AAP Center Elimination Rumors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm angry about comparing kids to kids at their own school instead of the entire FCPS population. I literally know a family that picked a house zoned to a Title I school so their child would get into AAP. My child has higher test scores (NNAT, COGAT, iready, SOL, everything) but because we're at a school with lots of highly educated, wealthy families, my kid didn't get in. Why is her child more deserving of a better education than mine just because she goes to school with poor kids?

If your school has a ton of smart kids, your child already has a cohort of smart kids. They don’t need to go to another school to get one.

The curriculum is different. Why should her kid get advanced math but mine doesn't just because all the other kids are smart? That's STUPID.

Advanced Math is offered at every school. Your kid will have a chance to take Advanced Math. Kids in LIV get Advanced Math but plenty of kids not in LIV are placed in Advanced Math.

I'm not sure our center school has advanced math for kids outside of the aap level 4 kids. If it did, my kid should have been in it. He's had teachers say he should be in advanced math, but it's too bad... there's nothing they can do....

Advanced math at our base school doesn't start until 5th grade. At the center they start advancing in 3rd grade. The difference in classwork, homework (non-existent at non-center school), and overall classroom behavior was very stark between my Level 4 kid at the center and my Level 3 advanced math kid at the base school. Before 5th grade advanced math, the Level 3 pull outs were once a week (when Mondays didn't fall on a holiday) and practically useless.

DP. Pullouts are completely useless. They just do them so they can pretend they've given those kids the "enrichment" they deserve. The reality is, it's a rushed 30-60 minutes of busywork - once a week - and then they're expected to make up the classwork they missed. Absurd.

Just do away with Level this and Level that and offer flexible groupings, every single day.

+1 The levels are so lame. The AARP worksheets are stupid. The whole thing is a disaster in its current state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm angry about comparing kids to kids at their own school instead of the entire FCPS population. I literally know a family that picked a house zoned to a Title I school so their child would get into AAP. My child has higher test scores (NNAT, COGAT, iready, SOL, everything) but because we're at a school with lots of highly educated, wealthy families, my kid didn't get in. Why is her child more deserving of a better education than mine just because she goes to school with poor kids?

If your school has a ton of smart kids, your child already has a cohort of smart kids. They don’t need to go to another school to get one.

The curriculum is different. Why should her kid get advanced math but mine doesn't just because all the other kids are smart? That's STUPID.

Advanced Math is offered at every school. Your kid will have a chance to take Advanced Math. Kids in LIV get Advanced Math but plenty of kids not in LIV are placed in Advanced Math.

I'm not sure our center school has advanced math for kids outside of the aap level 4 kids. If it did, my kid should have been in it. He's had teachers say he should be in advanced math, but it's too bad... there's nothing they can do....

Advanced math at our base school doesn't start until 5th grade. At the center they start advancing in 3rd grade. The difference in classwork, homework (non-existent at non-center school), and overall classroom behavior was very stark between my Level 4 kid at the center and my Level 3 advanced math kid at the base school. Before 5th grade advanced math, the Level 3 pull outs were once a week (when Mondays didn't fall on a holiday) and practically useless.

Did your base school offer local level IV?

No, but apparently they are phasing it in now at the lower grades. Not sure if it's a "real" level IV or if its the stupid clustering model where they just spread the AAP kids out among all the classes and do nothing for them. Clustering is pretty much the opposite of meeting the needs of AAP kids - just ensures they are bored to death while the teacher teaches to the level of the kids in class needing extra help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Centers are needed in schools where there aren’t enough level 4 kids to make a whole class.

Ok. But there are schools that have a large enough cohort. In my opinion, the centers should only be allowed if the cohort is too small. Why should we bus kids to a center when there is a large enough cohort with a designated class. I know our center pulls from two schools. Both of these schools including my own, has a designated AAP class (not cluster model) and routinely has enough kids (12-17 kids)

It's crazy that you are anti busing AAP kids but are just fine with a 1:12 teacher to student ratio only for AAP. Doubtful that general ed classes have that ratio.

Wow. No, mommy, principals place other smart students into the Level IV class to make sure it is a similar size to the other classrooms. Most of these kids would have gotten into AAP if they were in a Title I or lower SES school anyway, so it works out. Your little baby is not "gifted" as much as you want to think s/he is. Principal placed kids do just as well if not better than the kids who got into AAP because their 2nd grade teacher liked them.

Principal placed kids get there because parents suck up to them.
Second grade teachers of the student are not on the selection committee for full time AAP.
Principal placing kids who did not make the cut into classrooms are part of the reason people prefer centers. The peer group has all been selected by a neutral centralized committee rather than who sucks up to the principal.

