Any benefit to referring child for LIV early?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s really simple. Focus on two areas you want to present and do one page of each. Child wrote a page about a trip. Then a page of math that were above grade level, word problems and such.

Ok. Well it worked twice for us. They spend minutes on those packets. We thought it was important to show our children could do the work. Also their other data spoke for itself. My children are not creative. Most important part of the application I feel is the part where we got to write about our children. Make that amazing. Tell them what’s missing from the regular program that your child needs from AAp. Prove that their needs can not be met and they will be in.

Thanks. I'm curious about what you mean about proving that their needs cannot be met. Can you give an example of how you would communicate that in words in the narrative? And about what's missing from the reg program that child needs? I answered in terms of the prompt and avoided saying things like my child is bored, etc., because I was told to avoid that. But I might be overlooking something obvious.

I hear you re: creativity. I just mention it because our AART seemed to emphasize it...

Not PP here, but to prove their needs cannot be met in a regular classroom you can:

- Show examples of advanced things your child has done or said at home on the parent questionnaire. Get specific. My AART always seemed to most value the answers I gave that showed deep thinking on my child's part (like coming up with a plausible - though ultimately wrong but that wasn't proven at the time - idea to prevent Covid infections in 2020 while a rising 1st grader). When you show critical thinking, you show a kid who will be bored with the level of scaffolding provided for content subjects in the general education curriculum and is ready to make more conceptual leaps on their own.

- Describe ways your child has already outpaced the general education curriculum in K-2 in your parent referral process. Also make sure to go through the old GBRS (https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/AAPGiftedBehaviorRatingScale_0.pdf) and look at the traits listed. Use those. Most committee teachers were trained on those before they were trained on HOPE and will recognize them as gifted traits. Plus provide specific examples of HOPE traits. Is your child constantly cracking jokes that make adults laugh? That's considered a gifted trait - get specific. Does your child ask probing questions about intellectual topics? Give an example. Did your child hyperfixate on collecting rocks, learning geology terminology last summer? That's considered a gifted trait. Does your child create entire complex play scenarios and act them out with stuffed animals? Describe it. Basically ways of interacting that are beyond typical for the grade will show a child who is ready to be pushed academically.

- In the work samples, you can give specific examples of these things. For us we did math questions, but they were more puzzles that I grabbed online where the child had to explain how they came to the solution and why they took that path. We also did photos of a set-up for an entire society on a journey that connected to outside social studies reading my kid was doing, and she explained the set-up and storyline. And we did lyrics set to sheet music another kid did, showing advanced application of literature (not just a poem, right?) with an explanation of how that music connected to an art contest theme. These things show a child who, again, doesn't need a lot of scaffolding because they are already working past that point. Other than math the main difference between AAP and gen ed is the amount of scaffolding for each project, plus some extensions.

Thanks for this. I have to say, I don't have examples that remotely resemble what you describe. Does that mean my child does not belong in AAP? I don't think my child is gifted. But they have been reading fluently for years and are also advanced in math (competent in long multiplication, currently working on long division, enjoys thinking about powers, square roots, decimals, fractions). I wasn't going to submit examples of this work because I had some other examples that I thought were more creative, but was just going to describe in words. DC asks questions and is capable of intelligent dialogue, but they are also a kid and enjoy being very silly.

Spend a little time thinking and I bet you can turn what you do have into examples just like mine.

For example, have your child write out something about the way they think about multipliation, powers, square roots, and their relationship. My AAP kids weren't thinking about those until 4th grade . Or have your child draw up/write up something about the relationship between fractions, decimals, and division. Really encourage them to get into different ways they think about it.

Perhaps bake with them or have them half or double a recipe. Teach them the relationship between different measuring spoons (like a tablespoon is 3 teaspoons) and have them do conversions between types of measurement and explain why. Write it all up using the words they tell you. Take a picture or two of whatever you are baking and make it fun for your kid. Win-win: family time plus a really cool AAP sample that actually highlights a thing your kid enjoys - the relationships between complex arithmetic operations.

All it takes is some creativity on your part to turn your child's natural advanced interests into a compelling sample/parent write-up. I polled my family members for ideas for the parent questionnaire, for example. They helped me remember funny/interesting things my kids have said.

And before people criticize and say that a kid who "truly needs" AAP wouldn't need this level of work - my kids did well in the program and I slept better at night knowing I'd shown them in the best possible light during the application process.

