Middle School AAP vs. Honors
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Anonymous
| So how is FCPS AAP program different from tracking? |
Anonymous
| Woops wrong thread. |
Anonymous
| I'm going into AAp 6th and idk if i should go 2 thoreau or jackson help! |
Anonymous
Neither of those schools have 6th grade, so you have another year to decide. 
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Anonymous
I can! I have an incoming 9th grader and an incoming 8th grader. Both girls. My oldest went to our AAP Center MS and my youngest went to our regularly assigned middle school (had a lot more friends going there that is why she chose this). Center is definitely harder. They learned the same thing but in the center the teachers always went a bit further in the subject matter. I also feel tests and assignments were much more challenging for my oldest who is the one that has an easier time academically. I feel my youngest breezed though honors, and her assignments were simple and graded at a lower standard than center. But that has been my experience, I'm not sure if others agree. |
Anonymous
I middle school? I have kids that went through both. AAP middle school is way more challenging. Is that better or worse, I don't know. My two kids that took all honors had a much "lighter" middle school experience. My AAP child had a very challenging middle school experience, with tons of very hard assignments. My oldest is now at University and I have a senior and a sophomore. My AAP child (oldest) breezed through high school, even with a very challenging course load. I think it is because middle school was so hard that HS was a continuation. My other two had to lighten the load because taking all honors plus too many AP classes was just too much for them. They are all good students. I think a challenging middle school lends to an easier HS experience. An easy MS lends to a harder time adapting to challenging courses. |
Anonymous
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In ye olden dayes in my Fairfax County high school, there was a surge of students who switched into the GT English program in 10th grade, because the guy who did Sophomore GT English was a non-native speaker just shy of retirement who didn't care any more, whereas the lady who taught most of the regular English classes was a terrific instructress on a holy mission from God to beat the fundamentals of essay writing into the savages.
There's going to always be variance. The only thing AAP guarantees is a better group of students to surround you. (Which also means a significant mismatch problem if you're in bottom of the distribution. Outcomes usually better for someone in the top 10% of one class rather than the bottom 10% of another.) |
Anonymous
| In middle school, if you are level IV, do you still have to take all AAP classes. Can you be level IV but take honors English vs AAP English but then AAP everything else? |
Anonymous
If you decide to take AAP classes, you are in AAP English, AAP science, and AAP social studies. You then take whichever math class is appropriate for you-- Math 7 Honors, Algebra 1 Honors, Geometry Honors, or Algebra 2 Honors. Some LIV-eligible students choose not to take AAP classes in MS, and instead take honors or general education classes as they choose. |
Anonymous
In some schools (you have to push), you can take AAP science and math, honors social studies and gen ed team taught English. At least you could when my DC was there as he did it. |
Anonymous
Our base MS is not an AAP center, but it puts all AAP kids in the same Honors section. YMMV. Not sure how I feel about that but it seems to pacify the AAP parents, but it seems wrong. The majority of the kids at our MS AAP center are zoned for a different HS than the AAP kids’ who come from our base MS zone. So, many parents claim they chose Honors at our MS base for their AAP kids for social reasons. ~gen ed and app parent of upper ES kids |
Anonymous
Are you suggesting that their reasons are a ruse for something nefarious? It's not any one's ideal to have their 9th grader going to a HS where they know almost no one. Sure, extroverted kids will find their way. But, wanting your child to make some friends (or simply get to know other and be known) so that they can go into HS with the same group is not superficial. Social ties are real. And they are really hard to establish when there are large groups of kids (400-600) and many already have a historical social group coming up from ES and MS. We moved zones in FCPS when my oldest was entering MS. Let me tell, you, it was HARD for her. She came home every day crying and begging to go back to our old zone. On the first day of MS, at lunch, guess where everyone goes to eat?.... they glom onto their friends from ES. If you don't have a single friend from ES to glom onto, it's very isolating. Add in the introvert card... not so fun. So, yes, we specifically prioritized houses zoned for MSs that would have the majority of kids feeding into the same zoned HS.... b/c social ties can be hard to make and they can be THE most important influence in your teen's life. We dismissed perfectly fine houses (that we liked!) in a zone where only a fraction of the kids from the MS would go to the HS those houses were zoned for. |