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Anonymous wrote:Complainers gonna complain. We've been perfectly happy with our APS experience. The scores show zero difference between our school and high achieving MCPS / FCPS schools. So, shrug.

So you are at Jamestown?

Dang you went there. And you’re probably right.

Frankly so jealous of Jamestown. We are in North Arlington and the schools were supposed to be good, but it is such a difference apparently between neighborhoods. Jamestown is apparently amazing and meanwhile we are looking at private school because our neighborhood school is not the best. We should have bought north of Langston.

Which NA schools are not as nice as Jamestown?

Pretty much the rest of them. We bought above Langston and are far from thrilled.

What’s the rest of your pyramid? Williamsburg and Yorktown? Do people like those schools?

Discovery, Nottingham, Taylor and Jamestown are the best in Arlington if you have a bright kid that would be bored. The other NA schools are fine as well but your gifted kid may not be challenged.

Gifted kids aren’t challenged at any Arlington school. You have to go private. Your kid really isn’t that gifted

The bolded. It’s by design.

Why's that?

I'm a newish parent, first kid is still in daycare, but reading these threads about APS is a bit disillusioning. And it's hard for me to tell what's run of the mill online griping and what's real.

People thrive on negativity. It’s human nature. Take everything here with a grain of salt. The negative posts on all the school systems in this forum make it sound like DC area public schools are on the decline, not what they used to be, etc. And on the private school forum, some private school threads are even questioning the benefits of private schools, i.e., is it worth the money.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Complainers gonna complain. We've been perfectly happy with our APS experience. The scores show zero difference between our school and high achieving MCPS / FCPS schools. So, shrug.

So you are at Jamestown?

Dang you went there. And you’re probably right.

Frankly so jealous of Jamestown. We are in North Arlington and the schools were supposed to be good, but it is such a difference apparently between neighborhoods. Jamestown is apparently amazing and meanwhile we are looking at private school because our neighborhood school is not the best. We should have bought north of Langston.

Which NA schools are not as nice as Jamestown?

Pretty much the rest of them. We bought above Langston and are far from thrilled.

What’s the rest of your pyramid? Williamsburg and Yorktown? Do people like those schools?

Discovery, Nottingham, Taylor and Jamestown are the best in Arlington if you have a bright kid that would be bored. The other NA schools are fine as well but your gifted kid may not be challenged.

Gifted kids aren’t challenged at any Arlington school. You have to go private. Your kid really isn’t that gifted

The bolded. It’s by design.

Why's that?

I'm a newish parent, first kid is still in daycare, but reading these threads about APS is a bit disillusioning. And it's hard for me to tell what's run of the mill online griping and what's real.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Complainers gonna complain. We've been perfectly happy with our APS experience. The scores show zero difference between our school and high achieving MCPS / FCPS schools. So, shrug.

So you are at Jamestown?

Dang you went there. And you’re probably right.

Frankly so jealous of Jamestown. We are in North Arlington and the schools were supposed to be good, but it is such a difference apparently between neighborhoods. Jamestown is apparently amazing and meanwhile we are looking at private school because our neighborhood school is not the best. We should have bought north of Langston.

Which NA schools are not as nice as Jamestown?

Pretty much the rest of them. We bought above Langston and are far from thrilled.

What’s the rest of your pyramid? Williamsburg and Yorktown? Do people like those schools?

Discovery, Nottingham, Taylor and Jamestown are the best in Arlington if you have a bright kid that would be bored. The other NA schools are fine as well but your gifted kid may not be challenged.

Gifted kids aren’t challenged at any Arlington school. You have to go private. Your kid really isn’t that gifted

The bolded. It’s by design.

Anonymous wrote:Several posts about APS elementary grades sound as if they are getting better. New reading curriculum (thanks to the NAACP), new writing approach, and at least some parts of the ED Hirsch "Core Knowledge" materials are showing up.

Are these flukes ? Or are things really improving in the elementary grades ?

The NAACP was a late player to the literacy game. They are good at taking credit though!

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Complainers gonna complain. We've been perfectly happy with our APS experience. The scores show zero difference between our school and high achieving MCPS / FCPS schools. So, shrug.

So you are at Jamestown?

Dang you went there. And you’re probably right.

Frankly so jealous of Jamestown. We are in North Arlington and the schools were supposed to be good, but it is such a difference apparently between neighborhoods. Jamestown is apparently amazing and meanwhile we are looking at private school because our neighborhood school is not the best. We should have bought north of Langston.

Which NA schools are not as nice as Jamestown?

Pretty much the rest of them. We bought above Langston and are far from thrilled.

What’s the rest of your pyramid? Williamsburg and Yorktown? Do people like those schools?

Discovery, Nottingham, Taylor and Jamestown are the best in Arlington if you have a bright kid that would be bored. The other NA schools are fine as well but your gifted kid may not be challenged.

