Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a neighborhood school, it's a lottery.

It's stricter, has a dress code and has homework.

Classes are bigger.

It's generally used by people trying to escape neighborhood schools that have a lot of poverty.

I only know a few people who have kids there, and they have said that it's hard to schedule playdates and get to know families since they oftentimes don't speak English as their first language.

ATS family here. I do not agree with the "it's hard to schedule playdates and get to know families since they often times don't speak English as their first language". The school is diverse in many ways since it's lottery, however, it isn't hard to meet families or set up outside school activates if that is something you are interested in doing.

Another ATS family - easy to schedule playdates with classmates from ATS. Neighborhood kids? Good luck. Every new family we meet in our neighborhood groans when we say we go to ATS. If they just moved to Arlington (all those new people!) and we say ATS, they have no idea, but the next time we see them you see the jealousy.

This sounds like it has to do with how you're talking about ATS vs. the fact that your kids go there.

To you and the other poster, it just comes up: "Oh, where do your children go?" when they learn its not the local school. When we say ATS, I get some hard eye rolls from those who didn't get the lottery. FWIW, we live in south Arlington, in a planning unit with lots of people who do option schools, mostly immersion. Those families don't care, but the ones who attend our zoned school will straight up roll their eyes at us and the nice ones will at least tell us they wish we were at the same school because they could use more kids whose families would be involved in school. I don't think that is narcissistic to notice when people roll their eyes at you for answering what school your kids go to.

Are you sure you aren't giving off some kind of "I would never send my kid to THAT school" vibe?

Well, we do get a lot of "Oh, of course YOUR kids go to ATS." We're a mixed race couple and ATS does seem to attract mixed race kids in high numbers. I'll take it over the person who actually clutched her pearls while explaining to me how she was going to chase boundaries around north Arlington and gasped when I said I wasn't in MONA because I live south of 50 (true story). Or the people on DCUM who accused me of gambling with our kids' education by not living in the "right" area, but then getting into ATS in a thread a while back.

Anonymous wrote:I love how parents INSIST that the ATS system is better for their kid - and usually their other kids - when the kids have never been in formal school and they have no idea what education their kid(s) will respond to.

If it is going to be a program that is different than any other school, or provide (some, maybe) value, kids should be evaluated by a the school’s administration for admission.

Parents generally send their kids there because they think it’s elite, not because it is better for the kid.

In some ways it is unique due to it's "no dead weight" lottery entry requirements. Yes, the population is very socioeconomically diverse, but the parents who knew enough about the system to get their kids into the lottery-only VPI classes at ATS are more involved and savvier than the parents signing their kid up for kindergarten at the neighborhood school on the first day.

I love how parents INSIST that the ATS system is better for their kid - and usually their other kids - when the kids have never been in formal school and they have no idea what education their kid(s) will respond to.

If it is going to be a program that is different than any other school, or provide (some, maybe) value, kids should be evaluated by a the school’s administration for admission.

Parents generally send their kids there because they think it’s elite, not because it is better for the kid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a neighborhood school, it's a lottery.

It's stricter, has a dress code and has homework.

Classes are bigger.

It's generally used by people trying to escape neighborhood schools that have a lot of poverty.

I only know a few people who have kids there, and they have said that it's hard to schedule playdates and get to know families since they oftentimes don't speak English as their first language.

ATS family here. I do not agree with the "it's hard to schedule playdates and get to know families since they often times don't speak English as their first language". The school is diverse in many ways since it's lottery, however, it isn't hard to meet families or set up outside school activates if that is something you are interested in doing.

Another ATS family - easy to schedule playdates with classmates from ATS. Neighborhood kids? Good luck. Every new family we meet in our neighborhood groans when we say we go to ATS. If they just moved to Arlington (all those new people!) and we say ATS, they have no idea, but the next time we see them you see the jealousy.

This sounds like it has to do with how you're talking about ATS vs. the fact that your kids go there.

To you and the other poster, it just comes up: "Oh, where do your children go?" when they learn its not the local school. When we say ATS, I get some hard eye rolls from those who didn't get the lottery. FWIW, we live in south Arlington, in a planning unit with lots of people who do option schools, mostly immersion. Those families don't care, but the ones who attend our zoned school will straight up roll their eyes at us and the nice ones will at least tell us they wish we were at the same school because they could use more kids whose families would be involved in school. I don't think that is narcissistic to notice when people roll their eyes at you for answering what school your kids go to.

Are you sure you aren't giving off some kind of "I would never send my kid to THAT school" vibe?

Anonymous wrote:https://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/old-school/

Eventually, it won't matter where your kid went to ES, but if you think ATS would make your kid (not you) happier for the duration of ES, enter the lottery.

We knew families from preschool who sent their kids to ATS and still get together with their ATS acquaintances. They are fervid in their support of ATS. They are very much into rule-following: those tucked-in shirts, mandatory instrument, homework every day, must read by K, standardized test scores? They dig that stuff.

