Comparing AAP to base
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Anonymous
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Who thinks the AAP program is that much better than the base program?
Who thinks the teaching is better? |
Anonymous
You have the wrong idea. AAP program is not "better " than GE. Rather,, it has a different curriculum and is designed to better suit the AAP students. |
Anonymous
| It depends......... on the Center, on the base school, on the teacher, on the student, on the cohort........... |
Anonymous
It isn't really that different. BTDT. |
Anonymous
OP here: I totally agree. I do not have the wrong idea. It may be a different curriculum but it is not better suited. It is meh. The math is more advanced, but I see nothing that great about anything else. If anyone else thinks differently, you're fooling yourself. |
Anonymous
Thank you for letting me know about my own opinion! The "expertise" on this forum is often stunning. 
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Anonymous
Absolutely agree. It is a program meant to appease pushy parents and stroke their ego into thinking their child is actually in a "gifted" program. It's all a bunch of busy work and extra projects that any child could handle. Also BTDT. |
Anonymous
Parent with low IQ kids identified! |
Anonymous
Hmm. Apparently you are unable to read. The post says "BTDT," as in I've had children in AAP - and Gen Ed - and base my opinion on actual experience. Nice try, though. 
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Anonymous
| It depends on the school. Our center does differentiated classes. Meaning the kids are taught to their ability on each unit. There will be "Gen Ed" kids in with "AAP" kids for an accelerated unit and "AAP" kids in with "Gen Ed" kids for a more on grade level class unit. Math is the most advanced of subject matter. It stinks the kids are initially labeled but at least they are being taugh to their ability in all subject matter. |
Anonymous
Sorry if your individual kid had a lousy experience with one specific AAP class or center, but my kid's schools (elementary and middle) have had good AAP center teachers who did a lot of things differently from the base curriculum teachers. Not busy work or just extra work, but more in-depth, more trust that kids could understand bigger concepts, and much more creative with classroom discussions, mock legislatures, games where kids took on roles to help them understand history better-- too many things to go into in detail here. The teachers have been very engaging with the kids, much more so than some of the base teachers he had before he started AAP. Everyone's experience is different and the program can differ widely depending on which AAP center a kid is at, which teachers the kid gets within a center, etc. But our experience was very good, and that's really all we can use to form opinions....My child's base school in grades K-2 had a lot of issues educationally and no possibility of any AAP enrichment other than a once-weekly pull-out class at that time and maybe a little math 'tracking' in later elementary for kids good at math (though those kids often ended up mostly helping other kids do math rather than being taught on a more advanced level, according to friends who were at that school). I can't see how we would have done better to stay there and not try AAP. If your kid's teachers just give out busy work "that any child could handle" to AAP students, go gripe to the teachers and do something about it. |
Anonymous
I am a different poster, but my experience was not that the AAP teachers handed out busy work. But that the gen ed teachers at the base school taught the way you are talking about to the gen-ed classes too. SO, for us, there was not so much difference. I am sorry your base school experience was so poor. |
Anonymous
| I'm sure someone will argue, but coming from a Title 1 base school the center was so much better. I volunteered at both schools and could see the difference. Also reports from my child were that s/he gets so much more attention in that the teacher asked him/her more questions that required thought. Also kids in the center class were more into reading like my child. The majority of the kids in base class were behind in reading. This was first grade so maybe the kids caught up by now, but I had to make a decision then. |
Anonymous
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The expectations at our base school are much lower than at the AAP center. There is a big difference. Now, of course you would expect the center to be more "advanced" than a regular classroom, but I see my 3rd grader (in AAP) with spelling words that are harder than my 5th grader's (not AAP). The advanced math is better in AAP than the adv. math in the base school (not a center or level 4).
As proof -- the SOL pass rates at the base school (with about 10% FARMS) is lower than the SOL pass rates at the AAP Center (with about 45% FARMS). On Great Schools.org, (now showing the ratings based on last spring's test scores), the AAP center is a 10 (about 1/2 the school is FARMS and ESOL)... but the base school is only a 7. You tell me -- which school is doing a better job? Can't be that the AAP students alone are making the AAP Center's rating = 10. The base school at the center is primarily ESOL/FARMS -- they contributed to the 10. At our base school (not the center), the income levels are higher and the ESOL pop. is lower, yet the school on the whole is scoring lower. I wish they would step it up b/c one of my kids is getting a superior education compared to the other. 
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Anonymous
| It's never worth it to split siblings. Not good for the family dynamics. |