How to improve AAP and General Ed Together

[Anonymous]

At our base elementary school and also at our center school, the kids have one teacher for everything but specials. Sending them to a different class for "homeroom" would be a waste of time and pointless.

Lots of things bring kids together in a community: scouts, sports, plays, chorus, orchestra, and other activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Again. The homeroom class should be mixed and that homeroom class should go to lunch and recess together. I don't see any reason why this can't happen. Make it a scheduling priority like so many other schools do.

Not all schools employ home rooms. Our base school only used them for sixth graders.

Exactly. I think this needs to be changed to ensure kids are mixed for lunch and recess. Most schools do use a homeroom class for this reason. There's no reason I see that the other schools can't.

Why should it change?

Adding extra homeroom to run during the hour plus that each grade has for lunch takes away from class time.

In elementary there is no real reason to have homeroom outside the assigned class. All you need is the ten minutes or so of "morning meeting" or whatever the school calls their beginning of the day time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Again. The homeroom class should be mixed and that homeroom class should go to lunch and recess together. I don't see any reason why this can't happen. Make it a scheduling priority like so many other schools do.

Not all schools employ home rooms. Our base school only used them for sixth graders.

Exactly. I think this needs to be changed to ensure kids are mixed for lunch and recess. Most schools do use a homeroom class for this reason. There's no reason I see that the other schools can't.

Most schools do not employ homerooms during elementary school.

[Anonymous]

All I'm seeing in this thread is 'how to placate Gen Ed parents so we can keep our AAP', not 'how to improve both'.

The suggestions by the pro AAP side are simply:

Let's mix them at lunch and recess.
Let's maybe add a homeroom time so our special children and socialize with the others.
Maybe some of those others can sit in on some of our kids' classes if they "can handle it".
Let's try to make Level II/III services more standard so there won't be so much focus on changing Level IV.


NONE of this improves Gen Ed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All I'm seeing in this thread is 'how to placate Gen Ed parents so we can keep our AAP', not 'how to improve both'.

The suggestions by the pro AAP side are simply:

Let's mix them at lunch and recess.
Let's maybe add a homeroom time so our special children and socialize with the others.
Maybe some of those others can sit in on some of our kids' classes if they "can handle it".
Let's try to make Level II/III services more standard so there won't be so much focus on changing Level IV.


NONE of this improves Gen Ed.

I just can't help but think that many of you bought in the wrong school zone if your non AAP classrooms and teachers are uniformly that substandard.

1 million for a tear down and the worst teachers and gen ed programs in the district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All I'm seeing in this thread is 'how to placate Gen Ed parents so we can keep our AAP', not 'how to improve both'.

The suggestions by the pro AAP side are simply:

Let's mix them at lunch and recess.
Let's maybe add a homeroom time so our special children and socialize with the others.
Maybe some of those others can sit in on some of our kids' classes if they "can handle it".
Let's try to make Level II/III services more standard so there won't be so much focus on changing Level IV.


NONE of this improves Gen Ed.

Are you sure those suggestions are coming from the "pro AAP" side?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Again. The homeroom class should be mixed and that homeroom class should go to lunch and recess together. I don't see any reason why this can't happen. Make it a scheduling priority like so many other schools do.

Not all schools employ home rooms. Our base school only used them for sixth graders.

Exactly. I think this needs to be changed to ensure kids are mixed for lunch and recess. Most schools do use a homeroom class for this reason. There's no reason I see that the other schools can't.

Why should it change?

Adding extra homeroom to run during the hour plus that each grade has for lunch takes away from class time.

In elementary there is no real reason to have homeroom outside the assigned class. All you need is the ten minutes or so of "morning meeting" or whatever the school calls their beginning of the day time.

It should change because there have been complaints about the program for years. So much so that people are asking the school board to get rid of AAP. Instead of getting rid of the program, how about making some changes to both programs so they are more integrated and so the curriculum is improved for both? That's what this thread is about.

The person before said their 6th grade had a homeroom and those kids had lunch together. So why not 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade? Our school does it for all grades. Why can't these particular center schools? It would allow more friendships to form. And would allow the base school kids to stay better friends with the kids they met in K-2. I think it's awful a K-2 student attends a base school and then can barely ever see their friends in school because of an AAP or general ed label.

I'm not even going to respond to the person who blames where someone bought a house. Boundaries move all the time and all schools should be good enough for our students to attend at any intelligence level.