Thanks, I will try some of this. I don't think it's problematic to put a bit of work into getting the best examples from home, but my point is more that DC is advanced but not gifted, and thus I'm not sure I'll get any examples that suggest giftedness and I'm wondering if that's fine. Only way area I'd say maybe DC is gifted is that they pick things up relatively quickly (e.g., math concepts and learning to read), though that might just be above average and because they are regularly being introduced to new concepts (by me). DC can focus for a long time, but it's typically on creating things (models) or reading. Not anything I would say that qualifies DC as being gifted. When I think of gifted kids I think of miniature adults who are really different from other kids. My kid is not such a kid. But they are without a doubt advanced by at least a year and would likely benefit from more advanced material provided the pace isn't too intense.

I know this is a well worn debate, but I wonder if the committee even really expects kids who are in AAP to show gifted characteristics, or if they simply find ways to rank kids in terms of how advanced they are. Isn't it the case that ~10% of each second grade class are admitted? So isn't it simply about identifying the 10% who is gifted OR most advanced?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s really simple. Focus on two areas you want to present and do one page of each. Child wrote a page about a trip. Then a page of math that were above grade level, word problems and such.

Ok. Well it worked twice for us. They spend minutes on those packets. We thought it was important to show our children could do the work. Also their other data spoke for itself. My children are not creative. Most important part of the application I feel is the part where we got to write about our children. Make that amazing. Tell them what’s missing from the regular program that your child needs from AAp. Prove that their needs can not be met and they will be in.

Thanks. I'm curious about what you mean about proving that their needs cannot be met. Can you give an example of how you would communicate that in words in the narrative? And about what's missing from the reg program that child needs? I answered in terms of the prompt and avoided saying things like my child is bored, etc., because I was told to avoid that. But I might be overlooking something obvious.

I hear you re: creativity. I just mention it because our AART seemed to emphasize it...

Not PP here, but to prove their needs cannot be met in a regular classroom you can:

- Show examples of advanced things your child has done or said at home on the parent questionnaire. Get specific. My AART always seemed to most value the answers I gave that showed deep thinking on my child's part (like coming up with a plausible - though ultimately wrong but that wasn't proven at the time - idea to prevent Covid infections in 2020 while a rising 1st grader). When you show critical thinking, you show a kid who will be bored with the level of scaffolding provided for content subjects in the general education curriculum and is ready to make more conceptual leaps on their own.

- Describe ways your child has already outpaced the general education curriculum in K-2 in your parent referral process. Also make sure to go through the old GBRS (https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/AAPGiftedBehaviorRatingScale_0.pdf) and look at the traits listed. Use those. Most committee teachers were trained on those before they were trained on HOPE and will recognize them as gifted traits. Plus provide specific examples of HOPE traits. Is your child constantly cracking jokes that make adults laugh? That's considered a gifted trait - get specific. Does your child ask probing questions about intellectual topics? Give an example. Did your child hyperfixate on collecting rocks, learning geology terminology last summer? That's considered a gifted trait. Does your child create entire complex play scenarios and act them out with stuffed animals? Describe it. Basically ways of interacting that are beyond typical for the grade will show a child who is ready to be pushed academically.

- In the work samples, you can give specific examples of these things. For us we did math questions, but they were more puzzles that I grabbed online where the child had to explain how they came to the solution and why they took that path. We also did photos of a set-up for an entire society on a journey that connected to outside social studies reading my kid was doing, and she explained the set-up and storyline. And we did lyrics set to sheet music another kid did, showing advanced application of literature (not just a poem, right?) with an explanation of how that music connected to an art contest theme. These things show a child who, again, doesn't need a lot of scaffolding because they are already working past that point. Other than math the main difference between AAP and gen ed is the amount of scaffolding for each project, plus some extensions.

Thanks for this. I have to say, I don't have examples that remotely resemble what you describe. Does that mean my child does not belong in AAP? I don't think my child is gifted. But they have been reading fluently for years and are also advanced in math (competent in long multiplication, currently working on long division, enjoys thinking about powers, square roots, decimals, fractions). I wasn't going to submit examples of this work because I had some other examples that I thought were more creative, but was just going to describe in words. DC asks questions and is capable of intelligent dialogue, but they are also a kid and enjoy being very silly.

Spend a little time thinking and I bet you can turn what you do have into examples just like mine.

For example, have your child write out something about the way they think about multipliation, powers, square roots, and their relationship. My AAP kids weren't thinking about those until 4th grade . Or have your child draw up/write up something about the relationship between fractions, decimals, and division. Really encourage them to get into different ways they think about it.

