APS Advanced Academics Parent Referral

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No wonder we rank so high in education. Great practices like these.

What practices? The ones that PP is making up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Opening varsity practices to all ends up lowering the intensity of the endeavor. You get that, right?

You don’t seem to understand how this works. If a non identified kid is excited about and doing well in a fractions unit, it isn’t “lowering the intensity of the endeavor” to allow him to do the extension work that the identified kids are required to do.

The teacher just has to slow things down for the kids whose parents insist that they can cut it. Nbd

As PP said, you don't seem to understand how this works.

Stop making up things to complain about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The system is much better now. Back when it was pullout the GT teachers gatekeeped to keep their caseloads small, and they left out a lot of kids who should have been identified.

My kid was overlooked. When I parent referred, they tested so high even the principal was wondering how they were missed.

It’s not better now, just bad in a different way. The reality is we need 3 options for students especially in middle school and up-remedial, regular, intensified/honors. No one wants their kid in the struggling section so that should be placement based on test scores, work samples and teacher feedback. Honors should be similar.

That is literally what we have now in middle school.

+1

Yes, this is maybe the 3rd year of intensified classes?

This is the first year with full roll out, including to 6th grade. It's not entirely clear that the intensified classes are any different or more challenging, but it's good APS is at least trying to differentiate.

How old are your kids?

One is in 6th grade. At back to school night the teachers listed the things intensified classes were supposed to add, but most didn't have a specific plan yet for what they were going to add over what they'd taught for the non-intensified version the prior year. I suspect some have added just a bit so far and they'll add incrementally more each year as they have time to develop the course.

My impression is that the intensified courses aren't especially hard and they don't have any more homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Opening varsity practices to all ends up lowering the intensity of the endeavor. You get that, right?

You don’t seem to understand how this works. If a non identified kid is excited about and doing well in a fractions unit, it isn’t “lowering the intensity of the endeavor” to allow him to do the extension work that the identified kids are required to do.

The thing is that they're not offering it as a separate extension where kids choose to participate or not. They offer these activities to all students so it needs to be accessible to all students. The activities are being offered as whole class activities and have been made easier so all students can do them successfully.

This is leaving the students who used to get extensions with nothing to do when they finish grade level work.

That’s not universal. Some schools take a subset of kids who are interested in a particular topic and they get an extra project/reading.

Others have an endless supply of extensions, some for depth and some goes beyond current course.

That's not the model being put forward by APS central administration.

They are available to all kids who show interest, not just those tagged as gifted. This is in addition to a healthy supply of extension activities.

When your kids are older you’ll find that there is a lot more differentiation in MS+. ES has never had a ton. Which is fine for most parents in APS. Parents who want that tend to head to FCPS.

I have a kid in middle school. She's taking all the hardest options and her lowest score in any class is a 96% this quarter. She never does homework. I'm not impressed by the differentiation.

She was also getting APS gifted services before COVID and they were much improved over what is offered now. (Still not a lot, but more.). APS has really backed off the individual extension activities in favor of whole class activities. My kids are spending too much time reading silently and not enough time doing school work.

I've explained a few times. Extension activities are being taught to the class at the end of the unit in the new APS AAC model that was rolled out lar year. Kids are not being given individual extension activities, because the AACs have been told to focus on whole class activities that all can do, so kids are being told to read silently or do Lexia or Dreambox after they finish their work. This isn't okay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Opening varsity practices to all ends up lowering the intensity of the endeavor. You get that, right?

You don’t seem to understand how this works. If a non identified kid is excited about and doing well in a fractions unit, it isn’t “lowering the intensity of the endeavor” to allow him to do the extension work that the identified kids are required to do.

The thing is that they're not offering it as a separate extension where kids choose to participate or not. They offer these activities to all students so it needs to be accessible to all students. The activities are being offered as whole class activities and have been made easier so all students can do them successfully.

This is leaving the students who used to get extensions with nothing to do when they finish grade level work.

That’s not universal. Some schools take a subset of kids who are interested in a particular topic and they get an extra project/reading.

Others have an endless supply of extensions, some for depth and some goes beyond current course.

That's not the model being put forward by APS central administration.

They are available to all kids who show interest, not just those tagged as gifted. This is in addition to a healthy supply of extension activities.

When your kids are older you’ll find that there is a lot more differentiation in MS+. ES has never had a ton. Which is fine for most parents in APS. Parents who want that tend to head to FCPS.

I think you miss understand how APS is implementing this change. They are trying very hard to make sure that *all* kids have equal access to the extension activities so they are waiting until everyone is done with their grade level work so *all* can participate. This is leaving the advanced+gifted kids with huge amounts of time to do nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The system is much better now. Back when it was pullout the GT teachers gatekeeped to keep their caseloads small, and they left out a lot of kids who should have been identified.

