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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Shrevewood is our base school, and if our son is admitted to AAP we will be sending him to the Lemon Road center.  Years (okay, decades) ago, Lemon Road was my base school and I went to the center at Haycock.  Haycock's center at the time was only modestly larger than Lemon Road's is today.  It was one of the most valuable experiences of my life (yes, an ES experience stands at the top of my most valuable life experiences, it was that good), and a major part of its value was having a larger mass of AAP students in a school-within-a-school.  I don't think that Shrevewood's 12 or so LLIV students per grade provides enough of an opportunity to interact with other students and a variety of teachers.  LLIV makes sense for schools that have enough level 4 students to create what amounts to a local center (e.g., Chesterbrook).  But I'm a strong proponent of supporting the centers.  I don't like how smaller LLIV programs at Shrevewood and Westgate are peeling off students from the center at Lemon Road.  I strongly encourage parents with children that are eligible for the center to send their kids there.

Candidly, I think one of the reasons that individual school administrations want LLIV programs is to keep the test scores up.  FCPS's center-based AAP system boosts the SOL scores of the schools with centers at the expense of schools that don't have centers.  A school without a center or LLIV program loses between 15-20% of its best students to a center starting in third grade--which is when SOLs start.  This obviously dampens test scores at the non-center school.  And it artificially inflates scores at the school with the center.  For example, Lemon Road was a "7" on GreatSchools before the center opened.   In the first year with a center, it shot up to "10."  The principal at Lemon Road no doubt noted this, which might be why he has suddenly been promoting the center (even though rumor had it that he was skeptical about the center at first).

I don't say this to criticize the school administrators.  They are under massive pressure to keep test scores up.  In a perfect world, they would be rewarded for how much they help students who can't pass the tests.  But they aren't.  They're evaluated based on raw numbers.  So naturally there's competition for the best students.  [/quote]

PP, I'm a Shrevewood parent who has the opportunity to send her kids to Lemon Road. I want to address a couple of your statements:

1.  Your elementary school was one of the most valuable experiences? Wow, surprising to hear, but impressed that you must have teachers who were so phenomenal that elementary school surpassed your college experience.

2.  Your numbers are off of the LLIV number of students in the classroom are off.  (my kids are in LLIV at Shrevewood)  Further, your explanation of Shrevewood or any LLIV vs. Lemon Road or Center is solely based on your experience.  I can tell you that my kids experience both 3rd and 4th grade has been no different than other kids experiences at the center.  I have kids in my neighborhood who attend LR; the parents and I have compared notes. I can tell you that my kids have benefited from the smaller classroom size.  I don't need to explain this in detail too much as it's pretty straightforward.  Smaller class more attention from the instructor, able to navigate the curriculum faster and able to do more hands on projects.  Furthermore, don't hate on the parents "peeling" away students from the Centers.  In FCPS we are extremely fortunate to have options, there are obvious reasons, why parents are deciding to keep their kids in the LLIV school.  One last thought.  Why is that Shrevewood has certified AAP teachers in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade while LR has one certified teacher???  I know certification does not equal teaching abilities/skills. LR has been a Center now for 2 years, what's the hold up with these teachers in obtaining their certification??

3.   Test scores, don't kid yourself and everyone else.  ALL Administrators want their test scores up. This is the first year that FCPS is allowing kids to re-take SOLs in order to give schools an opportunity to get this test scores up.

4.   Greatschools scores.  This is where you completely lost me PP.  Please do not mis-guide people.  Greatschools ratings are not a reflection of the schools, they are merely similar to "Yelp" reviews.  You go in you like what you get; you write up a good review.  If you don't like what you get or you don't like the Administration, teachers, etc. you give that school a lower rating because in your opinion they did not serve your needs.  Now, your explanation of LR having a "7" rating and now having a "10" rating after the Center has been established is baloney! You and I both know that either the Principal or the PTA asked a bunch of parents to go out to GreatSchools and provide positive feedback for the school.    
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