My kids do better with more autonomy, even if there were times their choices made me nuts. But are they now independent, functioning adults (or clearly on their way) because we let them make their own decisions, or was that going to happen anyway? And on the flip side, are their ATS friends still getting a lot of parental shepherding because they've always needed it (so ATS was a good fit), or did the rigidity of ATS keep them from developing self-reliance?

And yeah, the weirdness of COVID probably didn't help older teenagers/early 20somethings get launched, either.

That's just kids being different. Mine did Montessori, one from Pre-K through 5th, one from K through middle school, and neither of them developed that famed independence. I actually think one would have been much happier at ATS, he likes knowing what the rules are and having structure. His favorite thing in elementary was chorus, because the choir director gave clear directions and held everyone to the same standard.

Non-white POC here. We love ATS because it’s diversity compared to our also very excellent neighborhood school. People apply to ATS for a variety of reasons - we applied for the diversity and to avoid switching schools if we move (planning on buying a new home). We know people who applied to avoid boundary changes, those who applied because they don’t like their neighborhood school and those who applied who like the philosophy. I actually find ATS parents to be quite down to earth which was a surprise to me as I assumed they would be the extremely competitive type. Boy was I wrong! The teachers are wonderful as well and they know how to make learning fun. The school does have a few negatives in my opinion. Not deal breakers but something to keep in mind:

- hub stops - this means an additional 15 minutes or so of walking to your bus stop and may include crossing major roads. Unless you live right next to a hub stop, your child’s commute will be longer.
- large class sizes: it’s a lottery school and the waitlist is long, so classes are filled up to capacity
- homework: at least three times a week and can get annoying. That being said we are used to it now and I feel that it has been beneficial
- not a neighborhood school: lots of negatives with this. Your kids won’t know as many kids in middle school and may not know the neighborhood kids as well. You can mitigate this by being friendly with your neighbors and enrolling your kids in after school sports
- negative reaction from some people: honestly it’s not a lot of people but some people seem make a face when they know my children go to ATS. Not sure why to be honest. Maybe it’s because we chose not to send them to our neighborhood school? I try to mitigate this by talking about how great our neighborhood school is and explain why we applied.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a neighborhood school, it's a lottery.

It's stricter, has a dress code and has homework.

Classes are bigger.

It's generally used by people trying to escape neighborhood schools that have a lot of poverty.

I only know a few people who have kids there, and they have said that it's hard to schedule playdates and get to know families since they oftentimes don't speak English as their first language.

ATS family here. I do not agree with the "it's hard to schedule playdates and get to know families since they often times don't speak English as their first language". The school is diverse in many ways since it's lottery, however, it isn't hard to meet families or set up outside school activates if that is something you are interested in doing.

Another ATS family - easy to schedule playdates with classmates from ATS. Neighborhood kids? Good luck. Every new family we meet in our neighborhood groans when we say we go to ATS. If they just moved to Arlington (all those new people!) and we say ATS, they have no idea, but the next time we see them you see the jealousy.

This sounds like it has to do with how you're talking about ATS vs. the fact that your kids go there.

To you and the other poster, it just comes up: "Oh, where do your children go?" when they learn its not the local school. When we say ATS, I get some hard eye rolls from those who didn't get the lottery. FWIW, we live in south Arlington, in a planning unit with lots of people who do option schools, mostly immersion. Those families don't care, but the ones who attend our zoned school will straight up roll their eyes at us and the nice ones will at least tell us they wish we were at the same school because they could use more kids whose families would be involved in school. I don't think that is narcissistic to notice when people roll their eyes at you for answering what school your kids go to.

People don't care that much, they just know you will be useless as a potential playmate for their kid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a neighborhood school, it's a lottery.

It's stricter, has a dress code and has homework.

Classes are bigger.

It's generally used by people trying to escape neighborhood schools that have a lot of poverty.

I only know a few people who have kids there, and they have said that it's hard to schedule playdates and get to know families since they oftentimes don't speak English as their first language.

ATS family here. I do not agree with the "it's hard to schedule playdates and get to know families since they often times don't speak English as their first language". The school is diverse in many ways since it's lottery, however, it isn't hard to meet families or set up outside school activates if that is something you are interested in doing.

Another ATS family - easy to schedule playdates with classmates from ATS. Neighborhood kids? Good luck. Every new family we meet in our neighborhood groans when we say we go to ATS. If they just moved to Arlington (all those new people!) and we say ATS, they have no idea, but the next time we see them you see the jealousy.

This sounds like it has to do with how you're talking about ATS vs. the fact that your kids go there.

To you and the other poster, it just comes up: "Oh, where do your children go?" when they learn its not the local school. When we say ATS, I get some hard eye rolls from those who didn't get the lottery. FWIW, we live in south Arlington, in a planning unit with lots of people who do option schools, mostly immersion. Those families don't care, but the ones who attend our zoned school will straight up roll their eyes at us and the nice ones will at least tell us they wish we were at the same school because they could use more kids whose families would be involved in school. I don't think that is narcissistic to notice when people roll their eyes at you for answering what school your kids go to.

Every person who has rolled their eyes is someone who signed up for the lottery but didn't get into APS?

