Local AART teacher have a good feel on who will get into AAP?

[Anonymous]

Do you think local AART teachers have a good feel for who would get into AAP? Has yours been helpful in the decision to appeal or not?

[Anonymous]

Ours has made very clear she has nothing to do with the decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think local AART teachers have a good feel for who would get into AAP? Has yours been helpful in the decision to appeal or not?

This depends entirely on who the school AART is. The AART during my son’s year was excellent — super helpful and knew what the committee was looking to see. She had been there for many years. The new AART who replaced her was horrible, and fortunately for the students at our school, she has since left.

[Anonymous]

Our is great and seems to really try to get to know the kids and put together good packets. That said, like PP said, she has repeatedly told parents she has nothing to do with the decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our is great and seems to really try to get to know the kids and put together good packets. That said, like PP said, she has repeatedly told parents she has nothing to do with the decisions.

They aren't supposed to give specific feedback on packets. That said, I wish they would tell parents if the narrative that they wrote is off track or along the lines of what the cmte is looking for. The prompt is vague and I wasn't totally sure how to respond. I said a whole bunch of stuff and in hindsight I think I could have written it differently, in line with some of the advice written here.

Ours is terrible, at least from our vantage point. Did not do DC any favors and may have even hurt dc's chances.

[Anonymous]

Ours chose horrible work samples and clearly had no idea what the committee was looking for. She also had no idea what the criteria was for checking the advanced boxes — yet, she was on the local committee making those determinations. I have no idea how she ended up in that position at our highly competitive school but she wasn’t there long. Fortunately, I was able to successfully advocate for my kid on appeal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our is great and seems to really try to get to know the kids and put together good packets. That said, like PP said, she has repeatedly told parents she has nothing to do with the decisions.

They aren't supposed to give specific feedback on packets. That said, I wish they would tell parents if the narrative that they wrote is off track or along the lines of what the cmte is looking for. The prompt is vague and I wasn't totally sure how to respond. I said a whole bunch of stuff and in hindsight I think I could have written it differently, in line with some of the advice written here.

Ours is terrible, at least from our vantage point. Did not do DC any favors and may have even hurt dc's chances.

I didn't mean that she gave feedback on the packets. Rather, during her presentation, she gave advice on the work samples and the work samples she pulled for my DD were decent. She even pulled her out of class to finish some of the worksheets to ensure she had good samples because she was out of school with an illness for a few weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours chose horrible work samples and clearly had no idea what the committee was looking for. She also had no idea what the criteria was for checking the advanced boxes — yet, she was on the local committee making those determinations. I have no idea how she ended up in that position at our highly competitive school but she wasn’t there long. Fortunately, I was able to successfully advocate for my kid on appeal.

Same with ours (about five years ago). The work samples were clearly just from an activity she threw at the entire second grade and then collected to use for packets. No consideration as to whether they were actually good or not. I was shocked at what they submitted and had no problem finding better work samples from my daughter's regular classroom teacher to submit on appeal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours has made very clear she has nothing to do with the decisions.

Oh they and the 2nd grade teachers like you to think that. And it's true that they don't sit on the panel which decides who from your particular school is in level IV/the full-time AAP program.

However they write the packet. They control what goes in it. They (2nd grade teacher, AART, both, or sometimes even a small committee) fill out the HOPE. You're crazy if you believe them that they have "nothing" to do with it. They have a ton to do with it.

They just don't make that final call. And they very legitimately don't want angry parents pestering them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our is great and seems to really try to get to know the kids and put together good packets. That said, like PP said, she has repeatedly told parents she has nothing to do with the decisions.

They aren't supposed to give specific feedback on packets. That said, I wish they would tell parents if the narrative that they wrote is off track or along the lines of what the cmte is looking for. The prompt is vague and I wasn't totally sure how to respond. I said a whole bunch of stuff and in hindsight I think I could have written it differently, in line with some of the advice written here.

Ours is terrible, at least from our vantage point. Did not do DC any favors and may have even hurt dc's chances.

Our AART did close to what you describe. She told me if the narrative I painted was complete enough and suggested where there were gaps in a personal packet review. She also in the level IV presentation explained what belonged in a packet and at least gave hints for what made a good one.

