Anonymous wrote:We are is a high SeS school and left for the center also in a high ses area. The center school has smaller classes with only full time kids. The local school had very few children that are full time and places other kids in there to fill the class. The truly full time kids never get the advancement and attention they need

I have difficulty that you are at a high SES school and there were not enough LIII/LIV kids, or what every they are being called now, to form a LLIV class. We were at a MC/UMC ES and there were more then enough kids to create an Advanced Math class, the school didn't have LLIV at the time. Conviently, all the kids in the Advanced Math class were in the LIII pull out, so they were all LIII or LIV students. There were a few kids in the LIII pull out not in the Advanced Math class. The Advanced Math effectively served as the LLIV class at the school.

The school has a cluster model now but that includes a pull out for the LIV identified kids in order to give them more direct instruction.

Anonymous wrote:We are is a high SeS school and left for the center also in a high ses area. The center school has smaller classes with only full time kids. The local school had very few children that are full time and places other kids in there to fill the class. The truly full time kids never get the advancement and attention they need

This is school dependent. Plenty of Centers have AAP classes that are full.

Anonymous wrote:We are is a high SeS school and left for the center also in a high ses area. The center school has smaller classes with only full time kids. The local school had very few children that are full time and places other kids in there to fill the class. The truly full time kids never get the advancement and attention they need

"The center school has smaller classes with only full time kids."

Yes - this will be true for Grade 3 - you'll however notice in higher grades that as more kids get admitted, your classes will be larger than average in 5th and 6th grades. Particularly for math with push-ins.


The local school had very few children that are full time and places other kids in there to fill the class. The truly full time kids never get the advancement and attention they need.

This is true for BOTH a local school as well as a center classroom. While FFX county satisfies its gifted program requirements through this mechanism, the advertisement of "advanced" is pretty misleading, as you'll find in numerous posts here. Like any classroom, the teacher has much more influence over the learning than the classroom or curriculum itself, and you can have a good or bad teacher in both general as well as AAP. I'd also state that if its a true LLIV class, with principal placed students, the difference between the ones who were selected for AAP, and those who were not is pretty non-existent. The only real benefit is that it weeds out the lower half, which generally includes the majority of trouble-makers.

If you're seeking an "appropriate" education for your child - you may want to seek private school options.

Anonymous wrote:I have had kids do both and have a kid at a center now. While my kid at the center is very happy (so no regrets), I am not really sure they are getting an academic experience that is all that different from what they would’ve gotten at the base school. Of course, will be dependent on whether base school has strong cohort and how many kids choose center.

I’m going to take a wild guess that the PP is in the Langley or McLean pyramid.

We are is a high SeS school and left for the center also in a high ses area. The center school has smaller classes with only full time kids. The local school had very few children that are full time and places other kids in there to fill the class. The truly full time kids never get the advancement and attention they need

That’s because forest edge is not a good school. The center is there to boost ratings.

It is entirely dependent on the schools involved. It would be a huge mistake to send a kid to the center at Forest Edge from their base school of Forestville, for example, which is why no one does. On the other hand, if a student at Dogwood is identified as Level IV sending them to Sunrise Valley would be a no brainer.

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone have experience with both and can speak to the differences? My understanding is that at the local level for you'll have more kids that are principal placed rather than from the county. Not sure if there's any differences. Please let me know your experiences if you had them

There seem to be 2 models - either the LLIV has an LIV class (with all the level 4 kids who stayed plus principal-placed kids) or they do the cluster model (take the level 4 kids and just put them in a regular classroom.)

Our base school flat out told us they couldn't do the former because they didn't have enough level 3 and 4 kids together to make up a single classroom.

If your kid truly needs the advanced content (ie, to keep them occupied and not disruptive) then you want to avoid that cluster model, more than likely. That's where the kid won't really get all the LIV content.

Anonymous wrote:Again - Everyone here has differing experiences because as previous posters have stated, this is entirely school dependent. If you want feedback and don't want to reveal the specific schools in a public forum, then I'd speak to other parents in your neighborhood.

People disagreeing with their personal experiences are not comparing apples to apples.

+1. There is a huge difference between schools in FCPS. Not all centers and level IVs are the same. If you want more accurate feedback, list the schools you’re comparing.