AAP is an advanced program. It must be hard for you to accept that even with a lower standard than gifted your kid still didn't make the cut. It's not the end of the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Centers are needed in schools where there aren’t enough level 4 kids to make a whole class.

Ok. But there are schools that have a large enough cohort. In my opinion, the centers should only be allowed if the cohort is too small. Why should we bus kids to a center when there is a large enough cohort with a designated class. I know our center pulls from two schools. Both of these schools including my own, has a designated AAP class (not cluster model) and routinely has enough kids (12-17 kids)

It's crazy that you are anti busing AAP kids but are just fine with a 1:12 teacher to student ratio only for AAP. Doubtful that general ed classes have that ratio.

Wow. No, mommy, principals place other smart students into the Level IV class to make sure it is a similar size to the other classrooms. Most of these kids would have gotten into AAP if they were in a Title I or lower SES school anyway, so it works out. Your little baby is not "gifted" as much as you want to think s/he is. Principal placed kids do just as well if not better than the kids who got into AAP because their 2nd grade teacher liked them.

Principal placed kids get there because parents suck up to them.
Second grade teachers of the student are not on the selection committee for full time AAP.
Principal placing kids who did not make the cut into classrooms are part of the reason people prefer centers. The peer group has all been selected by a neutral centralized committee rather than who sucks up to the principal.

AAP is an advanced program. It must be hard for you to accept that even with a lower standard than gifted your kid still didn't make the cut. It's not the end of the world.

I know you really want to believe this, PP, but one (or both maybe, I don’t even remember b/c not all of us are obsessed with AAP) of my kids was principal placed and I’ve never exchanged a single word with the principal.

Also, it’s really not that advanced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Centers are needed in schools where there aren’t enough level 4 kids to make a whole class.

Ok. But there are schools that have a large enough cohort. In my opinion, the centers should only be allowed if the cohort is too small. Why should we bus kids to a center when there is a large enough cohort with a designated class. I know our center pulls from two schools. Both of these schools including my own, has a designated AAP class (not cluster model) and routinely has enough kids (12-17 kids)

It's crazy that you are anti busing AAP kids but are just fine with a 1:12 teacher to student ratio only for AAP. Doubtful that general ed classes have that ratio.

Wow. No, mommy, principals place other smart students into the Level IV class to make sure it is a similar size to the other classrooms. Most of these kids would have gotten into AAP if they were in a Title I or lower SES school anyway, so it works out. Your little baby is not "gifted" as much as you want to think s/he is. Principal placed kids do just as well if not better than the kids who got into AAP because their 2nd grade teacher liked them.

Principal placed kids get there because parents suck up to them.
Second grade teachers of the student are not on the selection committee for full time AAP.
Principal placing kids who did not make the cut into classrooms are part of the reason people prefer centers. The peer group has all been selected by a neutral centralized committee rather than who sucks up to the principal.

AAP is an advanced program. It must be hard for you to accept that even with a lower standard than gifted your kid still didn't make the cut. It's not the end of the world.

I know you really want to believe this, PP, but one (or both maybe, I don’t even remember b/c not all of us are obsessed with AAP) of my kids was principal placed and I’ve never exchanged a single word with the principal.

Also, it’s really not that advanced.

Just like you want to believe principal placed is legit.
All of mine got in on their own. No filler.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Centers are needed in schools where there aren’t enough level 4 kids to make a whole class.

There are very few schools where this is the case.

How do you know? I bet it's more than you think. Our school doesn't have anywhere close to enough kids to make a whole AAP class. We only have a handful of kids that go to the center school every year and I don't think there are more than 2-3 that stay at our school because Local level 4 has only been offered for the past couple years. I have a kid in Level 3 and one of his best friends is Level 4 but stayed at our local school. He just does the level 3 pull outs a couple times a week and advanced math. There isn't any differentiated teaching beyond that for the level 4 kid.

Elementary schools in fcps have anywhere between 2 and 10+ classes per grade.

Please name two elementary schools that have 10+ classes per grade.

Your range should be 2 to 6 classes per grade, and even 6 is rare.

Bailey's has 10-12 classes per grade. Parklawn has 6-8 classes per grade. Both of these are just 2 of the something like 10 schools that send kids to belvedere as an AAP center. I think belvedere typically has 2, sometimes 3, AAP classes per grade.

But still, I guess more of my point was that for schools with 2 classes per grade, it's going to be harder to have a standalone local class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Centers are needed in schools where there aren’t enough level 4 kids to make a whole class.

