City of Falls Church- gifted programs

[Anonymous]

Hey guys, we are looking to buy a home in the city of falls church.
Do they have gifted and talented program? If so, can you please provide more details?

[Anonymous]

It's a pullout once a week in elementary, and possibly every other day in an enrichment activity in middle school. No differentiation in instruction.

[Anonymous]

From http://www.fccps.org/meh/images/taap/Gifted_Education.pdf

Grades K – 2:
The enrichment coordinator will collaborate with the classroom teacher to provide differentiated instruction in all classrooms as well as special project opportunities for students.
Grades 3-5:
Students identified for the gifted program in grades 3-5 are placed in balanced clusters in their classrooms. Students receive differentiated services in the regular classroom and during Tiger Paws and/or pull out/push in from the gifted specialist.
Grades 6-8:
Students identified for the gifted program in grades 6-8 enroll in advanced curriculum. In eighth grade, students may earn high school credit. Students receive differentiated services in the regular classroom and participate in specialized FleX courses. A specific, individualized plan will be developed for students who need intense support.

My 8th grader met with the coordinator during FleX (45 minutes every other day) for a little longer than a quarter. The class worked on the Renaissance, etymology, and SCAMPER (activity based thinking method).

[Anonymous]

It is called ACE but it is very minimal - short pull-out of class once a week.

It is also much harder to get into than say AAP in Fairfax, probably because resources are very limited - there is only one teacher who does it for the whole school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From http://www.fccps.org/meh/images/taap/Gifted_Education.pdf

Grades K – 2:
The enrichment coordinator will collaborate with the classroom teacher to provide differentiated instruction in all classrooms as well as special project opportunities for students.
Grades 3-5:
Students identified for the gifted program in grades 3-5 are placed in balanced clusters in their classrooms. Students receive differentiated services in the regular classroom and during Tiger Paws and/or pull out/push in from the gifted specialist.
Grades 6-8:
Students identified for the gifted program in grades 6-8 enroll in advanced curriculum. In eighth grade, students may earn high school credit. Students receive differentiated services in the regular classroom and participate in specialized FleX courses. A specific, individualized plan will be developed for students who need intense support.

My 8th grader met with the coordinator during FleX (45 minutes every other day) for a little longer than a quarter. The class worked on the Renaissance, etymology, and SCAMPER (activity based thinking method).

This is not for the City of Falls Church - this is Fairfax County's program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From http://www.fccps.org/meh/images/taap/Gifted_Education.pdf

Grades K – 2:
The enrichment coordinator will collaborate with the classroom teacher to provide differentiated instruction in all classrooms as well as special project opportunities for students.
Grades 3-5:
Students identified for the gifted program in grades 3-5 are placed in balanced clusters in their classrooms. Students receive differentiated services in the regular classroom and during Tiger Paws and/or pull out/push in from the gifted specialist.
Grades 6-8:
Students identified for the gifted program in grades 6-8 enroll in advanced curriculum. In eighth grade, students may earn high school credit. Students receive differentiated services in the regular classroom and participate in specialized FleX courses. A specific, individualized plan will be developed for students who need intense support.

My 8th grader met with the coordinator during FleX (45 minutes every other day) for a little longer than a quarter. The class worked on the Renaissance, etymology, and SCAMPER (activity based thinking method).

This is not for the City of Falls Church - this is Fairfax County's program.

??? No...it's pulled directly from FCCPS website, as PP indicated (thank you, PP, for including the link!)

[Anonymous]

These things don't regularly happen in FCCPS, sadly. It's because there are only a couple of gifted specialists spread among 3 schools. In our experience, it's enrichment during pullouts. Differentiation in the classroom doesn't occur except in the usual math/reading groups (high, average, low). Once the kids are in middle school, the kids can take accelerated courses, but that's not part of the gifted program. Oh, and in 8th grade, there are "gifted" kids in standard math, algebra and geometry. The gifted label fades away by that point and in high school they're just put into honors courses with all the "non gifted" smart kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These things don't regularly happen in FCCPS, sadly. It's because there are only a couple of gifted specialists spread among 3 schools. In our experience, it's enrichment during pullouts. Differentiation in the classroom doesn't occur except in the usual math/reading groups (high, average, low). Once the kids are in middle school, the kids can take accelerated courses, but that's not part of the gifted program. Oh, and in 8th grade, there are "gifted" kids in standard math, algebra and geometry. The gifted label fades away by that point and in high school they're just put into honors courses with all the "non gifted" smart kids.

