Why is AAP so important?

[Anonymous]

17:14 here. I'll ignore your tone for a moment to say that I am not wrong about our school district. I did say that some schools are different. We are not in Fairfax County schools. I am speaking about our school district.

The question was "why is AAP so important..." and I was giving my opinion. I put lots of qualifiers in my post stating that pre-requisites requirements vary. I guess this is just another example of people in big, bad Fairfax County assuming that everyone else does what they do....

[Anonymous]

it put us in a better elementary school! my kid was always the highest at his base school and not really challenged. now in AAP, he is busy, productive, learning new things, and even struggling some. much better than breezing through, and drawing and reading harry potter all day during school. sadly, i am not sure if his base school prepared him enough--i think he is a little behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:17:14 here. I'll ignore your tone for a moment to say that I am not wrong about our school district. I did say that some schools are different. We are not in Fairfax County schools. I am speaking about our school district.

The question was "why is AAP so important..." and I was giving my opinion. I put lots of qualifiers in my post stating that pre-requisites requirements vary. I guess this is just another example of people in big, bad Fairfax County assuming that everyone else does what they do....

Why would you post about AAP issues on an AAP thread when you aren't in FCPS?
There is no other county locally that calls their program AAP, so you should have been well aware that you were providing inaccurate information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:17:14 here. I'll ignore your tone for a moment to say that I am not wrong about our school district. I did say that some schools are different. We are not in Fairfax County schools. I am speaking about our school district.

The question was "why is AAP so important..." and I was giving my opinion. I put lots of qualifiers in my post stating that pre-requisites requirements vary. I guess this is just another example of people in big, bad Fairfax County assuming that everyone else does what they do....

If you are not talking about fairfax then what you stated is not particularly relevant to this discussion about a specific program in the fairfax district, AAP, even if it is relevant to other discussions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:17:14 here. I'll ignore your tone for a moment to say that I am not wrong about our school district. I did say that some schools are different. We are not in Fairfax County schools. I am speaking about our school district.

The question was "why is AAP so important..." and I was giving my opinion. I put lots of qualifiers in my post stating that pre-requisites requirements vary. I guess this is just another example of people in big, bad Fairfax County assuming that everyone else does what they do....

Why would you post about AAP issues on an AAP thread when you aren't in FCPS?
There is no other county locally that calls their program AAP, so you should have been well aware that you were providing inaccurate information.

+1

The thread is not about GT programs in general. It's about the AAP program in Fairfax County schools.

[Anonymous]

If this is the VA public schools forum and if we're talking Fairfax Public schools, I can add one anecdote. My DS1 is a "late bloomer" and was in general glasses throughout but did take Algebra 1 and Spanish 1 in 8th grade. When he got to HS (where there is no "AAP") he was in the exact same classes as the AAP kids (honors Geometry and Spanish 2 as freshmen, AP History as sophomores, etc). Sure, I think I'd prefer to have a kid in AAP throughout, but my point is that some kids get where they're going at different rates. So clearly, AAP is not the end all be all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If this is the VA public sch
ools forum and if we're talking Fairfax Public schools, I can add one anecdote. My DS1 is a "late bloomer" and was in general glasses throughout but did take Algebra 1 and Spanish 1 in 8th grade. When he got to HS (where there is no "AAP") he was in the exact same classes as the AAP kids (honors Geometry and Spanish 2 as freshmen, AP History as sophomores, etc). Sure, I think I'd prefer to have a kid in AAP throughout, but my point is that some kids get where they're going at different rates. So clearly, AAP is not the end all be all.

Completely agree with your post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some kids really need the program because they are not being challenged in general ed.

Exactly. My DC is in 5th grade AAP and general ed was not working at all. The teacher did what she could, but there were no academic peers in reading and math in 1st or 2nd grade. The AART did weekly pull-outs to help, but that is all that was available. In AAP, DC is surrounded by academic peers and it has made a great difference in happiness at school. (As an aside, it has also dropped DC down a peg or two from being "the smartest in the class" as there are many others equally and more smart than DC.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP regarding MS/HS --- I don't know if this is the case everywhere, but in our MS/HS, kids can just opt into the honors sections. There is no "selection" required. You just opt in if you want it.

And ALL schools are now offering accellerated math so that kids can be doing algebra in 7th or 8th grade. So, those issues alone would not necessitate placement in AAP.

I thought many Fairfax HSs had gotten rid of "honors" courses in favor of Gen Ed and AP with nothing in between. Is this not the case?

[Anonymous]

I've heard that is the plan. Not sure if it's been implemented yet or not. That still would not affect MS honors classes b/c they don't take AP.

[Anonymous]

AP classes are open enrollment also, no label necessary

[Anonymous]

17:14 look at the forest, not the trees.

[Anonymous]

Even after reading 17:14's post, I still don't understand why it's important. I came away thinking "so what?".

[Anonymous]

My DS1 is a 5th grader in FCPS AAP and my DS3 will be attending AAP next year as a 3rd grader. The value of AAP boils down to the Pareto Principle. I believe that the bottom 20% of a class receives 80% of the teacher's attention. Of course, there will always be a "bottom 20%." However, in AAP, I believe that the "bottom 20%" requires less than 80% of the teacher's attention to grasp concepts that are basically the same as present in GP classes.

[Anonymous]

I agree with 22:23, but also believe that the AAP peer group is very advantageous. From my own personal experience, I left a very rural (blue collar) area to attend a somewhat prestigious college. Although the prestige of the degree on my resume has undoubtedly helped me, it was my classmates that truly challenged me to do better. My DC's AAP classmates are great role models to challenge my child. I'm not saying that great role models do not exist in GenEd, but I believe that the percentages are higher in AAP.