Black and Hispanic Children in the AAP

[Anonymous]

The black kids in our AAP program are sharp kids. I would be shocked if they were accepted due to lower standards. That just does not mesh with real life.

Our area have very few Hispanics overall, and none that I know of in AAP so I cannot speak to that, but I imagine it is the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This past Friday my husband and I attended a party and one conversation between the ladies led to the AAP. One of them was very adamant that Black and Hispanic children are admitted more easily into the program once they are on the pool. This because, she explained, there were so few of these children on the AAP vs. White and Asian kids. So, my question is if there is some type of affirmative action policy active in the AAP section process or was she misinformed?

Hogwash. If it were true there would be more black and Hispanic children in the program. SES is the biggest determining factor regardless of race. Just look at the Class of 2016 TJ acceptance rates of black and Hispanic children compared to white and Aisian children. If there were some sort of favoring going on, I wouldn't think the acceptance rates wouldn't be as low as they are.

White 126 out of 1,239 or 10.17%
Asian 308 out of 1,469 or 20.96%
African American 7 out of 235 or 2.98%
Hispanic 13 out of 285 or 4.56%

If there were any kind of Affirmative Action going on there would more than 7 AA and 13 Hispanic students accepted.

http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/tj/tjadmissions0412.pdf


People who look at a black or Hispanic child and think that the reason a black or Hispanic child is in an academic advanced program is because they have a lower bar to attend, need to examine their own prejudices.

We're not talking about TJ admissions, are we? We're talking about AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This past Friday my husband and I attended a party and one conversation between the ladies led to the AAP. One of them was very adamant that Black and Hispanic children are admitted more easily into the program once they are on the pool. This because, she explained, there were so few of these children on the AAP vs. White and Asian kids. So, my question is if there is some type of affirmative action policy active in the AAP section process or was she misinformed?

Hogwash. If it were true there would be more black and Hispanic children in the program. SES is the biggest determining factor regardless of race. Just look at the Class of 2016 TJ acceptance rates of black and Hispanic children compared to white and Aisian children. If there were some sort of favoring going on, I wouldn't think the acceptance rates wouldn't be as low as they are.

White 126 out of 1,239 or 10.17%
Asian 308 out of 1,469 or 20.96%
African American 7 out of 235 or 2.98%
Hispanic 13 out of 285 or 4.56%

If there were any kind of Affirmative Action going on there would more than 7 AA and 13 Hispanic students accepted.

http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/tj/tjadmissions0412.pdf


People who look at a black or Hispanic child and think that the reason a black or Hispanic child is in an academic advanced program is because they have a lower bar to attend, need to examine their own prejudices.

We're not talking about TJ admissions, are we? We're talking about AAP.

I gave it as an example. Since it is the same school systems, and involves the same types of students, why would they do things differently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Q for OP - Whats your race, you did not mention ? I can tell you that you are totally wrong on this.

Thank you for all the responses. I'm the OP. It was an awkward conversation given that I am of Latin American origin. But I had no information to either counter or support her argument. This process is very new to my family. It is my children's first year in public school and my husband and I went to private schools growing up. What I am reading between the lines is that although the process does not openly state that it's seeking certain minorities, when it comes to two equally qualified candidates, it might be a plus to be AA of Hispanic? I was mostly curious as my son received an in pool letter. I think I'll be ok with whatever decision. My son has made many friends and is very happy in general education, so if he doesn't make it maybe a level II or III would be great also :o)

[Anonymous]

My friend's blond daughter got in with a high score of 118 on the CogAT. She wasn't in pool based on the NNAT, but had a good GBRS. Maybe I should start a post about whether there's affirmative action for blond girls

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This past Friday my husband and I attended a party and one conversation between the ladies led to the AAP. One of them was very adamant that Black and Hispanic children are admitted more easily into the program once they are on the pool. This because, she explained, there were so few of these children on the AAP vs. White and Asian kids. So, my question is if there is some type of affirmative action policy active in the AAP section process or was she misinformed?

Hogwash. If it were true there would be more black and Hispanic children in the program. SES is the biggest determining factor regardless of race. Just look at the Class of 2016 TJ acceptance rates of black and Hispanic children compared to white and Aisian children. If there were some sort of favoring going on, I wouldn't think the acceptance rates wouldn't be as low as they are.

White 126 out of 1,239 or 10.17%
Asian 308 out of 1,469 or 20.96%
African American 7 out of 235 or 2.98%
Hispanic 13 out of 285 or 4.56%

If there were any kind of Affirmative Action going on there would more than 7 AA and 13 Hispanic students accepted.

http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/tj/tjadmissions0412.pdf


People who look at a black or Hispanic child and think that the reason a black or Hispanic child is in an academic advanced program is because they have a lower bar to attend, need to examine their own prejudices.

We're not talking about TJ admissions, are we? We're talking about AAP.

I gave it as an example. Since it is the same school systems, and involves the same types of students, why would they do things differently?

Because they are totally different processes; the TJ admissions process has an objective component that the AAP process does not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This past Friday my husband and I attended a party and one conversation between the ladies led to the AAP. One of them was very adamant that Black and Hispanic children are admitted more easily into the program once they are on the pool. This because, she explained, there were so few of these children on the AAP vs. White and Asian kids. So, my question is if there is some type of affirmative action policy active in the AAP section process or was she misinformed?

Hogwash. If it were true there would be more black and Hispanic children in the program. SES is the biggest determining factor regardless of race. Just look at the Class of 2016 TJ acceptance rates of black and Hispanic children compared to white and Aisian children. If there were some sort of favoring going on, I wouldn't think the acceptance rates wouldn't be as low as they are.

