APS Elementary: On the Rise ?

[Anonymous]

My children are thriving in APS - but they are well behaved kids who are moderately gifted with no special needs - aka kids who will thrive anywhere. The gifted support provides some additional learning opportunities, but my kids are not multiple grade levels ahead and we support them at home.

APS provides a combination of advantages that work for our family -
Convenient location for our work commuted and visiting family.
Kids are exposed to a good variety of socioeconomic and racial diversity.
Kids are not exposed to too many ultra-wealthy kids, at least for now, we’re zoned for Yorktown.
There is no academic segregation like AAP. My kids go to the same school and barring redistricting, we know what schools they can go to. We bought our house knowing they could walk to elementary and middle school.

It’s a solid system. I grew up in a small, rural town and many people I know still live there. It may not be the “best” in the MV, but it’s significantly better than most kids in the real USA outside of our privileged NoVa bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My children are thriving in APS - but they are well behaved kids who are moderately gifted with no special needs - aka kids who will thrive anywhere. The gifted support provides some additional learning opportunities, but my kids are not multiple grade levels ahead and we support them at home.

APS provides a combination of advantages that work for our family -
Convenient location for our work commuted and visiting family.
Kids are exposed to a good variety of socioeconomic and racial diversity.
Kids are not exposed to too many ultra-wealthy kids, at least for now, we’re zoned for Yorktown.
There is no academic segregation like AAP. My kids go to the same school and barring redistricting, we know what schools they can go to. We bought our house knowing they could walk to elementary and middle school.

It’s a solid system. I grew up in a small, rural town and many people I know still live there. It may not be the “best” in the MV, but it’s significantly better than most kids in the real USA outside of our privileged NoVa bubble.

Out of curiosity, what do you consider ultra-wealthy?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Complainers gonna complain. We've been perfectly happy with our APS experience. The scores show zero difference between our school and high achieving MCPS / FCPS schools. So, shrug.

So you are at Jamestown?

Dang you went there. And you’re probably right.

Frankly so jealous of Jamestown. We are in North Arlington and the schools were supposed to be good, but it is such a difference apparently between neighborhoods. Jamestown is apparently amazing and meanwhile we are looking at private school because our neighborhood school is not the best. We should have bought north of Langston.

Which NA schools are not as nice as Jamestown?

We are zoned for Ashlawn. It might be North Arlington, but everything my friends describe at Jamestown sounds miles different from Ashlawn. Don't even get me started on the people I know whose kids are older, at Yorktown/ Their kids have played sports at a competitive level for years but cannot get on the high school team because the school is so overcrowded the unless you are a superstar you cant be on the team. It makes me question why we live here.

It’s much easier to make the cut sports at W-L and Wakefied since there is less competition for the spots, due to demographics, i.e., the vast majority of Yorktown students are affluent and have played competitive athletics since they were young. Currently some cut sports at W-L and Wakefield could use more players to fill out the rosters. The award winning dance team at W-L is small and could certainly grow much larger. Note however that transfers specifically for sports is against VHSL policy. So no transfers from Yorktown to Wakefield to play varsity lacrosse for example.

How long will the slack in sports last as WL grows to 3000 students and becomes more affluent with rising housing prices?

Will they field 2 varsity basketball teams? Did that addition built last year include another gym?

There’s a large brand new fitness space in the basement of the W-L annex. The current W-L gym was actually built larger than the school’s capacity (unlike the smaller ones at Wakefield and Yorktown) because the 1940s-era gym it replaced had a capacity for 3,500 students. There are also three large fitness rooms in the original building.

W-L isn’t necessarily growing more affluent. It’s been a fairly affluent school for years, despite rezonings to Yorktown over the decades. It’s just more diverse socio-economically, so the vast majority are not sports oriented. W-L teams however are competitive and have won numerous championships, but Yorktown will still have the demographic edge even when W-L approaches 3000. So cut sports will still be easier to join at W-L.

