AAP Parent Referral due in Feb 16
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Anonymous
| Hello All, we just wanted to gain some insight into this process. Based on our child's 1st grade NNAT score, he will not be in the pool and we are inclined to do a parent referral as we believe AAP will be a very good fit for our child. We understand CoGAT or FxAT will be administered in Oct 15, but not sure when the scores are received and what they will be. In any case, we wanted to plan on a parent referral, and wanted to seek advice on that process. We went to the fcps website and looked at the requirements but wanted to know from your practical experience what works and what doesn't for work samples, recommendation letters etc. How far back can the samples go? Is it ok to provide work samples from 1st grade and K? Important things to keep in mind and do we speak to his 2nd grade teacher before we decide to do a referral? Thank you so much. |
Anonymous
No one can tell you what works and what doesn't work for work samples, letters of recommendation, etc. Here is why: If kid A has work samples from x and letters of recommendation from Ms. Smith - he could get in because, in part, those things or he could get in notwithstanding those things (i.e. not impressive to the committee members) but other things stood out or he could not get in. Kid B could have the same exact file as kid A and he could get in when kid A didn't simply because there are different committee members looking at the respective files (unless by pure coincidence kid A's file and kid B's file were both on the same table during the review. |
Anonymous
I suggest reaching out to the Advanced Academic Resource Teacher (AART) at your school about your plans to submit a parent referral. Usually, the AARTs present an information session (often at a PTA meeting, but that probably varies from school to school) in October. Make an appointment to meet with the AART and ask questions about what are the best materials to include with your submitted referral. This will also help the AART assemble materials for the screening file. |
Anonymous
| Why not wait for the cogat? As far as work samples, unless something is extraordinary, more recent work samples would be better. |
Anonymous
| WISC |
Anonymous
|
I am pro-AAP but don't understand this. Based on the CoGAT you don't think your child will even make it in-pool but the AAP is a good fit a year and a half from now?
Why do you think it would be a good fit? |
Anonymous
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Your AART is going to tell you to cool your jets if you bring this up before the CogAT test is even taken! Seems a bit premature.
You obviously want your child to be in AAP. Hopefully, that is based on your child's NNAT scores being very close to the cut-off or some other testing you've had done where your child scored very high. If not, I suggest you de-escalate your expectations, let the child take the CogAT, and prepare yourself for the possibility that your child is a lovely, bright child who will do just fine (perhaps even better than fine... maybe he'll be at the top) of a regular-on-level class. To answer your question, you typically have a very short window (like a week) b/t getting the CogAT results and the due date for parent referrals. FWIW, I think the parent referral info. isn't given much weight. I only base that on the fact that I didn't submit anything (didn't fill out the questionnaire, or submit any work samples)... but my case is different b/c child was in-pool. From a more objective analysis, wouldn't they have to look at parent-provided info. with a skeptical eye since any parent who refers would have the opinion that their kid should be in AAP. Parents can't be expected to be objective or to have a good sense of what is superior to other kids. I did see the work samples that were provided on my child's behalf (by the AART/teacher). So, I can tell you that they are not looking to see whether your child can do 4 digit multiplication or spell words with 12 letters. They are looking for samples that show your child's thought process and imagination. So, if you were going to help your child create work samples to show his aptitute, you would want to give him open-ended questions (about a story or even a general idea or well-known saying) and then let him answer that open-ended question (and maybe draw a picture). It does not have to be long or verbose. It simply has to show his thinking (which may not seem especially insightful for an adult, but is insightful for someone who is 7 or 8). "I see math ..." This was one of the open-ended work samples that was submitted on behalf of my child. He completed the sentence (with 5 words) and drew a picture. I think he did this during a weekly pull-out session with the AART. It wasn't complex, but it showed his thinking. |
Anonymous
| Don't submit 1st and 2nd grade work samples. Our aart discourages it and if you can't get an good work sample from 2nd grade that is saying something to the panel. |
Anonymous
|
With my son, we were not sure if he would be in the pool until we got the CoGat results. He had just missed the pool cut-off with the Naglieri. We got the CoGat results a week before the parent referrals needed to be in.