We kept our DD local because of immersion. We do have AAP at our base but its cluster model. It's been great. No regrets - I think staying in our amazing school community was way more important than any marginal benefit of the center.

Again - Everyone here has differing experiences because as previous posters have stated, this is entirely school dependent. If you want feedback and don't want to reveal the specific schools in a public forum, then I'd speak to other parents in your neighborhood.

People disagreeing with their personal experiences are not comparing apples to apples.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to the center school if you want a true AAP experience and strong education

Completely agree! Don’t listen to people (ie. the school) who tell you there is no difference between local and the center. There is and it’s huge. The school doesn’t want their best students to flee so they will do and say anything to get you to stay local. Don’t fall for it.

There are individual reasons for staying at the base school and going to the Center. It depends on the kids and their needs and the environment.

We deferred AAP and stayed at a LI base school with no local AAP. DC went to MS and joined the AAP classes. They are a straight A student and have had no issues keeping up with the kids who participated in AAP at the Center or through a local program. AAP is not that deep. It can be great for some kids and not necessary for others. People should make choices based on their kid and where they feel they need to be.

Anonymous wrote:Go to the center school if you want a true AAP experience and strong education

Completely agree! Don’t listen to people (ie. the school) who tell you there is no difference between local and the center. There is and it’s huge. The school doesn’t want their best students to flee so they will do and say anything to get you to stay local. Don’t fall for it.

Anonymous wrote:Our base is a center school. Probably not too common of a problem on this board, but my kid has had a lot more trouble making connections in the AAP classroom than in the earlier grades when it was mixed ability. It appears most of the kids go together to test prep places/native language schools on the weekend, while my kid is more into sports and the like. I've actually been thinking about pulling him out of AAP since there's not much difference in curriculum these days and math is his weakest subject; he doesn't need algebra in 6th. Plus, all of his social invites this year have come from gen ed kids he only somewhat knows from whatever special once a week. I was thinking he could probably make stronger friendships if he saw those kids on a more routine basis.

It is so individual and so many families miss this fact. What works great for one kid is awful for another. Different schools have very different peer groups.

We had kids go to the center and return to the base the next year because of exactly what you were describing. There are AAP programs where the families are so focused on school that there is little to no socialization that happens in the class. The kids are going to after school academic programs and music lessons and language classes. The people I know invited kids over for play dates and birthday parties and the answer was always no. The parents claimed the kids were doing fine in class but the socialization was nil.

We also know people whose kids went to the Center and loved it. They were more comfortable with the kids who were more academic focused and less worried about sports and clothes and the like. It really depends on the kid. We have neighbors who moved to the Center because of bullying in their daughter’s class, the Center was great for them. They got along better with the kids in the class and did really well. We know a decent number of kids who were in the regular class, we were LI, where the teacher at the end of 3 and 4 grade told the parents to apply for AAP the next year because the kid needed a different peer group. The kids were happier at the Center with more kids who were on their academic level. They are not geniuses but smart kids who enjoy learning and they needed a different environment.

I know kids who were miserable at both schools and the parents are trying to figure out why and not seeing that the kids behavior has a lot to do with it. There was one kid in my kids class who annouced he was moving to the Center and how smart he was for about 2 months, no one was sad to see him go. I ran into his Mom and a birthday party and she was commenting that he had only found one kid at the Center to hang out with and she just didn’t understand why. I kept my mouth shut.

Anonymous wrote:Our base is a center school. Probably not too common of a problem on this board, but my kid has had a lot more trouble making connections in the AAP classroom than in the earlier grades when it was mixed ability. It appears most of the kids go together to test prep places/native language schools on the weekend, while my kid is more into sports and the like. I've actually been thinking about pulling him out of AAP since there's not much difference in curriculum these days and math is his weakest subject; he doesn't need algebra in 6th. Plus, all of his social invites this year have come from gen ed kids he only somewhat knows from whatever special once a week. I was thinking he could probably make stronger friendships if he saw those kids on a more routine basis.

My AAP kid goes to the center school. She and her AAP friends play multiple sports. They are also friends with non-AAP kids. All sit together at lunch, play at recess together and hang out outside of school. Part of what sustains their friendships is that they are involved in the same sports and activities. I don’t think pulling your kid out of AAP is the solution. Perhaps fostering connections with the non AAP kids outside of school would help if those are the kids he gravitates to.