Of course a number of sports are no cut and provide great opportunities that look good on college apps. Crew (rowing) especially. But also, riflery, ultimate frisbee, track, swim/dive, cross country, dance team, cheer, to name a few.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Complainers gonna complain. We've been perfectly happy with our APS experience. The scores show zero difference between our school and high achieving MCPS / FCPS schools. So, shrug.

So you are at Jamestown?

Dang you went there. And you’re probably right.

Frankly so jealous of Jamestown. We are in North Arlington and the schools were supposed to be good, but it is such a difference apparently between neighborhoods. Jamestown is apparently amazing and meanwhile we are looking at private school because our neighborhood school is not the best. We should have bought north of Langston.

Which NA schools are not as nice as Jamestown?

We are zoned for Ashlawn. It might be North Arlington, but everything my friends describe at Jamestown sounds miles different from Ashlawn. Don't even get me started on the people I know whose kids are older, at Yorktown/ Their kids have played sports at a competitive level for years but cannot get on the high school team because the school is so overcrowded the unless you are a superstar you cant be on the team. It makes me question why we live here.

It’s much easier to make the cut sports at W-L and Wakefied since there is less competition for the spots, due to demographics, i.e., the vast majority of Yorktown students are affluent and have played competitive athletics since they were young. Currently some cut sports at W-L and Wakefield could use more players to fill out the rosters. The award winning dance team at W-L is small and could certainly grow much larger. Note however that transfers specifically for sports is against VHSL policy. So no transfers from Yorktown to Wakefield to play varsity lacrosse for example.

How long will the slack in sports last as WL grows to 3000 students and becomes more affluent with rising housing prices?

Will they field 2 varsity basketball teams? Did that addition built last year include another gym?

There’s a large brand new fitness space in the basement of the W-L annex. The current W-L gym was actually built larger than the school’s capacity (unlike the smaller ones at Wakefield and Yorktown) because the 1940s-era gym it replaced had a capacity for 3,500 students. There are also three large fitness rooms in the original building.

W-L isn’t necessarily growing more affluent. It’s been a fairly affluent school for years, despite rezonings to Yorktown over the decades. It’s just more diverse socio-economically, so the vast majority are not sports oriented. W-L teams however are competitive and have won numerous championships, but Yorktown will still have the demographic edge even when W-L approaches 3000. So cut sports will still be easier to join at W-L.

Of course a number of sports are no cut and provide great opportunities that look good on college apps. Crew (rowing) especially. But also, riflery, ultimate frisbee, track, swim/dive, cross country, dance team, cheer, to name a few.

What is rifelry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Complainers gonna complain. We've been perfectly happy with our APS experience. The scores show zero difference between our school and high achieving MCPS / FCPS schools. So, shrug.

So you are at Jamestown?

Dang you went there. And you’re probably right.

Frankly so jealous of Jamestown. We are in North Arlington and the schools were supposed to be good, but it is such a difference apparently between neighborhoods. Jamestown is apparently amazing and meanwhile we are looking at private school because our neighborhood school is not the best. We should have bought north of Langston.

Which NA schools are not as nice as Jamestown?

We are zoned for Ashlawn. It might be North Arlington, but everything my friends describe at Jamestown sounds miles different from Ashlawn. Don't even get me started on the people I know whose kids are older, at Yorktown/ Their kids have played sports at a competitive level for years but cannot get on the high school team because the school is so overcrowded the unless you are a superstar you cant be on the team. It makes me question why we live here.

It’s much easier to make the cut sports at W-L and Wakefied since there is less competition for the spots, due to demographics, i.e., the vast majority of Yorktown students are affluent and have played competitive athletics since they were young. Currently some cut sports at W-L and Wakefield could use more players to fill out the rosters. The award winning dance team at W-L is small and could certainly grow much larger. Note however that transfers specifically for sports is against VHSL policy. So no transfers from Yorktown to Wakefield to play varsity lacrosse for example.

How long will the slack in sports last as WL grows to 3000 students and becomes more affluent with rising housing prices?

Will they field 2 varsity basketball teams? Did that addition built last year include another gym?

There’s a large brand new fitness space in the basement of the W-L annex. The current W-L gym was actually built larger than the school’s capacity (unlike the smaller ones at Wakefield and Yorktown) because the 1940s-era gym it replaced had a capacity for 3,500 students. There are also three large fitness rooms in the original building.

