Hi ! We are planning into moving to Northern VA by the end of the year. Anyone has experience with their Advance IV centers (for gifted children)? How advance really is it ? Thanks

Ping...would love to know.

I live in Fairfax and we homeschool our DYS8. Work changes might mean brick-and-mortar school in the fall. Lots of information about AAP on the FCPS website as well as local forums - google "Fairfax AAP forum", and look for results from dcurbanmom, fairfax underground. Warning! These are anonymous bulletin boards, and things can get spicy!

What I know:
16-20% of FCPS gets some form of AAP.
It's for gifted and high-achieving students -- lots of high achieving students in FFX.
still have big class sizes in AAP
some complaints about differentiation, lack thereof
AAP population varies by geography -- further west and further north, in the wealthier / newer parts of the county, you get larger AAP populations.
some families do lots and lots of prep / enrichment to stay 'competitive'.

We're in the exact opposite boat. My son is in AAP, but is bored out of his mind and feels like he never learns anything in school. So, we're looking into homeschooling next year or a more rigorous school like BASIS. He loves his classes at AoPS, and he says that he learns more in 2 hours there than he does during an entire week of public school.

I think AAP is great for the kids who are around a 115-125 IQ and are slightly advanced. Some schools and teachers may make a point of enriching the kids who are beyond that, but most don't. My kid mostly sits around waiting for everyone else to catch up.