White 126 out of 1,239 or 10.17%
Asian 308 out of 1,469 or 20.96%
African American 7 out of 235 or 2.98%
Hispanic 13 out of 285 or 4.56%

If there were any kind of Affirmative Action going on there would more than 7 AA and 13 Hispanic students accepted.

http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/tj/tjadmissions0412.pdf


People who look at a black or Hispanic child and think that the reason a black or Hispanic child is in an academic advanced program is because they have a lower bar to attend, need to examine their own prejudices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/pdfs/review/ExecutiveSummary.pdf

Recommendations for Identification Procedures

Continue to seek ways to identify an AAP population that is congruent with the general demographics of FCPS, increasing diversity of historically under- represented populations (African Americans, Hispanics, ESOL students, and students eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch).

For those of you who say absolutely not, how would you explain this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/pdfs/review/ExecutiveSummary.pdf

Recommendations for Identification Procedures

Continue to seek ways to identify an AAP population that is congruent with the general demographics of FCPS, increasing diversity of historically under- represented populations (African Americans, Hispanics, ESOL students, and students eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch).

For those of you who say absolutely not, how would you explain this?

It means they intend to spend more time identifying smart children who historically do not have as much societal/community/parental support as other more over represented populations. It says nothing about lowering the standards for admission.

If anything, based on what I read on DCUM it is the over represented populations that have higher %'s of borderline/questionable students in AAP since they are more likely to have been prepped and pushed beyond their actual abilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/pdfs/review/ExecutiveSummary.pdf

Recommendations for Identification Procedures

Continue to seek ways to identify an AAP population that is congruent with the general demographics of FCPS, increasing diversity of historically under- represented populations (African Americans, Hispanics, ESOL students, and students eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch).

For those of you who say absolutely not, how would you explain this?

It means they intend to spend more time identifying smart children who historically do not have as much societal/community/parental support as other more over represented populations. It says nothing about lowering the standards for admission.

If anything, based on what I read on DCUM it is the over represented populations that have higher %'s of borderline/questionable students in AAP since they are more likely to have been prepped and pushed beyond their actual abilities.

Why would they need to spend more time identifying them? All fcps 2nd graders are screened. It's not like when I was in school where the only kids who were tested were those selected by their teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/pdfs/review/ExecutiveSummary.pdf

Recommendations for Identification Procedures

Continue to seek ways to identify an AAP population that is congruent with the general demographics of FCPS, increasing diversity of historically under- represented populations (African Americans, Hispanics, ESOL students, and students eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch).

For those of you who say absolutely not, how would you explain this?

It means they intend to spend more time identifying smart children who historically do not have as much societal/community/parental support as other more over represented populations. It says nothing about lowering the standards for admission.

If anything, based on what I read on DCUM it is the over represented populations that have higher %'s of borderline/questionable students in AAP since they are more likely to have been prepped and pushed beyond their actual abilities.

Why would they need to spend more time identifying them? All fcps 2nd graders are screened. It's not like when I was in school where the only kids who were tested were those selected by their teachers.

You need to ask FCPS to find out what specific things they are doing to identify students who are historically over looked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/pdfs/review/ExecutiveSummary.pdf

Recommendations for Identification Procedures

Continue to seek ways to identify an AAP population that is congruent with the general demographics of FCPS, increasing diversity of historically under- represented populations (African Americans, Hispanics, ESOL students, and students eligible for free- or reduced-price lunch).

For those of you who say absolutely not, how would you explain this?

It means they intend to spend more time identifying smart children who historically do not have as much societal/community/parental support as other more over represented populations. It says nothing about lowering the standards for admission.

If anything, based on what I read on DCUM it is the over represented populations that have higher %'s of borderline/questionable students in AAP since they are more likely to have been prepped and pushed beyond their actual abilities.

Why would they need to spend more time identifying them? All fcps 2nd graders are screened. It's not like when I was in school where the only kids who were tested were those selected by their teachers.

You need to ask FCPS to find out what specific things they are doing to identify students who are historically over looked.

It didn't seem to help our hispanic child DS scores between 80-90% on most of the testing he received (CogAT, NNAT). DS wasn't in-pool for Level IV AAP, and we didn't parent refer. He has received pull-outs for his strong subject since first grade, and is currently in Level III AAP. I spoke about the program with his second grade teacher, and she wasn't overly supportive. I asked the school about Young Scholars, which is listed on their web-site, but was informed his Level III pull-outs would be what he receives. We haven't noticed anyone do anything extra for DS, and he is first-generation American with parents from Latin America.

[Anonymous]

80-90 percent is average for Fairfax. The extra they are doing for him b/c is b/c he is Hispanic. I am sure other 80th percentile kids are not getting pullouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:80-90 percent is average for Fairfax. The extra they are doing for him b/c is b/c he is Hispanic.

... or maybe because he is very good at math. Please examine your assumptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:80-90 percent is average for Fairfax. The extra they are doing for him b/c is b/c he is Hispanic. I am sure other 80th percentile kids are not getting pullouts.

PP here. I don't think it's because he is Hispanic, but I could see why it may appear that way without explaining the scores. DS scored at the 92% in Fairfax on the quantitative part of the CogAT. His WISC PRI was 140. DS is very strong in math, but he is average in language arts (VCI scores and CogAT verbal in the 80%). Some of the other kids get pull-outs, but I don't know their scores compared to his. DS received pull-outs in first and second grade before we received CogAT scores, so the school didn't know his percentage. He received the pull-outs because he was one of the strongest math students in the class. I would think if FFX CTY was trying to help Hispanic kids with acceptance into AAP, then DS would have been a decent candidate.