Ok. But there are schools that have a large enough cohort. In my opinion, the centers should only be allowed if the cohort is too small. Why should we bus kids to a center when there is a large enough cohort with a designated class. I know our center pulls from two schools. Both of these schools including my own, has a designated AAP class (not cluster model) and routinely has enough kids (12-17 kids)

It's crazy that you are anti busing AAP kids but are just fine with a 1:12 teacher to student ratio only for AAP. Doubtful that general ed classes have that ratio.

Wow. No, mommy, principals place other smart students into the Level IV class to make sure it is a similar size to the other classrooms. Most of these kids would have gotten into AAP if they were in a Title I or lower SES school anyway, so it works out. Your little baby is not "gifted" as much as you want to think s/he is. Principal placed kids do just as well if not better than the kids who got into AAP because their 2nd grade teacher liked them.

Principal placed kids get there because parents suck up to them.
Second grade teachers of the student are not on the selection committee for full time AAP.
Principal placing kids who did not make the cut into classrooms are part of the reason people prefer centers. The peer group has all been selected by a neutral centralized committee rather than who sucks up to the principal.

AAP is an advanced program. It must be hard for you to accept that even with a lower standard than gifted your kid still didn't make the cut. It's not the end of the world.

I know you really want to believe this, PP, but one (or both maybe, I don’t even remember b/c not all of us are obsessed with AAP) of my kids was principal placed and I’ve never exchanged a single word with the principal.

Also, it’s really not that advanced.

Just like you want to believe principal placed is legit.
All of mine got in on their own. No filler.

For the most part, if you do something on the PTA, your kid will get principal placed if you so desire.

[Anonymous]

Centers need to go. The bus to the Center that goes through my area is nearly empty. What a waste of money. Most AAP kids stay at the local level four. If they go to the Center very few kids track to the same Middle and High School that they will be assigned to. The Center school is in a different region and has been overcrowded and now under construction. I wish they would go back to flexible groups so that kids that are say advanced in reading but not math can get Enrichment. There is huge amount of lording over other kids that kids are in the advanced class or that Larlo left for the advanced school. THe whole system is toxic and doesn't serve kids well. We can do better. Too much is based on subjective measures and started too young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Centers are needed in schools where there aren’t enough level 4 kids to make a whole class.

Ok. But there are schools that have a large enough cohort. In my opinion, the centers should only be allowed if the cohort is too small. Why should we bus kids to a center when there is a large enough cohort with a designated class. I know our center pulls from two schools. Both of these schools including my own, has a designated AAP class (not cluster model) and routinely has enough kids (12-17 kids)

It's crazy that you are anti busing AAP kids but are just fine with a 1:12 teacher to student ratio only for AAP. Doubtful that general ed classes have that ratio.

Wow. No, mommy, principals place other smart students into the Level IV class to make sure it is a similar size to the other classrooms. Most of these kids would have gotten into AAP if they were in a Title I or lower SES school anyway, so it works out. Your little baby is not "gifted" as much as you want to think s/he is. Principal placed kids do just as well if not better than the kids who got into AAP because their 2nd grade teacher liked them.

Principal placed kids get there because parents suck up to them.
Second grade teachers of the student are not on the selection committee for full time AAP.
Principal placing kids who did not make the cut into classrooms are part of the reason people prefer centers. The peer group has all been selected by a neutral centralized committee rather than who sucks up to the principal.

AAP is an advanced program. It must be hard for you to accept that even with a lower standard than gifted your kid still didn't make the cut. It's not the end of the world.

I know you really want to believe this, PP, but one (or both maybe, I don’t even remember b/c not all of us are obsessed with AAP) of my kids was principal placed and I’ve never exchanged a single word with the principal.

Also, it’s really not that advanced.

Principal placed doesn't even mean strictly, literally "principal placed." At my child's school (which has Local Level IV), the teachers administered some assessments to the students at the beginning of the year and made class decisions based on those. Principal didn't hand pick anybody as part of that process. Not saying there wasn't someone, somewhere who may have gone strictly thru the principal but for the majority of the kids, the teachers did all the work finding the kids who could do the advanced content and then filled in the Level IV classes with those students. My daughter was one of them. After a year in 3rd grade advanced math, we re-applied for her to get actual Level IV status so we didn't have to go through the wondering every year if there'd be room for her to fill the class and she got in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Centers are needed in schools where there aren’t enough level 4 kids to make a whole class.

