Reply to Feel like my well behaved 1st grader is basically ignored in FCPS

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[quote=Anonymous]How to make sure your kids get a good education?

Some lessons learned with 9 years as a FCPS parent-

1. I'm a fan of FCPS but we've realized that you can't just leave it up to the school, nor the teachers.
2. You, as a parent, need to know what your child needs. If you think your child is advanced, you need to be able to quantify HOW your child is advanced. Same thing with weaknesses. 
3. It's not a competition against other parents. Don't get caught up in the rat race. Do what's best for your kid according to his/her ability and motivation. 
4. If your child is appropriately placed in school, don't worry about what the other curriculum looks like. It's not Gen Ed vs AAP. 
5. There are good teachers and not so good teachers. You have to be able to work with all of them. 
6. Testing is great for data but it doesn't tell you everything. Multiple data points are better than one data point. When multiple data points are consistent, then you have a pattern to go by. 
7. Look outside of FCPS for enrichment opportunities.

When my child was in 1st grade, he would always ask to try to do his 4th grade sister's Math homework. I'd make a copy for him. More often than not, he was able to answer correctly. 
I would ask him how he knows how to do these things and he said "i just know."  His 1st grade worksheets looked nothing like the 4th grade worksheets.  In 2nd grade, he was able to do 5th grade math. 
CoGAT came around and he wasn't in pool so we thought that his math knowledge was a fluke.

His older sister needed tutoring in Math so we took her to a Math tutoring place. My son asked if he could go too. He told the director that he likes Math and so the director "interviewed" him and asked if he could give him an assessment. In 2nd grade, he pass advanced on a 4th grade test.  The school would have never have tested him beyond 2nd grade so you never know that data unless you go somewhere else. The assessment showed what areas he was strong in and what 4th grade topics he didn't quite know yet.  So we ended up going there for enrichment and he was so happy every single time he walked in and out of there. We had him tested in 2 other places with the same consistent results. He's in AAP now and is doing great with the curriculum, but guess what, he wants more stuff so we are still having to go outside the school for other enrichment.

I've got a child in Gen Ed too and I can say that the curriculum is dramatically different. Much more detail in AAP. Do I feel my Gen Ed kid got robbed? Nope. Gen Ed is a good pace and level for her. [/quote]

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