My kid was overlooked. When I parent referred, they tested so high even the principal was wondering how they were missed.

It’s not better now, just bad in a different way. The reality is we need 3 options for students especially in middle school and up-remedial, regular, intensified/honors. No one wants their kid in the struggling section so that should be placement based on test scores, work samples and teacher feedback. Honors should be similar.

That is literally what we have now in middle school.

1. Not all subjects have a remedial option
2. Anyone can enroll in intensified, no scores needed

The core subjects have remedial options. Plus there are additional supports built-in to support struggling kids in grade-level classes.

Kids self select into intensified. And the enrollment is fluid - I know kids who have moved up and down during the school year.

How old are your kids? Which school(s)? Seems like you have young kids.

7th grader. I see the (sometimes frustrated)canvas messages his teachers send reminding students about test corrections and turning in assignments. Those kids are slowing things down. The teachers have to re-teach basic concepts in class. The problem is that anyone can sign up for them, even if the don’t have the scores or work ethic to support the placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Opening varsity practices to all ends up lowering the intensity of the endeavor. You get that, right?

You don’t seem to understand how this works. If a non identified kid is excited about and doing well in a fractions unit, it isn’t “lowering the intensity of the endeavor” to allow him to do the extension work that the identified kids are required to do.

The thing is that they're not offering it as a separate extension where kids choose to participate or not. They offer these activities to all students so it needs to be accessible to all students. The activities are being offered as whole class activities and have been made easier so all students can do them successfully.

This is leaving the students who used to get extensions with nothing to do when they finish grade level work.

That’s not universal. Some schools take a subset of kids who are interested in a particular topic and they get an extra project/reading.

Others have an endless supply of extensions, some for depth and some goes beyond current course.

That's not the model being put forward by APS central administration.

They are available to all kids who show interest, not just those tagged as gifted. This is in addition to a healthy supply of extension activities.

When your kids are older you’ll find that there is a lot more differentiation in MS+. ES has never had a ton. Which is fine for most parents in APS. Parents who want that tend to head to FCPS.

I think you miss understand how APS is implementing this change. They are trying very hard to make sure that *all* kids have equal access to the extension activities so they are waiting until everyone is done with their grade level work so *all* can participate. This is leaving the advanced+gifted kids with huge amounts of time to do nothing.

That is not how APS is delivering gifted services. It is your understanding of how it is being delivered at your child’s school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Opening varsity practices to all ends up lowering the intensity of the endeavor. You get that, right?

You don’t seem to understand how this works. If a non identified kid is excited about and doing well in a fractions unit, it isn’t “lowering the intensity of the endeavor” to allow him to do the extension work that the identified kids are required to do.

The thing is that they're not offering it as a separate extension where kids choose to participate or not. They offer these activities to all students so it needs to be accessible to all students. The activities are being offered as whole class activities and have been made easier so all students can do them successfully.

This is leaving the students who used to get extensions with nothing to do when they finish grade level work.

That’s not universal. Some schools take a subset of kids who are interested in a particular topic and they get an extra project/reading.

Others have an endless supply of extensions, some for depth and some goes beyond current course.

That's not the model being put forward by APS central administration.

They are available to all kids who show interest, not just those tagged as gifted. This is in addition to a healthy supply of extension activities.

When your kids are older you’ll find that there is a lot more differentiation in MS+. ES has never had a ton. Which is fine for most parents in APS. Parents who want that tend to head to FCPS.

I think you miss understand how APS is implementing this change. They are trying very hard to make sure that *all* kids have equal access to the extension activities so they are waiting until everyone is done with their grade level work so *all* can participate. This is leaving the advanced+gifted kids with huge amounts of time to do nothing.

That is not how APS is delivering gifted services. It is your understanding of how it is being delivered at your child’s school.

Or your school is going rogue and not following the new model. It is exactly how my experience at two different APS elementary schools, along with multiple conversations with the AAC and administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Opening varsity practices to all ends up lowering the intensity of the endeavor. You get that, right?

You don’t seem to understand how this works. If a non identified kid is excited about and doing well in a fractions unit, it isn’t “lowering the intensity of the endeavor” to allow him to do the extension work that the identified kids are required to do.

The thing is that they're not offering it as a separate extension where kids choose to participate or not. They offer these activities to all students so it needs to be accessible to all students. The activities are being offered as whole class activities and have been made easier so all students can do them successfully.

This is leaving the students who used to get extensions with nothing to do when they finish grade level work.

That’s not universal. Some schools take a subset of kids who are interested in a particular topic and they get an extra project/reading.