Perhaps bake with them or have them half or double a recipe. Teach them the relationship between different measuring spoons (like a tablespoon is 3 teaspoons) and have them do conversions between types of measurement and explain why. Write it all up using the words they tell you. Take a picture or two of whatever you are baking and make it fun for your kid. Win-win: family time plus a really cool AAP sample that actually highlights a thing your kid enjoys - the relationships between complex arithmetic operations.

All it takes is some creativity on your part to turn your child's natural advanced interests into a compelling sample/parent write-up. I polled my family members for ideas for the parent questionnaire, for example. They helped me remember funny/interesting things my kids have said.

And before people criticize and say that a kid who "truly needs" AAP wouldn't need this level of work - my kids did well in the program and I slept better at night knowing I'd shown them in the best possible light during the application process.

Thanks, I will try some of this. I don't think it's problematic to put a bit of work into getting the best examples from home, but my point is more that DC is advanced but not gifted, and thus I'm not sure I'll get any examples that suggest giftedness and I'm wondering if that's fine. Only way area I'd say maybe DC is gifted is that they pick things up relatively quickly (e.g., math concepts and learning to read), though that might just be above average and because they are regularly being introduced to new concepts (by me). DC can focus for a long time, but it's typically on creating things (models) or reading. Not anything I would say that qualifies DC as being gifted. When I think of gifted kids I think of miniature adults who are really different from other kids. My kid is not such a kid. But they are without a doubt advanced by at least a year and would likely benefit from more advanced material provided the pace isn't too intense.

I know this is a well worn debate, but I wonder if the committee even really expects kids who are in AAP to show gifted characteristics, or if they simply find ways to rank kids in terms of how advanced they are. Isn't it the case that ~10% of each second grade class are admitted? So isn't it simply about identifying the 10% who is gifted OR most advanced?

I have a math-y kid who did very well in AAP all through ES (and 2 slightly less math-y kids who did fine). Trust me when I say she wasn't exploring square roots and powers in 2nd grade. You're probably comparing your kid against an imagined standard. Go check out the stats in this 2020 review of kids admitted to AAP to see what the AAP cohort really looks like. It's 20% of the county. https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/BPLQKV69B096/$file/FCPS%20final%20report%2005.05.20.pdf

They aren't looking for truly gifted. Just high average. I have several years of experience across multiple AAP classrooms my kids were in that confirms this.

The 10% number you are thinking of are the 10% who are in-pool. I believe only 2/3 of in-pool kids get admitted, because the process truly is as holistic as they say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s really simple. Focus on two areas you want to present and do one page of each. Child wrote a page about a trip. Then a page of math that were above grade level, word problems and such.

Ok. Well it worked twice for us. They spend minutes on those packets. We thought it was important to show our children could do the work. Also their other data spoke for itself. My children are not creative. Most important part of the application I feel is the part where we got to write about our children. Make that amazing. Tell them what’s missing from the regular program that your child needs from AAp. Prove that their needs can not be met and they will be in.

Thanks. I'm curious about what you mean about proving that their needs cannot be met. Can you give an example of how you would communicate that in words in the narrative? And about what's missing from the reg program that child needs? I answered in terms of the prompt and avoided saying things like my child is bored, etc., because I was told to avoid that. But I might be overlooking something obvious.

I hear you re: creativity. I just mention it because our AART seemed to emphasize it...

Not PP here, but to prove their needs cannot be met in a regular classroom you can:

- Show examples of advanced things your child has done or said at home on the parent questionnaire. Get specific. My AART always seemed to most value the answers I gave that showed deep thinking on my child's part (like coming up with a plausible - though ultimately wrong but that wasn't proven at the time - idea to prevent Covid infections in 2020 while a rising 1st grader). When you show critical thinking, you show a kid who will be bored with the level of scaffolding provided for content subjects in the general education curriculum and is ready to make more conceptual leaps on their own.

- Describe ways your child has already outpaced the general education curriculum in K-2 in your parent referral process. Also make sure to go through the old GBRS (https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/AAPGiftedBehaviorRatingScale_0.pdf) and look at the traits listed. Use those. Most committee teachers were trained on those before they were trained on HOPE and will recognize them as gifted traits. Plus provide specific examples of HOPE traits. Is your child constantly cracking jokes that make adults laugh? That's considered a gifted trait - get specific. Does your child ask probing questions about intellectual topics? Give an example. Did your child hyperfixate on collecting rocks, learning geology terminology last summer? That's considered a gifted trait. Does your child create entire complex play scenarios and act them out with stuffed animals? Describe it. Basically ways of interacting that are beyond typical for the grade will show a child who is ready to be pushed academically.

