Fairfax County has the AAP program for 3-8th grade. It is not a gifted program but it is supposed to be fore advance learners, kids who are ahead in all subjects and could use some more depth in their learning. Math is accelerated. Kids in AAP have the option of attending a Center school, where they will be in a class with other AAP kids, or attending their base school which will offer some type of AAP program. That might be an AAP class, it might be a cluster of AAP kids in a class with some pull outs, there a bunch of different models. AAP continues in MS, with AAP classes in 7th and 8th grade. Some people will tell you MS Honors and AAP classes are the same, some will tell you they are different. It probably depends on the school.

By HS, all kids can opt into AP/IB classes and the AAP designation goes away. In MS all kids can opt into Honors classes if they are not in AAP.

We deferred AAP in ES, preferring language immersion, and then opted DS into AAP in MS. He has had no problem with his AAP classes in MS. I am not sold on the idea that it is all that deep of a program. We did appreciate Advanced Math in ES, which allowed DS to take Algebra 1 in 7th grade. FCPS is resting A1in 6th grade right now.

If you are really interested in a program like AAP you should know that McLean and Langley pyramids are two of the hardest kids to get kids into AAP because there are so many parents interested in the program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved from DC to Arlington and have been happy with the schools but if your focus is on gifted programs, you may want to look to Fairfax.

We aren’t particularly focused on it but curious how to determine whether my kid is a candidate. She has some strengths that qualify her for some of the gifted programs we have seen in other school districts. But if that’s not the case in APS, that’s fine, I just want to try to figure out the lay of the land.

Glad to hear you like APS after leaving DC. Were you in DCPS and how have you found the comparison?

Why do you care if she's a candidate? APS doesn't offer any gifted services past elementary. She can sign up for the same classes in MS and HS regardless of whether she has a gifted tag. If she wants harder classes, she can just sign up for intensified classes in that subject (except math).

As several posters have said, the only placement you need to worry about is for math. That's the one that matters in APS for middle school. And it's determined by her math scores on standardized tests.

You didn’t write anything wrong. APS gifted services are basically nonexistent is what everyone is trying to tell you. I’m debating if we move to McLean or just continue supplementing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved from DC to Arlington and have been happy with the schools but if your focus is on gifted programs, you may want to look to Fairfax.

We aren’t particularly focused on it but curious how to determine whether my kid is a candidate. She has some particular strengths that qualify her for some of the gifted programs we have seen in other school districts. But if that’s not the case in APS, that’s fine, I just want to try to figure out the lay of the land.

Glad to hear you like APS after leaving DC. Were you in DCPS and how have you found the comparison?

Has she had an IQ test? What was her score? I believe APS considers kids who score 120+ for gifted. And by consider, there are a lot of factors they use.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved from DC to Arlington and have been happy with the schools but if your focus is on gifted programs, you may want to look to Fairfax.

We aren’t particularly focused on it but curious how to determine whether my kid is a candidate. She has some particular strengths that qualify her for some of the gifted programs we have seen in other school districts. But if that’s not the case in APS, that’s fine, I just want to try to figure out the lay of the land.

Glad to hear you like APS after leaving DC. Were you in DCPS and how have you found the comparison?

We were in a charter. We have generally liked APS. After being at a charter, it is nice to have my kids at a school that I just do not have to think about very much. The teachers have experience, disciplinary issues are handled, there are school buses - it is not perfect but it all works. I did not want to move to Arlington, but we generally like it. We moved someplace walkable, we have shorter commutes than when we lived in DC and we know our neighbors. The high schools are big here. I would prefer smaller high schools, but my kids like it.

Anonymous wrote:We moved from DC to Arlington and have been happy with the schools but if your focus is on gifted programs, you may want to look to Fairfax.

We aren’t particularly focused on it but curious how to determine whether my kid is a candidate. She has some particular strengths that qualify her for some of the gifted programs we have seen in other school districts. But if that’s not the case in APS, that’s fine, I just want to try to figure out the lay of the land.

Glad to hear you like APS after leaving DC. Were you in DCPS and how have you found the comparison?

There's nothing gained by gifted ID past elementary in APS. As another poster said, it's close to useless in elementary, as well. Other than the math test-in issue for pre-algebra in 6th grade, all intensified middle school classes are open enrollment – there's supposed to be no gatekeeping, so you can push back if you meet any resistance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in DC and are considering a move to Arlington before my eldest starts 6th next year. I am trying to get a better sense of how children who move into APS in middle school can be identified as gifted. The criteria on the website seem rather vague. In other areas of the country, the criteria are very specific -- i.e., if your child achieves X percentile on Y nationally normed test, the child would be immediately placed in gifted upon starting school. This doesn't seem to be the case for APS -- instead it seems kind of squishy and like my child would be in a general classroom for some time while we waited for this subjective process to play out. Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated!

If this is your thinking, move to Mclean

But why though? What was it about what I wrote that makes you say that? I'm at the early end of the learning curve here.

Not this poster here but Fairfax's model is to separate out the gifted kids completely through middle school. It's called AAP. Fairfax's AAP program is somewhat controversial as many parents aggressively lobby and game the system to get kids into the program and overall the outcome is often white flight from lower-performing schools. FCPS re-integrates for high school. The two school districts (FCPS and APS) have very different gifted services models.

I actually didn’t know they re-integrate for HS in FFX. Can any kid then take AP or similar classes no matter what they did in the younger grades? Is it truly a full integration in HS?

Yes. Anyone can take anything same as APS in high school. It's same offerings...AP, IB, DE, honors/intensified. AAP is over at end of middle school. By the time they get to high school, most kids correctly place themselves. I think there is still over generous placing in honors classes freshman year but those kids bomb out and figure it out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live in DC and are considering a move to Arlington before my eldest starts 6th next year. I am trying to get a better sense of how children who move into APS in middle school can be identified as gifted. The criteria on the website seem rather vague. In other areas of the country, the criteria are very specific -- i.e., if your child achieves X percentile on Y nationally normed test, the child would be immediately placed in gifted upon starting school. This doesn't seem to be the case for APS -- instead it seems kind of squishy and like my child would be in a general classroom for some time while we waited for this subjective process to play out. Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated!

If this is your thinking, move to Mclean

But why though? What was it about what I wrote that makes you say that? I'm at the early end of the learning curve here.

Not this poster here but Fairfax's model is to separate out the gifted kids completely through middle school. It's called AAP. Fairfax's AAP program is somewhat controversial as many parents aggressively lobby and game the system to get kids into the program and overall the outcome is often white flight from lower-performing schools. FCPS re-integrates for high school. The two school districts (FCPS and APS) have very different gifted services models.

I actually didn’t know they re-integrate for HS in FFX. Can any kid then take AP or similar classes no matter what they did in the younger grades? Is it truly a full integration in HS?