If your child was on the cusp or didn't get invited to AAP, what happened at your base school?

[Anonymous]

My child is not "in pool" but would have been "in pool" on two accounts based on last year's standards. DC is 97th percentile for composite score, rather than 98th percentile. We are not planning to parent refer.

If your child was either close to the pool or was in pool, but later not admitted to AAP, HOW did that affect what was offered to your child at the base school? What services were offered in 3rd grade or beyond as a result of scoring very high on CogAT?

[Anonymous]

At our school the kids who are in the pool, but not found eligible are offered level III services. Not sure if anything is offered to those that are on the cusp but not in the pool. I have a feeling that group might be pretty large.

[Anonymous]

OP here -- was your child offered Level 3 in all areas or just certain areas based on the sub-tests (i.e. just reading if the verbal score was high, or just math if the quantitative score was high)?

[Anonymous]

We were told that our school would be screening for level III in May. My child is on the cusp as well, and we're referring, but if we don't get into the center we will definitely investigate level III. (I'm not planning to appeal for level IV.)

[Anonymous]

OP, why aren't you referring?

If you don't want to send your child to the Center, it still doesn't hurt to refer & get the determination. You might end up being found eligible, and you could just decline to go to the Center, but the eligibility determination may help you get better services at your base school. Also, the eligibilty carries forward, so if you get in and don't send DC this year and you are not happy with the services at your base school, you have the option to reconsider the Center in 4th grade (you could always apply next year too but why not just apply now?)

[Anonymous]

My son was one point away several years ago and did not get in on parent referral. He's in 6th grade now and I must say I never felt he got anything meaningful through Level III services. The biggest concern for us has been the impact on his self esteem. He knows he was passed over and feels like he's not smart enough for rigorous academics. It breaks my heart. Knowing what I know now, I wish I had gotten WISC scores and appealed the rejection, but do what's best for your family.

[Anonymous]

13:38 I hadn't really thought of those down-the-line effects. We weren't planning to refer b/c we want our children to go to the same school, DC says school is fine (DC is not claiming to be bored) and I deal with enough aggravation with DC getting her to do homework now that I don't want to increase the stress or the load. DC seems to do fine in school, but has trouble pushing forward when things get a little challenging (not sure that this happens at school, but it does happen when I'm helping with homework -- I don't need more meltdowns -- I think it's an immaturity issue rather than things being above her intellectual level). Still, with two working parents, we want to keep things manageable and not just chase the AAP b/c it is flattering.

That's been our thought process.

[Anonymous]

Agreed--OP should refer unless she REALLY doesn't want her child to leave the base school, ever.

The paperwork looks daunting but really isn't too bad. You have til Friday.

[Anonymous]

OP, in my experience, differentiation really varies by school. My 9 year old ds was in pool 2 years ago. His CogAt Composite was 99%, he scored well on all sections-99%ile) (90, and 18 above the benchmark (then 130) on one section as well (148/perfect on Nonverbal). Due to a mediocre GBRS (9) he was not found eligible. His grades were all 0's and G's. Most adults who knew him (some teachers themselves) were really surprised that he was not found eligible. This was a child who was reading chapter books before Kindergarten, and writing stories. Always performed extremely well in math as well. Anyway, when I asked about eligibility for Level III, they told me he was also not found eligible for Level III, but that the way they were doing Level III, the whole class was getting it anyway. In his school, the AART is only there 2 days a week, so IMO, Level III is practically non-existent. It is not the same situation, but I wanted to share. This is at a desired school with good test scores.

As an aside, my younger ds goes to a different Elementary (we had opted out of our neighborhood school for older ds, but lost that right due to rising scores at our neighborhood school. we had also decided ds2 needed smaller classes, which our neighborhood school offered). He is in K, and has an IEP for social/emotional delays, but is also very bright like his brother. We just got a letter last week that he had been identified as being eligible for Advanced pull outs. We had to give permission, which we did. The principal at this school found extra $$ to make sure they had an AART there full time. This school is at Title I school with lower test scores, though is no longer under sanction through NCLB.

