best school system for moving at start of Middle School

[Anonymous]

we're one of the thousands of DC parents thinking of moving to the burbs for middle school. Problem is that we will have missed all the gifted/sorting/tracking whatever the systems are for putting kids into accelerated or non-accelerated tracks if we move between 5th and 6th grade. We have twins--one child who seems pretty strong in math, although it's too early to tell if that means anything, and another who seems to be doing fine. They score well on standardized assessments but neither seems to be stick out as being super smart.

My question--anyone here move after 5th grade? If so, in your experience, are Arlington or Fairfax (or if you looked at them for contrast, Montgomery County) schools better for letting kids be placed accurately if you aren't there during the year? Are you hopelessly shut out of any magnet programs and therefore unlikely to get into such programs in high school? MoCo seems to have some amazing programs but if you're one of the 100 kids across the county who gets in that's great, if not, you are out of luck.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we're one of the thousands of DC parents thinking of moving to the burbs for middle school. Problem is that we will have missed all the gifted/sorting/tracking whatever the systems are for putting kids into accelerated or non-accelerated tracks if we move between 5th and 6th grade. We have twins--one child who seems pretty strong in math, although it's too early to tell if that means anything, and another who seems to be doing fine. They score well on standardized assessments but neither seems to be stick out as being super smart.

My question--anyone here move after 5th grade? If so, in your experience, are Arlington or Fairfax (or if you looked at them for contrast, Montgomery County) schools better for letting kids be placed accurately if you aren't there during the year? Are you hopelessly shut out of any magnet programs and therefore unlikely to get into such programs in high school? MoCo seems to have some amazing programs but if you're one of the 100 kids across the county who gets in that's great, if not, you are out of luck.

Thanks!

Fairfax's AAP (Advanced Academic Program), goes away after 8th grade. However, students can still select Honors level classes in 7th and 8th grade without the "AAP" designation. In HS, everyone self selects their classes and the AAP kids are all mixed with the non- AAP kids. You can't really tell who was AAP or not at that point (you can tell who are the super smart kids but that doesn't always correlate to AAP designation). The exception to all of this is math and that is determined by what whatever level they are. They don't need to have the full AAP designation to take the higher level math classes. IME, math is the only class you really want to be able to place appropriately until HS- until then the Honor's classes are fine. Some people have their child take Geometry in the summer if they think they need to accelerate. This usually done the summer after they take Algebra 1(Honors). It is not recommended for a student to take one of the Algebra classes over the summer.

[Anonymous]

Fairfax MS is 7th and 8th.
Arlington MS is 6th-8th.

I wish I had looked into that prior to moving when my kids were little.

[Anonymous]

Fairfax county has an enormous amount of military kids.

They are very comfortable with kids transferring in at odd times in their school careers and will place accordingly.

From your description of your kids, I would not fret aout getting them on the advanced math trak or AAP at this stage in the game. Honors will provide plenty of challenges for them.

[Anonymous]

If you move into FCPS, your children would still be in elementary in 6th grade. If you thought one (or both) might need accelerated math, your child could be placed in that in most schools. My son attends an AAP center, but is not in AAP, and at the beginning of the year in 4th grade they did a screening for math. They determined he needed to be in accelerated math so they just pulled him into an AAP class for math only. I am not sure if all centers do it that way, but many do. He's going into 6th next year, and though we chose to keep him in regular math for 5th (he has special needs too and we wanted him with one teacher to start), they tested him at the end of the year and said they might pull him up again for 6th.

I believe most schools offer advanced math for upper grades, even if they are not AAP Centers.

Alternatively, if you feel your child/ren may be a candidate for AAP, you can come to FCPS with WISC scores in hand, and then apply. People who are new to the county follow a different schedule than those in the county already for AAP consideration.

https://www.fcps.edu/index.php/registration/advanced-academics-identification-and-placement/elementary-school/students-new-fcps


I teach in another elementary school in FCPS, and a lot of students start in 6th in order to get to know friends before Middle School. I will say, my oldest (rising sophomore) only had 12 kids from his ES attend his FCPS Middle School, and he had a great experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we're one of the thousands of DC parents thinking of moving to the burbs for middle school. Problem is that we will have missed all the gifted/sorting/tracking whatever the systems are for putting kids into accelerated or non-accelerated tracks if we move between 5th and 6th grade. We have twins--one child who seems pretty strong in math, although it's too early to tell if that means anything, and another who seems to be doing fine. They score well on standardized assessments but neither seems to be stick out as being super smart.

My question--anyone here move after 5th grade? If so, in your experience, are Arlington or Fairfax (or if you looked at them for contrast, Montgomery County) schools better for letting kids be placed accurately if you aren't there during the year? Are you hopelessly shut out of any magnet programs and therefore unlikely to get into such programs in high school? MoCo seems to have some amazing programs but if you're one of the 100 kids across the county who gets in that's great, if not, you are out of luck.

Thanks!

FCPS family here. We came from overseas when the older two were entering 5th and 6th -- so still elementary school. It was totally fine and, in fact, worked to my eldest's advantage because he was able to go into middle school with friends from 6th grade. We also missed out on the AAP curriculum, but it was no big deal. (Our elementary is an AAP school, so while my kids weren't in the actual program, they got to take advanced classes for some subjects, depending on their strengths.) Both kids went into honors in middle school and are doing great.

[Anonymous]

LCPS begins in 6th and parents are allowed to choose which honors classes their child takes. The MS gifted program (Spectrum) is just an enrichment that happens in place of study hall.

[Anonymous]

OP here--thanks for the thoughtful comments. it's good to know it's not an all or nothing system, all the discussion about magnets and TJ seems to suck the air out of the room and it's been hard to figure out what's good for bright, but not super genius, kids. Appreciate the feedback!