Others have an endless supply of extensions, some for depth and some goes beyond current course.

That's not the model being put forward by APS central administration.

They are available to all kids who show interest, not just those tagged as gifted. This is in addition to a healthy supply of extension activities.

When your kids are older you’ll find that there is a lot more differentiation in MS+. ES has never had a ton. Which is fine for most parents in APS. Parents who want that tend to head to FCPS.

I have a kid in middle school. She's taking all the hardest options and her lowest score in any class is a 96% this quarter. She never does homework. I'm not impressed by the differentiation.

She was also getting APS gifted services before COVID and they were much improved over what is offered now. (Still not a lot, but more.). APS has really backed off the individual extension activities in favor of whole class activities. My kids are spending too much time reading silently and not enough time doing school work.

I've explained a few times. Extension activities are being taught to the class at the end of the unit in the new APS AAC model that was rolled out lar year. Kids are not being given individual extension activities, because the AACs have been told to focus on whole class activities that all can do, so kids are being told to read silently or do Lexia or Dreambox after they finish their work. This isn't okay.

Which middle school is using DreamBox for Pre-Algebra?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Opening varsity practices to all ends up lowering the intensity of the endeavor. You get that, right?

You don’t seem to understand how this works. If a non identified kid is excited about and doing well in a fractions unit, it isn’t “lowering the intensity of the endeavor” to allow him to do the extension work that the identified kids are required to do.

The thing is that they're not offering it as a separate extension where kids choose to participate or not. They offer these activities to all students so it needs to be accessible to all students. The activities are being offered as whole class activities and have been made easier so all students can do them successfully.

This is leaving the students who used to get extensions with nothing to do when they finish grade level work.

That’s not universal. Some schools take a subset of kids who are interested in a particular topic and they get an extra project/reading.

Others have an endless supply of extensions, some for depth and some goes beyond current course.

That's not the model being put forward by APS central administration.

They are available to all kids who show interest, not just those tagged as gifted. This is in addition to a healthy supply of extension activities.

When your kids are older you’ll find that there is a lot more differentiation in MS+. ES has never had a ton. Which is fine for most parents in APS. Parents who want that tend to head to FCPS.

I have a kid in middle school. She's taking all the hardest options and her lowest score in any class is a 96% this quarter. She never does homework. I'm not impressed by the differentiation.

She was also getting APS gifted services before COVID and they were much improved over what is offered now. (Still not a lot, but more.). APS has really backed off the individual extension activities in favor of whole class activities. My kids are spending too much time reading silently and not enough time doing school work.

I've explained a few times. Extension activities are being taught to the class at the end of the unit in the new APS AAC model that was rolled out lar year. Kids are not being given individual extension activities, because the AACs have been told to focus on whole class activities that all can do, so kids are being told to read silently or do Lexia or Dreambox after they finish their work. This isn't okay.

Which middle school is using DreamBox for Pre-Algebra?

I have more than one kid. Dreambox is elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The system is much better now. Back when it was pullout the GT teachers gatekeeped to keep their caseloads small, and they left out a lot of kids who should have been identified.

My kid was overlooked. When I parent referred, they tested so high even the principal was wondering how they were missed.

It’s not better now, just bad in a different way. The reality is we need 3 options for students especially in middle school and up-remedial, regular, intensified/honors. No one wants their kid in the struggling section so that should be placement based on test scores, work samples and teacher feedback. Honors should be similar.

That is literally what we have now in middle school.

1. Not all subjects have a remedial option
2. Anyone can enroll in intensified, no scores needed

The core subjects have remedial options. Plus there are additional supports built-in to support struggling kids in grade-level classes.

Kids self select into intensified. And the enrollment is fluid - I know kids who have moved up and down during the school year.

How old are your kids? Which school(s)? Seems like you have young kids.

7th grader. I see the (sometimes frustrated)canvas messages his teachers send reminding students about test corrections and turning in assignments. Those kids are slowing things down. The teachers have to re-teach basic concepts in class. The problem is that anyone can sign up for them, even if the don’t have the scores or work ethic to support the placement.

Parents have always been able to parent place. That is nothing new.

When they added the intensified option it added an extra bucket for the bright, but less motivated kids to fall into. You end up with fewer slackers in intensified Algebra 1/Geometry than before the change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Opening varsity practices to all ends up lowering the intensity of the endeavor. You get that, right?

You don’t seem to understand how this works. If a non identified kid is excited about and doing well in a fractions unit, it isn’t “lowering the intensity of the endeavor” to allow him to do the extension work that the identified kids are required to do.

