Anyone else regret moving their child from base school to AAP Center?

[Anonymous]

I know my experience is different from most, but I really wish we had not moved our DC from our base school to the center. We have not been impressed with this year (3rd grade) at all. Our DC's class is not doing anything different from our base school other than having more tests (5 tests this week alone). All the hands on projects and "out side the box" thinking that we were told would go on in AAP has not happened. Another parent approached one of the teachers about it and was told that 2 of the new AAP teachers the school has decided against most of the projects.

Our base school doesn't even have a level 4 class, but honestly I know the teachers there and the 4th grade teachers are amazing. Pretty sure we will be moving back to our base next year.

Anyone else underwhelmed by their center???

[Anonymous]

I don't have a child at AAP, but I was talking to the mom of a child who went to our center (really smart, precocious child who spends summers going to school in another country learning an asian language). When I asked her how things were going at .... center, she kind of looked at me strange and said "I think it's too much for 3rd grade with all the projects." She was not impressed. Now, I know this child b/c I lead a group that s/he is in and she is clearly ahead of the other children with things clicking in his/her brain.... so I was a little surprised by the mom's assessment. It might also be that the mom is feeling overwhelmed with projects b/c the child is in tae kwon do, and soccer and my group... so maybe additional school work is getting to the mom.

But, I just wanted to put this out there for OP -- not everyone thinks it's the bees knees.

[Anonymous]

I know some AAP parents that are underwhelmed. We compared what our kids in doing in 3rd grade at different AAP centers and things are not similar.

[Anonymous]

Another AAP parent he. Most of these out-of-box thinking projects are fun sometimes but mostly waste of time. The kids are not learning the basics with these projects. Some of the home work is tedious and boring. What My DC likes are the reading/writing projects, PE, Music. The quality of writing I am seeing in AAP is pretty good.

[Anonymous]

In both my sons grades there was movement every year. One or two who had gone to the AAP Center school came back and one or two who had stayed went. We have LLIV, but even before that, there was some movement. From the parents to whom I talked, there wasn't much difference in the academics, it was more clicking/not clicking with the new school's culture or that they were trying to solve a social issue. WIth my oldest DC, that meant leaving the local school as his class was particularly filled with BMOC wantabes and mean girls. It was know as the mean class as they went through elementary school. So more left to find a more compatible social structure. With my youngest, two years later with about 25% from the same gene pool, it was the opposite. My youngest's class was particularly inclusive and nice. It was known as the nice class and was most requested by the aides.

[Anonymous]

My ds has an amazing teacher this year, and I guess that alone was worth it...but he is no more challenged than he was before.

[Anonymous]

I disagree that out side the box thinking based projects can be a waste of time. Lets face it, 90-99% of the kids in AAP can do basic work sheet and memorization school work. Hence how most of them got into AAP to begin with. AAP (well really I guess when it was a true GT program) focused on challenging kids in other ways, hence these projects. It gets the kids thinking, makes them look at things in different ways and teaches them to challenge themselves.

This was the main reason we sent our daughter to AAP. We also have an amazing base school with great teachers. Our daughter has learned more creative ways of thinking and learning from her OM coach this year than her teacher.

For us I know it has to do with the fact that her school moved a base teacher to an AAP slot. Great teacher I agree, but she has been teaching base 3rd grade for 20 years with no AAP experience. I understand why the school had to do this (larger than expected classes and not enough certified teachers) but our daughter is honestly more bored than she was at her base school - larger class size, more discipline problems and no real extra work, etc....

We will be more than likely switching back to our base school next year also.

[Anonymous]

You're disappointed that there are no projects, but another person posted that someone was concerned that there were too many projects at her school. Do you see why teachers just can't win? Some parents hate anything that requires their kids to work a little harder or work for more time (especially weekend time) than mom and dad prefer. Other parents think teachers are slack if the teachers (being well aware that some parents vociferously hate projects) then cut back on projects. Imagine BEING an AAP teacher. You cannot win.

If your child is only in third grade, don't pull him or her out yet. Wait. Being with peers who are interested in learning, who want to be challenged, is good for your child. If you don't like this year's teacher, well, see about next year. If you are feeling your child isn't doing "outside the box" stuff, why not ask the teacher directly? Go in, have a talk, ask to see what they do in class --not just what they bring home as homework. Ask the teachers the reasoning behind the decision not to do projects rather than accepting what you were told that they just don't do them. List your own expectations of AAP and ask about them. Don't be intimidated by the teachers. Ask to see classwork. Approach it as "I want to learn" rather than confrontationally and you might find the teacher is happy to talk about it!

