Regular classes vs AAP

[Anonymous]

I don't want to post in AAP thread because I am looking for unbiased opinions. My child may or may not get selected for AAP starting third grade. If he ends up in a regular class, what will he be missing in the short term and long term?

[Anonymous]

Is this AAP specific to FCPS?

[Anonymous]

When we moved here only a few years ago, literally everyone (including a FCPS teacher at church) told us that: “AAP is the standard track and GenEd is the slow track. Do whatever it takes to have your DC on the AAP track.”

Some here on DCUM disagree with that. We don’t gamble with our kids education. But you should do whatever you think best for your own DC.

[Anonymous]

I know many families who are happy in Gen Ed, including several whose older kid was in AAP and they did not want that for their younger due to pressure / anxiety. They feel that that opportunities to accelerate will still be there in middle school.

Our school is a center so AAP friends are sometimes from other schools. The AAP classes tend to be bigger than Gen Ed.

[Anonymous]

This should be in the FCPS thread, not here.

[Anonymous]

Your child won't get into college, for one thing.

[Anonymous]

The math tries to accelerate kids by one year, but many don’t take Algebra 1 in 7th grade anyway. So, it really doesn’t matter.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on the school. Also if it’s a center vs non center schools. I would just avoid center schools bc a lot of the AAP parents can be intense and there’s more of a divide. I kept both my AAP kids at local level then the middle school is/was a center. Once in middle school, they can opt for Honors. Also the PP mentions math. A kid can be in accelerated math without being in AAP. Also FCPS accelerated math is just accelerated, not advanced or in depth. For that-you need outside supplementation at least at the ES level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Your child won't get into college, for one thing.

Nice trolling! Meanwhile, former Gen Ed kids often zoom past their former AAP counterparts once they hit high school. Where they all go to college is very telling.

[Anonymous]

We are at an AAP center (Churchill) and I’ve had kids in both and I don’t see a meaningful difference other than the math acceleration. The baseline feels quite high here (in a good way).

[Anonymous]

It’s all an attempt to appease the crazy parents. There’s not much meaningful difference at all. Science is science. Social studies is social studies. The LA is the LA. Only the math pulls ahead by one year but does so at a fast rate that most kids lack the in-depth practice needed to fully cook in the fundamentals to cruise through 7th grade Algebra. So, the tutoring clubs are utilized heavily by this crowd through early elementary years and pre-K years.

[Anonymous]

It can be fairly dramatic when you go from a low/middle SES school to a high SES AAP center. Quieter and calmer classes which generally leads to more productivity and just a better experience. The math acceleration is a thing too, and definitely worth it.

If you are in a higher SES neighborhood, it may not seem much different.

[Anonymous]

I have 3 kids - the older two boys are in Level IV AAP, and the youngest is a 3rd grader not in AAP. What I realize now in my "old age" is that the youngest will do just as fine as the older two - taking all honors classes in MS - as they did / will do taking AAP classes in MS.

The oldest took Alg 1 in 7th, and my middle one - even though he is AAP, we are going to counsel him out of Alg 1 in 7th even if he qualifies. It has been fine/good for the oldest (currently taking Alg 2 in 9th grade), but my middle one gets more frustrated if things don't come easily. My youngest's strength is reading over math anyway - so even if in AAP, I don't think she would be a good candidate for Alg 1 in 7th. Sometimes she tells me she is bored in class, but I basically tell her - great, then cure cancer in your free time. (J/k - I tell her she should read, write, draw, or color). You might hear that your kid is bored if not in AAP but I don't think all learning has to be adult led and that kids should learn what to do if they're bored. My oldest made up math problems on his own when he was in 2nd grade - before AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It can be fairly dramatic when you go from a low/middle SES school to a high SES AAP center. Quieter and calmer classes which generally leads to more productivity and just a better experience. The math acceleration is a thing too, and definitely worth it.

If you are in a higher SES neighborhood, it may not seem much different.

This. Our oldest went to an AAP center at a school that wasn't high SES. Without the AAP center it would have been even lower SES I'm sure. I don't know about the other classes at the center, but there was much less nonsense in his AAP class than in our younger two children's classrooms at our base school.

Our base also did not offer Advanced Math until 5th grade. I think that's gone away now but it's definitely something to consider.

[Anonymous]

All of my kids attended an AAP center as gen ed kids and did well. You can never tell the difference between the AAP kids and the non-AAP kids once they get to HS.