Gearing up for AAP appeal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could also take a deep breath and wait to see what the result is. Advanced Math in 2nd grade might be 30 minutes but Advanced Math in 3-6 might start as something that seems like 30 minutes but moves to a full grade jump by 5th grade. If you are at a high SES school your kid will have peers in his classroom and will be fine. All of the kids are following the same LA curriculum, so there is no difference in curriculum for LA and the science and social studies differences are not that great. The main difference is in the math curriculum and kids in Advanced Math do the same math as the kids in AAP.

Honestly, most of the kids in AP/IB were not in AAP. LIV matters the most at lower SES ES/MS where there are fewer peers, or the peers have started behind and have lots of ground to make up. LIV at a higher SES school is nice but not that different then the regular classroom, especially with the changes that they have made to the curriculum.

Thanks I really appreciate this perspective. I'm most worried about peer group because DC is very easily influenced, I suspect. But this is still a helpful perspective to keep in mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^

And you'll note the GBRS had places for teachers to put commentary of specific examples. This is key in the parent referral and the parent questionnaire. List a trait. Show a (preferrably recent) time that your kid demonstrated the trait. Paint a word picture of your kid as a kid who is basically a walking GBRS. If your kid also demonstrates HOPE skills then do that too.

Thank you! I wouldn't have thought to go back to the GBRS but this makes a lot of sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get WISC if need higher score and spend time writing the why AAP, but like other poster said, don’t bash teachers and make it more than just all DC peers picked.

Thanks, we will likely schedule a WISC but I worry because DC is not the most gregarious with strangers so might underperform.

In terms of "the why AAP" I'm curious what counts as compelling reasons. We know we can't just say DC is advanced, bored in class, etc. Wording is everything. Any advice is appreciated.

Does the AAP center have opportunities that aren't available in your base school?
Ex:
-Is your kid likely to be on the Algebra I in 6th track (if the cogAT Q score is >=145, this might be the case)?
-Does the center school have a strong math program with things like CML, MOEMS, AMC8, or Mathcounts, and are these unavailable at the base school?
-Is your kid unlikely to have an appropriate reading group if left at the base school? (yes, this happened to one of my kids. The base school did not have enough kids who were reading above grade level, so my kid got bounced down to the on-grade level group, despite having high iready scores, perfect SOL reading, etc.)

Also, you can use social fit. If your kid is quirky and doesn't fit in, you can argue that your kid needs the social group in AAP.

I wouldn't say that your kid will be bored, but you could argue that if the material is too easy, your kid will tune out or fail to make productive use of his time, and he needs the challenge of AAP to stay engaged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get WISC if need higher score and spend time writing the why AAP, but like other poster said, don’t bash teachers and make it more than just all DC peers picked.

Thanks, we will likely schedule a WISC but I worry because DC is not the most gregarious with strangers so might underperform.

In terms of "the why AAP" I'm curious what counts as compelling reasons. We know we can't just say DC is advanced, bored in class, etc. Wording is everything. Any advice is appreciated.

Does the AAP center have opportunities that aren't available in your base school?
Ex:
-Is your kid likely to be on the Algebra I in 6th track (if the cogAT Q score is >=145, this might be the case)?
-Does the center school have a strong math program with things like CML, MOEMS, AMC8, or Mathcounts, and are these unavailable at the base school?
-Is your kid unlikely to have an appropriate reading group if left at the base school? (yes, this happened to one of my kids. The base school did not have enough kids who were reading above grade level, so my kid got bounced down to the on-grade level group, despite having high iready scores, perfect SOL reading, etc.)

Also, you can use social fit. If your kid is quirky and doesn't fit in, you can argue that your kid needs the social group in AAP.

I wouldn't say that your kid will be bored, but you could argue that if the material is too easy, your kid will tune out or fail to make productive use of his time, and he needs the challenge of AAP to stay engaged.

The base school is the center school (for now).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get WISC if need higher score and spend time writing the why AAP, but like other poster said, don’t bash teachers and make it more than just all DC peers picked.

Thanks, we will likely schedule a WISC but I worry because DC is not the most gregarious with strangers so might underperform.

In terms of "the why AAP" I'm curious what counts as compelling reasons. We know we can't just say DC is advanced, bored in class, etc. Wording is everything. Any advice is appreciated.

Does the AAP center have opportunities that aren't available in your base school?
Ex:
-Is your kid likely to be on the Algebra I in 6th track (if the cogAT Q score is >=145, this might be the case)?
-Does the center school have a strong math program with things like CML, MOEMS, AMC8, or Mathcounts, and are these unavailable at the base school?
-Is your kid unlikely to have an appropriate reading group if left at the base school? (yes, this happened to one of my kids. The base school did not have enough kids who were reading above grade level, so my kid got bounced down to the on-grade level group, despite having high iready scores, perfect SOL reading, etc.)

Also, you can use social fit. If your kid is quirky and doesn't fit in, you can argue that your kid needs the social group in AAP.

I wouldn't say that your kid will be bored, but you could argue that if the material is too easy, your kid will tune out or fail to make productive use of his time, and he needs the challenge of AAP to stay engaged.

The base school is the center school (for now).

