Why does FCPS for giving highest weightage to GBRS and discard all other standardized tests?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once a month?! You have got to be joking. You and your type are the reason we can’t keep great teachers.

How much time do you believe is appropriate for a teacher to dedicate to 1:1 communication with the parents of their students?

PP stated once a month. In perspective, that is 10 correspondences throughout the year. Seems reasonable to me.


For all the stated emphasis by FFX county on Equity, all I'm looking for is equality in terms of time and dedication to my kid. Other parents are already doing this to gain an advantage, prompting the rest to follow suit. I wish I had and am advocating others to do so.

You're delusional. Or trolling...

Neither. I'm just finally seeing how the game is played. Talked with other parents after I realized my kid wasn't getting opportunities. Apparently they have regular communications with Teachers, and were pushing to get their kids into break-out groups. 3 different parents of kids who I would consider peers told me similarly that they needed to advocate for their kids or push to get them in. Maybe it's specific to our school or a localized anomaly, but it certainly put my kid at a disadvantage. I started engaging and (for the 2nd half of the year), my child was finally placed in the math and reading break-outs. Too late to get any decent school samples for AAP package I might add... This isn't even a center school.

You are going to embarrass and infantilize your kids if you keep this up. For your children’s sake, please read How to Raise an Adult. You may think your child is too young for this, but it’s not too late to change your behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Badgering the teacher is inappropriate, but overly weighting the GBRS is also inappropriate. I've said this in other threads, but there shouldn't even be a need for a selection panel for AAP. Any kid who has 2 out of the 3 of the following should be admitted into AAP:
-test scores above 98th percentile
-achievement test scores showing that the kid is above grade level in both math and language arts
-teacher endorsement

It's beyond ridiculous for kids with 99th percentile test scores and very high iready scores to be rejected from AAP.

AAP shouldn’t be determined appropriate for any student on the basis of test scores alone, regardless of the score/percentile. Likewise it shouldn’t be possible on GBRS alone (there needs to be a reasonable lower bound on test scores).

[Anonymous]

This is why many, many teachers run like hell from teaching 2nd grade in FCPS. Holy cow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The scores are good but why not do the one time retake before applying again next year. Also be on top of next years teacher. And when you do the initial submission write up talk about the points from the gbrs form on why your child display those characteristics. Sorry we had the same problem last year.

No, leave the poor teachers alone.

These "poor" teachers know damn well that GBRS is subjective and excessively weighted and that CogAT scores are much more reliable indicators of giftedness. And yet, GBRS is the keys to the kingdom.

[Anonymous]

GBRS is weighted as much as it is because FCPS knows that many kids are prepping for the NNAT and COGAT, so those tests are no longer meaningful measures. And, as someone else noted, once you have some families prepping, there is an equity issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GBRS is weighted as much as it is because FCPS knows that many kids are prepping for the NNAT and COGAT, so those tests are no longer meaningful measures. And, as someone else noted, once you have some families prepping, there is an equity issue.

But DCUM told me you can't prep for intelligence tests!

[Anonymous]

If kids can opt in to the honors class, why can they not opt in to the AAP class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GBRS is weighted as much as it is because FCPS knows that many kids are prepping for the NNAT and COGAT, so those tests are no longer meaningful measures. And, as someone else noted, once you have some families prepping, there is an equity issue.

Can you prep 100 score cogat to 140+ score? Probably not for most child.

If demand for AAP is high, then FCPS should revamp curriculum to make more challenging. Clearly sizable portion of the parent want more advanced classroom. Why do FCPS not offer more advanced classroom for the children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Badgering the teacher is inappropriate, but overly weighting the GBRS is also inappropriate. I've said this in other threads, but there shouldn't even be a need for a selection panel for AAP. Any kid who has 2 out of the 3 of the following should be admitted into AAP:
-test scores above 98th percentile
-achievement test scores showing that the kid is above grade level in both math and language arts
-teacher endorsement

It's beyond ridiculous for kids with 99th percentile test scores and very high iready scores to be rejected from AAP.

AAP shouldn’t be determined appropriate for any student on the basis of test scores alone, regardless of the score/percentile. Likewise it shouldn’t be possible on GBRS alone (there needs to be a reasonable lower bound on test scores).

If a kid has 98th percentile + scores on ability tests and is also above grade level in all subjects, you really don't think that's good enough to access a mildly accelerated program that admits 20% of the FCPS students? It somehow to you makes more sense to keep them in gen ed, where they will be barred from accessing above grade level content?