But she wouldn't tell you "this is what the committee thinks" partially because there are so many 2nd grade teachers and AARTs on these committees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours chose horrible work samples and clearly had no idea what the committee was looking for. She also had no idea what the criteria was for checking the advanced boxes — yet, she was on the local committee making those determinations. I have no idea how she ended up in that position at our highly competitive school but she wasn’t there long. Fortunately, I was able to successfully advocate for my kid on appeal.

Same with ours (about five years ago). The work samples were clearly just from an activity she threw at the entire second grade and then collected to use for packets. No consideration as to whether they were actually good or not. I was shocked at what they submitted and had no problem finding better work samples from my daughter's regular classroom teacher to submit on appeal.

I’m the pp. Yep, total laziness. The classroom teacher collects school samples from the start of the year and holds onto them until the packets are submitted (bc they’re supposed to choose the best). After packets were due, a whole stack of excellent samples came home. I was especially ticked off when I saw what the AART submitted bc of all the other better options she had to choose from - it was like she purposely selected the worst. I submitted 2 other school samples on appeal and DC got in.

For those asking why ppl request the packet, it’s for reasons like this. Don’t assume that the school is putting together the most compelling packet for your kid - this is highly variable depending on the classroom teacher and school AART. You are your child’s best advocate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours has made very clear she has nothing to do with the decisions.

Oh they and the 2nd grade teachers like you to think that. And it's true that they don't sit on the panel which decides who from your particular school is in level IV/the full-time AAP program.

However they write the packet. They control what goes in it. They (2nd grade teacher, AART, both, or sometimes even a small committee) fill out the HOPE. You're crazy if you believe them that they have "nothing" to do with it. They have a ton to do with it.

They just don't make that final call. And they very legitimately don't want angry parents pestering them.

My child's GBRS was filled in with quotes and information directly from my parent form. They had no original thoughts of their own about my daughter and just used the feedback I gave. They literally knew nothing about her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours has made very clear she has nothing to do with the decisions.

Oh they and the 2nd grade teachers like you to think that. And it's true that they don't sit on the panel which decides who from your particular school is in level IV/the full-time AAP program.

However they write the packet. They control what goes in it. They (2nd grade teacher, AART, both, or sometimes even a small committee) fill out the HOPE. You're crazy if you believe them that they have "nothing" to do with it. They have a ton to do with it.

They just don't make that final call. And they very legitimately don't want angry parents pestering them.

My child's GBRS was filled in with quotes and information directly from my parent form. They had no original thoughts of their own about my daughter and just used the feedback I gave. They literally knew nothing about her.

At least they were aware enough to use the work you put in, rather than just basically not adding that much information at all (which was an alternative).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours has made very clear she has nothing to do with the decisions.

Oh they and the 2nd grade teachers like you to think that. And it's true that they don't sit on the panel which decides who from your particular school is in level IV/the full-time AAP program.

However they write the packet. They control what goes in it. They (2nd grade teacher, AART, both, or sometimes even a small committee) fill out the HOPE. You're crazy if you believe them that they have "nothing" to do with it. They have a ton to do with it.

They just don't make that final call. And they very legitimately don't want angry parents pestering them.

My child's GBRS was filled in with quotes and information directly from my parent form. They had no original thoughts of their own about my daughter and just used the feedback I gave. They literally knew nothing about her.

Unfortunately, now with the HOPE the teacher/AART have the option to include no comments at all. They just need to check a bunch of boxes that may or may not have anything to do with whether your child is advanced at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours has made very clear she has nothing to do with the decisions.

Oh they and the 2nd grade teachers like you to think that. And it's true that they don't sit on the panel which decides who from your particular school is in level IV/the full-time AAP program.

However they write the packet. They control what goes in it. They (2nd grade teacher, AART, both, or sometimes even a small committee) fill out the HOPE. You're crazy if you believe them that they have "nothing" to do with it. They have a ton to do with it.

They just don't make that final call. And they very legitimately don't want angry parents pestering them.

My child's GBRS was filled in with quotes and information directly from my parent form. They had no original thoughts of their own about my daughter and just used the feedback I gave. They literally knew nothing about her.

Unfortunately, now with the HOPE the teacher/AART have the option to include no comments at all. They just need to check a bunch of boxes that may or may not have anything to do with whether your child is advanced at school.

Some AARTs/2nd grade teachers might be swayed by the information a parent submits anyway. The parent part of the packet has real value.