If it's anything like our base/center this will make it harder for you. It's very easy for the center schools to move gen ed kids into advanced math if that's all they need. My kids' advanced math classes had up to 10 kids brought in from gen ed, and that was just one of the 3 classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get WISC if need higher score and spend time writing the why AAP, but like other poster said, don’t bash teachers and make it more than just all DC peers picked.

Thanks, we will likely schedule a WISC but I worry because DC is not the most gregarious with strangers so might underperform.

In terms of "the why AAP" I'm curious what counts as compelling reasons. We know we can't just say DC is advanced, bored in class, etc. Wording is everything. Any advice is appreciated.

Does the AAP center have opportunities that aren't available in your base school?
Ex:
-Is your kid likely to be on the Algebra I in 6th track (if the cogAT Q score is >=145, this might be the case)?
-Does the center school have a strong math program with things like CML, MOEMS, AMC8, or Mathcounts, and are these unavailable at the base school?
-Is your kid unlikely to have an appropriate reading group if left at the base school? (yes, this happened to one of my kids. The base school did not have enough kids who were reading above grade level, so my kid got bounced down to the on-grade level group, despite having high iready scores, perfect SOL reading, etc.)

Also, you can use social fit. If your kid is quirky and doesn't fit in, you can argue that your kid needs the social group in AAP.

I wouldn't say that your kid will be bored, but you could argue that if the material is too easy, your kid will tune out or fail to make productive use of his time, and he needs the challenge of AAP to stay engaged.

The base school is the center school (for now).

If it's anything like our base/center this will make it harder for you. It's very easy for the center schools to move gen ed kids into advanced math if that's all they need. My kids' advanced math classes had up to 10 kids brought in from gen ed, and that was just one of the 3 classes.

My sons ES did not have a LIV class but Advanced Math kids were placed in the same homeroom and effectively created their own class for 5th and 6th grade.

[Anonymous]

Does the central office access other information about the child that is on file? For example, if they don't see any reading I-Ready scores would they try to look that info up? I'm guessing no one here knows but thought I'd ask.

[Anonymous]

*Central committee

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does the central office access other information about the child that is on file? For example, if they don't see any reading I-Ready scores would they try to look that info up? I'm guessing no one here knows but thought I'd ask.

While nobody has explicitly ever told me that they do NOT look up info, I cannot imagine this would be the case. Everything I've heard indicates that each member of the committee reviews the packet, votes Yes or No, and moves on. No additional researching involved.

[Anonymous]

You seem overly anxious about this and your child isn’t even rejected yet. Sheesh.

I didn’t get my child’s packet. I thought people requested after your child is rejected.

Is it normal to ask for it so early?

I assume the HOpE and packet were just completed and sent over to central committee?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You seem overly anxious about this and your child isn’t even rejected yet. Sheesh.

I didn’t get my child’s packet. I thought people requested after your child is rejected.

Is it normal to ask for it so early?

I assume the HOpE and packet were just completed and sent over to central committee?

We asked for our sons packet after the committee met but before we knew the results. I was curious what was in it. DS had GBRSs though and the comments were probably the most honest reflections of our sons ability that we will see from Teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does the central office access other information about the child that is on file? For example, if they don't see any reading I-Ready scores would they try to look that info up? I'm guessing no one here knows but thought I'd ask.

They do. I tried to include iready score in parent referral, and our AART teacher told me I wasn’t allowed to, and AART central office had it already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does the central office access other information about the child that is on file? For example, if they don't see any reading I-Ready scores would they try to look that info up? I'm guessing no one here knows but thought I'd ask.

They do. I tried to include iready score in parent referral, and our AART teacher told me I wasn’t allowed to, and AART central office had it already.

Can you expand on this? Why weren’t you allowed to include the iready in the parent referral? The packet put together by the school/aart should include the iready. Did yours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your child has high iReady scores for reading, then I wouldn't worry too much about the advanced checkboxes for reading/writing.

That's what I thought too but the AART seemed to suggest this wasn't relevant. The school is mostly mid-to-higher SES and it was suggested that DC is just one of many who are reading well and not so advanced as I think. Yet I'm skeptical that many in the class got 99th on reading for the I-ready and DC's score on the VALLSS was almost perfect. But as mentioned in another thread, DC's I-ready score for reading was not included in the packet (I failed to mention it myself in the app because I assumed it would be included but was not; for some unknown reason this school only included the reading I-Ready from Fall, which DC did not complete).

The problem is these omissions, and the not-great work samples they submitted, suggest a not-very-advanced reader/writer. My work samples and narrative suggest more, but they may discount it as it comes from me. Nevertheless, with the appeal and the option to submit 5 new samples, I will try to convey a more accurate picture that they can't easily dismiss.

Your AART can still send a copy of the reading I-ready score. Send an email letting your AART know they when you reviewed the packet you realized they mistakenly omitted the I-Ready reading score of 99th percentile and ask the AART to send the score. Copy the Principal and Kristen Maloney (she is the head of AAP for FCPS). That way your AART can’t tell you that they aren’t allowed to send the score. It isn’t “equitable” for some students to have the committee see their reading I-Ready score and your child’s 99th percentile score not be included.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You seem overly anxious about this and your child isn’t even rejected yet. Sheesh.

I didn’t get my child’s packet. I thought people requested after your child is rejected.

Is it normal to ask for it so early?

I assume the HOpE and packet were just completed and sent over to central committee?

In fact child has already been rejected or deemed eligible as the school's packets have already been reviewed.