Advance Academic Service Appeals

[Anonymous]

Has anyone successfully appealed the decision for advanced academic services at ACPS. Any words or wisdoms? Is there something that should be included in your appeal? Is private testing the only option? Is it even worth the hassle as kids no longer receive services anyways?

[Anonymous]

We did. Child did not test well due to unrelated anxiety on test day. Submitted an IQ test, work samples, parent statement, gave the 5 minute zoom presentation, etc. It was a lot of hoops. Possibly worth it child is young, just so they are with peer group…but since they no longer accelerate math, if you are moving into the district late and only have a year of experience ES left, maybe not. They do pull out for lang arts and math, but at our school the AAS teacher spends a lot of time on behavior issues, extra recess to get wiggles out, computer math games, and is absent for teacher meetings literally all the time. My child has never had a spelling test and does not know basic math facts. The assignments on the (many) teacher absent days include things like ‘do 10 jumping jacks, work with a partner to complete unfinished work, and play math games on the computer.’ I think the kids in the regular class have fewer knowledge gaps honestly. We are reteaching our 5th grader correct printing because we only just realized they form all letters and numbers incorrectly. I am not fond of acps, even with aas.

[Anonymous]

Previous poster here, sorry ‘experience ES’ was supposed to be ‘elementary school.’ Yay, autocorrect!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did. Child did not test well due to unrelated anxiety on test day. Submitted an IQ test, work samples, parent statement, gave the 5 minute zoom presentation, etc. It was a lot of hoops. Possibly worth it child is young, just so they are with peer group…but since they no longer accelerate math, if you are moving into the district late and only have a year of experience ES left, maybe not. They do pull out for lang arts and math, but at our school the AAS teacher spends a lot of time on behavior issues, extra recess to get wiggles out, computer math games, and is absent for teacher meetings literally all the time. My child has never had a spelling test and does not know basic math facts. The assignments on the (many) teacher absent days include things like ‘do 10 jumping jacks, work with a partner to complete unfinished work, and play math games on the computer.’ I think the kids in the regular class have fewer knowledge gaps honestly. We are reteaching our 5th grader correct printing because we only just realized they form all letters and numbers incorrectly. I am not fond of acps, even with aas.

If they aren't doing accelerated math in 4th and 5th anymore then what are they doing?

[Anonymous]

They claim they ‘go deeper’ on the topics and require more advanced thought. They really don’t though. And it is at the expense of learning the basics. My kid can do math problems in base 37 and other random things, but their friend in the regular class taught them to do math with fractions because they apparently skipped that? It’s a train wreck.

[Anonymous]

What school is this?

[Anonymous]

I’d rather not throw the specific AAS teacher under the bus, but it is considered one of the better ones in the district.

[Anonymous]

This just doesn't read like it's real.

[Anonymous]

Um, ok. I’m giving our experience. Others may have a different one, but this is how AAS has been for us this year at a school that is often held up on this forum as having a stronger reputation. There is one AAS teacher for 5th grade and it would be unkind to name them online, so I’m not going to do that. They are a nice person, but the teaching is underwhelming.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I appreciate you sharing your experience. What did you use for work samples? Honestly, extra recess to get wiggles out sounds like responsive teaching- adjusting to meet the children needs. Commendable and absolutely nothing wrong with that.

[Anonymous]

No, nothing wrong with extra active time. But when a week goes by without ‘any’ live math instruction because they go outside, then talk out the fighting that happened outside, then the teacher leaves for meetings…it does get to be a lot. But I digress.
As to your original question, we submitted some independently done home projects that illustrated creativity/deep thought in areas of strength. One was an invention that took into consideration the environment, economy, advanced math and science concepts to work out how it would work/be built/sold, etc. Another was a writing sample that was particularly creative and connected multiple subject areas. Not sure how much it helps because any home projects they probably assume the parents helped, but we applied during covid so it couldn’t be helped. Better would be a school project. The AAS coordinator said basically focus on your child’s strengths and find something that illustrates that without simple regurgitation of facts (so no math worksheets, for instance). They want to see deeper understanding or creative thought processes.

[Anonymous]

Nothing is going to happen if your child isn’t labeled gifted. It’s just not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the grade level. Might be worth appealing in elementary school. Absolutely not worth pursuing for secondary school because the designation makes zero difference at that point. Honors and AP classes are open enrollment and they are phasing out DEPs. No college will care if your kid was found eligible for AAS, only what courses and grades they had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone successfully appealed the decision for advanced academic services at ACPS. Any words or wisdoms? Is there something that should be included in your appeal? Is private testing the only option? Is it even worth the hassle as kids no longer receive services anyways?

Can you explain what this part means?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone successfully appealed the decision for advanced academic services at ACPS. Any words or wisdoms? Is there something that should be included in your appeal? Is private testing the only option? Is it even worth the hassle as kids no longer receive services anyways?

Can you explain what this part means?

They changed the program for K-3. The teacher differentiates in the classroom for identified students as should happen for any child performing above grade level. There are no longer individual push in or pull out services provided by an AAS teacher for identified K-3 students.