combination class at AAP Center?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: The AAP teachers are certified in GT, Gen ed teachers are not. Are you sure this is a CENTER and not a LLIV school?

That is NOT the case at many schools across the county.

There are plenty of Gen Ed teachers who do possess an AAP or GT endorsement. It is probably more common to possess that endorsement than you would think.

There are also several center teachers (especially in middle school, though some in ES, as well) who do not possess an AAP or GT endorsement. Most do have the endorsement, but not all.

[Anonymous]

Our center does NOT mix Gen Ed and AAP. Fact!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So glad that my kids are in an actual center! LLIV is not, never will be, a center! It's just a pleasing tactic for gen Ed kids' parents. My kids ALL got into AAP and that's why we chose the center.

If you read the thread, you'll see that centers are combining GE and AAP students for math and other subjects. They test the students then group them by ability. What we've seen is that many of the GE and AAP end up in the same groups because they test the same. Would you really have a problem with capable GE students learning alongside your child?

Or perhaps capable GE students out-performing your child?

[Anonymous]

I have no worries. It seems you do. If gen Ed can enrich, then that should be ok for your gen Ed kid- right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the McLean pyramid, the curriculum is the same, as that was part of a test project. I know they combine the kids for math at Haycock. They also have combined them for social studies and science, but that isn't all the time.

Regarding whether the centers are really needed if they have so much overlap with the GE, I think that's what people are referencing. In the areas with high performing base students, do we really need to separate the students into two, labeled groups when they aren't that far apart academically.

Yes, this is it exactly. The kids at our center are so similar - regardless of who's in AAP and who's not. It's a very strange thing to see them divided up, as if one group is somehow magically able to comprehend more difficult concepts. When they're all together for a grade-wise presentation or event, and there's a Q&A session, the General Ed students ask and answer very intriguing and difficult questions. Honestly, you can't even tell these kids apart. All of these kids are high performing, whether Gen Ed or AAP. The labeling and segregation is really over-the-top in these cases.

The environment you describe is not in existence in all parts of the county, and certainly not in a majority of FCPS schools.

In the Vienna, Great Falls, McLean, Oakton areas, it absolutely does exist. The kids are so similar as to be interchangeable.

Fairfax County is comprised of more than Vienna, Great Falls, McLean, and Oakton.

Never said it wasn't. And most people aren't saying get rid of all AAP centers -- when you may at most have a small handful of advanced kids at one school, they serve a purpose. In Vienna, Great Falls, McLean, Oakton and some other areas, they segregate too many similar kids from each other, foment a parental arms race and divide school communities. In these places, separate AAP centers are silly and unnecessary. I would rather have had my gifted son at his base school then live with the mess they've made of schools around where we live.

Well said. I completely agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So glad that my kids are in an actual center! LLIV is not, never will be, a center! It's just a pleasing tactic for gen Ed kids' parents. My kids ALL got into AAP and that's why we chose the center.

Oh my. Actually, centers are just a pleasing tactic for AAP kids' parents. Sending their kids to centers appeases the parents by making them think that somehow, their kids really are special snowflakes. And yes, I know that using "snowflake" to describe the AAP kid is offensive to some, but the PP and her entitled attitude totally deserve the label.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: The AAP teachers are certified in GT, Gen ed teachers are not. Are you sure this is a CENTER and not a LLIV school?

That is NOT the case at many schools across the county.

There are plenty of Gen Ed teachers who do possess an AAP or GT endorsement. It is probably more common to possess that endorsement than you would think.

There are also several center teachers (especially in middle school, though some in ES, as well) who do not possess an AAP or GT endorsement. Most do have the endorsement, but not all.

This is so true. At our center the teachers switch around practically every year. Many of the Gen Ed teachers have the endorsement already but prefer teaching Gen Ed, and many of the AAP teachers are still working toward theirs. It's a fallacy to say that only AAP teachers (and only at centers?!) have this endorsement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our center does NOT mix Gen Ed and AAP. Fact!

Our does, all the time. Fact! Making the whole "center concept" pretty silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our center does NOT mix Gen Ed and AAP. Fact!

Our does, all the time. Fact! Making the whole "center concept" pretty silly.

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[Anonymous]

Not the OP but wanted to update this thread.

The principal changed the assignment of the combination class 5th graders and split them up to join the other 5th grade AAP classes for science and social studies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP but wanted to update this thread.

The principal changed the assignment of the combination class 5th graders and split them up to join the other 5th grade AAP classes for science and social studies.

Were there a lot of complaints from the parents in that class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP but wanted to update this thread.

The principal changed the assignment of the combination class 5th graders and split them up to join the other 5th grade AAP classes for science and social studies.

Were there a lot of complaints from the parents in that class?

I do not know.

[Anonymous]

I bet there were a ton of complaints.