Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, pp, for the detailed info about Va Run. I really appreciate it.

DP. It sounds like a good school. It also sounds like PP's DC won't be happy in AAP either.

This. In 3rd grade AAP math, PP’s kid is going to have to suffer through what she apparently learned in Kindergarten in private school.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, pp, for the detailed info about Va Run. I really appreciate it.

DP. It sounds like a good school. It also sounds like PP's DC won't be happy in AAP either.

Thanks, pp, for the detailed info about Va Run. I really appreciate it.

Thanks, so I assume a denial just has one sheet?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Should we expect a package or letter depending on an acceptance or not?

Our acceptance was just a letter. The only other enclosure is a yellow form, that they want you to return, with your decision. As soon as I opened the letter, and saw the yellow in there, I knew what the decision was.

Ours was a letter and a blue enclosure (accepted.)

Anonymous wrote:Should we expect a package or letter depending on an acceptance or not?

Our acceptance was just a letter. The only other enclosure is a yellow form, that they want you to return, with your decision. As soon as I opened the letter, and saw the yellow in there, I knew what the decision was.

Anonymous wrote:
Is your child at Va Run now, or in private? We are house-hunting in the area and have seen some houses zoned to VR/BR. Would love some more info on the school.

She's in private now. She was at Virginia Run for about 4 months, in first grade. We switched to private because she was unhappy. Here is my impression of it, based on our short stint there. The school is fine. The facilities are nice, and they do have some amount of forward thinking, IMO. The staff is good. The PTA is VERY involved, and does a lot of good work - they raised enough funds to pay for a full time science teacher (who is good, and I liked the open ended projects she gave the kids, to allow them to think outside the box, to get to their solutions). Per the principal, if she needs funds, she lets the PTA know, and they will get her the money she needs. They have a part time AART; again, very nice, but I don't know how she has the bandwidth to do all that is expected of her.

The school is not a LLIV, and as far as I know, there is not a lot of differentiation in the lower grades. DD left K (in a private school) doing multiplication and starting division, and she was stuck doing 'What is this number? Draw apples to show the number', along with everyone else. Her teacher was really very nice, and very responsive, and we had multiple sessions where I brought up my concerns with her, about keeping her challenged, but nothing was really done. She was in the highest reading group, but that was well below where she actually was reading, at the time.

On these forums, it seems like there are schools where the principal and AART know the children really well. I did not get that impression from Virginia Run. I don't see how a part-time AART can get to know 700 students, and the principal once stated that the kids only get to see her when they're in really big trouble.

Should we expect a package or letter depending on an acceptance or not?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
NP-We know a family that went for third and then came back to our base school (last year), because their child wasn't happy at Bull Run. I think it is a much bigger school and maybe more of an institutional/rigid feel.

Would you know why the child was not happy? Bad teachers? Poor instruction? Lack of rigor in academics? Anything like that?

I don't think going back to Virginia Run is an option for us. The school was fine, her teacher was great, but DD was miserable. She would come home and cry every day, because she felt that her "brain was rusting" (yeah, seriously; someone's a bit melodramatic), and although she did her best to show her teacher she could do more challenging work, nothing really came of it. We can go back to private, but $, and the commute is hell-ish. As long as the academics are decent, she will be okay.

I wish the forums were not anonymous; it would be easier to update people on how the experience is, a few months into next year.

Is your child at Va Run now, or in private? We are house-hunting in the area and have seen some houses zoned to VR/BR. Would love some more info on the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zip: 20194 - received letter on Sat. 4/7 for 2nd grader

NNAT: 123
CogAT: 138
GBRS: I don't know

In - accepted for Level IV AAP


My older child, who is now in 5th grade, had basically flipped these scores a few years ago (NNAT 135, CogAT 118, WISC 119), and despite being automatically entered into the screening pool, did not get in initially, or upon appeal (we only appealed for 3rd grade - didn't apply the following years) - he has received Level III AAP services every year starting in 3rd grade. He has dyslexia/dysgraphia, so I think they're more hesitant to accept "twice exceptional" kids with writing difficulties. It seems to reinforce that the CogAT is weighed more heavily than the NNAT by the screening committee.

Well but with the WISC basically backing up the CogAT score (within one point, and both pretty well below the 132 "cutoff"), couldn't it also be that 2 out of the 3 data points for your older child supported that he/she was better served in the general education classroom?

Sure, that's why we didn't apply for the AAP program again the following year - we're very happy with the Level III services he's receiving at his school. I was posting this info since some folks on here were wondering if the CogAT is weighed more heavily than the NNAT.

Anonymous wrote:She can only appeal if she didn’t submit the WISc the first round.

Appeal has nothing to do with WISC. Appeal can be done with additional samples/recommendations etc, it does not have to include WISC.

Anonymous wrote:She can only appeal if she didn’t submit the WISc the first round.

She got it 2 weeks ago. Parent referrals were due in January.

She can only appeal if she didn’t submit the WISc the first round.

Anonymous wrote:We took wisc 2 weeks ago . Got a reject letter .

NNAT 127
Cogat 119
Wisc fsiq 127 ( 96 percentile ) vci 113 vsi 111 fri 121 wmI 117 psi 116

Is there a chance we can appeal

You already have the WISC, and that’s a decent enough score, you should appeal.

Anonymous wrote:We took wisc 2 weeks ago . Got a reject letter .

NNAT 127
Cogat 119
Wisc fsiq 127 ( 96 percentile ) vci 113 vsi 111 fri 121 wmI 117 psi 116

Is there a chance we can appeal

You can appeal all you want. Honestly, I don’t think it’s going to work. You have a bright kid who will do fine in gen ed.