(AAP) All About Prepping?
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Anonymous
| New acronym for AAP seeing how many low NNAT's followed by significantly higher CoGat's have been accepted this year. Not to rain on anyone's parade or dampen anyone's proud moment. Just advice for anyone who wants their child in the program next year - prep a little and get a WISC if needed. Also, stop calling it GT - few of our kids in this program (including DC) are truly gifted. I feel bad that those bright kids who aren't prepped or whose parents don't persevere don't get the same academic opportunities. |
Anonymous
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Just because you have a lower NNAT and higher CogAt does not mean you prepped your child. I have 2 high schoolers who had awesome NNATs and did not make the cut on the CogAts. One went through the center and the other did not. My current 2nd grader had a low NNAT and a high CogAt but made the center. We NEVER prepped her nor did we even expect her to make it. There is a reason they have two different tests to measure the students. It's been my experience that the teachers have a huge influence in who makes the center and who does not. It's not all about the scores.
I have seen kids over the years who did not have the high scores and did very well in the center while others who had high scores struggled. It depends on the child. A score on a CogAt/NNAT does not decide who gets in to TJ or who gets accepted to an Ivy League school. |
Anonymous
| Hey non-prepped kids get in - we have 2 in our family and know of plenty of others as well. One of my DC's teachers said that she's seen many kids struggle in AAP which shocked me at the time but after reading about all the prepping - I'm guessing those are the kids who might be struggling. |
Anonymous
Don't feel bad for my kids. We think they have excellent academic opportunities where they're at. Not everyone thinks AAP is the pinnnacle of academic opportunity. We prefer our kids to be fluent in a foreign language and chose to remain in the immersion program rather than do AAP. The AAP program is certainly a good academic opportunity for some kids, it's not necessarily better than the educational opportunities non-AAP kids have. It's just different. |
Anonymous
| My AAP kid (has been in the center fro 2 years) had a much lower NNAT than COGAT. The NNAT is known for having lots of unexpected low and unexpected high scores. I think now they are doing the NNAT in first grade, there will be more "falsely" low scores because first grade is really too early to do this sort of testing for many kids who are "late bloomers." I wonder why they moved it to first grade. Does anyone know? I think that was a huge mistake. |
Anonymous
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Your logic is flawed. It is no easier to prep for the cogat than it is to prep for the NNAT. There are materials and classes available for both. I used neither and my kid got 99th percentile scores on both.
And those of us who have kids in 5th grade and up are going to call it GT. The teachers are still filling out the G(ifted)BRS because the committee is still looking for gifted kids. That's what it was called when our kids were accepted, and all that has changed is the name.(you know that girl from high school that you still refer to by her maiden name because otherwise no one would know who you're talking about? It's kinda like that). |
Anonymous
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OP, how on earth do you know the scores of all these other people's kids?
Either you are incredibly nosey and rude, very presumptuous, or run around with a strangely open and braggy group of parents. |
Anonymous
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Ever think that the jump is scores just has to do with maturity?!?!?! Or the fact that the NNAT is the first standardized test most kids take and many don't get the concept or are just plan scared? With the Cogat the kids are older, some better focused, they are more comfortable with testing. And maybe they had kick ass teachers in first grade that helped bring out their potential.
My DD had only a slightly above average NNAT score, but had a high Cogat with no prepping. We watched out daughter blossom in first grade thanks to her teacher. I have no doubt the major jump in her scores was due to her teacher and gaining confidence the past year. If our merely "slightly above average" kids are bringing your "truly gifted" kid down, then maybe your energy would be better spent looking for a private school than lurking/posting on here assuming the worst about us. Sorry, post like OP piss me off! |
Anonymous
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"Also, stop calling it GT - few of our kids in this program (including DC) are truly gifted."
So true. |
Anonymous
This is truth, anyway. It's just a different kind of tracking -- it's not gifted education, and the kids by and large aren't really gifted. But, it matters one whole hell of a lot to status-conscious parents. Isn't something like 70 percent of FFX kids in pool now? |
Anonymous
this is a gross exaggeration There are approximately 13,000 2nd graders in FCPS and approximately 2500 were in the pool. That is about 20%. It has been said in years past that an estimated 60-70% of those kids are found eligible. |
Anonymous
| I actually had similar fears when my child started school- seeing the prep and tiger-parenting of some, I thought maybe my brilliant kid would be edged out. He started reading full books at age two and has a photographic memory. He is crazy smart and i have wonderful kids who re not all crazy smart so I don't think all my kids are geniuses. I have four kids and I have no time to test prep any of them (dc is my oldest). My dc got about 10 points higher on the cogat, I thought dc nnat was way too low personally- maybe he was disadvantaged because he is so verbal. He gets 90% O's with no effort. Anyway...I think test prep is bs- unless you plan to hover over your kids for the rest of their academic life- but don't assume lower nnat scores mean test prepping for cogat, it's not accurate in our case. Your post comes off as bitter though I am sympathic to the anti-prep cause since I didn't have the time to prep. Prepping sets yourself up for a hard road IMO. Regular fcps classes are mostly great and if my kid didn't need the challenge I wouldn't stress over it. I am actually willing to bet that my super charismatic kids might do the best in the end based on what I see in the workforce! |
Anonymous
I think OP was just frustrated about the whole fairness issue associated with prepping. Speaking from personal experience, I always thought my child was very bright and assumed that, like when I was growing up, his teachers would decide whether he went to the AAP program. I know I should have been more informed about the process, but I wasn't sure about the AAP program because I was such a geek as a child, I missed out on a lot of the other social aspects of school. I know there are a lot of well balanced really bright kids, I just wasn't one of them and so had a biased/likely flawed view. Anyway, I didn't start focusing on the whole AAP idea until after he'd taken the NNAT and CogAT and so had no idea about prepping. When I got online to get more info and saw all the alleged prepping, I definitely thought it wasn't "fair." I really don't think prepping is going to make an average child score off the charts, but I do feel that prepping can give some advantage. I think OP and everyone else upset about the fairness issue will have to just realize that this is now the reality. I read that a principal at a Fairfax County school actually mentioned a prepping site at a meeting prior to administration of the CogAT. If that is really the case, prepping will become so wide spread that you will be doing your child a huge disservice to not prep him/her. |
Anonymous
I think the point is that 20% of Fairfax County kids scored in th top 2% nationally. I think statistically it seems odd. |
Anonymous
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but it is not 20% in the top 2%. It is 10-15% in the top two of either one of two tests.
And that is for the in-pool kids. About 1/2 the kids were not in pool, but admitted on referral. From what I have seen, non of the kids are holding back the other kids, and it does not cost more to have kids in AAP compared with general ed. So, the criteria should be verify that the kids do not hold anyone back. |