W-L isn’t necessarily growing more affluent. It’s been a fairly affluent school for years, despite rezonings to Yorktown over the decades. It’s just more diverse socio-economically, so the vast majority are not sports oriented. W-L teams however are competitive and have won numerous championships, but Yorktown will still have the demographic edge even when W-L approaches 3000. So cut sports will still be easier to join at W-L.

Of course a number of sports are no cut and provide great opportunities that look good on college apps. Crew (rowing) especially. But also, riflery, ultimate frisbee, track, swim/dive, cross country, dance team, cheer, to name a few.

What is rifelry?

Rifle team: used to be small bore but is now air rifle. It’s also an olympic sport. Arlington schools compete with neighboring Fairfax high schools and also local private schools like Landon that have rifle teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Complainers gonna complain. We've been perfectly happy with our APS experience. The scores show zero difference between our school and high achieving MCPS / FCPS schools. So, shrug.

So you are at Jamestown?

Dang you went there. And you’re probably right.

Frankly so jealous of Jamestown. We are in North Arlington and the schools were supposed to be good, but it is such a difference apparently between neighborhoods. Jamestown is apparently amazing and meanwhile we are looking at private school because our neighborhood school is not the best. We should have bought north of Langston.

Which NA schools are not as nice as Jamestown?

Pretty much the rest of them. We bought above Langston and are far from thrilled.

What’s the rest of your pyramid? Williamsburg and Yorktown? Do people like those schools?

Discovery, Nottingham, Taylor and Jamestown are the best in Arlington if you have a bright kid that would be bored. The other NA schools are fine as well but your gifted kid may not be challenged.

Gifted kids aren’t challenged at any Arlington school. You have to go private. Your kid really isn’t that gifted

The bolded. It’s by design.

Why's that?

I'm a newish parent, first kid is still in daycare, but reading these threads about APS is a bit disillusioning. And it's hard for me to tell what's run of the mill online griping and what's real.

APS is a large urban school district. They have to meet the needs of a large and diverse set of kids. Making sure everyone is at grade level is the priority. Making sure kids at grade level are further enriched is secondary.

My kids aren’t enrolled in APS and likely won’t ever attend those schools. But FWIW, I think by high school all kids can take as challenging a track as they like. I still question what resources are in place to support those kids, but I do believe the advanced coursework is in place.

I’ve talked to a lot of people and lurked on a lot of these threads. Take that for what you will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My children are thriving in APS - but they are well behaved kids who are moderately gifted with no special needs - aka kids who will thrive anywhere. The gifted support provides some additional learning opportunities, but my kids are not multiple grade levels ahead and we support them at home.

APS provides a combination of advantages that work for our family -
Convenient location for our work commuted and visiting family.
Kids are exposed to a good variety of socioeconomic and racial diversity.
Kids are not exposed to too many ultra-wealthy kids, at least for now, we’re zoned for Yorktown.
There is no academic segregation like AAP. My kids go to the same school and barring redistricting, we know what schools they can go to. We bought our house knowing they could walk to elementary and middle school.

It’s a solid system. I grew up in a small, rural town and many people I know still live there. It may not be the “best” in the MV, but it’s significantly better than most kids in the real USA outside of our privileged NoVa bubble.

Sure APS is loads better than small town South Carolina schools, but most people are comparing it to FCPS and MCPS, the most demographically similar districts.

If your kid is fine chilling at school, it’s a workable school system. My kid spent large chunks of her day reading her own novels and drawing while the teacher worked with the kids needing extra help. Considering the art work she brought home, this was probably 40% of her class time in 5th and middle school. There was in theory a gifted teacher, but nothing was ever offered for her to work on from her teachers who with push in model.

It felt like a waste to just sit around reading by herself for most of school day when there could be much more accomplished in that time. Even a “gifted kids book club” where teacher suggests a group read to allow them to discuss on their own would have been something.

