We just moved to Stenwood communiy this year. We have been overseas until now. I did not go looking for aap placement, my kids were "selected" based on testing done by the school. Stenwood has a "new" part time level 4 aap for 3rd graders now and is supposed to expand it for 4th grade and grow with them. Sure, I feel my kids are mature for their age and could use some challenge as they are often bored and coast thru school. But at what cost?

5th grader is offered Colvin run,(for next year) my 3 rd grader Westbriar for full time level 4 OR Stenwood for full or part time level 4.
my youngest is not yet "identified" and will stay at our local school for second grade, Stenwood, it has a great community feel and some awesome teachers.

3 kids at 3 schools?!
This is a mess and I wonder if it's worth it as the "Aap" teachers and programs may all be similar , no matter where I place my child for 4th grade.

My kids say the current "aap" options available in class consist of games like apples to apples.....

It may just come to logistics of bus time and after school activities.
Any feedback on Westbriar much appreciated.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to the westbriar mom with the LA kid? She hasn't answered some questions re. LA..?

Sorry for the delay in response. Not a regular reader. Originally I came looking to see if letters had been mailed.

LA is a great school. I feel it has met my child's needs and then some. I am not as involved with Archer as I am with Westbriar, I have guilt over it, but realistically it's easier to get to your neighborhood school - it's in the neighborhood. I share the feeling with many parents in my boat; that we feel like we've got one foot in one boat and the other in the other boat and it's difficult to split your time as a parent volunteer. In addition to that, all of MY friends are still in this neighborhood too with their kids either getting on the bus with my kid or their kids still at Westbriar.

My child has participated in some of the after school programs there and all of them have been wonderful. I have nothing negative to say about Archer as a school.

Thanks for answering and providing feedback - I take it you have another one at Westbriar so that splits your time. I am wondering since I may be in the same boat (if we opt for Archer). Is your child happy at Archer? How are the teachers? I wonder if most kids are in the same situation- new to Archer for AAP so making friends becomes a little easier?

Anonymous wrote:What happened to the westbriar mom with the LA kid? She hasn't answered some questions re. LA..?

Sorry for the delay in response. Not a regular reader. Originally I came looking to see if letters had been mailed.

LA is a great school. I feel it has met my child's needs and then some. I am not as involved with Archer as I am with Westbriar, I have guilt over it, but realistically it's easier to get to your neighborhood school - it's in the neighborhood. I share the feeling with many parents in my boat; that we feel like we've got one foot in one boat and the other in the other boat and it's difficult to split your time as a parent volunteer. In addition to that, all of MY friends are still in this neighborhood too with their kids either getting on the bus with my kid or their kids still at Westbriar.

My child has participated in some of the after school programs there and all of them have been wonderful. I have nothing negative to say about Archer as a school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since it is no longer a gifted program and it is a FCPS public school this makes more sense to me.

Ok, I'll bite -- what is it if "it is no longer a gifted program?"

It's a slightly more advanced program using exactly the same curriculum as in Gen Ed. Not a gifted program by a long shot.

Yes, it is covering the Program of Studies (as any parent would expect), but it is not using the same materials and methods, and the AAP curriulum extensions go far deeper and interdisciplinary than in GE.

As a parent of both AAP and GE students, I can attest to the fact that this is just not the case. It's a pretend 'gifted' program and nothing more.

And as a parent of both AAP and GE students, I can attest to the fact that this is indeed the case. My guess is (a) that our children are at different schools, and it is well-documented that the delivery of AAP services differs from school to school, and (b) two anecdotes do not make a quantitative case.

Yet another reason AAP needs a massive overhaul.

Thankfully FCPS is following up on the recommendations that came out of the AAP program review, including fidelity of implementation.

Follow-up work is detailed online:

http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/pdfs/GMUStudyRecommendations.pdf

Ah yes, GMU. Where parents take their kids for CogAT testing so they can get them into AAP. Nothing like the symbiotic relationship between GMU and FCPS. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since it is no longer a gifted program and it is a FCPS public school this makes more sense to me.

Ok, I'll bite -- what is it if "it is no longer a gifted program?"

It's a slightly more advanced program using exactly the same curriculum as in Gen Ed. Not a gifted program by a long shot.

Yes, it is covering the Program of Studies (as any parent would expect), but it is not using the same materials and methods, and the AAP curriulum extensions go far deeper and interdisciplinary than in GE.

As a parent of both AAP and GE students, I can attest to the fact that this is just not the case. It's a pretend 'gifted' program and nothing more.

And as a parent of both AAP and GE students, I can attest to the fact that this is indeed the case. My guess is (a) that our children are at different schools, and it is well-documented that the delivery of AAP services differs from school to school, and (b) two anecdotes do not make a quantitative case.

Yet another reason AAP needs a massive overhaul.

Thankfully FCPS is following up on the recommendations that came out of the AAP program review, including fidelity of implementation.

Follow-up work is detailed online:

http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/pdfs/GMUStudyRecommendations.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since it is no longer a gifted program and it is a FCPS public school this makes more sense to me.

Ok, I'll bite -- what is it if "it is no longer a gifted program?"

It's a slightly more advanced program using exactly the same curriculum as in Gen Ed. Not a gifted program by a long shot.

Yes, it is covering the Program of Studies (as any parent would expect), but it is not using the same materials and methods, and the AAP curriulum extensions go far deeper and interdisciplinary than in GE.

