HOPE SCORES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is advanced and hasn't been accepted in to Level IV for whatever reason and if they don't get accepted even after an appeal, what is your plan? Do you plan on enrolling your child in enrichment classes or giving them challenging material to study at home?

We'll teach DC after school by ourselves. Both parents have advance degrees. We probably will transfer to private at 6th grade.

So you will move your child to private just as the Honors classes come into play in MS? Even though private schools have less differentiation then public schools and many of the private schools in the area have dropped AP classes?

DS was accepted into LIV with no prep. We kept him at the base school for a language immersion program. He has been in Advanced Math at his base school. He scored in the 99th percentile on the IAAT, passed his SOLs advanced every year, and has high iReadys. His school did not have LLIV when we made our decision. Between Advanced Math and LIII pull outs he has had his needs met.

If you are not at a Title 1 school, your child will have peers in the regular classroom and will be well prepared for MS and HS. Most of the kids in HS AP/IB classes were not in LIV in ES and go on to get good grades and 4’s and 5’s on AP exams. LIV is not some magic program that is amazing and the end all be all. Title 1 schools will have a pronounced gap between the kids who were ready for school and the ones who were not. LIV gives kids who were ready and are now ahead a class that moves at the regular pace instead of one that is teaching to kids who are mainly behind.

For non-Title 1 schools, AAP is not all that special. Some parents assume that it is the path to TJ, but that is more the Advanced Math that allows kids into Algebra in 7th grade. Even before the change in admissions, it was the accelerated math that helped with TJ, not AAP as a whole. Some parents want to be able to say that their kid was accepted into AAP, it is a prestige thing.

Honors at some middle schools is just general education. It's self-selected and full of kids that are not good students despite putting themselves in honors classes. AAP middle school curriculums at least have some gatekeeping on either scoring or executive function and keeps the rigor and depth higher.

Sure there are some MS with better Honors, but many are not good. It's almost laughable to call the curriculum honors. But then you should see the non-honors at these same schools and you realize that honors are just full of kids who want to learn or pretend to vs kids who can't be bothered to show up much at all let alone participate and complete assignments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is advanced and hasn't been accepted in to Level IV for whatever reason and if they don't get accepted even after an appeal, what is your plan? Do you plan on enrolling your child in enrichment classes or giving them challenging material to study at home?

We'll teach DC after school by ourselves. Both parents have advance degrees. We probably will transfer to private at 6th grade.

So you will move your child to private just as the Honors classes come into play in MS? Even though private schools have less differentiation then public schools and many of the private schools in the area have dropped AP classes?

DS was accepted into LIV with no prep. We kept him at the base school for a language immersion program. He has been in Advanced Math at his base school. He scored in the 99th percentile on the IAAT, passed his SOLs advanced every year, and has high iReadys. His school did not have LLIV when we made our decision. Between Advanced Math and LIII pull outs he has had his needs met.

If you are not at a Title 1 school, your child will have peers in the regular classroom and will be well prepared for MS and HS. Most of the kids in HS AP/IB classes were not in LIV in ES and go on to get good grades and 4’s and 5’s on AP exams. LIV is not some magic program that is amazing and the end all be all. Title 1 schools will have a pronounced gap between the kids who were ready for school and the ones who were not. LIV gives kids who were ready and are now ahead a class that moves at the regular pace instead of one that is teaching to kids who are mainly behind.

For non-Title 1 schools, AAP is not all that special. Some parents assume that it is the path to TJ, but that is more the Advanced Math that allows kids into Algebra in 7th grade. Even before the change in admissions, it was the accelerated math that helped with TJ, not AAP as a whole. Some parents want to be able to say that their kid was accepted into AAP, it is a prestige thing.

Honors at some middle schools is just general education. It's self-selected and full of kids that are not good students despite putting themselves in honors classes. AAP middle school curriculums at least have some gatekeeping on either scoring or executive function and keeps the rigor and depth higher.

Sure there are some MS with better Honors, but many are not good. It's almost laughable to call the curriculum honors. But then you should see the non-honors at these same schools and you realize that honors are just full of kids who want to learn or pretend to vs kids who can't be bothered to show up much at all let alone participate and complete assignments.

And yet the honors students end up in AP/IB classes with the AAP kids and are indistinguishable to the TEachers. THose honors students earn 4s and 5s on their AP exams and with similar college opportunities to their AAP peers.

We choose LI for our kid so he would have additional challenges in ES. We are happy that he landed in Advanced Math because we appreciate the challenge that the class brings him. AAP classes can offer a more challenging curriculum but that is probably more important at a low SES school where there is a larger educational divide then at a higher SES school where there is less of a divide. In the long run, ie HS, there is no real difference.