I would strongly recommend that you see how many days your AART is there related to the student body. If you think your daughter might need differentiation, you can always wait until next year, and see how this year goes. You can parent refer in any grade if you think she is not being challenged. For us, we decided to parent refer in 3rd grade (could not shell out for WISC as so many do). We used our same scores, since they were well above the benchmark, and provided work samples from school and home, and verified the teacher felt it was a good fit. She felt he was bored, and we agreed. Ds was found eligible first round of 3rd on parent referral, and is doing great this year. We decided to stick with his base school, so he is in Local Level IV (they have one class per grade), though we could have sent him to center. I felt strongly that I wanted to leave him at his same school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, in my experience, differentiation really varies by school. My 9 year old ds was in pool 2 years ago. His CogAt Composite was 99%, he scored well on all sections-99%ile) (90, and 18 above the benchmark (then 130) on one section as well (148/perfect on Nonverbal). Due to a mediocre GBRS (9) he was not found eligible. His grades were all 0's and G's. Most adults who knew him (some teachers themselves) were really surprised that he was not found eligible. This was a child who was reading chapter books before Kindergarten, and writing stories. Always performed extremely well in math as well. Anyway, when I asked about eligibility for Level III, they told me he was also not found eligible for Level III, but that the way they were doing Level III, the whole class was getting it anyway. In his school, the AART is only there 2 days a week, so IMO, Level III is practically non-existent. It is not the same situation, but I wanted to share. This is at a desired school with good test scores.

As an aside, my younger ds goes to a different Elementary (we had opted out of our neighborhood school for older ds, but lost that right due to rising scores at our neighborhood school. we had also decided ds2 needed smaller classes, which our neighborhood school offered). He is in K, and has an IEP for social/emotional delays, but is also very bright like his brother. We just got a letter last week that he had been identified as being eligible for Advanced pull outs. We had to give permission, which we did. The principal at this school found extra $$ to make sure they had an AART there full time. This school is at Title I school with lower test scores, though is no longer under sanction through NCLB.

I would strongly recommend that you see how many days your AART is there related to the student body. If you think your daughter might need differentiation, you can always wait until next year, and see how this year goes. You can parent refer in any grade if you think she is not being challenged. For us, we decided to parent refer in 3rd grade (could not shell out for WISC as so many do). We used our same scores, since they were well above the benchmark, and provided work samples from school and home, and verified the teacher felt it was a good fit. She felt he was bored, and we agreed. Ds was found eligible first round of 3rd on parent referral, and is doing great this year. We decided to stick with his base school, so he is in Local Level IV (they have one class per grade), though we could have sent him to center. I felt strongly that I wanted to leave him at his same school.

I have read your story no less than 5 times on this board in the past month. I know all about your son's denial, behavioral issues, low GBRS, and subsequent acceptance with a higher GBRS the following year. I'm not sure why you post it on nearly every thread. You could certainly post a response without the life story...

[Anonymous]

Point taken. I need to get over my frustration already, and not let it out on each board. I could have shortened my point to say not all schools are alike. I do tend to write/talk too much. Apologies.

[Anonymous]

OP here -- we do have a full time AART in our school (at least so far, you never know about next year).

Does Level 3 start in 3rd grade or just 4th grade? And what exactly is level 3?

[Anonymous]

http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/index.shtml

Grade 3 for Level 3

[Anonymous]

I recall seeing 14:47's story before, but so what? She's trying to provide helpful info to this OP, who might not have seen this on other threads (there are so many of them). I think 14:47's story is of interest because it shows that kids with high scores and low GBRS one year have a chance at being accepted in a subsequent year with higher GBRS. Her story is also relevant for OP to consider whether to parent refer when you have some questions about whether your child is mature enough to handle the AAP workload.

OP, our DD is in 3rd grade AAP and if your child is not a self starter and by nature pretty quick and organized, you likely will find you are going to be involved quite a being a homework task master and modeling study skills for your child. We're finding our DD finally hit her stride after the winter break. For us, putting in this extra time has been worthwhile, as she loves the content and peer group, and seems to be appropriately challenged (her grades are fine).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Point taken. I need to get over my frustration already, and not let it out on each board. I could have shortened my point to say not all schools are alike. I do tend to write/talk too much. Apologies.

I too have read your story on many threads, and find it sweet every time. You are clearly a very loving Mom who has done everything in your power to support your child's needs. I find it doubly sweet that you meet DCUM snarkiness with such grace. Kudos to you.