If a kid has high CogAT scores and is above grade level in everything, but has a low GBRS, it's more likely that the teacher is biased than it is that the student doesn't belong in AAP.

[Anonymous]

Doesn’t the equity review of AAP from a few years ago recommend getting rid of GBRS because they found them susceptible of bias?

Why does FCPS still use them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GBRS is weighted as much as it is because FCPS knows that many kids are prepping for the NNAT and COGAT, so those tests are no longer meaningful measures. And, as someone else noted, once you have some families prepping, there is an equity issue.

Can you prep 100 score cogat to 140+ score? Probably not for most child.

If demand for AAP is high, then FCPS should revamp curriculum to make more challenging. Clearly sizable portion of the parent want more advanced classroom. Why do FCPS not offer more advanced classroom for the children?

I agree. FCPS should just drop the AA Program and use the advanced curriculum in every classroom. So many parents want a more advanced classroom for their kids, just make all the classrooms advanced classrooms so all the children are accommodated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once a month?! You have got to be joking. You and your type are the reason we can’t keep great teachers.

How much time do you believe is appropriate for a teacher to dedicate to 1:1 communication with the parents of their students?

PP stated once a month. In perspective, that is 10 correspondences throughout the year. Seems reasonable to me.


For all the stated emphasis by FFX county on Equity, all I'm looking for is equality in terms of time and dedication to my kid. Other parents are already doing this to gain an advantage, prompting the rest to follow suit. I wish I had and am advocating others to do so.

You're delusional. Or trolling...

Neither. I'm just finally seeing how the game is played. Talked with other parents after I realized my kid wasn't getting opportunities. Apparently they have regular communications with Teachers, and were pushing to get their kids into break-out groups. 3 different parents of kids who I would consider peers told me similarly that they needed to advocate for their kids or push to get them in. Maybe it's specific to our school or a localized anomaly, but it certainly put my kid at a disadvantage. I started engaging and (for the 2nd half of the year), my child was finally placed in the math and reading break-outs. Too late to get any decent school samples for AAP package I might add... This isn't even a center school.

You are going to embarrass and infantilize your kids if you keep this up. For your children’s sake, please read How to Raise an Adult. You may think your child is too young for this, but it’s not too late to change your behavior.

I'm just sharing my experiences and regrets. I wish I had advocated for my child's education better than I had, because I later found out others were doing so. I recommended others learn from my example, as when I spoke up, I got the intended result I wanted all along. I don't think calling into question my parenting as infantile is appropriate here.

[Anonymous]

OP here-

We did not badger the teacher please don't assume otherwise. We were only looking for constructive feedback to know how GBRS is accessed so that we GET it right for grade 3 and the teacher spoke well. Clearly, GBRS is the single most important criterion for AAP and this is an AAP forum. The kid is heartbroken because his friends are moving to a different school.
Who gives the GBRS rating? Perhaps I was not clear in my original post about DC's 2nd-grade teacher and said he was not the one who gave the GBRS rating, but the AART teacher is pointing the finger at the 2nd-grade teacher. GBRS commentary clearly says the child is performing above grade level yet the score is only FO, surely the evaluator (teacher or AART) must have known the consequences of this rating? We are confused. Is this a case where the teacher says nice things to your face but privately gives a bad rating in GBRS? Why is there a taboo in discussing GBRS with teachers? Why is FCPS and local school not more transparent about this?

Regarding prepping: I don't know about others but DC went completely unprepped to WISC evaluation because we were genuinely curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t the equity review of AAP from a few years ago recommend getting rid of GBRS because they found them susceptible of bias?

Why does FCPS still use them?

It's an important tool in maintaining the right kind of demographics (more white kids, fewer Asian kids)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GBRS is weighted as much as it is because FCPS knows that many kids are prepping for the NNAT and COGAT, so those tests are no longer meaningful measures. And, as someone else noted, once you have some families prepping, there is an equity issue.

Can you prep 100 score cogat to 140+ score? Probably not for most child.

If demand for AAP is high, then FCPS should revamp curriculum to make more challenging. Clearly sizable portion of the parent want more advanced classroom. Why do FCPS not offer more advanced classroom for the children?

Maybe not 100 to 140, but 100 to 120 or 120 to 140? sure. If prepping didn't work, families wouldn't do it. And we know that families prep.