AAP Appeals Cover Letter

[Anonymous]

Test scores are high, HOPE is not good I think (3 AA, 3 O, 5 S), exceptional talent - Math, Reading and Writing are checked. DC did not get in. We definitely want to appeal. Can the seasoned moms/dads here help me with what counts as compelling reasons to put in the appeal cover letter. I'm pretty sure I can't just say my son is bored in class, or finds the gen ed content too easy or that he is an advanced kid etc. Also, how do we counter the impact of this HOPE rating? Would love to get some suggestions on the content and wording for the letter and data points in general. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

[Anonymous]

Following!

[Anonymous]

I would try to rebut the HOPE with specific examples. If you think you know why DC was rated lower than you would expect (shy, neurodivergence, behavioral issues in the classroom), address that.

I don't know if this worked, but in the original parent letter, I went through the old GBRS and talked about those traits that she exhibited with specifics. So I said things like, "she loves to explore topics of deep interest. When she likes something she wants to know everything about it" and gave the example of how she checked every book out of the library on a particular animal, draws pictures of them, writes about them.

[Anonymous]

That does not seem like a bad HOPE to me and isn't likely the deal breaker. What about I-ready and VALLSS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That does not seem like a bad HOPE to me and isn't likely the deal breaker. What about I-ready and VALLSS?

I have no idea what the HOPE ratings are in general for kids that get in so I assumed probably that was the problem.
Cogat VQN total is 140. His Math iReady is 98 percentile and Reading iReady is 95 for Fall. The Winter scores were not included in the packet but are similar 98/96. He did not take VALLSS, their school didn't I believe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That does not seem like a bad HOPE to me and isn't likely the deal breaker. What about I-ready and VALLSS?

I have no idea what the HOPE ratings are in general for kids that get in so I assumed probably that was the problem.
Cogat VQN total is 140. His Math iReady is 98 percentile and Reading iReady is 95 for Fall. The Winter scores were not included in the packet but are similar 98/96. He did not take VALLSS, their school didn't I believe.

I agree that's not a bad hope, plus it's good that your child got 3 exceptional boxes checked on the form. I have heard of children getting accepted with worse HOPE forms. Scores look good as well. How were the samples? Honestly I don't know what the problem was. It sounds like you have a good chance at appeal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Test scores are high, HOPE is not good I think (3 AA, 3 O, 5 S), exceptional talent - Math, Reading and Writing are checked. DC did not get in. We definitely want to appeal. Can the seasoned moms/dads here help me with what counts as compelling reasons to put in the appeal cover letter. I'm pretty sure I can't just say my son is bored in class, or finds the gen ed content too easy or that he is an advanced kid etc. Also, how do we counter the impact of this HOPE rating? Would love to get some suggestions on the content and wording for the letter and data points in general. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Your kid is bored in class because <specific example here>

- They taught themselves multiplication after listening to a parent explain it to an older sibling, and in 2nd grade they are just now getting to addition with regrouping (true story from my 3rd child)
- They finish their work so early that they are going around and making graphs of classmate preferences based on their data unit since there is no other work for them to do (true story from my 1st child)

They need an advanced peer group because <specific example here>

- At age 4 they were already asking deep theological questions in church that showed a grasp of what the pastor was saying far beyond what typical kids would understand at that age (true story from my 2nd child) and would benefit from other kids who can quickly grasp concepts and have those kinds of covnersations.
- Their sense of humor is often more likely to make adults and older siblings laugh than peers (one of the things often listed on those "descriptions of gifted kids" websites - my kids don't have good senses of humor)

They need acceleration/in-depth extensions because <specific example here>

- After learning about a math topic they come home create additional math problems for themselves, teaching themselves additional facts in the process (true story from my 1st)
- After learning about a social studies or science topic they come home and beg for more books on that topic (true story from my 3rd)

All my kids got in using these kind of examples, which I still remember because I had to use them on the packets. You want to paint a specific, detailed picture of your kid with examples. Read up on portraits of a gifted kid. Anything that matches your child and is truly unique, figure out an example and write it up. This is how our AART said to approach any parent portion of the packets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test scores are high, HOPE is not good I think (3 AA, 3 O, 5 S), exceptional talent - Math, Reading and Writing are checked. DC did not get in. We definitely want to appeal. Can the seasoned moms/dads here help me with what counts as compelling reasons to put in the appeal cover letter. I'm pretty sure I can't just say my son is bored in class, or finds the gen ed content too easy or that he is an advanced kid etc. Also, how do we counter the impact of this HOPE rating? Would love to get some suggestions on the content and wording for the letter and data points in general. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Your kid is bored in class because <specific example here>