AAP is not that special. I understand looking into it, obviously we did. DS was accepted and we deferred. We are activating it next year. We know people who are not activating it and their kids will take all Honors. And they are all going to end up in the same classes in HS. We are glad that he has the choice but would be fine if he didn't have the choice because we know his peer group and his MS and his HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is advanced and hasn't been accepted in to Level IV for whatever reason and if they don't get accepted even after an appeal, what is your plan? Do you plan on enrolling your child in enrichment classes or giving them challenging material to study at home?

We'll teach DC after school by ourselves. Both parents have advance degrees. We probably will transfer to private at 6th grade.

So you will move your child to private just as the Honors classes come into play in MS? Even though private schools have less differentiation then public schools and many of the private schools in the area have dropped AP classes?

DS was accepted into LIV with no prep. We kept him at the base school for a language immersion program. He has been in Advanced Math at his base school. He scored in the 99th percentile on the IAAT, passed his SOLs advanced every year, and has high iReadys. His school did not have LLIV when we made our decision. Between Advanced Math and LIII pull outs he has had his needs met.

If you are not at a Title 1 school, your child will have peers in the regular classroom and will be well prepared for MS and HS. Most of the kids in HS AP/IB classes were not in LIV in ES and go on to get good grades and 4’s and 5’s on AP exams. LIV is not some magic program that is amazing and the end all be all. Title 1 schools will have a pronounced gap between the kids who were ready for school and the ones who were not. LIV gives kids who were ready and are now ahead a class that moves at the regular pace instead of one that is teaching to kids who are mainly behind.

For non-Title 1 schools, AAP is not all that special. Some parents assume that it is the path to TJ, but that is more the Advanced Math that allows kids into Algebra in 7th grade. Even before the change in admissions, it was the accelerated math that helped with TJ, not AAP as a whole. Some parents want to be able to say that their kid was accepted into AAP, it is a prestige thing.

Honors at some middle schools is just general education. It's self-selected and full of kids that are not good students despite putting themselves in honors classes. AAP middle school curriculums at least have some gatekeeping on either scoring or executive function and keeps the rigor and depth higher.

Sure there are some MS with better Honors, but many are not good. It's almost laughable to call the curriculum honors. But then you should see the non-honors at these same schools and you realize that honors are just full of kids who want to learn or pretend to vs kids who can't be bothered to show up much at all let alone participate and complete assignments.

And yet the honors students end up in AP/IB classes with the AAP kids and are indistinguishable to the TEachers. THose honors students earn 4s and 5s on their AP exams and with similar college opportunities to their AAP peers.

We choose LI for our kid so he would have additional challenges in ES. We are happy that he landed in Advanced Math because we appreciate the challenge that the class brings him. AAP classes can offer a more challenging curriculum but that is probably more important at a low SES school where there is a larger educational divide then at a higher SES school where there is less of a divide. In the long run, ie HS, there is no real difference.

AAP is not that special. I understand looking into it, obviously we did. DS was accepted and we deferred. We are activating it next year. We know people who are not activating it and their kids will take all Honors. And they are all going to end up in the same classes in HS. We are glad that he has the choice but would be fine if he didn't have the choice because we know his peer group and his MS and his HS.

Not sure I understand. What grade is your DS in and why did you defer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is advanced and hasn't been accepted in to Level IV for whatever reason and if they don't get accepted even after an appeal, what is your plan? Do you plan on enrolling your child in enrichment classes or giving them challenging material to study at home?

We'll teach DC after school by ourselves. Both parents have advance degrees. We probably will transfer to private at 6th grade.

So you will move your child to private just as the Honors classes come into play in MS? Even though private schools have less differentiation then public schools and many of the private schools in the area have dropped AP classes?

DS was accepted into LIV with no prep. We kept him at the base school for a language immersion program. He has been in Advanced Math at his base school. He scored in the 99th percentile on the IAAT, passed his SOLs advanced every year, and has high iReadys. His school did not have LLIV when we made our decision. Between Advanced Math and LIII pull outs he has had his needs met.

If you are not at a Title 1 school, your child will have peers in the regular classroom and will be well prepared for MS and HS. Most of the kids in HS AP/IB classes were not in LIV in ES and go on to get good grades and 4’s and 5’s on AP exams. LIV is not some magic program that is amazing and the end all be all. Title 1 schools will have a pronounced gap between the kids who were ready for school and the ones who were not. LIV gives kids who were ready and are now ahead a class that moves at the regular pace instead of one that is teaching to kids who are mainly behind.

For non-Title 1 schools, AAP is not all that special. Some parents assume that it is the path to TJ, but that is more the Advanced Math that allows kids into Algebra in 7th grade. Even before the change in admissions, it was the accelerated math that helped with TJ, not AAP as a whole. Some parents want to be able to say that their kid was accepted into AAP, it is a prestige thing.