As a parent of both AAP and GE students, I can attest to the fact that this is just not the case. It's a pretend 'gifted' program and nothing more.

And as a parent of both AAP and GE students, I can attest to the fact that this is indeed the case. My guess is (a) that our children are at different schools, and it is well-documented that the delivery of AAP services differs from school to school, and (b) two anecdotes do not make a quantitative case.

Yet another reason AAP needs a massive overhaul.

Thankfully FCPS is following up on the recommendations that came out of the AAP program review, including fidelity of implementation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since it is no longer a gifted program and it is a FCPS public school this makes more sense to me.

Ok, I'll bite -- what is it if "it is no longer a gifted program?"

It's a slightly more advanced program using exactly the same curriculum as in Gen Ed. Not a gifted program by a long shot.

Yes, it is covering the Program of Studies (as any parent would expect), but it is not using the same materials and methods, and the AAP curriulum extensions go far deeper and interdisciplinary than in GE.

As a parent of both AAP and GE students, I can attest to the fact that this is just not the case. It's a pretend 'gifted' program and nothing more.

And as a parent of both AAP and GE students, I can attest to the fact that this is indeed the case. My guess is (a) that our children are at different schools, and it is well-documented that the delivery of AAP services differs from school to school, and (b) two anecdotes do not make a quantitative case.

Yet another reason AAP needs a massive overhaul.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:anybody has any idea if Westbriar is planning to get experienced teachers for AAP classes? How are the current AAP teachers they have

AAP students don't need specially trained teachers. Yet another fallacy of this program, right up there with needing special schools in which to learn and extra bus routes to get the students there.

Whether they need it or not, all AAP teachers in FCPS must have specialized training completed w/in 5 years of taking an AAP teaching position.

Since they do not need it, this is yet another example of sheer waste in the FCPS budget.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since it is no longer a gifted program and it is a FCPS public school this makes more sense to me.

Ok, I'll bite -- what is it if "it is no longer a gifted program?"

It's a slightly more advanced program using exactly the same curriculum as in Gen Ed. Not a gifted program by a long shot.

Yes, it is covering the Program of Studies (as any parent would expect), but it is not using the same materials and methods, and the AAP curriulum extensions go far deeper and interdisciplinary than in GE.

As a parent of both AAP and GE students, I can attest to the fact that this is just not the case. It's a pretend 'gifted' program and nothing more.

And as a parent of both AAP and GE students, I can attest to the fact that this is indeed the case. My guess is (a) that our children are at different schools, and it is well-documented that the delivery of AAP services differs from school to school, and (b) two anecdotes do not make a quantitative case.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:anybody has any idea if Westbriar is planning to get experienced teachers for AAP classes? How are the current AAP teachers they have

AAP students don't need specially trained teachers. Yet another fallacy of this program, right up there with needing special schools in which to learn and extra bus routes to get the students there.

Whether they need it or not, all AAP teachers in FCPS must have specialized training completed w/in 5 years of taking an AAP teaching position.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since it is no longer a gifted program and it is a FCPS public school this makes more sense to me.

Ok, I'll bite -- what is it if "it is no longer a gifted program?"

It's a slightly more advanced program using exactly the same curriculum as in Gen Ed. Not a gifted program by a long shot.

Yes, it is covering the Program of Studies (as any parent would expect), but it is not using the same materials and methods, and the AAP curriulum extensions go far deeper and interdisciplinary than in GE.

As a parent of both AAP and GE students, I can attest to the fact that this is just not the case. It's a pretend 'gifted' program and nothing more.

Anonymous wrote:anybody has any idea if Westbriar is planning to get experienced teachers for AAP classes? How are the current AAP teachers they have

AAP students don't need specially trained teachers. Yet another fallacy of this program, right up there with needing special schools in which to learn and extra bus routes to get the students there.

Anonymous wrote:The only problem is when a school gets too big so that the GT classes are the majority.

I agree.

The other issue, however, is finding the right line where if students are removed from a Center school that it does not negatively effect the resulting Center classes/grades.

There is a balancing act somewhere between the number of AAP students overwhelming the population of a school and not having enough AAP students ("critical mass") for a successful Center program.

If a feeder school is forced to NOT attend an AAP Center school due to numbers (overcrowding, etc.), there is the potential for an unintended domino effect for dropping the number of AAP students too low (where there is no longer "critical mass").

An AAP program wouldn't work if it was self selected. It doesn't even work at the honors level now in middle school. Montgomery County doesn't have these problems and has integrated schools just like FCPS. The only problem is when a school gets too big so that the GT classes are the majority. This can be solved by making sure no school has more AAP students than GE students. I have little sympathy with the Westbriar, Stenwood, and Freedom Hill parents because they lobbied for an AAP center at Westbriar when none was proposed originally. Lemon Road could use more AAP students for their center, so there's no reason Stenwood or Freedom Hill kids can't go there instead of Westbriar if it Westbriar becomes too crowded.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since it is no longer a gifted program and it is a FCPS public school this makes more sense to me.

Ok, I'll bite -- what is it if "it is no longer a gifted program?"

It's a slightly more advanced program using exactly the same curriculum as in Gen Ed. Not a gifted program by a long shot.

Yes, it is covering the Program of Studies (as any parent would expect), but it is not using the same materials and methods, and the AAP curriulum extensions go far deeper and interdisciplinary than in GE.