My child is in ACE and she has received services exactly as described in the link. She's in third grade and has been in ACE since kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These things don't regularly happen in FCCPS, sadly. It's because there are only a couple of gifted specialists spread among 3 schools. In our experience, it's enrichment during pullouts. Differentiation in the classroom doesn't occur except in the usual math/reading groups (high, average, low). Once the kids are in middle school, the kids can take accelerated courses, but that's not part of the gifted program. Oh, and in 8th grade, there are "gifted" kids in standard math, algebra and geometry. The gifted label fades away by that point and in high school they're just put into honors courses with all the "non gifted" smart kids.

My child is in ACE and she has received services exactly as described in the link. She's in third grade and has been in ACE since kindergarten.

Nope. FCCPS students aren't formally put into ACE in kindergarten. All kids are screened during kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From http://www.fccps.org/meh/images/taap/Gifted_Education.pdf

Grades K – 2:
The enrichment coordinator will collaborate with the classroom teacher to provide differentiated instruction in all classrooms as well as special project opportunities for students.
Grades 3-5:
Students identified for the gifted program in grades 3-5 are placed in balanced clusters in their classrooms. Students receive differentiated services in the regular classroom and during Tiger Paws and/or pull out/push in from the gifted specialist.
Grades 6-8:
Students identified for the gifted program in grades 6-8 enroll in advanced curriculum. In eighth grade, students may earn high school credit. Students receive differentiated services in the regular classroom and participate in specialized FleX courses. A specific, individualized plan will be developed for students who need intense support.

My 8th grader met with the coordinator during FleX (45 minutes every other day) for a little longer than a quarter. The class worked on the Renaissance, etymology, and SCAMPER (activity based thinking method).

This is not for the City of Falls Church - this is Fairfax County's program.

??? No...it's pulled directly from FCCPS website, as PP indicated (thank you, PP, for including the link!)

+1. FCPS is AAP. Pull outs and extensions that vary by school K-2, and FT gifted Centers in ES (3-6) and MS (7-8), with pull outs and extensions for kids who do not qualify for FT gifted.

[Anonymous]

Formal identification for ACE (that's what the FCC GT program is called) is at the end of 2nd grade. In K-2, kids who meet certain criteria are pulled out once a week for reading and/or math class with a GT specialist, who is amazing. She also pushes into each classroom regularly to get to know all the kids. In 2nd, kids are also placed in gifted classrooms for one period every day (or 4 days a week) for further enrichment work in math and/or language arts.

After formal identification at the end of 2nd, kids are placed in Tier 1 or Tier 2 (and sometimes Tier 3) depending on their scores. Both Tier 1 and Tier 2 kids are placed in gifted classrooms for one period 4 days a week for either lang arts or math enrichment or interdiscplinary work. Tier 2 kids also get a weekly pullout session in math and/or language arts that includes things like math problem solving and competitions, vocabulary/analogy competition, debate, deeper literature analysis, etc. The two teachers who run the pullouts are wonderful and beloved.

Starting in 3rd grade, and separate from the GT identification, there is accelerated math for kids who meet the requirements. Those kids are learning the math curriculum for the next grade level (e.g., 4th in 3rd).

In addition, there is supposed to be in-class differentiation for clusters of ACE kids in each classroom in 1st-5th grades. The effectiveness of this depends to a large extent on the skill and desire of the classroom teacher.

In middle school, there is a continued accelerated math sequence as well as Honors English and enrichment electives.

I will say that there is a large cohort of GT kids in FCC so it's pretty easy for gifted kids to have academic peers even if they are not in a "center" like in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

My child was in the ACE program in FCCPS before we moved to FCPS schools. The program in Falls Church City was a huge disappointment. She received 1 hour of pull out every 5-7 days-- and often it was cancelled for various school programs. I was completely unimpressed by the services offered.

Not that you are asking, but we are thrilled with the AAP program in Fairfax County. It is fantastic. I wish we had moved to the county earlier.