- They taught themselves multiplication after listening to a parent explain it to an older sibling, and in 2nd grade they are just now getting to addition with regrouping (true story from my 3rd child)
- They finish their work so early that they are going around and making graphs of classmate preferences based on their data unit since there is no other work for them to do (true story from my 1st child)

They need an advanced peer group because <specific example here>

- At age 4 they were already asking deep theological questions in church that showed a grasp of what the pastor was saying far beyond what typical kids would understand at that age (true story from my 2nd child) and would benefit from other kids who can quickly grasp concepts and have those kinds of covnersations.
- Their sense of humor is often more likely to make adults and older siblings laugh than peers (one of the things often listed on those "descriptions of gifted kids" websites - my kids don't have good senses of humor)

They need acceleration/in-depth extensions because <specific example here>

- After learning about a math topic they come home create additional math problems for themselves, teaching themselves additional facts in the process (true story from my 1st)
- After learning about a social studies or science topic they come home and beg for more books on that topic (true story from my 3rd)

All my kids got in using these kind of examples, which I still remember because I had to use them on the packets. You want to paint a specific, detailed picture of your kid with examples. Read up on portraits of a gifted kid. Anything that matches your child and is truly unique, figure out an example and write it up. This is how our AART said to approach any parent portion of the packets.

Thank you for all the details! These are great examples and a lot of these actually apply to my child, specially the self-teaching part and wanting to learn everything about topics of interest and researching about it. I already had these points mentioned in the parent referral form and the questionnaire that were part of the original submission so I don't know why he wasn't selected. Will read up on the portrait of a gifted kid and work from there.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have a template for the cover letter?

[Anonymous]

Any work sample ideas for the appeal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have a template for the cover letter?

No. Stop trying to copy others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any work sample ideas for the appeal?

Search this board. People have posted a slew of samples over the years. If you didn't go to your AART's full-time AAP presentation (you should have), there are also sample ideas in there that are very useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Test scores are high, HOPE is not good I think (3 AA, 3 O, 5 S), exceptional talent - Math, Reading and Writing are checked. DC did not get in. We definitely want to appeal. Can the seasoned moms/dads here help me with what counts as compelling reasons to put in the appeal cover letter. I'm pretty sure I can't just say my son is bored in class, or finds the gen ed content too easy or that he is an advanced kid etc. Also, how do we counter the impact of this HOPE rating? Would love to get some suggestions on the content and wording for the letter and data points in general. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

Your kid is bored in class because <specific example here>

- They taught themselves multiplication after listening to a parent explain it to an older sibling, and in 2nd grade they are just now getting to addition with regrouping (true story from my 3rd child)
- They finish their work so early that they are going around and making graphs of classmate preferences based on their data unit since there is no other work for them to do (true story from my 1st child)

They need an advanced peer group because <specific example here>

- At age 4 they were already asking deep theological questions in church that showed a grasp of what the pastor was saying far beyond what typical kids would understand at that age (true story from my 2nd child) and would benefit from other kids who can quickly grasp concepts and have those kinds of covnersations.
- Their sense of humor is often more likely to make adults and older siblings laugh than peers (one of the things often listed on those "descriptions of gifted kids" websites - my kids don't have good senses of humor)

They need acceleration/in-depth extensions because <specific example here>

- After learning about a math topic they come home create additional math problems for themselves, teaching themselves additional facts in the process (true story from my 1st)
- After learning about a social studies or science topic they come home and beg for more books on that topic (true story from my 3rd)

All my kids got in using these kind of examples, which I still remember because I had to use them on the packets. You want to paint a specific, detailed picture of your kid with examples. Read up on portraits of a gifted kid. Anything that matches your child and is truly unique, figure out an example and write it up. This is how our AART said to approach any parent portion of the packets.

I didn't do anything like this. There's no one correct formula. I would hesitate to say things like my kid is bored because... etc which invite the committee to think of alternative reasons why your kid is bored, finishes work early, etc. I focused purely on painting a picture of what my child is like, which does the job of showing that their needs cannot be met in the regular classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have a template for the cover letter?

No. Stop trying to copy others.

You realize that a template is a standard and has nothing to copy!!!

[Anonymous]

Here's the old GBRS form. https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/AAPGiftedBehaviorRatingScale_0.pdf

Page 2 lists a lot of the traits that they want to see. Explain how your child is exhibiting that trait, and use the specific verbiage in the GBRS form. Include new work samples, and explain how the sample demonstrates at least one of the traits.

I wouldn't say that your kid is bored, but you can say that your kid tunes out or becomes disengaged if the material isn't challenging enough.

The HOPE score does look pretty low for a kid with the CogAT and iready scores. You might be able to use the low HOPE in your favor as evidence that your child who is advanced in all subjects is not thriving in the gen ed classroom. This is especially true if most of the social ones were the ones with lower ratings.