Can tutors write a recommendation letter for AAP?

[Anonymous]

AAP is not a fit your your kid if your kid needs tutors. If your child is using 2 tutors in Gen. Ed. 2nd grade, how many tutors do you think he/she will need by AAP 6th grade?

Is this a troll?

[Anonymous]

As long as the tutors are not employed by Fairfax County, they can write letters.

I think there's always a misconception about what a tutor does. The tutor doesn't only work with kids who are behind or who are trying to keep up.
How about those kids are are too advanced for their current grade? The ones who come home and say they're totally bored at school? Don't those kids need tutors too?

Would be great to know if AAP will replace a need for a tutor.

[Anonymous]

Will it be work if the kid is 4th grad and working 7th grader math with a tutor? Nothing to learn in school so I had to hire a tutor to learn something new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will it be work if the kid is 4th grad and working 7th grader math with a tutor? Nothing to learn in school so I had to hire a tutor to learn something new.

The problem is that this could come across as the parent wanting the child to appear to be ahead of the other kids and thus hiring a tutor to teach 7th grade math. Not saying this is what happening, just that it could appear that way. I believe that a better indicator of the need for AAP is when a child is doing things on his own, such as choosing higher level books at the library, bringing them home and reading and discussing them. You as a parent could write about how your child has initiated certain behaviors that show the need for a different type of classroom and your child's teachers should be writing about similar incidents on his GBRS.

I would not bother with outside references at all, and especially not from a tutor. Just too many ways that can backfire.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, but who would use a LOR from an athletic team? scout team? Those people won't know anything that will be helpful to the committee.

--My own child has been on a specialized team that practices 3-5 hours a week, year round for almost 3 years and I am NOT getting a LOR from a coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Recommendation letters are worthless. Don't bother getting any other recs. No one submits a negative rec, so where's the value?

I will disagree with this. My son was not in the pool, but we felt he was a strong candidate for AAP. We already had one child in AAP, so we had a feel for the level he would need to perform at, and he was clearly there. We got three recs-- one from his martial arts instructor (who was able to attest to my son's commitment and dedication), one from the teacher of his after school robotics class (who approached me about writing a letter because she felt he belonged in AAP, even before she knew anything about my son's scores), and one from a math teacher from a summer math class he took, who basically said that he was doing mid 3rd grade math at the end of first grade. My son's grades were good (mostly 4s, some 3s earlier in the year), and I suspect from the way she spoke that his 2nd grade teacher did a high GBRS, although I never requested to see it. But I honestly think that three consistently high recommendations were what put him over the threshold into AAP.

I hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

What kind of summer math classes are there for early elementary school kids? My kid would love a really creative, interesting math class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will it be work if the kid is 4th grad and working 7th grader math with a tutor? Nothing to learn in school so I had to hire a tutor to learn something new.

The problem is that this could come across as the parent wanting the child to appear to be ahead of the other kids and thus hiring a tutor to teach 7th grade math. Not saying this is what happening, just that it could appear that way. I believe that a better indicator of the need for AAP is when a child is doing things on his own, such as choosing higher level books at the library, bringing them home and reading and discussing them. You as a parent could write about how your child has initiated certain behaviors that show the need for a different type of classroom and your child's teachers should be writing about similar incidents on his GBRS.

I would not bother with outside references at all, and especially not from a tutor. Just too many ways that can backfire.

But what if after this 4th grade kid said he/she was bored at school and was tested, say on an achievement test such as a the Woodcock Johsnson and was found to be operating at the 7th grade level? Then the parent acquired tutoring to get the kid more in line with their ability rather than settling for the 4th grade curriculum at the school? Would that have a potential to backfire?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:clergy, art teacher, piano teacher, karate teacher, basketball coach, ballet teacher, neighbor or relative who is the education field...u get the idea

I thought AAP stood for "advanced academics," not advanced art, music, or sports. Why on earth would one of these recommendations present any value?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:clergy, art teacher, piano teacher, karate teacher, basketball coach, ballet teacher, neighbor or relative who is the education field...u get the idea

I thought AAP stood for "advanced academics," not advanced art, music, or sports. Why on earth would one of these recommendations present any value?

Sports have this thing called strategy; possibly evidence of higher thinking and creativity.

As for music? Have you seriously never heard of the connection between understanding music/music theory and mathematics?