Anonymous wrote:We’re new to Arlington and don’t know much about ATS. Our local is Jamestown (which we understand to be non-diverse — which is too bad, but we are POC and understood what we were getting into), which I thought would be good academically. Should we explore ATS too?

Sure why not?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a neighborhood school, it's a lottery.

It's stricter, has a dress code and has homework.

Classes are bigger.

It's generally used by people trying to escape neighborhood schools that have a lot of poverty.

I only know a few people who have kids there, and they have said that it's hard to schedule playdates and get to know families since they oftentimes don't speak English as their first language.

ATS family here. I do not agree with the "it's hard to schedule playdates and get to know families since they often times don't speak English as their first language". The school is diverse in many ways since it's lottery, however, it isn't hard to meet families or set up outside school activates if that is something you are interested in doing.

Another ATS family - easy to schedule playdates with classmates from ATS. Neighborhood kids? Good luck. Every new family we meet in our neighborhood groans when we say we go to ATS. If they just moved to Arlington (all those new people!) and we say ATS, they have no idea, but the next time we see them you see the jealousy.

This sounds like it has to do with how you're talking about ATS vs. the fact that your kids go there.

To you and the other poster, it just comes up: "Oh, where do your children go?" when they learn its not the local school. When we say ATS, I get some hard eye rolls from those who didn't get the lottery. FWIW, we live in south Arlington, in a planning unit with lots of people who do option schools, mostly immersion. Those families don't care, but the ones who attend our zoned school will straight up roll their eyes at us and the nice ones will at least tell us they wish we were at the same school because they could use more kids whose families would be involved in school. I don't think that is narcissistic to notice when people roll their eyes at you for answering what school your kids go to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a neighborhood school, it's a lottery.

It's stricter, has a dress code and has homework.

Classes are bigger.

It's generally used by people trying to escape neighborhood schools that have a lot of poverty.

I only know a few people who have kids there, and they have said that it's hard to schedule playdates and get to know families since they oftentimes don't speak English as their first language.

ATS family here. I do not agree with the "it's hard to schedule playdates and get to know families since they often times don't speak English as their first language". The school is diverse in many ways since it's lottery, however, it isn't hard to meet families or set up outside school activates if that is something you are interested in doing.

Another ATS family - easy to schedule playdates with classmates from ATS. Neighborhood kids? Good luck. Every new family we meet in our neighborhood groans when we say we go to ATS. If they just moved to Arlington (all those new people!) and we say ATS, they have no idea, but the next time we see them you see the jealousy.

This sounds like it has to do with how you're talking about ATS vs. the fact that your kids go there.

https://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/old-school/

Eventually, it won't matter where your kid went to ES, but if you think ATS would make your kid (not you) happier for the duration of ES, enter the lottery.

We knew families from preschool who sent their kids to ATS and still get together with their ATS acquaintances. They are fervid in their support of ATS. They are very much into rule-following: those tucked-in shirts, mandatory instrument, homework every day, must read by K, standardized test scores? They dig that stuff.

My kids do better with more autonomy, even if there were times their choices made me nuts. But are they now independent, functioning adults (or clearly on their way) because we let them make their own decisions, or was that going to happen anyway? And on the flip side, are their ATS friends still getting a lot of parental shepherding because they've always needed it (so ATS was a good fit), or did the rigidity of ATS keep them from developing self-reliance?

And yeah, the weirdness of COVID probably didn't help older teenagers/early 20somethings get launched, either.

We’re new to Arlington and don’t know much about ATS. Our local is Jamestown (which we understand to be non-diverse — which is too bad, but we are POC and understood what we were getting into), which I thought would be good academically. Should we explore ATS too?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a neighborhood school, it's a lottery.

It's stricter, has a dress code and has homework.

Classes are bigger.

It's generally used by people trying to escape neighborhood schools that have a lot of poverty.

I only know a few people who have kids there, and they have said that it's hard to schedule playdates and get to know families since they oftentimes don't speak English as their first language.

ATS family here. I do not agree with the "it's hard to schedule playdates and get to know families since they often times don't speak English as their first language". The school is diverse in many ways since it's lottery, however, it isn't hard to meet families or set up outside school activates if that is something you are interested in doing.

Another ATS family - easy to schedule playdates with classmates from ATS. Neighborhood kids? Good luck. Every new family we meet in our neighborhood groans when we say we go to ATS. If they just moved to Arlington (all those new people!) and we say ATS, they have no idea, but the next time we see them you see the jealousy.

Jealousy?!?!? You are a narcissist. Why be jealous of sending your kid to the far side of the county for no reason. ATS kids do no better than any other school in MS. You are the people everyone wants to avoid by not signing up for ATS. Horrible humans.

Anonymous wrote:It is an option school that has higher average scores because by definition it only pulls in students whose parents are highly engaged with academic achievement.

As for how it compares otherwise with your neighborhood school, we have no clue what your neighborhood school is.

Does any have links to APS spreadsheets counts of students attending option schools from each neighborhood school? I had seen them but now can only find this https://www.apsva.us/school-options/school-transfer-data-2/pre-k-elementary-options-transfers-application-data-school-year-2021-22/