Honors at some middle schools is just general education. It's self-selected and full of kids that are not good students despite putting themselves in honors classes. AAP middle school curriculums at least have some gatekeeping on either scoring or executive function and keeps the rigor and depth higher.

Sure there are some MS with better Honors, but many are not good. It's almost laughable to call the curriculum honors. But then you should see the non-honors at these same schools and you realize that honors are just full of kids who want to learn or pretend to vs kids who can't be bothered to show up much at all let alone participate and complete assignments.

And yet the honors students end up in AP/IB classes with the AAP kids and are indistinguishable to the TEachers. THose honors students earn 4s and 5s on their AP exams and with similar college opportunities to their AAP peers.

We choose LI for our kid so he would have additional challenges in ES. We are happy that he landed in Advanced Math because we appreciate the challenge that the class brings him. AAP classes can offer a more challenging curriculum but that is probably more important at a low SES school where there is a larger educational divide then at a higher SES school where there is less of a divide. In the long run, ie HS, there is no real difference.

AAP is not that special. I understand looking into it, obviously we did. DS was accepted and we deferred. We are activating it next year. We know people who are not activating it and their kids will take all Honors. And they are all going to end up in the same classes in HS. We are glad that he has the choice but would be fine if he didn't have the choice because we know his peer group and his MS and his HS.

I don’t know if anyone has stats regarding AAP MS vs nonAAP and the college outcomes. Nice anecdote though. Assuming you are correct, that still doesn’t negate the benefits in many middle schools low or middle SES. You aren’t even really disagreeing either. At high SES schools honors may be fine, I don’t disagree, but for many schools, it’s almost remedial. I applaud apps plan for private and would caution anyone saying Honors is just fine. It’s not in many parts of the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is advanced and hasn't been accepted in to Level IV for whatever reason and if they don't get accepted even after an appeal, what is your plan? Do you plan on enrolling your child in enrichment classes or giving them challenging material to study at home?

We'll teach DC after school by ourselves. Both parents have advance degrees. We probably will transfer to private at 6th grade.

So you will move your child to private just as the Honors classes come into play in MS? Even though private schools have less differentiation then public schools and many of the private schools in the area have dropped AP classes?

DS was accepted into LIV with no prep. We kept him at the base school for a language immersion program. He has been in Advanced Math at his base school. He scored in the 99th percentile on the IAAT, passed his SOLs advanced every year, and has high iReadys. His school did not have LLIV when we made our decision. Between Advanced Math and LIII pull outs he has had his needs met.

If you are not at a Title 1 school, your child will have peers in the regular classroom and will be well prepared for MS and HS. Most of the kids in HS AP/IB classes were not in LIV in ES and go on to get good grades and 4’s and 5’s on AP exams. LIV is not some magic program that is amazing and the end all be all. Title 1 schools will have a pronounced gap between the kids who were ready for school and the ones who were not. LIV gives kids who were ready and are now ahead a class that moves at the regular pace instead of one that is teaching to kids who are mainly behind.

For non-Title 1 schools, AAP is not all that special. Some parents assume that it is the path to TJ, but that is more the Advanced Math that allows kids into Algebra in 7th grade. Even before the change in admissions, it was the accelerated math that helped with TJ, not AAP as a whole. Some parents want to be able to say that their kid was accepted into AAP, it is a prestige thing.

Honors at some middle schools is just general education. It's self-selected and full of kids that are not good students despite putting themselves in honors classes. AAP middle school curriculums at least have some gatekeeping on either scoring or executive function and keeps the rigor and depth higher.

Sure there are some MS with better Honors, but many are not good. It's almost laughable to call the curriculum honors. But then you should see the non-honors at these same schools and you realize that honors are just full of kids who want to learn or pretend to vs kids who can't be bothered to show up much at all let alone participate and complete assignments.

And yet the honors students end up in AP/IB classes with the AAP kids and are indistinguishable to the TEachers. THose honors students earn 4s and 5s on their AP exams and with similar college opportunities to their AAP peers.

We choose LI for our kid so he would have additional challenges in ES. We are happy that he landed in Advanced Math because we appreciate the challenge that the class brings him. AAP classes can offer a more challenging curriculum but that is probably more important at a low SES school where there is a larger educational divide then at a higher SES school where there is less of a divide. In the long run, ie HS, there is no real difference.

AAP is not that special. I understand looking into it, obviously we did. DS was accepted and we deferred. We are activating it next year. We know people who are not activating it and their kids will take all Honors. And they are all going to end up in the same classes in HS. We are glad that he has the choice but would be fine if he didn't have the choice because we know his peer group and his MS and his HS.

I don’t know if anyone has stats regarding AAP MS vs nonAAP and the college outcomes. Nice anecdote though. Assuming you are correct, that still doesn’t negate the benefits in many middle schools low or middle SES. You aren’t even really disagreeing either. At high SES schools honors may be fine, I don’t disagree, but for many schools, it’s almost remedial. I applaud apps plan for private and would caution anyone saying Honors is just fine. It’s not in many parts of the county.

