Anonymous wrote:

My kids are at one of the supposedly "good" centers. The peers are strong students, there are plenty of excellent opportunities, the expectations are high. The teaching is inconsistent, to put it nicely. I am very disappointed. I have no doubt that Nysmith and others do a better job, regardless of whether or not the kids there did or didn't get into AAP. Look, I am sure there aren't a lot of 150 IQ kids at any of the schools. Most "gifted" kids are a little above average kids from households that value education. So a kid scores a 125 vs 140 on the CoGat--big deal. Certainly mine fit into that broad category and AAP is a breeze for them.

There are a number of reasons to choose public over private but I don't doubt that the Nysmith kids are getting a better education.

My two kids are also at a "good" center, and it is overcrowded -- 30 kids per AAP class and many classes are in trailers. It's a much better fit than GenEd, but my highly gifted kid is bored and, ironically, struggling because she checks out and stops trying. She needs a much smaller environment but we can't afford private. My moderately gifted high achiever is thriving.

I have a kid with a 150 iq in aap. Granted, the classes are not huge (21 in this kid’s fifth grade class) but he never checks out. He will come home with math papers where on the sides you can see he figured things out different ways (same problem, figured out 2-3 different ways). He’ll do the same with other subjects. I will say that if your kid is in third grade or fourth grade it isnt that hard.

My kids are at one of the supposedly "good" centers. The peers are strong students, there are plenty of excellent opportunities, the expectations are high. The teaching is inconsistent, to put it nicely. I am very disappointed. I have no doubt that Nysmith and others do a better job, regardless of whether or not the kids there did or didn't get into AAP. Look, I am sure there aren't a lot of 150 IQ kids at any of the schools. Most "gifted" kids are a little above average kids from households that value education. So a kid scores a 125 vs 140 on the CoGat--big deal. Certainly mine fit into that broad category and AAP is a breeze for them.

There are a number of reasons to choose public over private but I don't doubt that the Nysmith kids are getting a better education.

My two kids are also at a "good" center, and it is overcrowded -- 30 kids per AAP class and many classes are in trailers. It's a much better fit than GenEd, but my highly gifted kid is bored and, ironically, struggling because she checks out and stops trying. She needs a much smaller environment but we can't afford private. My moderately gifted high achiever is thriving.

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Anonymous wrote:9:07 PP here. Whether the kids are generally brighter in AAP and whether the program is generally stronger are two completely different issues. My child is not challenged at all by AAP, but is enjoying the extracurricular teams and competitions. That same child could perhaps be challenged at a school like Nysmith, even if the other kids are on average not as bright as in AAP, if a more flexible curriculum and more personal attention were provided.

Of course - but some were saying nysmith isn’t for aap rejected kids and the answer to THAT question is that lots of families go private when not admitted to aap.

Nysmith isn't JUST for app rejected kids. There are kids like mine that chose to leave AAP to go Nysmith because we can afford it and want the smaller class size and more individualized attention, and I loath the outside tutoring culture in our AAP center.

More power to you but there is a lot of tutoring that can come from $32,000 a year.

This. Plus loathe has an e at the end.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9:07 PP here. Whether the kids are generally brighter in AAP and whether the program is generally stronger are two completely different issues. My child is not challenged at all by AAP, but is enjoying the extracurricular teams and competitions. That same child could perhaps be challenged at a school like Nysmith, even if the other kids are on average not as bright as in AAP, if a more flexible curriculum and more personal attention were provided.

Of course - but some were saying nysmith isn’t for aap rejected kids and the answer to THAT question is that lots of families go private when not admitted to aap.

Nysmith isn't JUST for app rejected kids. There are kids like mine that chose to leave AAP to go Nysmith because we can afford it and want the smaller class size and more individualized attention, and I loath the outside tutoring culture in our AAP center.

More power to you but there is a lot of tutoring that can come from $32,000 a year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9:07 PP here. Whether the kids are generally brighter in AAP and whether the program is generally stronger are two completely different issues. My child is not challenged at all by AAP, but is enjoying the extracurricular teams and competitions. That same child could perhaps be challenged at a school like Nysmith, even if the other kids are on average not as bright as in AAP, if a more flexible curriculum and more personal attention were provided.

Of course - but some were saying nysmith isn’t for aap rejected kids and the answer to THAT question is that lots of families go private when not admitted to aap.

Nysmith isn't JUST for app rejected kids. There are kids like mine that chose to leave AAP to go Nysmith because we can afford it and want the smaller class size and more individualized attention, and I loath the outside tutoring culture in our AAP center.

