FCPS Advanced Academics program.

[OrangeFish]

Originally Posted by Doppelganger69

It is a wonderful program (and I have a child in it), but is designed more to meet children's different learning needs rather than as a measure or reflection of individual worth or likelihood of future success in life.

^^ I agree with this. (Full disclosure: I have two children in the program.) It is not a ribbon or trophy to be won (although admittedly there are some parents that think that way ).

[OrangeFish]

Originally Posted by claremarie

But if you have that kind of kid, the GT center or whatever they call it now will offer him a learning environment that simply cannot be replicated in his base school.

^^ I also agree with this. The peer group in the Center environment really sets the learning environment apart.

[kutra11]

Wonderful points of view. Thanks a lot.

K

[newgatedenizen]

Originally Posted by kutra11

Thanks for the replies.

The reason I asked was because it seemed like these parents absolutely wanted their kids to get into this AA program as if not getting in would be blasphemy, and getting in would ensure success throughout the rest of their academic life! My wife and I are a little laid back (basically, not overly competitive), and want our son to succeed but not lose sleep over getting or not getting into the AA program. FCPS is anyways one of the best in the country so I wanted to find out the "real value" of an AA program in terms of helping him expand his learning and knowledge, and challenging his mental ability.

I think you have the right attitude. We also had/have the same point of view. It might be shocking to some, but we did not even know that FCPS had an AA program until we got the "letter" advising that our child qualified for the AA center school program. Our first child we kept in the regular elementary school program. She did all honors classes in middle school - there was no problem at all in transitioning from the regular elementary track to honors in middle. And honors in HS has been easy as well - so far.

Second child is in the AA center program. In my opinion, the main difference is a marked upgrade in the quality of the classmates. Depending on what ES school boundary you are in it can make a big difference. Fewer discipline problems and much more time spent on classroom instruction. And while I don't think the curriculum is really all that difficult it is fair to say that a lot more is expected from students in the AA program. But my observation is that the current AA program is what should be expected of all students - the regular elementary school program is way too easy.

Suffice to say if you are an involved parent your student should do well in any FCPS school.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by newgatedenizen

Suffice to say if you are an involved parent your student should do well in any FCPS school.

We were relatively uninvolved (an old fashioned parenting philosophy these days) and our kids did well.