DP. I don't know if there are stats, but anecdotally high school teachers at our future HS tell me they can't tell who was in AAP in their AP classes. Which strongly implies that it's family committment to academics that matters most in our pyramid, which is considered relatively high performing but not one of the most sought after.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is advanced and hasn't been accepted in to Level IV for whatever reason and if they don't get accepted even after an appeal, what is your plan? Do you plan on enrolling your child in enrichment classes or giving them challenging material to study at home?

We'll teach DC after school by ourselves. Both parents have advance degrees. We probably will transfer to private at 6th grade.

So you will move your child to private just as the Honors classes come into play in MS? Even though private schools have less differentiation then public schools and many of the private schools in the area have dropped AP classes?

DS was accepted into LIV with no prep. We kept him at the base school for a language immersion program. He has been in Advanced Math at his base school. He scored in the 99th percentile on the IAAT, passed his SOLs advanced every year, and has high iReadys. His school did not have LLIV when we made our decision. Between Advanced Math and LIII pull outs he has had his needs met.

If you are not at a Title 1 school, your child will have peers in the regular classroom and will be well prepared for MS and HS. Most of the kids in HS AP/IB classes were not in LIV in ES and go on to get good grades and 4’s and 5’s on AP exams. LIV is not some magic program that is amazing and the end all be all. Title 1 schools will have a pronounced gap between the kids who were ready for school and the ones who were not. LIV gives kids who were ready and are now ahead a class that moves at the regular pace instead of one that is teaching to kids who are mainly behind.

For non-Title 1 schools, AAP is not all that special. Some parents assume that it is the path to TJ, but that is more the Advanced Math that allows kids into Algebra in 7th grade. Even before the change in admissions, it was the accelerated math that helped with TJ, not AAP as a whole. Some parents want to be able to say that their kid was accepted into AAP, it is a prestige thing.

Honors at some middle schools is just general education. It's self-selected and full of kids that are not good students despite putting themselves in honors classes. AAP middle school curriculums at least have some gatekeeping on either scoring or executive function and keeps the rigor and depth higher.

Sure there are some MS with better Honors, but many are not good. It's almost laughable to call the curriculum honors. But then you should see the non-honors at these same schools and you realize that honors are just full of kids who want to learn or pretend to vs kids who can't be bothered to show up much at all let alone participate and complete assignments.

And yet the honors students end up in AP/IB classes with the AAP kids and are indistinguishable to the TEachers. THose honors students earn 4s and 5s on their AP exams and with similar college opportunities to their AAP peers.

We choose LI for our kid so he would have additional challenges in ES. We are happy that he landed in Advanced Math because we appreciate the challenge that the class brings him. AAP classes can offer a more challenging curriculum but that is probably more important at a low SES school where there is a larger educational divide then at a higher SES school where there is less of a divide. In the long run, ie HS, there is no real difference.

AAP is not that special. I understand looking into it, obviously we did. DS was accepted and we deferred. We are activating it next year. We know people who are not activating it and their kids will take all Honors. And they are all going to end up in the same classes in HS. We are glad that he has the choice but would be fine if he didn't have the choice because we know his peer group and his MS and his HS.

I don’t know if anyone has stats regarding AAP MS vs nonAAP and the college outcomes. Nice anecdote though. Assuming you are correct, that still doesn’t negate the benefits in many middle schools low or middle SES. You aren’t even really disagreeing either. At high SES schools honors may be fine, I don’t disagree, but for many schools, it’s almost remedial. I applaud apps plan for private and would caution anyone saying Honors is just fine. It’s not in many parts of the county.

DP. I don't know if there are stats, but anecdotally high school teachers at our future HS tell me they can't tell who was in AAP in their AP classes. Which strongly implies that it's family committment to academics that matters most in our pyramid, which is considered relatively high performing but not one of the most sought after.

Well most academic success is about a family’s commitment, at least IMO.

Using achieved AP grades and class levels and college outcomes is one measure of academic success and a valid one. But I also value learning for the sake of learning and wasting time in elementary and middle school (because a student is not challenged) seems like an awfully unnecessary just because they will end up in AP Calc anyway. AAP and some privates provide a great alternative for parents who are committed to all the years of academic success both in grades and the journey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is advanced and hasn't been accepted in to Level IV for whatever reason and if they don't get accepted even after an appeal, what is your plan? Do you plan on enrolling your child in enrichment classes or giving them challenging material to study at home?

We'll teach DC after school by ourselves. Both parents have advance degrees. We probably will transfer to private at 6th grade.