Gifted kids aren’t challenged at any Arlington school. You have to go private. Your kid really isn’t that gifted

Anonymous wrote:Y’all are so uptight. I’m an APS elementary parent. We’re really happy with our south Arlington school. No concepts of of your concerns. Maybe your little darling simply isn’t bright?

What grade are your kids? I was really happy with our S Arlington APS elementary school until the upper grades, and then I started to see real issues. This was years ago, and I think the new reading curriculum will help. But my kids were in the "iPad generation" at APS where it came in and took over everything for a while, and the quality of learning was really low.

Anonymous wrote:Y’all are so uptight. I’m an APS elementary parent. We’re really happy with our south Arlington school. No concepts of of your concerns. Maybe your little darling simply isn’t bright?

That’s great that you’re having a good experience! Very happy for you and your child.

Y’all are so uptight. I’m an APS elementary parent. We’re really happy with our south Arlington school. No concepts of of your concerns. Maybe your little darling simply isn’t bright?

Anonymous wrote:Arlington has had the rep as one of the top school districts in the state for a while.

Maybe so when you look at the state as a whole. But many people on this forum are only interested in the NOVA school districts. McLean and Langley blow all of the APS high schools out of the water. Arlington isn’t awful but it’s nothing special.

Arlington has had the rep as one of the top school districts in the state for a while.

Anonymous wrote:Do people still actually think that high test scores mean a “better” school? No, it’s the demographics of the families that attend. Of course neighborhoods with higher SES have schools with higher test scores. Look at the test scores of those same categories of kids in “worse” schools. They are the same.

I think that many (but not all) people are aware of that. But in an area with mostly low test scores, the teachers have to put their focus on getting those kids to grade level. And other kids may get less focus. I think that’s what many people see as the issue. That’s why Arlington should fix some of the schools that are wildly one way or the other (IMO- I know not everyone thinks that).

Do people still actually think that high test scores mean a “better” school? No, it’s the demographics of the families that attend. Of course neighborhoods with higher SES have schools with higher test scores. Look at the test scores of those same categories of kids in “worse” schools. They are the same.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Complainers gonna complain. We've been perfectly happy with our APS experience. The scores show zero difference between our school and high achieving MCPS / FCPS schools. So, shrug.

So you are at Jamestown?

Dang you went there. And you’re probably right.

Frankly so jealous of Jamestown. We are in North Arlington and the schools were supposed to be good, but it is such a difference apparently between neighborhoods. Jamestown is apparently amazing and meanwhile we are looking at private school because our neighborhood school is not the best. We should have bought north of Langston.

Which NA schools are not as nice as Jamestown?

Pretty much the rest of them. We bought above Langston and are far from thrilled.

What’s the rest of your pyramid? Williamsburg and Yorktown? Do people like those schools?

Discovery, Nottingham, Taylor and Jamestown are the best in Arlington if you have a bright kid that would be bored. The other NA schools are fine as well but your gifted kid may not be challenged.

What does that mean though? How can you know a kid is “gifted” in elementary school? What is the specific differentiation that they do in those schools? Why is Tuckahoe different? Considering moving and I’m curious about these elementary schools!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Complainers gonna complain. We've been perfectly happy with our APS experience. The scores show zero difference between our school and high achieving MCPS / FCPS schools. So, shrug.

So you are at Jamestown?

Dang you went there. And you’re probably right.

Frankly so jealous of Jamestown. We are in North Arlington and the schools were supposed to be good, but it is such a difference apparently between neighborhoods. Jamestown is apparently amazing and meanwhile we are looking at private school because our neighborhood school is not the best. We should have bought north of Langston.

Which NA schools are not as nice as Jamestown?

Pretty much the rest of them. We bought above Langston and are far from thrilled.

What’s the rest of your pyramid? Williamsburg and Yorktown? Do people like those schools?

Discovery, Nottingham, Taylor and Jamestown are the best in Arlington if you have a bright kid that would be bored. The other NA schools are fine as well but your gifted kid may not be challenged.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Complainers gonna complain. We've been perfectly happy with our APS experience. The scores show zero difference between our school and high achieving MCPS / FCPS schools. So, shrug.

So you are at Jamestown?

Dang you went there. And you’re probably right.

Frankly so jealous of Jamestown. We are in North Arlington and the schools were supposed to be good, but it is such a difference apparently between neighborhoods. Jamestown is apparently amazing and meanwhile we are looking at private school because our neighborhood school is not the best. We should have bought north of Langston.

Which NA schools are not as nice as Jamestown?

Pretty much the rest of them. We bought above Langston and are far from thrilled.

What’s the rest of your pyramid? Williamsburg and Yorktown? Do people like those schools?