AAP school experience

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What’s so sad is once a base kid moves into the AAP class, they lose all their friendships with the gen Ed kids because they literally never see them again.

This has been our experience at a school with an LLIV program. There are two regular classes and one AAP class. The girls in the 6th grade AAP class have cliqued up to the point where they even have their own sports teams in the local rec league. They stayed friends in 3rd, but my child and several others got dropped like a hot potato in 4th.

I knew a teacher who was really exasperated about one of those 2E kids in her classroom who threw screaming fits frequently. The kind where the rest of the class had to leave while the child exploded screaming. And, the irony: the kid really wasn't that smart. The mom pushed for it.

I don’t even know where to start with this, but it sounds a whole lot like frustration that students with disabilities can also be gifted.

Sorry that challenges your belief in eugenics

Do you even know what that means? That had nothing to do with the comment.

But, if the teacher did not think the child was gifted, why do you think that? You do know that parents who complain and push frequently get their kids admitted.

This surely demonstrates your ignorance about the program. Parents can’t “push” their kids into it. They have to be selected by a committee.

DP. Wrong. At our center, parents who were friends with the principal asked the principal to place their kids in the AAP classes. It's called "principal placing" and pushy parents use it to their advantage all the time.

Then your school isn’t a center. That would be a local level IV school. Principals cannot pupil place kids into center AAP classes.

DP but yes they can to round out class sizes. Otherwise you could have huge differences in class sizes between AAP and General Ed. You just can't have an AAP class that is 35 kids or two that are 17 when the general ed classes are 25. They pull from general education to even out class sizes.

You are completely wrong. In a center school, principals cannot round out class sizes to their liking. They can only do this at a local level IV school. In fact, that’s why many kids choose the center school - the class cannot be padded with Gen Ed kids. All the kids are committee placed only.

Do you even know what the difference is between a center school and a local level IV school?

You sound ridiculous when you talk about “kids” choosing centers. The parents typically make the decision.

Or do you think a lot of second graders really worry about being in a LLIV classroom at a non-center school where some kids may have been principal-placed?

“Oh, mommy, I must go to Mantua to avoid having a Gen Ed kid who may stunt my intellectual development in my class!”

With a kid getting ready to apply to college, you will see a big difference between all the kids. This disappointment in second grade is just one of many. I always tell my kids not to feel bad for failing. It teaches them grit.

Blaming parents of kids sending their kids to an AAP center is not the answer. You hear similar type complaints and jealous comments when Johnny gets in T10 while Bobby is going to XYZ state school. Lots of comments about Johnny is a legacy or his parents set him up with this internship or that. It is tiring. I don’t participate.

You moved the goalposts but whatever.

All I’m saying is that it never ends, this complaining. It only makes the complainer look bad.

[Anonymous]

Pp who has kid getting ready to apply to college. I am not a complainer. I have heard parents vent about test prep, change in TJ, TO, DEI, equity, blah blah blah for years. I only focus on my own kids. I don’t worry about others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s so sad is once a base kid moves into the AAP class, they lose all their friendships with the gen Ed kids because they literally never see them again.

This has been our experience at a school with an LLIV program. There are two regular classes and one AAP class. The girls in the 6th grade AAP class have cliqued up to the point where they even have their own sports teams in the local rec league. They stayed friends in 3rd, but my child and several others got dropped like a hot potato in 4th.

I knew a teacher who was really exasperated about one of those 2E kids in her classroom who threw screaming fits frequently. The kind where the rest of the class had to leave while the child exploded screaming. And, the irony: the kid really wasn't that smart. The mom pushed for it.

I don’t even know where to start with this, but it sounds a whole lot like frustration that students with disabilities can also be gifted.

Sorry that challenges your belief in eugenics

Do you even know what that means? That had nothing to do with the comment.

But, if the teacher did not think the child was gifted, why do you think that? You do know that parents who complain and push frequently get their kids admitted.

This surely demonstrates your ignorance about the program. Parents can’t “push” their kids into it. They have to be selected by a committee.

DP. Wrong. At our center, parents who were friends with the principal asked the principal to place their kids in the AAP classes. It's called "principal placing" and pushy parents use it to their advantage all the time.

Then your school isn’t a center. That would be a local level IV school. Principals cannot pupil place kids into center AAP classes.

DP but yes they can to round out class sizes. Otherwise you could have huge differences in class sizes between AAP and General Ed. You just can't have an AAP class that is 35 kids or two that are 17 when the general ed classes are 25. They pull from general education to even out class sizes.

At our center the AAP classes are much bigger than the base classes and there is definitely no principal placing. Also, the oast two PTA presidents during my time there did not get their bright kids into AAP. (I hear that claim all the time!)

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s so sad is once a base kid moves into the AAP class, they lose all their friendships with the gen Ed kids because they literally never see them again.