Ok. But there are schools that have a large enough cohort. In my opinion, the centers should only be allowed if the cohort is too small. Why should we bus kids to a center when there is a large enough cohort with a designated class. I know our center pulls from two schools. Both of these schools including my own, has a designated AAP class (not cluster model) and routinely has enough kids (12-17 kids)

It's crazy that you are anti busing AAP kids but are just fine with a 1:12 teacher to student ratio only for AAP. Doubtful that general ed classes have that ratio.

Wow. No, mommy, principals place other smart students into the Level IV class to make sure it is a similar size to the other classrooms. Most of these kids would have gotten into AAP if they were in a Title I or lower SES school anyway, so it works out. Your little baby is not "gifted" as much as you want to think s/he is. Principal placed kids do just as well if not better than the kids who got into AAP because their 2nd grade teacher liked them.

Principal placed kids get there because parents suck up to them.
Second grade teachers of the student are not on the selection committee for full time AAP.
Principal placing kids who did not make the cut into classrooms are part of the reason people prefer centers. The peer group has all been selected by a neutral centralized committee rather than who sucks up to the principal.

AAP is an advanced program. It must be hard for you to accept that even with a lower standard than gifted your kid still didn't make the cut. It's not the end of the world.

I know you really want to believe this, PP, but one (or both maybe, I don’t even remember b/c not all of us are obsessed with AAP) of my kids was principal placed and I’ve never exchanged a single word with the principal.

Also, it’s really not that advanced.

Just like you want to believe principal placed is legit.
All of mine got in on their own. No filler.

For the most part, if you do something on the PTA, your kid will get principal placed if you so desire.

PP who's never interacted with the principal and I don't do PTA either. I know people really want to believe AAP is rigged, and perhaps in some schools it is, but that's clearly not universal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Centers are needed in schools where there aren’t enough level 4 kids to make a whole class.

Ok. But there are schools that have a large enough cohort. In my opinion, the centers should only be allowed if the cohort is too small. Why should we bus kids to a center when there is a large enough cohort with a designated class. I know our center pulls from two schools. Both of these schools including my own, has a designated AAP class (not cluster model) and routinely has enough kids (12-17 kids)

It's crazy that you are anti busing AAP kids but are just fine with a 1:12 teacher to student ratio only for AAP. Doubtful that general ed classes have that ratio.

Wow. No, mommy, principals place other smart students into the Level IV class to make sure it is a similar size to the other classrooms. Most of these kids would have gotten into AAP if they were in a Title I or lower SES school anyway, so it works out. Your little baby is not "gifted" as much as you want to think s/he is. Principal placed kids do just as well if not better than the kids who got into AAP because their 2nd grade teacher liked them.

Principal placed kids get there because parents suck up to them.
Second grade teachers of the student are not on the selection committee for full time AAP.
Principal placing kids who did not make the cut into classrooms are part of the reason people prefer centers. The peer group has all been selected by a neutral centralized committee rather than who sucks up to the principal.

AAP is an advanced program. It must be hard for you to accept that even with a lower standard than gifted your kid still didn't make the cut. It's not the end of the world.

I know you really want to believe this, PP, but one (or both maybe, I don’t even remember b/c not all of us are obsessed with AAP) of my kids was principal placed and I’ve never exchanged a single word with the principal.

Also, it’s really not that advanced.

Even if it’s not advanced, it’s the preference when the Gen Ed classes are two grade levels below.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Centers are needed in schools where there aren’t enough level 4 kids to make a whole class.

Ok. But there are schools that have a large enough cohort. In my opinion, the centers should only be allowed if the cohort is too small. Why should we bus kids to a center when there is a large enough cohort with a designated class. I know our center pulls from two schools. Both of these schools including my own, has a designated AAP class (not cluster model) and routinely has enough kids (12-17 kids)

It's crazy that you are anti busing AAP kids but are just fine with a 1:12 teacher to student ratio only for AAP. Doubtful that general ed classes have that ratio.

Wow. No, mommy, principals place other smart students into the Level IV class to make sure it is a similar size to the other classrooms. Most of these kids would have gotten into AAP if they were in a Title I or lower SES school anyway, so it works out. Your little baby is not "gifted" as much as you want to think s/he is. Principal placed kids do just as well if not better than the kids who got into AAP because their 2nd grade teacher liked them.

Principal placed kids get there because parents suck up to them.
Second grade teachers of the student are not on the selection committee for full time AAP.
Principal placing kids who did not make the cut into classrooms are part of the reason people prefer centers. The peer group has all been selected by a neutral centralized committee rather than who sucks up to the principal.