In early January I let his teacher know that we would be submitting a parent referral if he did not make the pool with the CoGat results. I wanted her to have a heads up looking for work samples and didn't want to spring it on her last minute. In the end - my child did make the pool so the parent referral didn't really matter. Work samples - I think you need to judge that yourself. With my son we included pictures of him surrounded by a book he had written when he was in kindergarten. We also included work samples from the second grade as well. Whatever you do, don't include worksheets, especially math worksheets. That doesn't really show much. I agree with the other's that say go to the information session that the AART will put on once the school year starts. That will be helpful. But do NOT go into school the first week saying you are going to parent refer if you are not in the pool. I think the teacher will roll their eyes. |
Anonymous
You need to be able to answer this question and you will need hard data to be able to back it up. |
Anonymous
| Thank you all so much for the input and suggestions. I appreciate it. We will be traveling out of the country Dec 15 to mid Jan 16 and we will have very short time after our return to prepare for the referral. I am hoping I can hear back on more examples of actual work samples and recommendation letters please. Just what you all may have included in the referral packet. Thank you again. |
Anonymous
| Repeating the question, what makes you think AAP is a good fit for your child? |
Anonymous
Because of the short window between receiving the CogAT results and the referral due date, our AART always tells parents to proceed AS IF they are going to do a referral, so it's good that you're planning ahead. She also says parents whose kids score in the 120s should ALWAYS refer and even lower if the parents feel strongly that the scores don't reflect their child's true abilities. If your child does wind up being in-pool, you have a bunch of supplemental information to beef up the file. Some people says it doesn't help or isn't necessary, but I say give it your best shot. One thing I suggest is printing out the parent questionnaire now and start keeping notes of examples you might want to include. They need to be very specific. It was much easier to fill out with DC2 because I kept a list of things that made me think "This is why he'll do well in AAP". With DC1, I kept thinking "Now what was that thing that happened that I wanted to remember again?" Just FYI - our AART says even if you submit no other supplemental information, you should at least do the parent questionnaire. If you do submit work samples from home, they should be from the current school year, unless there's something really compelling from an earlier year. As a prior poster stated, they need to show your child's thought process and creativity, not just simple worksheets. The best one I had for DC2 was a written description of his "ideal vacation" and why. One thing I did with DC2 was add a paragraph to each one showing what behavior the work sample demonstrated. (This was something the AART did for DC1's school-submitted work samples.) If you need examples of the behaviors, print out the form for the Gift Behavior Rating Scale or google "gifted behaviors". And yes, I submitted letters of recommendation. They were from people with experience in gifted education (not FCPS employees) who could speak with authority about the behaviors my children demonstrate. If you have the time, money and inclination, you could consider doing a WISC. It's expensive, but can give you some really helpful insights into how your child learns. Some people think you should save the money and wait until you know whether you need the WISC for an appeal. Do I know for sure that any of the things I included in my kids's files helped? No, but they both got in first round and I felt better knowing that I was doing everything I could. Best of luck to you and your kid, OP! |
Anonymous
This is what I don't understand. Would you really now submit your kid's response to "I see math" or the perfect vacation as others have mentioned? Are you planning on doing the precise work with your child? If not, then how does someone else's precise work sample help? If so, how is that showing YOUR child's ability (as clearly you would be guiding him in some way)? For my DD I submitted work samples which I thought were good, but I would never precisely state what they were on here. You are clearly just trying to figure out what worked for others and then copy it which I find incredibly odd as it relates to your own child's individuality. |
Anonymous
I think OP can guide her child to answer open-ended questions without dictating the result. That's the point of "open-ended." It's also exactly what the AARTs are doing with groups of kids. The AART has a discussion about a book or invention or idea and then asks the children to respond to that idea/book/invention/concept. I understand your concern that OP not dictate what her child's work products are, but I disagree with your supposition that a parent can't/shouldn't guide a child into making a "work sample" for the purpose of AAP. |