This has been our experience at a school with an LLIV program. There are two regular classes and one AAP class. The girls in the 6th grade AAP class have cliqued up to the point where they even have their own sports teams in the local rec league. They stayed friends in 3rd, but my child and several others got dropped like a hot potato in 4th.

I knew a teacher who was really exasperated about one of those 2E kids in her classroom who threw screaming fits frequently. The kind where the rest of the class had to leave while the child exploded screaming. And, the irony: the kid really wasn't that smart. The mom pushed for it.

I don’t even know where to start with this, but it sounds a whole lot like frustration that students with disabilities can also be gifted.

Sorry that challenges your belief in eugenics

Do you even know what that means? That had nothing to do with the comment.

But, if the teacher did not think the child was gifted, why do you think that? You do know that parents who complain and push frequently get their kids admitted.

This surely demonstrates your ignorance about the program. Parents can’t “push” their kids into it. They have to be selected by a committee.

DP. Wrong. At our center, parents who were friends with the principal asked the principal to place their kids in the AAP classes. It's called "principal placing" and pushy parents use it to their advantage all the time.

Then your school isn’t a center. That would be a local level IV school. Principals cannot pupil place kids into center AAP classes.

DP but yes they can to round out class sizes. Otherwise you could have huge differences in class sizes between AAP and General Ed. You just can't have an AAP class that is 35 kids or two that are 17 when the general ed classes are 25. They pull from general education to even out class sizes.

At our center the AAP classes are much bigger than the base classes and there is definitely no principal placing. Also, the oast two PTA presidents during my time there did not get their bright kids into AAP. (I hear that claim all the time!)

PTA presidents also have different kids with different needs. One had a super bright kid in AAP and another with SN. Our last pta president also had one kid in AAP and one not.

I’m friends with the current pta president and she seems to know less than I do about AAP. Our kids are in second grade now.

[Anonymous]

And I’m pretty sure central committee decides if your kid gets into LIV AAP. We have been told that people from our actual school do not make the final decision on acceptance. The packet gets sent to this committee.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s so sad is once a base kid moves into the AAP class, they lose all their friendships with the gen Ed kids because they literally never see them again.

This has been our experience at a school with an LLIV program. There are two regular classes and one AAP class. The girls in the 6th grade AAP class have cliqued up to the point where they even have their own sports teams in the local rec league. They stayed friends in 3rd, but my child and several others got dropped like a hot potato in 4th.

I knew a teacher who was really exasperated about one of those 2E kids in her classroom who threw screaming fits frequently. The kind where the rest of the class had to leave while the child exploded screaming. And, the irony: the kid really wasn't that smart. The mom pushed for it.

I don’t even know where to start with this, but it sounds a whole lot like frustration that students with disabilities can also be gifted.

Sorry that challenges your belief in eugenics

Do you even know what that means? That had nothing to do with the comment.

But, if the teacher did not think the child was gifted, why do you think that? You do know that parents who complain and push frequently get their kids admitted.

This surely demonstrates your ignorance about the program. Parents can’t “push” their kids into it. They have to be selected by a committee.

DP. Wrong. At our center, parents who were friends with the principal asked the principal to place their kids in the AAP classes. It's called "principal placing" and pushy parents use it to their advantage all the time.

Then your school isn’t a center. That would be a local level IV school. Principals cannot pupil place kids into center AAP classes.

DP but yes they can to round out class sizes. Otherwise you could have huge differences in class sizes between AAP and General Ed. You just can't have an AAP class that is 35 kids or two that are 17 when the general ed classes are 25. They pull from general education to even out class sizes.

That’s exactly what my son’s school has, actually. There are 3 AAP classes with 31-33 students each, and 3 regular classes with 20-22 each. I have never heard of a principal placed student at this center (although I agree it would make class sizes more even)

I’m okay with it though, going this direction. His AAP class moves fine with 33 kids, although the room is small and crowded. As a high school teacher, I am happy to push my AP and honors classes to 35, but it doesn’t work in my on level classes. They need more support and more management, and anything over 25 is hard to meet needs (they cap at 30/push up to 32 sometimes, but once in a while I get a magical class of 24 and it’s phenomenal). Assuming it is the same at elementary, I’m glad gen ed classes are smaller. If it went the other way (tiny AAP), I’d hope they’d place kids to balance it so the gen ed teachers didn’t have classes of 30+.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s so sad is once a base kid moves into the AAP class, they lose all their friendships with the gen Ed kids because they literally never see them again.

This has been our experience at a school with an LLIV program. There are two regular classes and one AAP class. The girls in the 6th grade AAP class have cliqued up to the point where they even have their own sports teams in the local rec league. They stayed friends in 3rd, but my child and several others got dropped like a hot potato in 4th.