High school is better, but she hates how crowded hallways are, hunger games style lunch, and the size of her classes (many are over 32)
It

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My children are thriving in APS - but they are well behaved kids who are moderately gifted with no special needs - aka kids who will thrive anywhere. The gifted support provides some additional learning opportunities, but my kids are not multiple grade levels ahead and we support them at home.

APS provides a combination of advantages that work for our family -
Convenient location for our work commuted and visiting family.
Kids are exposed to a good variety of socioeconomic and racial diversity.
Kids are not exposed to too many ultra-wealthy kids, at least for now, we’re zoned for Yorktown.
There is no academic segregation like AAP. My kids go to the same school and barring redistricting, we know what schools they can go to. We bought our house knowing they could walk to elementary and middle school.

It’s a solid system. I grew up in a small, rural town and many people I know still live there. It may not be the “best” in the MV, but it’s significantly better than most kids in the real USA outside of our privileged NoVa bubble.

I also grew up in a small, poor rural school system; academic and social/sports activities were limited. I would NEVER have them go to the district I went to. Arlington Public Schools, like Fairfax, provides the opportunities I never had and we're extremely happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My children are thriving in APS - but they are well behaved kids who are moderately gifted with no special needs - aka kids who will thrive anywhere. The gifted support provides some additional learning opportunities, but my kids are not multiple grade levels ahead and we support them at home.

APS provides a combination of advantages that work for our family -
Convenient location for our work commuted and visiting family.
Kids are exposed to a good variety of socioeconomic and racial diversity.
Kids are not exposed to too many ultra-wealthy kids, at least for now, we’re zoned for Yorktown.
There is no academic segregation like AAP. My kids go to the same school and barring redistricting, we know what schools they can go to. We bought our house knowing they could walk to elementary and middle school.

It’s a solid system. I grew up in a small, rural town and many people I know still live there. It may not be the “best” in the MV, but it’s significantly better than most kids in the real USA outside of our privileged NoVa bubble.

I also grew up in a small, poor rural school system; academic and social/sports activities were limited. I would NEVER have them go to the district I went to. Arlington Public Schools, like Fairfax, provides the opportunities I never had and we're extremely happy.

Glad you're happy. Yet, I don't think any system should compromise with "it's better than other places." The standard should be "the best we can be." APS has deservedly enjoyed its reputation as a top public school system in the past. However, it has rested upon its laurels for several years and has been quickly declining over the past several....beginning before COVID. COVID merely exacerbated the decline, putting APS deep into a hole without a rope to slow or quickly reverse the fall.

[Anonymous]

I'm really happy to see APS getting rid of Lucy Calkins and replacing it with phonics and a core knowledge curriculum. Good step forward.

Next up is for APS to purchase an actual elementary math curriculum. I'm sick of the reliance of Dreambox and random teacher worksheets. The curriculum is non existent, so what a kid learns is super teacher dependent. So many terrible teacher-helping-teacher worksheets with major errors. Mastery Connect is also not how students should be evaluated on math. It's being used for grading and that's not appropriate--math tests should not be multiple choice. Time for APS to pony up the funds for a real, evidence-based curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm really happy to see APS getting rid of Lucy Calkins and replacing it with phonics and a core knowledge curriculum. Good step forward.

Next up is for APS to purchase an actual elementary math curriculum. I'm sick of the reliance of Dreambox and random teacher worksheets. The curriculum is non existent, so what a kid learns is super teacher dependent. So many terrible teacher-helping-teacher worksheets with major errors. Mastery Connect is also not how students should be evaluated on math. It's being used for grading and that's not appropriate--math tests should not be multiple choice. Time for APS to pony up the funds for a real, evidence-based curriculum.

I could have written this myself. I’d encourage you to call the math department at APS. They need to hear this from more than just me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm really happy to see APS getting rid of Lucy Calkins and replacing it with phonics and a core knowledge curriculum. Good step forward.

Next up is for APS to purchase an actual elementary math curriculum. I'm sick of the reliance of Dreambox and random teacher worksheets. The curriculum is non existent, so what a kid learns is super teacher dependent. So many terrible teacher-helping-teacher worksheets with major errors. Mastery Connect is also not how students should be evaluated on math. It's being used for grading and that's not appropriate--math tests should not be multiple choice. Time for APS to pony up the funds for a real, evidence-based curriculum.

