Arlington Traditional School

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:ATS doesn’t follow a different curriculum, and yes, they use iPads in the classroom.

One benefit of homework is that parents catch when their child isn’t grasping a concept, and can work on it at home. There’s no surprise at the end of the year that your child was struggling.

At the end of the day, it’s still a public school with large class sizes. If you can afford it, there are many private schools in the area that are far superior.

Also, ATS crossed the threshold this year to become a Title 1 (high poverty) school. Only time will tell if they can remain one of our higher performing elementary schools.

ATS didn’t cross some threshold. The demographics didn’t suddenly change. Arlington changed the way title 1 eligibility is calculated. That’s it.

Demographics HAVE changed due to increased focus on getting more VPI kids in the school.

Clearly you aren’t an ATS parent
Cuz u have no idea what’s going on. Actually there are less spots for VPI students now. Disappointing because they added a lot to diversity of school. This was the result of APS deciding that lottery was unfair because so many seats are taken by VPI students.

And yet… it’s Title 1.

You don’t get it do you? We are excited that it is a title 1 school. It means more resources for ATS kids. There is nothing wrong with being a title 1 school unless of course you are a person that hates poor people.

That may be true of current parents, but there are families who won't apply to ATS going forward because it's a Title 1 school and that is often equated with lower performance, attendance issues and behavior issues. Those may or may not be issues for ATS specifically, but being Title 1 isn't universally viewed as beneficial.

That’s great. That would just mean a slightly shorter waitlist. The immigrants who apply to ATS, rich or poor, are the type of people who care about behavior and rigorous education standards. Now if a bunch of dumb superficial parents are no longer going to apply because of the title 1 designation then so be it.

Being Title 1 will impact the choice of some parents who are seeking the most rigorous APS education option. Those are parents that ATS wants, as they likely have high performing kids. If fewer of those kids attend, ATS test scores could dip which would then impact more high performing kids choosing to attend ATS. It could be a very negative feedback loop.

I don't think ATS is going to crumble overnight, but I don't think you should be quite so bullish either.

The waiting list is super long. There are simply a lot of parents who care about academics that don’t care about title 1 designations. I have an immigrant background. I just want to put my kids in a school that gives homework, has grades, has a dress code, and updates me weekly about how my child is doing. Parents at ATS who come from low income backgrounds tend to have the same mentality as me. And when they find out from the weekly summary that their kid isn’t doing well for one reason or another they care about fixing that. Not only do they care about fixing that but ATS gives those kids additional support. For example my friends kids came from oakridge I believe. Both her kids were behind in math and reading. Without her even saying anything (she came in knowing they were behind and was hoping they would improve), a few weeks after them getting in, ATS decided they both need extra math and reading support and had them enrolled in some after school math and reading program. The parents keep up to date with how their kids are doing and when admin sees that certain kids are falling behind they are immediately offered extra support not just inside the classroom but after school as well.

Most people don’t know ATS is now Title 1.

Again there is a significant number of parents who simply wouldn’t care that ATS is now a title one school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS doesn’t follow a different curriculum, and yes, they use iPads in the classroom.

One benefit of homework is that parents catch when their child isn’t grasping a concept, and can work on it at home. There’s no surprise at the end of the year that your child was struggling.

At the end of the day, it’s still a public school with large class sizes. If you can afford it, there are many private schools in the area that are far superior.

Also, ATS crossed the threshold this year to become a Title 1 (high poverty) school. Only time will tell if they can remain one of our higher performing elementary schools.

ATS didn’t cross some threshold. The demographics didn’t suddenly change. Arlington changed the way title 1 eligibility is calculated. That’s it.

Yes, agree.

I think its sort of unspoken that ATS has drawn from the under performing South Arlington schools and to a lesser extent from minority families in North Arlington uncomfortable with the mostly white elementary schools for which they are zoned. Most (white) families dominating the North Arlington zones prefer their neighborhood schools which are filled with the thing that ATS parents tout: involved parents who engage with the school.

APS changed how eligibility is calculated? Please explain.

I’m talking about the fact of families who choose to enter the lottery and/or choose to take a ATS slot.

Nope. You said APS changed the threshold for Title 1 eligibility. Please explain the new process.

We aren’t the same person. I’m the PP who said APS changed the way it calculates how title 1 eligibility is calculated. I don’t know the answer to your question. I am repeating what is in ATS’s faqs regarding title 1 status that was sent to all parents as well as what APS admin said in one of the school board meetings. You want to find out how exactly it changed? Pick the phone up at call Syphax.

Hint: It didn’t change. VPI increased poverty in the school. That’s it.

Also number of VPI students went down it seems

2022-2023: 46 students
2023-2024: 42 students
2024-2025: 31 students

That's really interesting. Did they open more VPI spots at neighborhood schools?

Another reason that it's Title 1 is that when a kid gets into ATS, no matter how, their siblings, younger and older, get preference. So when my child got in, and it was a 5-K-classroom cohort, there were only about 30 seats for non siblings. So while VPI went down, I doubt it impacted T1 status much. ANyway, the VPI students are so cute.

I’m not sure but I think the principal announced last year that there will be slightly less spots for VPI students. Not sure why. My understanding is that there are all these complaints that ATS lottery is unfair because so many spots are already taken by VPI students and then so many spots are gone due to sibling preference. This doesn’t explain the drop from last year though. One thing I did hear in last school board meeting is there are less students in general entering kindergarten in Arlington public schools. Not sure if this is due to flight to private schools or people leaving the area all together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS doesn’t follow a different curriculum, and yes, they use iPads in the classroom.

One benefit of homework is that parents catch when their child isn’t grasping a concept, and can work on it at home. There’s no surprise at the end of the year that your child was struggling.