[Anonymous]

And if your lunch isn't mixed, recess isn't very mixed either. The classes are staggered so some kids would barely see each other at recess even in the same grade. Eating and playing with your homeroom would fix both lunch and recess. From what I can tell it's this way at many schools including center schools and it helps integrate the kids better creating less of an us and them at the school. If there's a reason not to do it, please state it. Otherwise, I don't see why this shouldn't be a standard at all schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I'm seeing in this thread is 'how to placate Gen Ed parents so we can keep our AAP', not 'how to improve both'.

The suggestions by the pro AAP side are simply:

Let's mix them at lunch and recess.
Let's maybe add a homeroom time so our special children and socialize with the others.
Maybe some of those others can sit in on some of our kids' classes if they "can handle it".
Let's try to make Level II/III services more standard so there won't be so much focus on changing Level IV.


NONE of this improves Gen Ed.

Are you sure those suggestions are coming from the "pro AAP" side?

There is no pro or anti AAP. There is only how to improve them together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I'm seeing in this thread is 'how to placate Gen Ed parents so we can keep our AAP', not 'how to improve both'.

The suggestions by the pro AAP side are simply:

Let's mix them at lunch and recess.
Let's maybe add a homeroom time so our special children and socialize with the others.
Maybe some of those others can sit in on some of our kids' classes if they "can handle it".
Let's try to make Level II/III services more standard so there won't be so much focus on changing Level IV.


NONE of this improves Gen Ed.

I don't understand the lunch/recess thing. How does that improve anyone's education? My kids left their Title 1 base school which had no Level IV option to go to a center and they made new friends. They see some old friends from their base school in their soccer leagues, at playdates, parties, neighborhood events, etc. Their very good friends are still their very good friends and FCPS didn't have to rearrange the school schedule to accommodate that. If we're talking about improving education, I don't see how this is a priority.

My children have never had 'homeroom' in elementary school. What does that even mean? Morning meeting? What do you hope to accomplish in that time?

Making Level 2 & 3 more standard sounds like a great idea to me. If the complaint is truly about meeting students where they are and challenging them at different levels - what is wrong with this? Some schools even have principal/teacher placement for Local IV for kids that didn't qualify with the screening process.

And what is your recommendation for improving Gen Ed besides eliminating AAP? Let's hypothetically say we reduce AAP to 5% of students by raising the benchmark test scores. When you say 'offer the current AAP to all" that would mean same curriculum, but go faster and deeper for everyone. So with 95% of kids left in Gen Ed....you expect that all or most will keep up? And that teachers will be able to differentiate for all of those kids - even though parents are complaining that even with the 'top' skimmed off, teachers are overwhelmed and unable to do this? and the kids that can't keep up, what happens to them? They get relegated to a program called "Remedial Education"? Talk about feeling stigmatized.

I've come across so many articles/books over recents years that talk about how bad it is for kids that we push them so young - "The Race to Nowhere" field of research. About how we pressure and push our kids to do so much and go so fast and for what? I can only imagine if the AAP curriculum and pace were implemented for everyone and the backlash that would cause - parents lamenting, "what are we doing to our kids?!"

The parents I know - and I don't live in a TJ manic neighborhood - did not talk about or lift a finger to 'push' their children into AAP. We just got letters in the mail and had a decision to make and not everyone's was an automatic yes. Most of us were hesitant because it meant leaving the base school, which we loved and didn't know what to expect. Some stayed, some went (we're talking a handful, not enough for a class at the base school) and as far as I know everyone feels like they made the right decision for their child. My experience IRL is worlds away from the drama I see on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Again. The homeroom class should be mixed and that homeroom class should go to lunch and recess together. I don't see any reason why this can't happen. Make it a scheduling priority like so many other schools do.

Not all schools employ home rooms. Our base school only used them for sixth graders.

Exactly. I think this needs to be changed to ensure kids are mixed for lunch and recess. Most schools do use a homeroom class for this reason. There's no reason I see that the other schools can't.

Why should it change?

Adding extra homeroom to run during the hour plus that each grade has for lunch takes away from class time.

In elementary there is no real reason to have homeroom outside the assigned class. All you need is the ten minutes or so of "morning meeting" or whatever the school calls their beginning of the day time.

It should change because there have been complaints about the program for years. So much so that people are asking the school board to get rid of AAP. Instead of getting rid of the program, how about making some changes to both programs so they are more integrated and so the curriculum is improved for both? That's what this thread is about.