So you will move your child to private just as the Honors classes come into play in MS? Even though private schools have less differentiation then public schools and many of the private schools in the area have dropped AP classes?

DS was accepted into LIV with no prep. We kept him at the base school for a language immersion program. He has been in Advanced Math at his base school. He scored in the 99th percentile on the IAAT, passed his SOLs advanced every year, and has high iReadys. His school did not have LLIV when we made our decision. Between Advanced Math and LIII pull outs he has had his needs met.

If you are not at a Title 1 school, your child will have peers in the regular classroom and will be well prepared for MS and HS. Most of the kids in HS AP/IB classes were not in LIV in ES and go on to get good grades and 4’s and 5’s on AP exams. LIV is not some magic program that is amazing and the end all be all. Title 1 schools will have a pronounced gap between the kids who were ready for school and the ones who were not. LIV gives kids who were ready and are now ahead a class that moves at the regular pace instead of one that is teaching to kids who are mainly behind.

For non-Title 1 schools, AAP is not all that special. Some parents assume that it is the path to TJ, but that is more the Advanced Math that allows kids into Algebra in 7th grade. Even before the change in admissions, it was the accelerated math that helped with TJ, not AAP as a whole. Some parents want to be able to say that their kid was accepted into AAP, it is a prestige thing.

Honors at some middle schools is just general education. It's self-selected and full of kids that are not good students despite putting themselves in honors classes. AAP middle school curriculums at least have some gatekeeping on either scoring or executive function and keeps the rigor and depth higher.

Sure there are some MS with better Honors, but many are not good. It's almost laughable to call the curriculum honors. But then you should see the non-honors at these same schools and you realize that honors are just full of kids who want to learn or pretend to vs kids who can't be bothered to show up much at all let alone participate and complete assignments.

And yet the honors students end up in AP/IB classes with the AAP kids and are indistinguishable to the TEachers. THose honors students earn 4s and 5s on their AP exams and with similar college opportunities to their AAP peers.

We choose LI for our kid so he would have additional challenges in ES. We are happy that he landed in Advanced Math because we appreciate the challenge that the class brings him. AAP classes can offer a more challenging curriculum but that is probably more important at a low SES school where there is a larger educational divide then at a higher SES school where there is less of a divide. In the long run, ie HS, there is no real difference.

AAP is not that special. I understand looking into it, obviously we did. DS was accepted and we deferred. We are activating it next year. We know people who are not activating it and their kids will take all Honors. And they are all going to end up in the same classes in HS. We are glad that he has the choice but would be fine if he didn't have the choice because we know his peer group and his MS and his HS.

Not sure I understand. What grade is your DS in and why did you defer?

We deferred for LI. We would have deferred without LI because DS did not want to leave his friends. We put more emphasis on the social for ES but we do want him to be challenged, which is why we put him in LI, He is moving into 7th next year and we will activate his AAP because he will be taking the language at the MS and he will be at the same school as his friends.

I don’t know if anyone has stats regarding AAP MS vs nonAAP and the college outcomes. Nice anecdote though. Assuming you are correct, that still doesn’t negate the benefits in many middle schools low or middle SES. You aren’t even really disagreeing either. At high SES schools honors may be fine, I don’t disagree, but for many schools, it’s almost remedial. I applaud apps plan for private and would caution anyone saying Honors is just fine. It’s not in many parts of the county.

I have friends who Teach high school and they tell me that they have no clue who in their class was in AAP and who was not. Many of my friends teach AP/IB classes. And I have friends who have kids in HS who were not in AAP and hear the stories their kids tell.

I would be looking at private if I was at a school that was Title 1 or near Title 1 because I worry about the quality of education he was getting. Thankfully, we are not in that situation. We choose a smaller house in a more expensive area. We are not in McLean or Langley or the top 5 HS boundaries but we are comfortable with the school DS will attend. He'll probably take AP/IB classes and I know most of his non-AAP friends are going to end up in those classes with him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is advanced and hasn't been accepted in to Level IV for whatever reason and if they don't get accepted even after an appeal, what is your plan? Do you plan on enrolling your child in enrichment classes or giving them challenging material to study at home?

We'll teach DC after school by ourselves. Both parents have advance degrees. We probably will transfer to private at 6th grade.

So you will move your child to private just as the Honors classes come into play in MS? Even though private schools have less differentiation then public schools and many of the private schools in the area have dropped AP classes?

DS was accepted into LIV with no prep. We kept him at the base school for a language immersion program. He has been in Advanced Math at his base school. He scored in the 99th percentile on the IAAT, passed his SOLs advanced every year, and has high iReadys. His school did not have LLIV when we made our decision. Between Advanced Math and LIII pull outs he has had his needs met.

