. Appreciated APS's smaller class sizes and schools compared to FCPS.

Would have liked intensified classes in middle school, but APS has since fixed that. No issues being challenges in HS with plenty of AP opportunities.

It sounds like your experience with APS elementary schools was very long ago. There's virtually no elementary gifted program at this point. The AAC only does enrichment activities for the whole class. There's no longer push in or pull out enrichment in APS.

It was a while ago, so I've seen the evolution. The old pullout system had its issues too. The RTGs were gatekeeping kids out of the program to keep their workloads lower, and the curriculum in the once a week pullout had no alignment to what was being taught in the classroom.

Keep in mind, there should be things going on behind the scenes that you cannot see. For instance, the AAC should be working with classroom teachers to differentiate for advanced learners. The AAC is not the only one delivering advanced content.

[Anonymous]

APS blows! FCPS blows! Don't worry about it!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been happy with APS for the most part, although it's been far from perfect. The neighborhood elem schools are nice communities. I had kids in gifted, but don't think we would have wanted the while AAP scene in FCPS. They were challenged once ID'ed for gifted for the most part. Appreciated APS's smaller class sizes and schools compared to FCPS.

Would have liked intensified classes in middle school, but APS has since fixed that. No issues being challenges in HS with plenty of AP opportunities.

It sounds like your experience with APS elementary schools was very long ago. There's virtually no elementary gifted program at this point. The AAC only does enrichment activities for the whole class. There's no longer push in or pull out enrichment in APS.

It was a while ago, so I've seen the evolution. The old pullout system had its issues too. The RTGs were gatekeeping kids out of the program to keep their workloads lower, and the curriculum in the once a week pullout had no alignment to what was being taught in the classroom.

Keep in mind, there should be things going on behind the scenes that you cannot see. For instance, the AAC should be working with classroom teachers to differentiate for advanced learners. The AAC is not the only one delivering advanced content.

That's not how it's been working in the last 1-2 years. There's a real shift towards only offering every activity to everyone, so AAC-planned activities are only done by the whole class. Those are listed each quarter in a report. There isn't push in in class differentiation available anymore. I've asked several times about math, in particular, and was told the option is the iPad (previously Dreambox, now IXL). They no longer offer extension packets or other in class differentiation activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been happy with APS for the most part, although it's been far from perfect. The neighborhood elem schools are nice communities. I had kids in gifted, but don't think we would have wanted the while AAP scene in FCPS. They were challenged once ID'ed for gifted for the most part. Appreciated APS's smaller class sizes and schools compared to FCPS.

Would have liked intensified classes in middle school, but APS has since fixed that. No issues being challenges in HS with plenty of AP opportunities.

It sounds like your experience with APS elementary schools was very long ago. There's virtually no elementary gifted program at this point. The AAC only does enrichment activities for the whole class. There's no longer push in or pull out enrichment in APS.

It was a while ago, so I've seen the evolution. The old pullout system had its issues too. The RTGs were gatekeeping kids out of the program to keep their workloads lower, and the curriculum in the once a week pullout had no alignment to what was being taught in the classroom.

Keep in mind, there should be things going on behind the scenes that you cannot see. For instance, the AAC should be working with classroom teachers to differentiate for advanced learners. The AAC is not the only one delivering advanced content.

That's not how it's been working in the last 1-2 years. There's a real shift towards only offering every activity to everyone, so AAC-planned activities are only done by the whole class. Those are listed each quarter in a report. There isn't push in in class differentiation available anymore. I've asked several times about math, in particular, and was told the option is the iPad (previously Dreambox, now IXL). They no longer offer extension packets or other in class differentiation activities.

DP here. Hmm, as recently as last year when my kid was in 5th, kids had different math menus based on level, I’m pretty sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been happy with APS for the most part, although it's been far from perfect. The neighborhood elem schools are nice communities. I had kids in gifted, but don't think we would have wanted the while AAP scene in FCPS. They were challenged once ID'ed for gifted for the most part. Appreciated APS's smaller class sizes and schools compared to FCPS.

Would have liked intensified classes in middle school, but APS has since fixed that. No issues being challenges in HS with plenty of AP opportunities.

It sounds like your experience with APS elementary schools was very long ago. There's virtually no elementary gifted program at this point. The AAC only does enrichment activities for the whole class. There's no longer push in or pull out enrichment in APS.

It was a while ago, so I've seen the evolution. The old pullout system had its issues too. The RTGs were gatekeeping kids out of the program to keep their workloads lower, and the curriculum in the once a week pullout had no alignment to what was being taught in the classroom.

Keep in mind, there should be things going on behind the scenes that you cannot see. For instance, the AAC should be working with classroom teachers to differentiate for advanced learners. The AAC is not the only one delivering advanced content.

That's not how it's been working in the last 1-2 years. There's a real shift towards only offering every activity to everyone, so AAC-planned activities are only done by the whole class. Those are listed each quarter in a report. There isn't push in in class differentiation available anymore. I've asked several times about math, in particular, and was told the option is the iPad (previously Dreambox, now IXL). They no longer offer extension packets or other in class differentiation activities.

How old is your kid? Which school are they in? Are you saying there is zero differentiation for reading and math for upper level elementary students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington is so much more woke in a wasteful way.

+100

[Anonymous]

They’re very similar vibes. I think for elementary APS has the edge in terms of superior reading curriculum and smaller class sizes. But FCPS has more gifted offerings so if your kid is gifted then it might be a better fit. That said I don’t really know what the benefit of the gifted programming in FCPS will be if your kid is not? I also have friends in FCPS that sent their kids to cram schools to prepare for the testing for the gifted program (I think they do cogat but unsure). We are planning on private school for middle school so I don’t know a ton about MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They’re very similar vibes. I think for elementary APS has the edge in terms of superior reading curriculum and smaller class sizes. But FCPS has more gifted offerings so if your kid is gifted then it might be a better fit. That said I don’t really know what the benefit of the gifted programming in FCPS will be if your kid is not? I also have friends in FCPS that sent their kids to cram schools to prepare for the testing for the gifted program (I think they do cogat but unsure). We are planning on private school for middle school so I don’t know a ton about MS.

Yea that’s nuts. I guess you like throwing money away?