At the end of the day, it’s still a public school with large class sizes. If you can afford it, there are many private schools in the area that are far superior.

Also, ATS crossed the threshold this year to become a Title 1 (high poverty) school. Only time will tell if they can remain one of our higher performing elementary schools.

ATS didn’t cross some threshold. The demographics didn’t suddenly change. Arlington changed the way title 1 eligibility is calculated. That’s it.

Yes, agree.

I think its sort of unspoken that ATS has drawn from the under performing South Arlington schools and to a lesser extent from minority families in North Arlington uncomfortable with the mostly white elementary schools for which they are zoned. Most (white) families dominating the North Arlington zones prefer their neighborhood schools which are filled with the thing that ATS parents tout: involved parents who engage with the school.

APS changed how eligibility is calculated? Please explain.

I’m talking about the fact of families who choose to enter the lottery and/or choose to take a ATS slot.

Nope. You said APS changed the threshold for Title 1 eligibility. Please explain the new process.

We aren’t the same person. I’m the PP who said APS changed the way it calculates how title 1 eligibility is calculated. I don’t know the answer to your question. I am repeating what is in ATS’s faqs regarding title 1 status that was sent to all parents as well as what APS admin said in one of the school board meetings. You want to find out how exactly it changed? Pick the phone up at call Syphax.

Hint: It didn’t change. VPI increased poverty in the school. That’s it.

Also number of VPI students went down it seems

2022-2023: 46 students
2023-2024: 42 students
2024-2025: 31 students

Here is link for those of you who are interested: https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/arlington-traditional

It doesn’t go before 2022 but would love to see the figures for the years prior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS doesn’t follow a different curriculum, and yes, they use iPads in the classroom.

One benefit of homework is that parents catch when their child isn’t grasping a concept, and can work on it at home. There’s no surprise at the end of the year that your child was struggling.

At the end of the day, it’s still a public school with large class sizes. If you can afford it, there are many private schools in the area that are far superior.

Also, ATS crossed the threshold this year to become a Title 1 (high poverty) school. Only time will tell if they can remain one of our higher performing elementary schools.

ATS didn’t cross some threshold. The demographics didn’t suddenly change. Arlington changed the way title 1 eligibility is calculated. That’s it.

Yes, agree.

I think its sort of unspoken that ATS has drawn from the under performing South Arlington schools and to a lesser extent from minority families in North Arlington uncomfortable with the mostly white elementary schools for which they are zoned. Most (white) families dominating the North Arlington zones prefer their neighborhood schools which are filled with the thing that ATS parents tout: involved parents who engage with the school.

APS changed how eligibility is calculated? Please explain.

I’m talking about the fact of families who choose to enter the lottery and/or choose to take a ATS slot.

Nope. You said APS changed the threshold for Title 1 eligibility. Please explain the new process.

We aren’t the same person. I’m the PP who said APS changed the way it calculates how title 1 eligibility is calculated. I don’t know the answer to your question. I am repeating what is in ATS’s faqs regarding title 1 status that was sent to all parents as well as what APS admin said in one of the school board meetings. You want to find out how exactly it changed? Pick the phone up at call Syphax.

Hint: It didn’t change. VPI increased poverty in the school. That’s it.

Also number of VPI students went down it seems

2022-2023: 46 students
2023-2024: 42 students
2024-2025: 31 students

Here is link for those of you who are interested: https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/arlington-traditional

It doesn’t go before 2022 but would love to see the figures for the years prior.

Those numbers don’t include siblings who were admitted due to preference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ATS doesn’t follow a different curriculum, and yes, they use iPads in the classroom.

One benefit of homework is that parents catch when their child isn’t grasping a concept, and can work on it at home. There’s no surprise at the end of the year that your child was struggling.

At the end of the day, it’s still a public school with large class sizes. If you can afford it, there are many private schools in the area that are far superior.

Also, ATS crossed the threshold this year to become a Title 1 (high poverty) school. Only time will tell if they can remain one of our higher performing elementary schools.

ATS didn’t cross some threshold. The demographics didn’t suddenly change. Arlington changed the way title 1 eligibility is calculated. That’s it.

Yes, agree.

I think its sort of unspoken that ATS has drawn from the under performing South Arlington schools and to a lesser extent from minority families in North Arlington uncomfortable with the mostly white elementary schools for which they are zoned. Most (white) families dominating the North Arlington zones prefer their neighborhood schools which are filled with the thing that ATS parents tout: involved parents who engage with the school.

APS changed how eligibility is calculated? Please explain.

I’m talking about the fact of families who choose to enter the lottery and/or choose to take a ATS slot.

Nope. You said APS changed the threshold for Title 1 eligibility. Please explain the new process.

We aren’t the same person. I’m the PP who said APS changed the way it calculates how title 1 eligibility is calculated. I don’t know the answer to your question. I am repeating what is in ATS’s faqs regarding title 1 status that was sent to all parents as well as what APS admin said in one of the school board meetings. You want to find out how exactly it changed? Pick the phone up at call Syphax.

Hint: It didn’t change. VPI increased poverty in the school. That’s it.

Also number of VPI students went down it seems

2022-2023: 46 students
2023-2024: 42 students
2024-2025: 31 students

Here is link for those of you who are interested: https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/schools/arlington-traditional

It doesn’t go before 2022 but would love to see the figures for the years prior.

Those numbers don’t include siblings who were admitted due to preference.

And your point is? I was sharing in response to the post about the number of VPI students going up. I already shared the percentage of economically disadvantaged students which will include the siblings and others as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think seats open up in 3rd or 4th grade, meaning that the max number of seats in the classroom expands so they let in 3-6 kids.

No. The number of seats is always the same. There is no grade it suddenly expands. But a few students move over the years, and there are also military families who don’t stay the entire 6 years.