AAP is an advanced program. It must be hard for you to accept that even with a lower standard than gifted your kid still didn't make the cut. It's not the end of the world.

You're absolutely right, it's not the end of the world, yet here you are getting suuuuper defensive and freaking out and insulting people that you 100% know are telling the truth but oh boy, you just can't handle the fact that your child isn't as precious as you think s/he is. Trust me, my kids are going to end up in the exact same AP classes as yours in high school and will probably blow them out of the water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Centers are needed in schools where there aren’t enough level 4 kids to make a whole class.

Ok. But there are schools that have a large enough cohort. In my opinion, the centers should only be allowed if the cohort is too small. Why should we bus kids to a center when there is a large enough cohort with a designated class. I know our center pulls from two schools. Both of these schools including my own, has a designated AAP class (not cluster model) and routinely has enough kids (12-17 kids)

It's crazy that you are anti busing AAP kids but are just fine with a 1:12 teacher to student ratio only for AAP. Doubtful that general ed classes have that ratio.

Wow. No, mommy, principals place other smart students into the Level IV class to make sure it is a similar size to the other classrooms. Most of these kids would have gotten into AAP if they were in a Title I or lower SES school anyway, so it works out. Your little baby is not "gifted" as much as you want to think s/he is. Principal placed kids do just as well if not better than the kids who got into AAP because their 2nd grade teacher liked them.

Principal placed kids get there because parents suck up to them.
Second grade teachers of the student are not on the selection committee for full time AAP.
Principal placing kids who did not make the cut into classrooms are part of the reason people prefer centers. The peer group has all been selected by a neutral centralized committee rather than who sucks up to the principal.

AAP is an advanced program. It must be hard for you to accept that even with a lower standard than gifted your kid still didn't make the cut. It's not the end of the world.

I know you really want to believe this, PP, but one (or both maybe, I don’t even remember b/c not all of us are obsessed with AAP) of my kids was principal placed and I’ve never exchanged a single word with the principal.

Also, it’s really not that advanced.

Even if it’s not advanced, it’s the preference when the Gen Ed classes are two grade levels below.

I'm so sorry that you didn't research the schools you were sending your children to. My children's ES is not like that at all. Literally the only difference between AAP and general education is is math. Everyone else has the same curriculum. Confirmed by the teachers at our ES. We have a huge group of high achieving kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Centers are needed in schools where there aren’t enough level 4 kids to make a whole class.

Ok. But there are schools that have a large enough cohort. In my opinion, the centers should only be allowed if the cohort is too small. Why should we bus kids to a center when there is a large enough cohort with a designated class. I know our center pulls from two schools. Both of these schools including my own, has a designated AAP class (not cluster model) and routinely has enough kids (12-17 kids)

It's crazy that you are anti busing AAP kids but are just fine with a 1:12 teacher to student ratio only for AAP. Doubtful that general ed classes have that ratio.

Wow. No, mommy, principals place other smart students into the Level IV class to make sure it is a similar size to the other classrooms. Most of these kids would have gotten into AAP if they were in a Title I or lower SES school anyway, so it works out. Your little baby is not "gifted" as much as you want to think s/he is. Principal placed kids do just as well if not better than the kids who got into AAP because their 2nd grade teacher liked them.

Principal placed kids get there because parents suck up to them.
Second grade teachers of the student are not on the selection committee for full time AAP.
Principal placing kids who did not make the cut into classrooms are part of the reason people prefer centers. The peer group has all been selected by a neutral centralized committee rather than who sucks up to the principal.

AAP is an advanced program. It must be hard for you to accept that even with a lower standard than gifted your kid still didn't make the cut. It's not the end of the world.

I know you really want to believe this, PP, but one (or both maybe, I don’t even remember b/c not all of us are obsessed with AAP) of my kids was principal placed and I’ve never exchanged a single word with the principal.

Also, it’s really not that advanced.

Even if it’s not advanced, it’s the preference when the Gen Ed classes are two grade levels below.

I'm so sorry that you didn't research the schools you were sending your children to. My children's ES is not like that at all. Literally the only difference between AAP and general education is is math. Everyone else has the same curriculum. Confirmed by the teachers at our ES. We have a huge group of high achieving kids.

How much would a different peer group effect the educational experience between cohorts?

[Anonymous]

For people concerned about AAP . . . It means very little. Every year there are hundreds of non AAP students who outscore AAP students on a variety of exams including SOL tests. The biggest concern a parent should have is classroom management, school wide discipline, and experience levels of teachers and administrators.