Anonymous wrote:9:07 PP here. Whether the kids are generally brighter in AAP and whether the program is generally stronger are two completely different issues. My child is not challenged at all by AAP, but is enjoying the extracurricular teams and competitions. That same child could perhaps be challenged at a school like Nysmith, even if the other kids are on average not as bright as in AAP, if a more flexible curriculum and more personal attention were provided.

Of course - but some were saying nysmith isn’t for aap rejected kids and the answer to THAT question is that lots of families go private when not admitted to aap.

9:07 PP here. Whether the kids are generally brighter in AAP and whether the program is generally stronger are two completely different issues. My child is not challenged at all by AAP, but is enjoying the extracurricular teams and competitions. That same child could perhaps be challenged at a school like Nysmith, even if the other kids are on average not as bright as in AAP, if a more flexible curriculum and more personal attention were provided.

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Anonymous wrote:Nysmith's curriculum is by far superior to AAP.

Says...who? Again, I’m sure it’s better in some things and not in others and vice versa. As for the awards, look at this hyped up example: http://www.nysmith.com/nysmith-team-wins-highest-honors-in-wordmasters-challenge/

Fcps does wordmasters as well and scores very high, but doesn’t put blow by blows in the connection newspaper

You are just JEALOUS. 2 kids from Nysmith getting the perfect score out of 22 kids in the whole of US is awesome !! What is hyped up in this and which FCPS school has such results.

Uh, not jealous. Look at the results released yesterday. Nysmith ranked in ONE grade. Louise Archer did it in every grade. That’s one Fcps. So does that mean nysmith has tiny pockets of really bright kids and Fcps is more balanced? This past result is a perfect example bc Louise Archer is a single school as is nysmith.

My DCs attended Archer AAP program. Highly over rated. The HS Madison has gone down in the ratings and has very few attending TJ. Maybe they just don’t want to go to TJ. But mainly they didn’t get in. The counselor at Thoreau told us so few ever got in to not even bother to apply. Glad we passed on that advice.

But if Louise Archer is overrated and does better than nysmith, then it would seem that Louise Archer has naturally brighter kids. It isn’t as if Louise Archer does that much work with the kids on wordmasters so either nysmith doesn’t either - and Archer is still outperforming - or nysmith does a lot of work On wordmasters - and Archer is still outperforming.

Point is that it supports the fact that nysmith isn’t for the super bright - they are probably smart, capable kids but many are those that attend bc they were rejected by the aap committee.

So what if many of the Nysmith kids were AAP reject? Does it mean that Nysmith cannot provide good education for these kids and other kids that are not AAP reject? Why does it matter ? Nysmith is a fine school which tries very hard to teach each kid at their level and allow them to progress at their pace. I have kids in AAP and Nysmith. What I have noticed is that AAP parents/students are very competitive, with a lot of outside school tutoring since young grades. Not all AAP students have tutors, but those that are ahead of the class mostly have outside enrichment (Sunshine Academy, AOPS, CTY). Comparatively, Nysmith parents/students are much more relaxed, and less competitive. Smaller class size allows more individualized attention from teachers and more nurturing learning environment. This is what the tuition is for, "gifted" or not, who cares.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nysmith's curriculum is by far superior to AAP.

Says...who? Again, I’m sure it’s better in some things and not in others and vice versa. As for the awards, look at this hyped up example: http://www.nysmith.com/nysmith-team-wins-highest-honors-in-wordmasters-challenge/

Fcps does wordmasters as well and scores very high, but doesn’t put blow by blows in the connection newspaper

You are just JEALOUS. 2 kids from Nysmith getting the perfect score out of 22 kids in the whole of US is awesome !! What is hyped up in this and which FCPS school has such results.

Uh, not jealous. Look at the results released yesterday. Nysmith ranked in ONE grade. Louise Archer did it in every grade. That’s one Fcps. So does that mean nysmith has tiny pockets of really bright kids and Fcps is more balanced? This past result is a perfect example bc Louise Archer is a single school as is nysmith.

My DCs attended Archer AAP program. Highly over rated. The HS Madison has gone down in the ratings and has very few attending TJ. Maybe they just don’t want to go to TJ. But mainly they didn’t get in. The counselor at Thoreau told us so few ever got in to not even bother to apply. Glad we passed on that advice.

But if Louise Archer is overrated and does better than nysmith, then it would seem that Louise Archer has naturally brighter kids. It isn’t as if Louise Archer does that much work with the kids on wordmasters so either nysmith doesn’t either - and Archer is still outperforming - or nysmith does a lot of work On wordmasters - and Archer is still outperforming.

Point is that it supports the fact that nysmith isn’t for the super bright - they are probably smart, capable kids but many are those that attend bc they were rejected by the aap committee.