I knew a teacher who was really exasperated about one of those 2E kids in her classroom who threw screaming fits frequently. The kind where the rest of the class had to leave while the child exploded screaming. And, the irony: the kid really wasn't that smart. The mom pushed for it.

I don’t even know where to start with this, but it sounds a whole lot like frustration that students with disabilities can also be gifted.

Sorry that challenges your belief in eugenics

Do you even know what that means? That had nothing to do with the comment.

But, if the teacher did not think the child was gifted, why do you think that? You do know that parents who complain and push frequently get their kids admitted.

This surely demonstrates your ignorance about the program. Parents can’t “push” their kids into it. They have to be selected by a committee.

DP. Wrong. At our center, parents who were friends with the principal asked the principal to place their kids in the AAP classes. It's called "principal placing" and pushy parents use it to their advantage all the time.

Then your school isn’t a center. That would be a local level IV school. Principals cannot pupil place kids into center AAP classes.

DP but yes they can to round out class sizes. Otherwise you could have huge differences in class sizes between AAP and General Ed. You just can't have an AAP class that is 35 kids or two that are 17 when the general ed classes are 25. They pull from general education to even out class sizes.

At our center the AAP classes are much bigger than the base classes and there is definitely no principal placing. Also, the oast two PTA presidents during my time there did not get their bright kids into AAP. (I hear that claim all the time!)

I think this claim is much more valid for schools that need to fill out LLIV classes. Almost everyone on our PTO board has kids in the LLIV class, I wouldn't be surprised if many of them are principal placed.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:In my experience, it's parents of the gen ed kids who cause the most strife. They pass their jealousy off to their kids, which is nonsense if AAP is the lousy program they claim it is. If that were true, why would it matter what class your kid was in?

Oh, please. When your kid comes home from school in tears because all of their friends told them they just "weren't smart enough" to join them in AAP, get back to us. I never said anything at all to my DC about AAP, other than to reassure them after being hurt by these obnoxious kids.

Calling them “obnoxious“ really bolsters your argument that you’re not jealous.

DP but gee, I wonder where these children are getting their "we're better than you" attitude from. In talking to neighbors, all the bright kids end up in the same AP classes in high school anyway, so why should anyone care?

Here's the thing: Parents without kids in AAP spout all the time that "kids are all together in MS honors" or "end up in the same AP classes high school anyway."

If that is the truth, turn the question back on yourselves: Why should anyone care?

I'm so sick of parents trying to cut down a program just because their kid wasn't selected. Grow up.

I just posted above that my kid is a high stat kid. I don’t know all the kids from all the other schools. I do know most of the kids that my kids went to elementary school with. Many kids who didn’t get into AAP switched to private school, the ones who probably would have done well in honors or AP classes. There are new kids who moved in middle and high school who were never in AAP that do great too. There is not some huge population of non AAP kids who do significantly better than the AAP kids and end up at Harvard or Yale.

That's great, it sounds like those kids were just where they needed to be to do well. No need for you to worry then about other kids and their elementary school placement.

Not a huge population of AAP kids who end up at Harvard or Yale either.

+100

UVA is where they end up.

Yes, because most of the AAP kids are strivers and not really gifted at all.

This sounds correct to me.
-FCPS G/T and UVA alum

[Anonymous]

I have a kid at a center school where half their friends got into AAP and half did not. It hasn’t seemed to affect friendships at all - they still all play together at recess, SACC, and on sports teams. The kids do call AAP “smart kid classes” as a shorthand but their friends have never said a thing about kids in regular classes being dumb. Many of the regular class students get pulled out for math with the AAP class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, it's parents of the gen ed kids who cause the most strife. They pass their jealousy off to their kids, which is nonsense if AAP is the lousy program they claim it is. If that were true, why would it matter what class your kid was in?

Oh, please. When your kid comes home from school in tears because all of their friends told them they just "weren't smart enough" to join them in AAP, get back to us. I never said anything at all to my DC about AAP, other than to reassure them after being hurt by these obnoxious kids.

Calling them “obnoxious“ really bolsters your argument that you’re not jealous.

DP but gee, I wonder where these children are getting their "we're better than you" attitude from. In talking to neighbors, all the bright kids end up in the same AP classes in high school anyway, so why should anyone care?

Here's the thing: Parents without kids in AAP spout all the time that "kids are all together in MS honors" or "end up in the same AP classes high school anyway."

If that is the truth, turn the question back on yourselves: Why should anyone care?

I'm so sick of parents trying to cut down a program just because their kid wasn't selected. Grow up.

I just posted above that my kid is a high stat kid. I don’t know all the kids from all the other schools. I do know most of the kids that my kids went to elementary school with. Many kids who didn’t get into AAP switched to private school, the ones who probably would have done well in honors or AP classes. There are new kids who moved in middle and high school who were never in AAP that do great too. There is not some huge population of non AAP kids who do significantly better than the AAP kids and end up at Harvard or Yale.