Remember, third graders are generally not great at relating to parents what actually is being done and said in class. There may be more going on "outside the box" than you realize but to your child it's just "what we did in school today."

Finally -- a friend who is an FCPS elementary counselor said that throughout FCPS there is an attempt to reduce homework time, so you may be seeing that in action. I'm amazed at how much my kid does IN class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're disappointed that there are no projects, but another person posted that someone was concerned that there were too many projects at her school. Do you see why teachers just can't win? Some parents hate anything that requires their kids to work a little harder or work for more time (especially weekend time) than mom and dad prefer. Other parents think teachers are slack if the teachers (being well aware that some parents vociferously hate projects) then cut back on projects. Imagine BEING an AAP teacher. You cannot win.

If your child is only in third grade, don't pull him or her out yet. Wait. Being with peers who are interested in learning, who want to be challenged, is good for your child. If you don't like this year's teacher, well, see about next year. If you are feeling your child isn't doing "outside the box" stuff, why not ask the teacher directly? Go in, have a talk, ask to see what they do in class --not just what they bring home as homework. Ask the teachers the reasoning behind the decision not to do projects rather than accepting what you were told that they just don't do them. List your own expectations of AAP and ask about them. Don't be intimidated by the teachers. Ask to see classwork. Approach it as "I want to learn" rather than confrontationally and you might find the teacher is happy to talk about it!

Remember, third graders are generally not great at relating to parents what actually is being done and said in class. There may be more going on "outside the box" than you realize but to your child it's just "what we did in school today."

Finally -- a friend who is an FCPS elementary counselor said that throughout FCPS there is an attempt to reduce homework time, so you may be seeing that in action. I'm amazed at how much my kid does IN class.

If parents hate anything that make their kids work more or harder, then they should not have children in AAP. Isn't the purpose to challenge the kids and make them work?

[Anonymous]

Our DD had a good teacher in 3rd grade AAP, an exceptional teacher in Grade 4 and an good to great teacher in Grade 5. She had an indifferent teacher in Grade 1 and a good one in Grade 2 in our base school. AAP experience differs by teachers as does the base school experience.

I would not judge by a single year in AAP.

We believe the cohort makes all the difference. The kids are equally driven and have similar interests. I dont know how this will compare with LLIV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're disappointed that there are no projects, but another person posted that someone was concerned that there were too many projects at her school. Do you see why teachers just can't win? Some parents hate anything that requires their kids to work a little harder or work for more time (especially weekend time) than mom and dad prefer. Other parents think teachers are slack if the teachers (being well aware that some parents vociferously hate projects) then cut back on projects. Imagine BEING an AAP teacher. You cannot win.

If your child is only in third grade, don't pull him or her out yet. Wait. Being with peers who are interested in learning, who want to be challenged, is good for your child. If you don't like this year's teacher, well, see about next year. If you are feeling your child isn't doing "outside the box" stuff, why not ask the teacher directly? Go in, have a talk, ask to see what they do in class --not just what they bring home as homework. Ask the teachers the reasoning behind the decision not to do projects rather than accepting what you were told that they just don't do them. List your own expectations of AAP and ask about them. Don't be intimidated by the teachers. Ask to see classwork. Approach it as "I want to learn" rather than confrontationally and you might find the teacher is happy to talk about it!

Remember, third graders are generally not great at relating to parents what actually is being done and said in class. There may be more going on "outside the box" than you realize but to your child it's just "what we did in school today."

Finally -- a friend who is an FCPS elementary counselor said that throughout FCPS there is an attempt to reduce homework time, so you may be seeing that in action. I'm amazed at how much my kid does IN class.

If parents hate anything that make their kids work more or harder, then they should not have children in AAP. Isn't the purpose to challenge the kids and make them work?

Just because you slog, doesnt make it better. If they are intellectually stimulating, then it is fine. But sheer hardwork for the sake makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

I wonder how they are recruiting new AAP teachers. Some of the new teachers are so bad to be even teachers.

[Anonymous]

More work does not equal more challenge, and faster pace does not equal deeper knowledge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More work does not equal more challenge, and faster pace does not equal deeper knowledge.

Well said!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More work does not equal more challenge, and faster pace does not equal deeper knowledge.

Well said!

Exactly!
My ds is at a highly regarded center and is very unhappy. He wants to learn more, and they're just brushing the surface of everything in the name of fast-paced AAP.