Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not that honors is not a good education, it is simply that it is different.

When we had to decide between the AAP center and the base middle school for our child, we went to a parent meeting where the teachers explained that AAP and honors were different curriculums. There were handouts available that showed the differences in what was taught in each.

What is the difference?

So, I don't have the handouts anymore, but I remember that there were distinct differences in the specifics of what was covered.

For example, in English, AAP and Honors classes would learn about the same concepts and genres of literature, but the actual works read would be different. The AAP center classes would read more difficult novels, plays, or poetry, tending toward the more classical. Honors literature would be less complex and lean toward a more popular interest level.

Also, the AAP assignments would be more in depth and be graded to a higher standard (work that would earn an A in Honors would only earn a B in the AAP classes).

The programs are both good and they are tailored to the needs of each set of students. I think it would be difficult to run both programs in every middle school, especially in schools that do not have an AAP center in place now and will have relatively small numbers of AAP students.

One key difference is the students and peer groupings. AAP classes are filled with other AAP kids who have tested into the program. "Open Honors" classes means that these classes are open to anyone who wants to take them. Both are great, and both have a valuable role.

Anonymous wrote:I am unable to go to tonight's Cluster 8 meeting. Our base schools are Navy/Franklin/Oakton, Hunters Woods/Carson for AAP. Under the realignment, would my kids go to a newly-created Franklin AAP center since that is our base middle school, or would they go to Carson since we are in the Oakton pyramid while Franklin is considered Chantilly pyramid? I am so confused.

Franklin is a split feeder....Navy kids, under the new plan, will be at Franklin, not Carson. Plus Franklin is underenrolled and Carson is not.

I am unable to go to tonight's Cluster 8 meeting. Our base schools are Navy/Franklin/Oakton, Hunters Woods/Carson for AAP. Under the realignment, would my kids go to a newly-created Franklin AAP center since that is our base middle school, or would they go to Carson since we are in the Oakton pyramid while Franklin is considered Chantilly pyramid? I am so confused.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not that honors is not a good education, it is simply that it is different.

When we had to decide between the AAP center and the base middle school for our child, we went to a parent meeting where the teachers explained that AAP and honors were different curriculums. There were handouts available that showed the differences in what was taught in each.

What is the difference?

So, I don't have the handouts anymore, but I remember that there were distinct differences in the specifics of what was covered.

For example, in English, AAP and Honors classes would learn about the same concepts and genres of literature, but the actual works read would be different. The AAP center classes would read more difficult novels, plays, or poetry, tending toward the more classical. Honors literature would be less complex and lean toward a more popular interest level.

Also, the AAP assignments would be more in depth and be graded to a higher standard (work that would earn an A in Honors would only earn a B in the AAP classes).

The programs are both good and they are tailored to the needs of each set of students. I think it would be difficult to run both programs in every middle school, especially in schools that do not have an AAP center in place now and will have relatively small numbers of AAP students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would FCPS predict that the enrollment at Cooper will drop from 800 to 681 over the next 5 years when the population of Great Falls and McLean are expanding? That is nearly 20% of the current student population. Are other MS loosing populations at this pace?

Because FCPS is notoriously bad at its projections!!!! They were way off with Haycock (and many other schools I'm sure). Look at the dashboard and you'll see projections that are downright bizarre.

Because increases at the elementary schools which have level 4 might be showing up in the Kilmer numbers? FCPS screwed up on that sheet with the numbers to schools. Colvin Run is a split feeder for the base school and therefore AAP. The sheet shows all of them in the Langley Pyramid.

I just went on the FCPS boundary locator with 1432 Towlston , the Shouse Village community center, and I am correct. FCPS screwed up.

The boundary locator reflects the current, correct assignments for Shouse Village. Presumably the FCPS projections for Cooper, Kilmer and Longfellow on the capacity dashboard assume a continuation of current AAP assignments, since no changes have, in fact, yet been made. The "numbers to schools" on the "sheet" appear to be a crude reallocation of AAP students at different elementary schools to the various high school "pyramids," without regard to whether those schools are split feeders.

