Principal placed AAP question

[Anonymous]

So does principal placed mean there are kids at the center school who did not get into AAP but they are in the AAP class?

What’s the point of this? Isn’t the point of AAP so that my child is in a class with all AAP children?

Is the principal placed only for a year? Are there classes that are only AAP and no principal placed kids? How does this work?

I’m hoping my daughter gets into AAP and we will consider moving her to the center school but have some hesitations especially if the entire class isn’t AAP which I thought is the whole point of going to a center school…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So does principal placed mean there are kids at the center school who did not get into AAP but they are in the AAP class?

What’s the point of this? Isn’t the point of AAP so that my child is in a class with all AAP children?

Is the principal placed only for a year? Are there classes that are only AAP and no principal placed kids? How does this work?

I’m hoping my daughter gets into AAP and we will consider moving her to the center school but have some hesitations especially if the entire class isn’t AAP which I thought is the whole point of going to a center school…

If the AAP class has 20 kids in it but there are supposed to be 28 kids in every class, the principal can place 8 students of their choice to fill out the class. if the next year 4 more kids get into AAP then 4 of the principal placed kids go back.

[Anonymous]

In general, center schools do not principal place students into AAP classes. Some centers may do so but they aren't "supposed" to. At our center school, it does not happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In general, center schools do not principal place students into AAP classes. Some centers may do so but they aren't "supposed" to. At our center school, it does not happen.

I thought they gave every AAP kid an opportunity to attend a center if they wanted to. That would mean that they can't always have exactly enough kids to fill the class. What do they do with the extra spots?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In general, center schools do not principal place students into AAP classes. Some centers may do so but they aren't "supposed" to. At our center school, it does not happen.

I thought they gave every AAP kid an opportunity to attend a center if they wanted to. That would mean that they can't always have exactly enough kids to fill the class. What do they do with the extra spots?

They either have small classes or they do principal place. Our base is our center and parents I know told me their kids were principal placed into my DD's class in 4th. It didn't happen under the first 2 principals at the school, but started with the 3rd (yeah, lot of administrative turnover at that school).

It had zero, and I do mean zero, impact on the class's ability to continue progressing through the material at the usual pace. That is because there are many kids who are able to handle the pace of AAP whose parents don't refer or they aren't admitted.

There were kids who had been admitted by the central committee - and I know that because they came to the center from a different ES base - who were far less able to handle the work per things I saw during Covid online school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In general, center schools do not principal place students into AAP classes. Some centers may do so but they aren't "supposed" to. At our center school, it does not happen.

I thought they gave every AAP kid an opportunity to attend a center if they wanted to. That would mean that they can't always have exactly enough kids to fill the class. What do they do with the extra spots?

Then they have a smaller class. We’re at a center school, DS had 28-29 students every year until 6th, when they had to add a class and then he had 24. DD is in 4th and has had 24 kids the past two years. They don’t have to max out the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In general, center schools do not principal place students into AAP classes. Some centers may do so but they aren't "supposed" to. At our center school, it does not happen.

I thought they gave every AAP kid an opportunity to attend a center if they wanted to. That would mean that they can't always have exactly enough kids to fill the class. What do they do with the extra spots?

They either have small classes or they do principal place. Our base is our center and parents I know told me their kids were principal placed into my DD's class in 4th. It didn't happen under the first 2 principals at the school, but started with the 3rd (yeah, lot of administrative turnover at that school).

It had zero, and I do mean zero, impact on the class's ability to continue progressing through the material at the usual pace. That is because there are many kids who are able to handle the pace of AAP whose parents don't refer or they aren't admitted.

There were kids who had been admitted by the central committee - and I know that because they came to the center from a different ES base - who were far less able to handle the work per things I saw during Covid online school.

It's a good measure of whether the principal cares about the gen ed or aap side of the school more. Allowing gen ed classes of 29 and AAP classes of 20 vs 24 and 26 shows where the priority is

[Anonymous]

This would happen in LLIV as well. Say 20 kids are accepted into AAP. Ten move to the center school, ten remain in the base school. You’re not going to have a class if only ten kids, so the principal will pick the kids who they think will be the best fit for the AAP class, and put them in there.

At the elementary school level, the only real difference is the accelerated math. So principal-placed kids might struggle there (especially as they get into 5th/6th grade), but the other work is fundamentally the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This would happen in LLIV as well. Say 20 kids are accepted into AAP. Ten move to the center school, ten remain in the base school. You’re not going to have a class if only ten kids, so the principal will pick the kids who they think will be the best fit for the AAP class, and put them in there.

At the elementary school level, the only real difference is the accelerated math. So principal-placed kids might struggle there (especially as they get into 5th/6th grade), but the other work is fundamentally the same.

Kids push in and out for math at our school. Committee placed need parental permission, but it happens some times. It's only when they get the middle school schedules (no principal placed) that they really figure out who is committee vs principal placed.

[Anonymous]

Relax, OP. Any kids principal placed at the center will be completely indistinguishable from most of the centrally placed kids. They're only going to place kids who are academically advanced and who should have been accepted into AAP in the first place.

[Anonymous]

They did this at our center (also our base) and it was quite a few kids. Otherwise they would have had to find another gen ed teacher. Now all of the classrooms have roughly the same number of kids. It's no big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Relax, OP. Any kids principal placed at the center will be completely indistinguishable from most of the centrally placed kids. They're only going to place kids who are academically advanced and who should have been accepted into AAP in the first place.

I would say they are accepting kids into AAP that shouldn’t be there in the first place, so it doesn’t really matter when you add in kids who are just a touch below the cut-off.

But we are basically in agreement that the principal-placed kids are undistinguishable from most of the other kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Relax, OP. Any kids principal placed at the center will be completely indistinguishable from most of the centrally placed kids. They're only going to place kids who are academically advanced and who should have been accepted into AAP in the first place.

I would say they are accepting kids into AAP that shouldn’t be there in the first place, so it doesn’t really matter when you add in kids who are just a touch below the cut-off.

But we are basically in agreement that the principal-placed kids are undistinguishable from most of the other kids.

DP. If the program's designed for 20% of FCPS, then it's pretty hard to say they should be casting a narrow net.

This isn't the old GT nor do I think they'll go back to that.

[Anonymous]

My current high school senior daughter was principal placed in aap level 4 in 5th grade. She was in aap level 3 every other year. That 5th grade year she got all 4s and an aap level 4 recommendation from her teacher, but wasn’t put in aap level 4 when we reapplied for 6th grade. So she went back to gen Ed.

She did all honors in middle school which is the same content as aap, but separated for reasons that don’t make sense to me.

Then 13 AP classes and straight As in high school. She does continue to test poorly, which is why she didn’t test into aap originally, which is reflected in her SAT score not being great.

She was rejected from the ivy ED she applied to, but has been accepted to every other college she has heard back from so far.

So yeah, your kid might be exposed to a non-aap level 4 kid like my daughter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My current high school senior daughter was principal placed in aap level 4 in 5th grade. She was in aap level 3 every other year. That 5th grade year she got all 4s and an aap level 4 recommendation from her teacher, but wasn’t put in aap level 4 when we reapplied for 6th grade. So she went back to gen Ed.

She did all honors in middle school which is the same content as aap, but separated for reasons that don’t make sense to me.

Then 13 AP classes and straight As in high school. She does continue to test poorly, which is why she didn’t test into aap originally, which is reflected in her SAT score not being great.

She was rejected from the ivy ED she applied to, but has been accepted to every other college she has heard back from so far.

So yeah, your kid might be exposed to a non-aap level 4 kid like my daughter.

That is highly dependent on the middle school