That's great, it sounds like those kids were just where they needed to be to do well. No need for you to worry then about other kids and their elementary school placement.

Not a huge population of AAP kids who end up at Harvard or Yale either.

+100

UVA is where they end up.

Yes, because most of the AAP kids are strivers and not really gifted at all.

This sounds correct to me.
-FCPS G/T and UVA alum

I think people call motivated students strivers. I’m not sure I would call a second grader who just got into AAP a striver.

My friend was just telling me how this kid in our kids’ grade tries so hard in everything. We wished our kids had that same mentality. I’m not sure he is gifted, but the kid tries hard and seems very smart. I’m sure he will be labeled a striver now or later. The child’s older sibling is quite average and is in the same grade as my older child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a kid at a center school where half their friends got into AAP and half did not. It hasn’t seemed to affect friendships at all - they still all play together at recess, SACC, and on sports teams. The kids do call AAP “smart kid classes” as a shorthand but their friends have never said a thing about kids in regular classes being dumb. Many of the regular class students get pulled out for math with the AAP class.

I’m sure a handful of jerks may say mean things. Jerks are everywhere. My kid took one of her favorite foods to school and someone called it weird and she stopped taking it to school. Cookies seem to be popular and everyone wants her cookies so she has started taking cookies daily.

[Anonymous]

I’m okay with it though, going this direction. His AAP class moves fine with 33 kids, although the room is small and crowded. As a high school teacher, I am happy to push my AP and honors classes to 35, but it doesn’t work in my on level classes. They need more support and more management, and anything over 25 is hard to meet needs (they cap at 30/push up to 32 sometimes, but once in a while I get a magical class of 24 and it’s phenomenal). Assuming it is the same at elementary, I’m glad gen ed classes are smaller. If it went the other way (tiny AAP), I’d hope they’d place kids to balance it so the gen ed teachers didn’t have classes of 30+.

I thought there were limits to AP class size.

But, in any case, some schools have larger GenEd than AAP.

That is another problem with AAP, it makes staffing more difficult to even out the numbers. It means it is harder to keep class sizes even.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I’m okay with it though, going this direction. His AAP class moves fine with 33 kids, although the room is small and crowded. As a high school teacher, I am happy to push my AP and honors classes to 35, but it doesn’t work in my on level classes. They need more support and more management, and anything over 25 is hard to meet needs (they cap at 30/push up to 32 sometimes, but once in a while I get a magical class of 24 and it’s phenomenal). Assuming it is the same at elementary, I’m glad gen ed classes are smaller. If it went the other way (tiny AAP), I’d hope they’d place kids to balance it so the gen ed teachers didn’t have classes of 30+.

I thought there were limits to AP class size.

But, in any case, some schools have larger GenEd than AAP.

That is another problem with AAP, it makes staffing more difficult to even out the numbers. It means it is harder to keep class sizes even.

Multiple posters have said the class sizes are not even. At our school, it is never even. My kid had 2 AAP classes with over 30 kids and then there were 3 gen ed classes with 20 kids each. I don’t think it is any different with staffing than when those few extra kindergartners gets one extra teacher and all the class sizes are smaller. I know my son had 26-27 kids in first and then my other son had 20. This is the same whether it is AAP or not, having enough kids or not enough for the extra staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I’m okay with it though, going this direction. His AAP class moves fine with 33 kids, although the room is small and crowded. As a high school teacher, I am happy to push my AP and honors classes to 35, but it doesn’t work in my on level classes. They need more support and more management, and anything over 25 is hard to meet needs (they cap at 30/push up to 32 sometimes, but once in a while I get a magical class of 24 and it’s phenomenal). Assuming it is the same at elementary, I’m glad gen ed classes are smaller. If it went the other way (tiny AAP), I’d hope they’d place kids to balance it so the gen ed teachers didn’t have classes of 30+.

I thought there were limits to AP class size.

But, in any case, some schools have larger GenEd than AAP.

That is another problem with AAP, it makes staffing more difficult to even out the numbers. It means it is harder to keep class sizes even.

Multiple posters have said the class sizes are not even. At our school, it is never even. My kid had 2 AAP classes with over 30 kids and then there were 3 gen ed classes with 20 kids each. I don’t think it is any different with staffing than when those few extra kindergartners gets one extra teacher and all the class sizes are smaller. I know my son had 26-27 kids in first and then my other son had 20. This is the same whether it is AAP or not, having enough kids or not enough for the extra staff.

You just cited an example. 120 kids and 5 teachers. If there were no AAP, the classes would be 24 each.

[Anonymous]

One little boy was befriending DC in third grade and then he told them that he was too smart for the class and would be leaving their class in January for the Advanced class. It was very hurtful words and eye-opening to an 8 year old that there were different classes.