The thing is that they're not offering it as a separate extension where kids choose to participate or not. They offer these activities to all students so it needs to be accessible to all students. The activities are being offered as whole class activities and have been made easier so all students can do them successfully.

This is leaving the students who used to get extensions with nothing to do when they finish grade level work.

That’s not universal. Some schools take a subset of kids who are interested in a particular topic and they get an extra project/reading.

Others have an endless supply of extensions, some for depth and some goes beyond current course.

That's not the model being put forward by APS central administration.

They are available to all kids who show interest, not just those tagged as gifted. This is in addition to a healthy supply of extension activities.

When your kids are older you’ll find that there is a lot more differentiation in MS+. ES has never had a ton. Which is fine for most parents in APS. Parents who want that tend to head to FCPS.

I think you miss understand how APS is implementing this change. They are trying very hard to make sure that *all* kids have equal access to the extension activities so they are waiting until everyone is done with their grade level work so *all* can participate. This is leaving the advanced+gifted kids with huge amounts of time to do nothing.

That is not how APS is delivering gifted services. It is your understanding of how it is being delivered at your child’s school.

+1

[Anonymous]

8th grader now in APS MS. Was at ATS, took NNAT in 3rd and didn’t get flagged. Her teacher was curious about how she would do but scored average to her surprised. Took CogAT and it was high so they flagged her. At ATS, even before she was flagged, she almost always had extra works that was encouraged to do in class or at home that her friends didn’t get it.

Whatever her score was, her 5th grade teacher told us to push her to be placed in Pre Algebra in 6th. We didn’t. She started math 6 in 6th grade then her math teacher moved her to pre algebra and sailed through. Now taking Geometry Intensified and A in both quarters.

Over the years, honestly it has always been on the teachers. Not every teachers are the same or do the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The system is much better now. Back when it was pullout the GT teachers gatekeeped to keep their caseloads small, and they left out a lot of kids who should have been identified.

My kid was overlooked. When I parent referred, they tested so high even the principal was wondering how they were missed.

It’s not better now, just bad in a different way. The reality is we need 3 options for students especially in middle school and up-remedial, regular, intensified/honors. No one wants their kid in the struggling section so that should be placement based on test scores, work samples and teacher feedback. Honors should be similar.

That is literally what we have now in middle school.

1. Not all subjects have a remedial option
2. Anyone can enroll in intensified, no scores needed

The core subjects have remedial options. Plus there are additional supports built-in to support struggling kids in grade-level classes.

Kids self select into intensified. And the enrollment is fluid - I know kids who have moved up and down during the school year.

How old are your kids? Which school(s)? Seems like you have young kids.

7th grader. I see the (sometimes frustrated)canvas messages his teachers send reminding students about test corrections and turning in assignments. Those kids are slowing things down. The teachers have to re-teach basic concepts in class. The problem is that anyone can sign up for them, even if the don’t have the scores or work ethic to support the placement.

Parents have always been able to parent place. That is nothing new.

When they added the intensified option it added an extra bucket for the bright, but less motivated kids to fall into. You end up with fewer slackers in intensified Algebra 1/Geometry than before the change.

Ok, but there are still parents inappropriately placing kids and there’s no more pull outs so it’s actually worse than before

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The system is much better now. Back when it was pullout the GT teachers gatekeeped to keep their caseloads small, and they left out a lot of kids who should have been identified.

My kid was overlooked. When I parent referred, they tested so high even the principal was wondering how they were missed.

It’s not better now, just bad in a different way. The reality is we need 3 options for students especially in middle school and up-remedial, regular, intensified/honors. No one wants their kid in the struggling section so that should be placement based on test scores, work samples and teacher feedback. Honors should be similar.

That is literally what we have now in middle school.

1. Not all subjects have a remedial option
2. Anyone can enroll in intensified, no scores needed

The core subjects have remedial options. Plus there are additional supports built-in to support struggling kids in grade-level classes.

Kids self select into intensified. And the enrollment is fluid - I know kids who have moved up and down during the school year.

How old are your kids? Which school(s)? Seems like you have young kids.

7th grader. I see the (sometimes frustrated)canvas messages his teachers send reminding students about test corrections and turning in assignments. Those kids are slowing things down. The teachers have to re-teach basic concepts in class. The problem is that anyone can sign up for them, even if the don’t have the scores or work ethic to support the placement.

Parents have always been able to parent place. That is nothing new.

When they added the intensified option it added an extra bucket for the bright, but less motivated kids to fall into. You end up with fewer slackers in intensified Algebra 1/Geometry than before the change.

Ok, but there are still parents inappropriately placing kids and there’s no more pull outs so it’s actually worse than before

They don't need "pullouts" for intensified classes. We haven't had pull outs for many years.