You have to be careful to define what you're looking for in math. Calkins was considered evidence-based for a long time. VMPI was supposedly evidence-based but it was the Calkins-equivalent for math. It would be great to see APS adopt a curriculum focused on building core math knowledge instead of Calkins-like discovery learning and group projects with limited math components. The latter approach can actually prompt teachers to turn to tech programs or external resources like teachers-paying-teachers in an effort to find material that covers core math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm really happy to see APS getting rid of Lucy Calkins and replacing it with phonics and a core knowledge curriculum. Good step forward.

Next up is for APS to purchase an actual elementary math curriculum. I'm sick of the reliance of Dreambox and random teacher worksheets. The curriculum is non existent, so what a kid learns is super teacher dependent. So many terrible teacher-helping-teacher worksheets with major errors. Mastery Connect is also not how students should be evaluated on math. It's being used for grading and that's not appropriate--math tests should not be multiple choice. Time for APS to pony up the funds for a real, evidence-based curriculum.

You have to be careful to define what you're looking for in math. Calkins was considered evidence-based for a long time. VMPI was supposedly evidence-based but it was the Calkins-equivalent for math. It would be great to see APS adopt a curriculum focused on building core math knowledge instead of Calkins-like discovery learning and group projects with limited math components. The latter approach can actually prompt teachers to turn to tech programs or external resources like teachers-paying-teachers in an effort to find material that covers core math.

does APS have a math curriculum now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm really happy to see APS getting rid of Lucy Calkins and replacing it with phonics and a core knowledge curriculum. Good step forward.

Next up is for APS to purchase an actual elementary math curriculum. I'm sick of the reliance of Dreambox and random teacher worksheets. The curriculum is non existent, so what a kid learns is super teacher dependent. So many terrible teacher-helping-teacher worksheets with major errors. Mastery Connect is also not how students should be evaluated on math. It's being used for grading and that's not appropriate--math tests should not be multiple choice. Time for APS to pony up the funds for a real, evidence-based curriculum.

You have to be careful to define what you're looking for in math. Calkins was considered evidence-based for a long time. VMPI was supposedly evidence-based but it was the Calkins-equivalent for math. It would be great to see APS adopt a curriculum focused on building core math knowledge instead of Calkins-like discovery learning and group projects with limited math components. The latter approach can actually prompt teachers to turn to tech programs or external resources like teachers-paying-teachers in an effort to find material that covers core math.

does APS have a math curriculum now?

For pre-algebra, yes. For elementary, it appears not (from what my kid brings home in upper elementary). It is a calkins-like discovery approach. We essentially homeschool for math - I cannot imagine any child truly learning math from this curriculum. I’m the one that said to call the math department - someone else should say this. They rely far too heavily on AI and Dreambox.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm really happy to see APS getting rid of Lucy Calkins and replacing it with phonics and a core knowledge curriculum. Good step forward.

Next up is for APS to purchase an actual elementary math curriculum. I'm sick of the reliance of Dreambox and random teacher worksheets. The curriculum is non existent, so what a kid learns is super teacher dependent. So many terrible teacher-helping-teacher worksheets with major errors. Mastery Connect is also not how students should be evaluated on math. It's being used for grading and that's not appropriate--math tests should not be multiple choice. Time for APS to pony up the funds for a real, evidence-based curriculum.

You have to be careful to define what you're looking for in math. Calkins was considered evidence-based for a long time. VMPI was supposedly evidence-based but it was the Calkins-equivalent for math. It would be great to see APS adopt a curriculum focused on building core math knowledge instead of Calkins-like discovery learning and group projects with limited math components. The latter approach can actually prompt teachers to turn to tech programs or external resources like teachers-paying-teachers in an effort to find material that covers core math.

does APS have a math curriculum now?

APS bought new enVision textbooks last year that emphasize discovery learning and project based learning. One of the co-authors was very involved with VMPI.