[Anonymous]

Sports coaches are perfect for LOR , if the child is a leader on the team an exhibits qualities of concentration, strategy, determination, etc....For the kid who goofs and doesn't have much else to offer - not worth it. My son's soccer coach wrote a letter for him becausw he knew my son for 4 years on and off the field. He was a GT student years ago and he was the parent of an AAP FCPS student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will it be work if the kid is 4th grad and working 7th grader math with a tutor? Nothing to learn in school so I had to hire a tutor to learn something new.

The problem is that this could come across as the parent wanting the child to appear to be ahead of the other kids and thus hiring a tutor to teach 7th grade math. Not saying this is what happening, just that it could appear that way. I believe that a better indicator of the need for AAP is when a child is doing things on his own, such as choosing higher level books at the library, bringing them home and reading and discussing them. You as a parent could write about how your child has initiated certain behaviors that show the need for a different type of classroom and your child's teachers should be writing about similar incidents on his GBRS.

I would not bother with outside references at all, and especially not from a tutor. Just too many ways that can backfire.

But what if after this 4th grade kid said he/she was bored at school and was tested, say on an achievement test such as a the Woodcock Johsnson and was found to be operating at the 7th grade level? Then the parent acquired tutoring to get the kid more in line with their ability rather than settling for the 4th grade curriculum at the school? Would that have a potential to backfire?

Lots of kids test at a higher grade level for math or reading but it doesn't mean we put them in that grade for those subjects. I do think the committee is more interested in what a child does on his own initiative rather than what their parents do for them, such as putting them in extra classes or getting them tutors. Also, it really can look as though the child only tested at a higher grade level because of the tutoring.

When a child comes home from school and does more academics at home with a tutor, it's not that surprising that he would do well at school. It is more impressive when a child shines in academics while spending out of school time doing sports or scouts or drama or music.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will it be work if the kid is 4th grad and working 7th grader math with a tutor? Nothing to learn in school so I had to hire a tutor to learn something new.

The problem is that this could come across as the parent wanting the child to appear to be ahead of the other kids and thus hiring a tutor to teach 7th grade math. Not saying this is what happening, just that it could appear that way. I believe that a better indicator of the need for AAP is when a child is doing things on his own, such as choosing higher level books at the library, bringing them home and reading and discussing them. You as a parent could write about how your child has initiated certain behaviors that show the need for a different type of classroom and your child's teachers should be writing about similar incidents on his GBRS.

I would not bother with outside references at all, and especially not from a tutor. Just too many ways that can backfire.

But what if after this 4th grade kid said he/she was bored at school and was tested, say on an achievement test such as a the Woodcock Johsnson and was found to be operating at the 7th grade level? Then the parent acquired tutoring to get the kid more in line with their ability rather than settling for the 4th grade curriculum at the school? Would that have a potential to backfire?

Why would a student who had gotten to the 7th grade level by themselves suddenly need to be spoonfed to get any further?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Lots of kids test at a higher grade level for math or reading but it doesn't mean we put them in that grade for those subjects. I do think the committee is more interested in what a child does on his own initiative rather than what their parents do for them, such as putting them in extra classes or getting them tutors. Also, it really can look as though the child only tested at a higher grade level because of the tutoring.

When a child comes home from school and does more academics at home with a tutor, it's not that surprising that he would do well at school. It is more impressive when a child shines in academics while spending out of school time doing sports or scouts or drama or music.

But why not? Isn't that AAP does? Don't they put the 3rd graders into 4th grade math? Isn't that the whole point of the Advanced Academics Program?

PP here with citing an example. In this scenario I was proposing- child says he/she is bored. Parents get the kid tested on an achievement test to see what's going on with the kid-- PRIOR to being tutored. What about for those kids who were not in-pool but then scored high on the WISC and then parent-referred. Those parents are also trying to get their kids into a curriculum that better fits their kid. They find out their kid IS smart, and therefore should be in AAP. The scenario I pointed out is the same thing, a test shows the kid is capable of 7th grade math in 4th grade, then by gosh, as a parent, wouldn't you want the child to have access to that kind of tutor support instead of going absolutely insane doing double digit multiplication in 4th grade gen ed math?

And if the child is tutored and does better at school-- isn't that the point of all tutoring?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Why would a student who had gotten to the 7th grade level by themselves suddenly need to be spoonfed to get any further?

Because, duh! School doesn't end in 7th grade!