If you are not at a Title 1 school, your child will have peers in the regular classroom and will be well prepared for MS and HS. Most of the kids in HS AP/IB classes were not in LIV in ES and go on to get good grades and 4’s and 5’s on AP exams. LIV is not some magic program that is amazing and the end all be all. Title 1 schools will have a pronounced gap between the kids who were ready for school and the ones who were not. LIV gives kids who were ready and are now ahead a class that moves at the regular pace instead of one that is teaching to kids who are mainly behind.

For non-Title 1 schools, AAP is not all that special. Some parents assume that it is the path to TJ, but that is more the Advanced Math that allows kids into Algebra in 7th grade. Even before the change in admissions, it was the accelerated math that helped with TJ, not AAP as a whole. Some parents want to be able to say that their kid was accepted into AAP, it is a prestige thing.

Honors at some middle schools is just general education. It's self-selected and full of kids that are not good students despite putting themselves in honors classes. AAP middle school curriculums at least have some gatekeeping on either scoring or executive function and keeps the rigor and depth higher.

Sure there are some MS with better Honors, but many are not good. It's almost laughable to call the curriculum honors. But then you should see the non-honors at these same schools and you realize that honors are just full of kids who want to learn or pretend to vs kids who can't be bothered to show up much at all let alone participate and complete assignments.

And yet the honors students end up in AP/IB classes with the AAP kids and are indistinguishable to the TEachers. THose honors students earn 4s and 5s on their AP exams and with similar college opportunities to their AAP peers.

We choose LI for our kid so he would have additional challenges in ES. We are happy that he landed in Advanced Math because we appreciate the challenge that the class brings him. AAP classes can offer a more challenging curriculum but that is probably more important at a low SES school where there is a larger educational divide then at a higher SES school where there is less of a divide. In the long run, ie HS, there is no real difference.

AAP is not that special. I understand looking into it, obviously we did. DS was accepted and we deferred. We are activating it next year. We know people who are not activating it and their kids will take all Honors. And they are all going to end up in the same classes in HS. We are glad that he has the choice but would be fine if he didn't have the choice because we know his peer group and his MS and his HS.

Not sure I understand. What grade is your DS in and why did you defer?

We deferred for LI. We would have deferred without LI because DS did not want to leave his friends. We put more emphasis on the social for ES but we do want him to be challenged, which is why we put him in LI, He is moving into 7th next year and we will activate his AAP because he will be taking the language at the MS and he will be at the same school as his friends.

I don’t know if anyone has stats regarding AAP MS vs nonAAP and the college outcomes. Nice anecdote though. Assuming you are correct, that still doesn’t negate the benefits in many middle schools low or middle SES. You aren’t even really disagreeing either. At high SES schools honors may be fine, I don’t disagree, but for many schools, it’s almost remedial. I applaud apps plan for private and would caution anyone saying Honors is just fine. It’s not in many parts of the county.

I have friends who Teach high school and they tell me that they have no clue who in their class was in AAP and who was not. Many of my friends teach AP/IB classes. And I have friends who have kids in HS who were not in AAP and hear the stories their kids tell.

I would be looking at private if I was at a school that was Title 1 or near Title 1 because I worry about the quality of education he was getting. Thankfully, we are not in that situation. We choose a smaller house in a more expensive area. We are not in McLean or Langley or the top 5 HS boundaries but we are comfortable with the school DS will attend. He'll probably take AP/IB classes and I know most of his non-AAP friends are going to end up in those classes with him.

What is LI?

[Anonymous]

Same ignorant poster who asked what LI is.
What is IB?
Is AP in high school similar to AAP in elementary and middle school?
Is AAP a thing all over the US or is it just something within FCPS and counties nearby?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same ignorant poster who asked what LI is. Language Immersion, where kids learn in a foreign language as well as English
What is IB? International Baccalaureate, an international high school program for rigorous studies that gets very mixed reviews in FCPS.
Is AP in high school similar to AAP in elementary and middle school? No, Advanced Placement courses are designed to be college level courses.
Is AAP a thing all over the US or is it just something within FCPS and counties nearby? No. It's not even in counties near by. It is FCPS's specific implementation of the gifted education requirement provided by the Virginia Department of Education for all Virginia school systems, and posters here can argue all day about whether AAP is better, FCPS's old implementation GT (gifted & talented) was better, surrounding counties are better, AAP should even exist, and a ton more typics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is advanced and hasn't been accepted in to Level IV for whatever reason and if they don't get accepted even after an appeal, what is your plan? Do you plan on enrolling your child in enrichment classes or giving them challenging material to study at home?

We'll teach DC after school by ourselves. Both parents have advance degrees. We probably will transfer to private at 6th grade.

So you will move your child to private just as the Honors classes come into play in MS? Even though private schools have less differentiation then public schools and many of the private schools in the area have dropped AP classes?

