Any one else have a kid at Oakton ES found eligible this year?

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any idea of the process used to determine the principal designated students for Oakton ES Local Level IV? Does it seem like a fair / transparent process? Does parental involvement seem to influence the process?

Not transparent at all. The lucky ones get a telephone call in August, about a week before school starts. That's it. I have not heard that parental involvement (for example, room parent, PTA officer) influences the decision, although some parents write a letter to the principal specifically asking that their child be considered for placement in the AAP class with reasons why. Again, no idea whether that works, but it shouldn't hurt, right?

My base is a center and I wish it had LLIV. I think it is unfair that really bright kids that get overlooked by the cmte (in-the-pool kids) have to sit in Gen Ed with kids who are not on par. Very unfair, indeed.

Before making a decision, you should look into what will happen in 2014-15. The Center for Oakton ES is slated to change to Mosby Woods. Nothng is definite yet, but likely. Ask all your questions about grandfathering and transportation before you make a decision to send to Sunrise Valley! Personally, I would stay put for one more year until all the restructuring pans out. I wish my DCs base school had a LLIV option for this very reason.

To the OP's question, I cannot see the point of schlepping up to Reston (Sunrise Valley) for the Center program. How special / different can Grade 3 - 6 education be? And even if your kid's a genius, it's not like all the other Center kids will be geniuses - they will just be more above average than the Local Level IV kids. Stay at Oakton ES and your kid can make neighborhood friends and friends they may have through HS. Unless plan is definitely to go to TJ and perhaps would make more future TJ friends at the Center. Is it really good to separate a kid from the neighborhood school like that? Seems like it could be kind of alienating.

Does anyone have any idea of the process used to determine the principal designated students for Oakton ES Local Level IV? Does it seem like a fair / transparent process? Does parental involvement seem to influence the process?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI - Dashboard lists total in the AAP class, not just those that are "center eligible". So it includes principal chosen students who were not selected by the county.

I do not know if this is true at Oakton ES, but I know this is not true for several schools in cluster 3.

I can confirm that the numbers for Oakton reflect both the center-eligibles and the principal chosen students.

Thank you.

One good way to check would be to look at the figures from Dashboard as compared to the membership totals presented in the School Profile.

School Profile shows a total of 137 AAP Level IV Center in September 2012, dropping to 132 in March 2013.

Dashboard shows a total of 126 AAP students.

So the difference is 11 (across all three grades).

Anonymous wrote:According to Dashboard, 15 AAP Center eligible students left Oakton ES this year and 126 AAP Center eligible students remained.

32 in 3rd grade
48 in 4th grade
26 in 5th grade
20 in 6th grade


http://www.fcps.edu/fts/dashboard/enrollment/esenroll.html

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI - Dashboard lists total in the AAP class, not just those that are "center eligible". So it includes principal chosen students who were not selected by the county.

I do not know if this is true at Oakton ES, but I know this is not true for several schools in cluster 3.

How do you know?

Because I worked with Facilities in correcting errors in the numbers for several Cluster 3 schools after erroneous figures were circulated as part of the AAP expansion proposals in September, October, and November 2012.

Just my two cents. My DS is in LLIV. We decided not to go to the center because so many of the center eligible kids elected to stay put. I was concerned that LLIV would not be as challenging since some of the principal appointed kids appear far from center qualified. Turns out my concerns were unfounded. The teachers taught to the highest level, not the lowest. If you are similarly concerned, you should ask current parents of LLIV kids what the teaching philosophy is at your school. If some parents complain that it's "too hard", I would take that as a good sign.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI - Dashboard lists total in the AAP class, not just those that are "center eligible". So it includes principal chosen students who were not selected by the county.

I do not know if this is true at Oakton ES, but I know this is not true for several schools in cluster 3.

I can confirm that the numbers for Oakton reflect both the center-eligibles and the principal chosen students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FYI - Dashboard lists total in the AAP class, not just those that are "center eligible". So it includes principal chosen students who were not selected by the county.

I do not know if this is true at Oakton ES, but I know this is not true for several schools in cluster 3.

How do you know?

Anonymous wrote:Why doesnt every school offer LLIV? Better yet, just make LLIV the mainstream class, and offer outside support to those that sturggle. So tired of GenEd being dumbed down to help those that struggle. The average kid suffers IMO.

We've been through this before, ad infinitum

Why doesnt every school offer LLIV? Better yet, just make LLIV the mainstream class, and offer outside support to those that sturggle. So tired of GenEd being dumbed down to help those that struggle. The average kid suffers IMO.

Anonymous wrote:FYI - Dashboard lists total in the AAP class, not just those that are "center eligible". So it includes principal chosen students who were not selected by the county.

I do not know if this is true at Oakton ES, but I know this is not true for several schools in cluster 3.

FYI - Dashboard lists total in the AAP class, not just those that are "center eligible". So it includes principal chosen students who were not selected by the county.