AAP Orientations
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Anonymous
| Any impressions to date on your orientation visits to the various schools and centers? |
Anonymous
|
Ours was great. I was on the fence about sending until the orientation. The teachers seemed very creative and invested in their work. We sat through a math class in which the emphasis was on concepts and logic, and the kids just ate it up. It was fun to see that kind of enthusiasm in the classroom.
My only wish is that we had the same teachers and atmosphere in all Gen Ed classrooms. We will send our DC to the center, but I don't feel particularly good about it. |
Anonymous
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Our experience and response was very similar to 7:56's. We didn't have a sample math class, but we were very impressed with the principal and teachers and a number of parents who took the microphone and said "I'm sending my 4th kid to this school and let me tell you -- it is a great school!"
We went to it being on the fence and DH and I both left thinking "I want some of that for my kid." It seems like a private school within the public school.... but we also had the reaction "why isn't more of this given to the rest of the kids in Fairfax County?" (we have an older child who we didn't refer to be in AAP although she was VERY close, so she will be in gen. ed.) Now that we finally understand what AAP is offering, I can understand why people are fighting so hard to get in. We always liked our base school -- and older child will still get a good education -- but it just seemed like the principal and teachers were clicking at a level above our the pricipal and teachers base school. It was kind of hilarious to hear 8 students give speeches about going to the center and each one saying "this was the best decision of my life!"... at the ripe old age of 10! When the principal was asked whether the center is ever a bad fit (i.e. do some kids get in, but then can't hack it), she seemed a bit stumped and basically said "if your kid got into the program, you should feel confident that they CAN handle it." (the only times it didn't really work out is for social reasons where the kid wanted to be with friends from the neighborhood school). Overall, we were very impressed and it made for an easy decision for us (even though we previously had thought we wouldn't send our kid to the center if he got in). |
Anonymous
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9:06 here again... forgot to mention that although no one said anything to suggest superiority, we couldn't help but feel like it is a little wrong to have this program within the larger county gen. ed. program -- it feels somwhat elitist even though we the "winning" side of the equation (at least for one child).
I wish more could be done to put aspects of the AAP curriculum into all schools. There shouldn't be such a cliff between getting an invite to AAP and just missing it by a little bit (on the test scores), and therefore getting almost nothing like the AAP curriculum (via Level 2 and 3 services). Seems like a lot more kids could benefit from this golden curriculum. |
Anonymous
Which center is this? Sounds great! |
Anonymous
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It was Springfield Estates.
(yes, I know... here comes the eye-rolling that is DCUM). Springfield Estates is not some barely functioning AAP center that only serves poor/minority kids with lower qualifying scores. My kids' base school is the highest SES feeder school and sends the highest number of kids there (but there are several other similar feeder schools). We'll give up walking to our new-ish school in an upper middle class neighborhood, to take a 30 min. bus ride to a older, higher FARMS school undergoing 2 years of major construction because we were impressed with the attitude and the curriculum there. |
Anonymous
I was there too, and I share your feeling. |
Anonymous
Thank you for saying this. It's too bad more parents don't share your view. As a parent of a General Ed. student who attends a center as his base school, I share your feelings. The worst part about AAP is having the "school within a school" aspect, where AAP kids are clearly receiving more than the general population. At a center school, it is very much "in your face" and inescapable - not at all what school should be like, IMO. If centers are going to exist, they should be separate and unto themselves so there is not this blatant (and often, arbitrary) division of students. Very inequitable. |
Anonymous
| Our orientation was at Westbriar. Left with mixed feelings. A lot of parents felt principle was rude, dismissive, and sarcastic. School is huge compared to our base school. Both principle and VP were former AAP teachers at Louise Archer which makes me feel like they know what they are doing. They will also start an extension to overcome some crowding issues but class sizes will be similar to our base school. St |
Anonymous
I felt the same too. Principal could have been little more friendlier with parents. Also I felt they abruptly stopped the orientation when kids arrived after their school tour. I am sure the principal (Ex LA ES Asst principal) and vice principal (Ex LA ES AAP teacher) have very good experience to run the AAP program. And the principal was being honest in many occasions when she didn't favor Westbriar over the parent's base school and she said its unethical. Every school has their own pros and cons, whether its base school or center school. |
Anonymous
What did she mean by unethical? Someone else posted that a parent pulled their kid out of AAP? |
Anonymous
Principal said its unethical to say Westbriar is better than the base school, it's parent's decision to chose school. |
Anonymous
We found our AAP center orientation had the similar message - schools are all good- it's a family's decision. Principal was not selling center or saying better - in fact, kept repeating that they were the same (I believe FFX cty line since they state local and centers offer the same curriculum). However, having been to the local and center presentations, the center's approach to teaching was different. |
Anonymous
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Our orientation at Keene Mill last night was AWFUL. We were on the fence to begin with, but now I want to run the other direction. Long, boring presentation that didn't impress me or my 2nd grader. Teachers read from Power Point with very little enthusiasm. They kept emphasizing that we should spend our summer "making their lives easier" by ensuring kids knew multiplication tables and how to type properly. Student panel was absurd with many comments along the lines of: "The best thing about the AAP program here is that you don't have to be with those kids who don't understand anything anymore." Tour was ridiculous - hallways only, no classrooms, no specials rooms, etc.
Our base school doesn't offer Local Level IV, so now we don't know what we're going to do. Feel like we are stuck between a rock and a hard place... |
Anonymous
| That's awful. Our orientation had presentations by the kids with actual work samples they've done. It was great. No bashing of GE kids at all. |