DS was accepted into LIV with no prep. We kept him at the base school for a language immersion program. He has been in Advanced Math at his base school. He scored in the 99th percentile on the IAAT, passed his SOLs advanced every year, and has high iReadys. His school did not have LLIV when we made our decision. Between Advanced Math and LIII pull outs he has had his needs met.

If you are not at a Title 1 school, your child will have peers in the regular classroom and will be well prepared for MS and HS. Most of the kids in HS AP/IB classes were not in LIV in ES and go on to get good grades and 4’s and 5’s on AP exams. LIV is not some magic program that is amazing and the end all be all. Title 1 schools will have a pronounced gap between the kids who were ready for school and the ones who were not. LIV gives kids who were ready and are now ahead a class that moves at the regular pace instead of one that is teaching to kids who are mainly behind.

For non-Title 1 schools, AAP is not all that special. Some parents assume that it is the path to TJ, but that is more the Advanced Math that allows kids into Algebra in 7th grade. Even before the change in admissions, it was the accelerated math that helped with TJ, not AAP as a whole. Some parents want to be able to say that their kid was accepted into AAP, it is a prestige thing.

Honors at some middle schools is just general education. It's self-selected and full of kids that are not good students despite putting themselves in honors classes. AAP middle school curriculums at least have some gatekeeping on either scoring or executive function and keeps the rigor and depth higher.

Sure there are some MS with better Honors, but many are not good. It's almost laughable to call the curriculum honors. But then you should see the non-honors at these same schools and you realize that honors are just full of kids who want to learn or pretend to vs kids who can't be bothered to show up much at all let alone participate and complete assignments.

And yet the honors students end up in AP/IB classes with the AAP kids and are indistinguishable to the TEachers. THose honors students earn 4s and 5s on their AP exams and with similar college opportunities to their AAP peers.

We choose LI for our kid so he would have additional challenges in ES. We are happy that he landed in Advanced Math because we appreciate the challenge that the class brings him. AAP classes can offer a more challenging curriculum but that is probably more important at a low SES school where there is a larger educational divide then at a higher SES school where there is less of a divide. In the long run, ie HS, there is no real difference.

AAP is not that special. I understand looking into it, obviously we did. DS was accepted and we deferred. We are activating it next year. We know people who are not activating it and their kids will take all Honors. And they are all going to end up in the same classes in HS. We are glad that he has the choice but would be fine if he didn't have the choice because we know his peer group and his MS and his HS.

Not sure I understand. What grade is your DS in and why did you defer?

We deferred for LI. We would have deferred without LI because DS did not want to leave his friends. We put more emphasis on the social for ES but we do want him to be challenged, which is why we put him in LI, He is moving into 7th next year and we will activate his AAP because he will be taking the language at the MS and he will be at the same school as his friends.

I don’t know if anyone has stats regarding AAP MS vs nonAAP and the college outcomes. Nice anecdote though. Assuming you are correct, that still doesn’t negate the benefits in many middle schools low or middle SES. You aren’t even really disagreeing either. At high SES schools honors may be fine, I don’t disagree, but for many schools, it’s almost remedial. I applaud apps plan for private and would caution anyone saying Honors is just fine. It’s not in many parts of the county.

I have friends who Teach high school and they tell me that they have no clue who in their class was in AAP and who was not. Many of my friends teach AP/IB classes. And I have friends who have kids in HS who were not in AAP and hear the stories their kids tell.

I would be looking at private if I was at a school that was Title 1 or near Title 1 because I worry about the quality of education he was getting. Thankfully, we are not in that situation. We choose a smaller house in a more expensive area. We are not in McLean or Langley or the top 5 HS boundaries but we are comfortable with the school DS will attend. He'll probably take AP/IB classes and I know most of his non-AAP friends are going to end up in those classes with him.

Not everyone knows LI = language immersion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is advanced and hasn't been accepted in to Level IV for whatever reason and if they don't get accepted even after an appeal, what is your plan? Do you plan on enrolling your child in enrichment classes or giving them challenging material to study at home?

We'll teach DC after school by ourselves. Both parents have advance degrees. We probably will transfer to private at 6th grade.

So you will move your child to private just as the Honors classes come into play in MS? Even though private schools have less differentiation then public schools and many of the private schools in the area have dropped AP classes?

DS was accepted into LIV with no prep. We kept him at the base school for a language immersion program. He has been in Advanced Math at his base school. He scored in the 99th percentile on the IAAT, passed his SOLs advanced every year, and has high iReadys. His school did not have LLIV when we made our decision. Between Advanced Math and LIII pull outs he has had his needs met.

If you are not at a Title 1 school, your child will have peers in the regular classroom and will be well prepared for MS and HS. Most of the kids in HS AP/IB classes were not in LIV in ES and go on to get good grades and 4’s and 5’s on AP exams. LIV is not some magic program that is amazing and the end all be all. Title 1 schools will have a pronounced gap between the kids who were ready for school and the ones who were not. LIV gives kids who were ready and are now ahead a class that moves at the regular pace instead of one that is teaching to kids who are mainly behind.