- In the work samples, you can give specific examples of these things. For us we did math questions, but they were more puzzles that I grabbed online where the child had to explain how they came to the solution and why they took that path. We also did photos of a set-up for an entire society on a journey that connected to outside social studies reading my kid was doing, and she explained the set-up and storyline. And we did lyrics set to sheet music another kid did, showing advanced application of literature (not just a poem, right?) with an explanation of how that music connected to an art contest theme. These things show a child who, again, doesn't need a lot of scaffolding because they are already working past that point. Other than math the main difference between AAP and gen ed is the amount of scaffolding for each project, plus some extensions.

Thanks for this. I have to say, I don't have examples that remotely resemble what you describe. Does that mean my child does not belong in AAP? I don't think my child is gifted. But they have been reading fluently for years and are also advanced in math (competent in long multiplication, currently working on long division, enjoys thinking about powers, square roots, decimals, fractions). I wasn't going to submit examples of this work because I had some other examples that I thought were more creative, but was just going to describe in words. DC asks questions and is capable of intelligent dialogue, but they are also a kid and enjoy being very silly.

Spend a little time thinking and I bet you can turn what you do have into examples just like mine.

For example, have your child write out something about the way they think about multipliation, powers, square roots, and their relationship. My AAP kids weren't thinking about those until 4th grade . Or have your child draw up/write up something about the relationship between fractions, decimals, and division. Really encourage them to get into different ways they think about it.

Perhaps bake with them or have them half or double a recipe. Teach them the relationship between different measuring spoons (like a tablespoon is 3 teaspoons) and have them do conversions between types of measurement and explain why. Write it all up using the words they tell you. Take a picture or two of whatever you are baking and make it fun for your kid. Win-win: family time plus a really cool AAP sample that actually highlights a thing your kid enjoys - the relationships between complex arithmetic operations.

All it takes is some creativity on your part to turn your child's natural advanced interests into a compelling sample/parent write-up. I polled my family members for ideas for the parent questionnaire, for example. They helped me remember funny/interesting things my kids have said.

And before people criticize and say that a kid who "truly needs" AAP wouldn't need this level of work - my kids did well in the program and I slept better at night knowing I'd shown them in the best possible light during the application process.

Thanks, I will try some of this. I don't think it's problematic to put a bit of work into getting the best examples from home, but my point is more that DC is advanced but not gifted, and thus I'm not sure I'll get any examples that suggest giftedness and I'm wondering if that's fine. Only way area I'd say maybe DC is gifted is that they pick things up relatively quickly (e.g., math concepts and learning to read), though that might just be above average and because they are regularly being introduced to new concepts (by me). DC can focus for a long time, but it's typically on creating things (models) or reading. Not anything I would say that qualifies DC as being gifted. When I think of gifted kids I think of miniature adults who are really different from other kids. My kid is not such a kid. But they are without a doubt advanced by at least a year and would likely benefit from more advanced material provided the pace isn't too intense.

I know this is a well worn debate, but I wonder if the committee even really expects kids who are in AAP to show gifted characteristics, or if they simply find ways to rank kids in terms of how advanced they are. Isn't it the case that ~10% of each second grade class are admitted? So isn't it simply about identifying the 10% who is gifted OR most advanced?

I have a math-y kid who did very well in AAP all through ES (and 2 slightly less math-y kids who did fine). Trust me when I say she wasn't exploring square roots and powers in 2nd grade. You're probably comparing your kid against an imagined standard. Go check out the stats in this 2020 review of kids admitted to AAP to see what the AAP cohort really looks like. It's 20% of the county. https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/BPLQKV69B096/$file/FCPS%20final%20report%2005.05.20.pdf

They aren't looking for truly gifted. Just high average. I have several years of experience across multiple AAP classrooms my kids were in that confirms this.

The 10% number you are thinking of are the 10% who are in-pool. I believe only 2/3 of in-pool kids get admitted, because the process truly is as holistic as they say.

Thank you! It is just hard to know what to think when you hear diverging opinions and people talk of giftedness. My kid likes math and learned to read quickly and is curious and has a positive attitude about school, but I don't see really see giftedness.

I thought the top 10% of second grade at each school would be admitted. So it's around 2/3 of 10% and then the rest is parent referrals and appeals?

It's 20% of the county but isn't there also a certain proportion from each school that is admitted? I thought that was a recent rule to ensure that there's representation from each school and that children are being identified relative to their peers?

[Anonymous]

Your child sounds smart and hard working. That’s what thy are looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your child sounds smart and hard working. That’s what thy are looking for.

