Why did FCPS decide to have “Center” schools for advanced classes?

[Anonymous]

Other districts just offer the advanced studies to kids in every school. When we moved to Fairfax county, it was perplexing why they handle it in this way.

[Anonymous]

How do we get elementary AAP centers at every school Like they are doing with middle schools?

[Anonymous]

Goes back to the days when FCPS had a gifted and talented (GT) program for a small number of truly gifted kids.

That program morphed into today’s AAP program which has a much larger student population and is basically GenEd with some math based acceleration.

[Anonymous]

The idea is a valid one. They wanted to have enough students to create a classroom of kids who had been selected for the program. That way you have a class of kids on the same level. Most schools did not have enough kids to create a class of kids who were selected. If you pool ES together into a Center, you create at least one class, many times two to three classes so the kids can be mixed up each year.

It should lead to a room full of kids who are ahead and interested in diving deeper into subjects and moving faster. The problem is that parents have gotten fixated on making sure that their kid is in AAP and so many of the kids in the program now are not ready for the curriculum, normally math is the area the kids are not ready for acceleration, and the class slows down. The Advanced Math option allowed for the County to have a space for kids ahead in math but not as strong in the LA to have an outlet. Without an Advanced LA class, all the parents of kids who were a bit ahead in LA pushed hard for AAP, even though their kid wasn’t advanced in math, and were accepted in the first round or, many times, on appeal.

FCPS push in services for kids who are ahead in K-2 are a joke. My kids Level II services in math were some extra worksheets and in LA was a specific reading group. That was it. And that is what the services in APS sounds like. AAP does do more advanced work, which is why parents move here for it, because most of the advanced kids are clustered together in a class or at a Center in multiple classes.

[Anonymous]

They expanded the GT program into AAP thinking they would get more "underserved" students in the program. Didn't really work. Instead it morphed into something that became a status symbol.

For years, the GT program was based on an objective test. Then, they added teacher observations, etc. But, the killer is when outside prep schools began in K and the IQ tests were practiced.

When I taught those tests were kept under lock and key. The test is supposed to see how kids deal with unfamiliar information. It is not supposed to be an achievement test--but an aptitude test. If the kids have already seen the test, it is not valid.

AAP is not working. It just makes parents think their kids are smarter than other kids.

[Anonymous]

AAP is unnecessary. We need a true gifted & talented program. My gifted child is incredibly bored with the AAP curriculum. It's not challenging, it's just regular.

[Anonymous]

Hm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do we get elementary AAP centers at every school Like they are doing with middle schools?

They're already doing Local Level IV, it's supposed to be at every elementary by now

[Anonymous]

I always envied the Montgomery County Public School families. Their "gifted" kids were given extra and enriched assignments in the regular classroom, differential learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do we get elementary AAP centers at every school Like they are doing with middle schools?

They're already doing Local Level IV, it's supposed to be at every elementary by now

LLIV quality, implementation and enrollment varies between schools. So not exactly the same experience that centers offer. Our LLIV program does a cluster model with less than 10% of the kids being Level IV. Our center school offers a better experience. Some LLIV programs are more robust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do we get elementary AAP centers at every school Like they are doing with middle schools?

They're already doing Local Level IV, it's supposed to be at every elementary by now

Not yet. Orange Hunt is still without local full time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do we get elementary AAP centers at every school Like they are doing with middle schools?

They're already doing Local Level IV, it's supposed to be at every elementary by now

LLIV quality, implementation and enrollment varies between schools. So not exactly the same experience that centers offer. Our LLIV program does a cluster model with less than 10% of the kids being Level IV. Our center school offers a better experience. Some LLIV programs are more robust.

Totally agree, I was just responding to the PP who asked to get AAP centers at every school - and that's basically what LLIV is. Unfortunately you can't often replicate the "center" experience b/c there just aren't enough kids to form a large enough cohort at most elementary schools - which is *why* they need centers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do we get elementary AAP centers at every school Like they are doing with middle schools?

They're already doing Local Level IV, it's supposed to be at every elementary by now

LLIV quality, implementation and enrollment varies between schools. So not exactly the same experience that centers offer. Our LLIV program does a cluster model with less than 10% of the kids being Level IV. Our center school offers a better experience. Some LLIV programs are more robust.

Totally agree, I was just responding to the PP who asked to get AAP centers at every school - and that's basically what LLIV is. Unfortunately you can't often replicate the "center" experience b/c there just aren't enough kids to form a large enough cohort at most elementary schools - which is *why* they need centers.

I bet the level 3 kids could round out those classes quite well. I bet that some of the level 3 kids will even outperform the committee designated level 4 kids.
My son had a friend who was getting not just passed advanced, but perfect scores on his sols as a level 3, and still couldn't convince the committee to put him in level 4
I'm quite sure that your level 4 experience would not have been sullied by having kids like him in the classroom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do we get elementary AAP centers at every school Like they are doing with middle schools?

They're already doing Local Level IV, it's supposed to be at every elementary by now

Not yet. Orange Hunt is still without local full time.

I believe that FCPS is under 10 schools without LLIV, it might be under 5 at this time. The number has been greatly diminished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How do we get elementary AAP centers at every school Like they are doing with middle schools?

They're already doing Local Level IV, it's supposed to be at every elementary by now

LLIV quality, implementation and enrollment varies between schools. So not exactly the same experience that centers offer. Our LLIV program does a cluster model with less than 10% of the kids being Level IV. Our center school offers a better experience. Some LLIV programs are more robust.

Totally agree, I was just responding to the PP who asked to get AAP centers at every school - and that's basically what LLIV is. Unfortunately you can't often replicate the "center" experience b/c there just aren't enough kids to form a large enough cohort at most elementary schools - which is *why* they need centers.

I bet the level 3 kids could round out those classes quite well. I bet that some of the level 3 kids will even outperform the committee designated level 4 kids.
My son had a friend who was getting not just passed advanced, but perfect scores on his sols as a level 3, and still couldn't convince the committee to put him in level 4
I'm quite sure that your level 4 experience would not have been sullied by having kids like him in the classroom

DP. Some schools have enough level 4 and level 3 kids to make a class. Many schools do not. Some schools do a cluster model instead of a dedicated class. The point is many schools are not setup to offer a true full time AAP experience. But some schools are.