For non-Title 1 schools, AAP is not all that special. Some parents assume that it is the path to TJ, but that is more the Advanced Math that allows kids into Algebra in 7th grade. Even before the change in admissions, it was the accelerated math that helped with TJ, not AAP as a whole. Some parents want to be able to say that their kid was accepted into AAP, it is a prestige thing.

Honors at some middle schools is just general education. It's self-selected and full of kids that are not good students despite putting themselves in honors classes. AAP middle school curriculums at least have some gatekeeping on either scoring or executive function and keeps the rigor and depth higher.

Sure there are some MS with better Honors, but many are not good. It's almost laughable to call the curriculum honors. But then you should see the non-honors at these same schools and you realize that honors are just full of kids who want to learn or pretend to vs kids who can't be bothered to show up much at all let alone participate and complete assignments.

And yet the honors students end up in AP/IB classes with the AAP kids and are indistinguishable to the TEachers. THose honors students earn 4s and 5s on their AP exams and with similar college opportunities to their AAP peers.

We choose LI for our kid so he would have additional challenges in ES. We are happy that he landed in Advanced Math because we appreciate the challenge that the class brings him. AAP classes can offer a more challenging curriculum but that is probably more important at a low SES school where there is a larger educational divide then at a higher SES school where there is less of a divide. In the long run, ie HS, there is no real difference.

AAP is not that special. I understand looking into it, obviously we did. DS was accepted and we deferred. We are activating it next year. We know people who are not activating it and their kids will take all Honors. And they are all going to end up in the same classes in HS. We are glad that he has the choice but would be fine if he didn't have the choice because we know his peer group and his MS and his HS.

I don’t know if anyone has stats regarding AAP MS vs nonAAP and the college outcomes. Nice anecdote though. Assuming you are correct, that still doesn’t negate the benefits in many middle schools low or middle SES. You aren’t even really disagreeing either. At high SES schools honors may be fine, I don’t disagree, but for many schools, it’s almost remedial. I applaud apps plan for private and would caution anyone saying Honors is just fine. It’s not in many parts of the county.

DP. I don't know if there are stats, but anecdotally high school teachers at our future HS tell me they can't tell who was in AAP in their AP classes. Which strongly implies that it's family committment to academics that matters most in our pyramid, which is considered relatively high performing but not one of the most sought after.

PPP. even within AAP, there is a huge gap between bottom kids struggling with algebra 1 and top kid who has learnt precalculus by completion of 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid is advanced and hasn't been accepted in to Level IV for whatever reason and if they don't get accepted even after an appeal, what is your plan? Do you plan on enrolling your child in enrichment classes or giving them challenging material to study at home?

We'll teach DC after school by ourselves. Both parents have advance degrees. We probably will transfer to private at 6th grade.

So you will move your child to private just as the Honors classes come into play in MS? Even though private schools have less differentiation then public schools and many of the private schools in the area have dropped AP classes?

DS was accepted into LIV with no prep. We kept him at the base school for a language immersion program. He has been in Advanced Math at his base school. He scored in the 99th percentile on the IAAT, passed his SOLs advanced every year, and has high iReadys. His school did not have LLIV when we made our decision. Between Advanced Math and LIII pull outs he has had his needs met.

If you are not at a Title 1 school, your child will have peers in the regular classroom and will be well prepared for MS and HS. Most of the kids in HS AP/IB classes were not in LIV in ES and go on to get good grades and 4’s and 5’s on AP exams. LIV is not some magic program that is amazing and the end all be all. Title 1 schools will have a pronounced gap between the kids who were ready for school and the ones who were not. LIV gives kids who were ready and are now ahead a class that moves at the regular pace instead of one that is teaching to kids who are mainly behind.

For non-Title 1 schools, AAP is not all that special. Some parents assume that it is the path to TJ, but that is more the Advanced Math that allows kids into Algebra in 7th grade. Even before the change in admissions, it was the accelerated math that helped with TJ, not AAP as a whole. Some parents want to be able to say that their kid was accepted into AAP, it is a prestige thing.

kid is in AAP, and our reasoning was simply kept to:
1) AAP is a proper fit for our child, since gen ed has less rigor and is too easy
2) continue daily math and english afterschool enrichment, which was reflected in perfect iready scores
3) used best cogat/nnat workbooks for a week, since we didnt want to rely on HOPE politics

what we dont and wont do:
1) worry about what other parents think
2) go around convincing other parents gen ed is same as AAP
3) show hatred, by calling responsible parenting as prepping
4) admit child into TJ with lowest level middle school math

KISS principle. Keep It Simple Silly.