I don't know whether there are "screw ups" or not in these numbers, since no one really knows at this point where FCPS will land on the MS proposals. I do agree that FCPS enrollment projections bounce around quite a bit. Whether the Cooper and Langley enrollments will decline as much as FCPS is now projecting over the next five years remains to be seen. The actual enrollment numbers indicate that Cooper has 29 fewer students this fall than in the fall of 2011, while Langley's enrollment declined by 66 students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would FCPS predict that the enrollment at Cooper will drop from 800 to 681 over the next 5 years when the population of Great Falls and McLean are expanding? That is nearly 20% of the current student population. Are other MS loosing populations at this pace?

Because FCPS is notoriously bad at its projections!!!! They were way off with Haycock (and many other schools I'm sure). Look at the dashboard and you'll see projections that are downright bizarre.

Because increases at the elementary schools which have level 4 might be showing up in the Kilmer numbers? FCPS screwed up on that sheet with the numbers to schools. Colvin Run is a split feeder for the base school and therefore AAP. The sheet shows all of them in the Langley Pyramid.

I just went on the FCPS boundary locator with 1432 Towlston , the Shouse Village community center, and I am correct. FCPS screwed up.

Anonymous wrote:Why would FCPS predict that the enrollment at Cooper will drop from 800 to 681 over the next 5 years when the population of Great Falls and McLean are expanding? That is nearly 20% of the current student population. Are other MS loosing populations at this pace?

Because FCPS is notoriously bad at its projections!!!! They were way off with Haycock (and many other schools I'm sure). Look at the dashboard and you'll see projections that are downright bizarre.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not that honors is not a good education, it is simply that it is different.

When we had to decide between the AAP center and the base middle school for our child, we went to a parent meeting where the teachers explained that AAP and honors were different curriculums. There were handouts available that showed the differences in what was taught in each.

What is the difference?

I don't really have a dog in this fight, and I think both are excellent programs with different goals. AAP is focused on compacting and accelerating the curriculum, a focus on higher order thinking skills and an emphasis on demonstrating autonomy and independence. Honors is POS extension and emphasizes the development of emerging independence. These are not my words -- they are directly from the FCPS website. Again, both good programs but for different types of thinkers. I also think I saw somewhere on the website that the POS for Honors and AAP were developed by different organizations.

I don't quite get what you are saying. I thought that because of the tanking economy MORE kids are attending public schools instead of private schools. I would have thought that enrollment at schools in that part of Fairfax County was increasing, not decreasing. If the economy is making ghost-towns out of some of these schools, perhaps they should be closed and additional facilities should be added to the schools where the population is growing.

Anonymous wrote:It is not that honors is not a good education, it is simply that it is different.

When we had to decide between the AAP center and the base middle school for our child, we went to a parent meeting where the teachers explained that AAP and honors were different curriculums. There were handouts available that showed the differences in what was taught in each.

What is the difference?

Probably because most of the wealthier kids are in Cooper boundaries-higher property taxes plus tanking economy may lead to underenrollment.

Why would FCPS predict that the enrollment at Cooper will drop from 800 to 681 over the next 5 years when the population of Great Falls and McLean are expanding? That is nearly 20% of the current student population. Are other MS loosing populations at this pace?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cooper is currently 150 students under capacity. And, FCPS now projects that, in 2017, Cooper will only have 681 students in a building designed for 950 students.

Why shouldn't the AAP kids from the Langley pyramid now at Longfellow and Kilmer go there instead? Without the reassignment, FCPS projects that both Longfellow and Kilmer will be considerably above-capacity in 2017.

How much of the Cooper capacity is any modular? Longfellow?

Don't know about the modulars. FCPS reports 0 trailers at Cooper, 2 at Longfellow and 14 at Kilmer. It also projects an enrollment at Cooper in 2017 of 681 students, compared to 1473 at Longfellow and 1505 at Kilmer. It also reports that Cooper currently has 157 square feet per student, compared to 137 at Longfellow and 138 at Kilmer.

Anonymous wrote:Cooper is currently 150 students under capacity. And, FCPS now projects that, in 2017, Cooper will only have 681 students in a building designed for 950 students.

Why shouldn't the AAP kids from the Langley pyramid now at Longfellow and Kilmer go there instead? Without the reassignment, FCPS projects that both Longfellow and Kilmer will be considerably above-capacity in 2017.

How much of the Cooper capacity is any modular? Longfellow?