Fall AAP Newsletters

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Welcome to the Fairhill Elementary Advanced Academic Resource page. It is the belief of FCPS that every child has the basic right to an education that promotes the development of his or her full potential. Each child has a unique profile of strengths and abilities. At Fairhill Elementary we are committed to providing challenging learning experience for all students that build individual strengths and optimize abilities.

At Fairhill we believe that using AAP resources are best practices for all students. Our staff receives ongoing training in using the AAP curriculum to provide differentiated instruction and access to rigor. In addition, we have a local AAP program to ensure that Fairhill students who have been found eligible for AAP services will be provided with these services at our neighborhood school. Fairhill is a model school for AAP teachers and students. Many staff members have written curriculum for AAP programs, as well as presented to staff and teachers at our FCPS AAP Institutes.

AAP Program Overview

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) offers a continuum of advanced academic services for all students in grades K-12. Learning opportunities are designed to meet the unique learning profile of each advanced learner through a continuum of services designed to focus and engage the student in challenging learning experiences that develop higher-level thinking through enrichment, acceleration, and extensions of the Program of Studies (POS). Classroom teachers, administrators, and Advanced Academic Resource Teacher (AART) collaborate to deliver the various levels of service.

The AART at Fairhill, Erica Campbell @email, coordinates the screening and identification of students for advanced academic services, collaborates with teachers to provide differentiated instruction, and provides direct school-based services for identified students. The AART can explain how the program works and answer specific questions about screening procedures and the delivery of services at your local school. The AART serves all children at the school by providing model lessons in Critical and Creative Thinking and working with the classroom teachers to extend and enrich the Program of Studies (POS).

The Advanced Academic Resource Teacher and classroom teachers teach nine Critical and Creative Thinking strategies (Access to Rigor) across all subject areas and grade levels. The strategies are embedded in lessons that incorporate 21st Century thinking skills, as well as Portrait of a Graduate tenets, to extend and enrich the Program of Studies (POS) for all learners. Student responses to the lessons are also used to collect evidence of advanced academic potential in order to ensure equity and increase access to Advanced Academic Programs.

Differentiated lessons are offered to students in areas of specific academic strength (Subject-Specific Advanced Differentiation). The Advanced Academic Resource Teacher collaborates with classroom teachers to provide additional challenges and resources within the general education program.

Students identified by a local school screening committee for Advanced Academic Services (Part-Time) are challenged through models and strategies designed to extend and enrich the POS curriculum. The Advanced Academic Resource Teacher supports the classroom teacher in differentiating instruction using the AAP curriculum and resources. 

Students found eligible for placement in a Full-Time Advanced Academic Program through a central selection process receive a highly challenging instructional program in the four core subject areas. The Full-Time AAP Curriculum is designed to meet the needs of advanced learners with a strong emphasis on higher level thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making. Students have ongoing opportunities for reflection and self-assessment that develop an understanding of the characteristics, demands, and responsibilities of advanced intellectual development.

Fairhill Elementary is pleased to offer a full-time local AAP Program. AAP services provide an important option for advanced learners who need the challenge of a full-time AAP center curriculum and do not want to leave Fairhill. AAP services also provide another avenue of access for advanced academic services to students who may need to practice and strengthen some skills but have the capacity to think, reason, and problem solve at advanced levels.