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[quote=Anonymous]I live in Western Fairfax (aka TJ Crazyland). And have a kid at TJ. This thread pops up every time we get NMSFs and every time there is a college list, with a why does FCPS outperform APS Question.

My takes is that there is an AAP/TJ and Tiger Parent feedback loop.  PP is right. There is a subset of highly educated, education focused parents who move to Fairfax instead of Arlington because they want their kid can go to an AAP Center, and because it gives their kid a better shot at TJ. At the same time, AAP is pushing the top kids in Fairfax to go above and beyond academically from 3rd grade on. And kids who are serious about TJ go to extra math and science classes, accelerate their math, join academic teams, etc.

So basically, you have a setup where parents of smart affluent kids are encouraged to live in FCPS. And once there, they are getting a more rigorous education, and pushing themselves outside if class as well.

I don’t think FCPS does better than APS for the 85% of kids who are not in AAP.  But for the top 15% who are in AAP, the education is probably more rigorous. And TJ is sitting out there as an option, so kids are doing a lot of work above an beyond school. And that top 15% of kids who are AAP and are considering TJ are the ones who become NMSFs, push up some of the HSs SAT scores, and have the impressive college admissions.

I am not saying this as kudos to FCPS though. I do think they do a better job with AAP than GE, which is an issue. And I do think the TJ culture has created a race to nowhere, where kids are overaccelerating, especially in math. And where the stress level is too high.

But I also thinks this causes the disparity in college admissions. [/quote]

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