The person before said their 6th grade had a homeroom and those kids had lunch together. So why not 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade? Our school does it for all grades. Why can't these particular center schools? It would allow more friendships to form. And would allow the base school kids to stay better friends with the kids they met in K-2. I think it's awful a K-2 student attends a base school and then can barely ever see their friends in school because of an AAP or general ed label.

I'm not even going to respond to the person who blames where someone bought a house. Boundaries move all the time and all schools should be good enough for our students to attend at any intelligence level.

In real life most people are not fixated on AAP. This level of drama is a dcum thing.

[Anonymous]

Lunch and recess together promotes friendships between AAP and general ed students. It keeps kids from being in a bubble. It helps make a school more unified. No one said it improved a core subject. It was one suggestion out of several. It just seems the easiest to implement as a start.

Have you bothered to talk to the parents at the Title 1 base school now that the AAP kids are gone? Are they just as happy with those grades as they were with K-2? Does the school get as good reviews as your AAP center?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I'm seeing in this thread is 'how to placate Gen Ed parents so we can keep our AAP', not 'how to improve both'.

The suggestions by the pro AAP side are simply:

Let's mix them at lunch and recess.
Let's maybe add a homeroom time so our special children and socialize with the others.
Maybe some of those others can sit in on some of our kids' classes if they "can handle it".
Let's try to make Level II/III services more standard so there won't be so much focus on changing Level IV.


NONE of this improves Gen Ed.

I don't understand the lunch/recess thing. How does that improve anyone's education? My kids left their Title 1 base school which had no Level IV option to go to a center and they made new friends. They see some old friends from their base school in their soccer leagues, at playdates, parties, neighborhood events, etc. Their very good friends are still their very good friends and FCPS didn't have to rearrange the school schedule to accommodate that. If we're talking about improving education, I don't see how this is a priority.

My children have never had 'homeroom' in elementary school. What does that even mean? Morning meeting? What do you hope to accomplish in that time?

Making Level 2 & 3 more standard sounds like a great idea to me. If the complaint is truly about meeting students where they are and challenging them at different levels - what is wrong with this? Some schools even have principal/teacher placement for Local IV for kids that didn't qualify with the screening process.

And what is your recommendation for improving Gen Ed besides eliminating AAP? Let's hypothetically say we reduce AAP to 5% of students by raising the benchmark test scores. When you say 'offer the current AAP to all" that would mean same curriculum, but go faster and deeper for everyone. So with 95% of kids left in Gen Ed....you expect that all or most will keep up? And that teachers will be able to differentiate for all of those kids - even though parents are complaining that even with the 'top' skimmed off, teachers are overwhelmed and unable to do this? and the kids that can't keep up, what happens to them? They get relegated to a program called "Remedial Education"? Talk about feeling stigmatized.

I've come across so many articles/books over recents years that talk about how bad it is for kids that we push them so young - "The Race to Nowhere" field of research. About how we pressure and push our kids to do so much and go so fast and for what? I can only imagine if the AAP curriculum and pace were implemented for everyone and the backlash that would cause - parents lamenting, "what are we doing to our kids?!"

The parents I know - and I don't live in a TJ manic neighborhood - did not talk about or lift a finger to 'push' their children into AAP. We just got letters in the mail and had a decision to make and not everyone's was an automatic yes. Most of us were hesitant because it meant leaving the base school, which we loved and didn't know what to expect. Some stayed, some went (we're talking a handful, not enough for a class at the base school) and as far as I know everyone feels like they made the right decision for their child. My experience IRL is worlds away from the drama I see on DCUM.

What an excellent post.

You should repost it without the post so everyone can read it

[Anonymous]

In real life most people are not fixated on AAP. This level of drama is a dcum thing.

That's been going on for years and years. So much so that AAP had to have it's own thread here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lunch and recess together promotes friendships between AAP and general ed students. It keeps kids from being in a bubble. It helps make a school more unified. No one said it improved a core subject. It was one suggestion out of several. It just seems the easiest to implement as a start.

Have you bothered to talk to the parents at the Title 1 base school now that the AAP kids are gone? Are they just as happy with those grades as they were with K-2? Does the school get as good reviews as your AAP center?

It is not that easy

Why should all the schools that are already working just fine change how they do things to follow a plan implemented by a school as a solution for something created to fix problems unique to that school?

AAP drama is off the radar of most schools in fcps. The crazy TJ areas might need improvement, but their issues are not representative of the rest of this huge county.