Anonymous wrote:My kid attends a school that is considered a strong AAP center, and is also one of the kids winning some of the big awards. The school has a strong program in several areas not because the teacher or school do anything, but rather because motivated parents are running after school coaching programs. Also, a lot of the students are taking outside enrichment courses. The school is getting credit for kids who were going to win those same awards no matter where they attended school.

I suspect that you could say the same thing my kids at the "better" private schools. The truth of the matter is that if the parents are invested in their child's education, the child will likely do very well in school and academic extra curricular activities. Even parents who are not able to afford tutoring and Nysmith are probably able to afford some of the workbooks or can find similar enrichment at the library if they are highly invested and are looking to supplement.

I strongly suspect that there are a number of factors that influence the experience at AAP centers.

1) I do think that there are different standards for admittance based on the school and the pyramid. Centers need to have their seats full and FCPS does not bus kids to centers with empty seats. So kids who would not be accepted into AAP in the Langley/McLean and similar pyramids are more likely to be accepted into AAP in the Herndon pyramid.

2) Parents play a huge roll in how an individual student does as well as the school. So schools with a more involved set of parents can offer more programs because they have more coaches and more financial support. Those extra programs benefit all the kids who participate in them and the school as a whole.

3) The most obvious, the teacher and administration.

So AAP is not uniform across the county. Comparing one data point, Nysmith, to an entire program across the entire county is silly. The different personalities, abilities and access to resources for a child in AAP is massive. Nysmith can pick and choose. I expect Nysmith to do well in competitions because they hand select their students. AND because the parents pay the school a ton of money to insure small class size and individual attention for their child. AND because the school should have the best of technology and text books and the like.

And yet kids who come out of general education programs in FCPS tend to do well in life. Kids who come out of the AAP/AP/IB programs in FCPS tend to do well in life. The kids who come out of Nysmith tend to do well in life.

Both my kids are in the 145-150+ range on WISC/SB-5 and attended/attend a "middle of the road" AAP center--not known for a lot of parent prep/pressure--kids don't universally know about 'TJ" and aren't thinking about it unless they are really, really into STEM. In some ways I think this served my kids better than a more highly regarded AAP because the teachers were willing to adapt to the handful of higher level kids through additional math acceleration, substitution of assignments etc. There seems less worry about if you do something for one kid it will open the floodgates of parent demands (I have friends at other more intense AAP centers where they are more cautious). On the other hand, there's less established culture around academic competitions like MathCounts if that's important to you. I don't think my kids were particularly academically challenged in ES even with extra acceleration, but they weren't overly bored. But we complemented that with CTY and other things and it worked out fine enough.

Anonymous wrote:My kid attends a school that is considered a strong AAP center, and is also one of the kids winning some of the big awards. The school has a strong program in several areas not because the teacher or school do anything, but rather because motivated parents are running after school coaching programs. Also, a lot of the students are taking outside enrichment courses. The school is getting credit for kids who were going to win those same awards no matter where they attended school.

This is the truth. It doesn't stop - high school SAT scores are high at schools where parents are spending on tutoring. Whether it is FCPS or private schools taking the credit, so much of a child's success is driven by their home environment.

My kid attends a school that is considered a strong AAP center, and is also one of the kids winning some of the big awards. The school has a strong program in several areas not because the teacher or school do anything, but rather because motivated parents are running after school coaching programs. Also, a lot of the students are taking outside enrichment courses. The school is getting credit for kids who were going to win those same awards no matter where they attended school.

Not jealous. Just wish the AAP program was more selective.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nysmith's curriculum is by far superior to AAP.

Says...who? Again, I’m sure it’s better in some things and not in others and vice versa. As for the awards, look at this hyped up example: http://www.nysmith.com/nysmith-team-wins-highest-honors-in-wordmasters-challenge/

Fcps does wordmasters as well and scores very high, but doesn’t put blow by blows in the connection newspaper

You are just JEALOUS. 2 kids from Nysmith getting the perfect score out of 22 kids in the whole of US is awesome !! What is hyped up in this and which FCPS school has such results.

Uh, not jealous. Look at the results released yesterday. Nysmith ranked in ONE grade. Louise Archer did it in every grade. That’s one Fcps. So does that mean nysmith has tiny pockets of really bright kids and Fcps is more balanced? This past result is a perfect example bc Louise Archer is a single school as is nysmith.

My DCs attended Archer AAP program. Highly over rated. The HS Madison has gone down in the ratings and has very few attending TJ. Maybe they just don’t want to go to TJ. But mainly they didn’t get in. The counselor at Thoreau told us so few ever got in to not even bother to apply. Glad we passed on that advice.