That would be an accurate characterization. Bright, positive, hardworking. I hope AAP would be what DC needs and doesn't cause insecurity. Until now I think DC has been something of a big fish in a little pond. If AAP is too fast paced or the dynamic is not good I guess DC could always go back to gen ed (assuming they got into AAP in the first place).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child sounds smart and hard working. That’s what thy are looking for.

That would be an accurate characterization. Bright, positive, hardworking. I hope AAP would be what DC needs and doesn't cause insecurity. Until now I think DC has been something of a big fish in a little pond. If AAP is too fast paced or the dynamic is not good I guess DC could always go back to gen ed (assuming they got into AAP in the first place).

PP here who listed out my kids' samples. My bright and hardworking kid was near top (but not top) of class at her AAP center. Now our center is merely mid-SES with just a handful of kids doing outside math enrichment in each grade, so if you are at one of the truly high SES intense centers YMMV. But there simply aren't enough textbook gifted kids to fill out AAP, even in a place full of smart parents like FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s really simple. Focus on two areas you want to present and do one page of each. Child wrote a page about a trip. Then a page of math that were above grade level, word problems and such.

Ok. Well it worked twice for us. They spend minutes on those packets. We thought it was important to show our children could do the work. Also their other data spoke for itself. My children are not creative. Most important part of the application I feel is the part where we got to write about our children. Make that amazing. Tell them what’s missing from the regular program that your child needs from AAp. Prove that their needs can not be met and they will be in.

Thanks. I'm curious about what you mean about proving that their needs cannot be met. Can you give an example of how you would communicate that in words in the narrative? And about what's missing from the reg program that child needs? I answered in terms of the prompt and avoided saying things like my child is bored, etc., because I was told to avoid that. But I might be overlooking something obvious.

I hear you re: creativity. I just mention it because our AART seemed to emphasize it...

Not PP here, but to prove their needs cannot be met in a regular classroom you can:

- Show examples of advanced things your child has done or said at home on the parent questionnaire. Get specific. My AART always seemed to most value the answers I gave that showed deep thinking on my child's part (like coming up with a plausible - though ultimately wrong but that wasn't proven at the time - idea to prevent Covid infections in 2020 while a rising 1st grader). When you show critical thinking, you show a kid who will be bored with the level of scaffolding provided for content subjects in the general education curriculum and is ready to make more conceptual leaps on their own.

- Describe ways your child has already outpaced the general education curriculum in K-2 in your parent referral process. Also make sure to go through the old GBRS (https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/AAPGiftedBehaviorRatingScale_0.pdf) and look at the traits listed. Use those. Most committee teachers were trained on those before they were trained on HOPE and will recognize them as gifted traits. Plus provide specific examples of HOPE traits. Is your child constantly cracking jokes that make adults laugh? That's considered a gifted trait - get specific. Does your child ask probing questions about intellectual topics? Give an example. Did your child hyperfixate on collecting rocks, learning geology terminology last summer? That's considered a gifted trait. Does your child create entire complex play scenarios and act them out with stuffed animals? Describe it. Basically ways of interacting that are beyond typical for the grade will show a child who is ready to be pushed academically.

- In the work samples, you can give specific examples of these things. For us we did math questions, but they were more puzzles that I grabbed online where the child had to explain how they came to the solution and why they took that path. We also did photos of a set-up for an entire society on a journey that connected to outside social studies reading my kid was doing, and she explained the set-up and storyline. And we did lyrics set to sheet music another kid did, showing advanced application of literature (not just a poem, right?) with an explanation of how that music connected to an art contest theme. These things show a child who, again, doesn't need a lot of scaffolding because they are already working past that point. Other than math the main difference between AAP and gen ed is the amount of scaffolding for each project, plus some extensions.

Thanks for this. I have to say, I don't have examples that remotely resemble what you describe. Does that mean my child does not belong in AAP? I don't think my child is gifted. But they have been reading fluently for years and are also advanced in math (competent in long multiplication, currently working on long division, enjoys thinking about powers, square roots, decimals, fractions). I wasn't going to submit examples of this work because I had some other examples that I thought were more creative, but was just going to describe in words. DC asks questions and is capable of intelligent dialogue, but they are also a kid and enjoy being very silly.

Spend a little time thinking and I bet you can turn what you do have into examples just like mine.

For example, have your child write out something about the way they think about multipliation, powers, square roots, and their relationship. My AAP kids weren't thinking about those until 4th grade . Or have your child draw up/write up something about the relationship between fractions, decimals, and division. Really encourage them to get into different ways they think about it.

Perhaps bake with them or have them half or double a recipe. Teach them the relationship between different measuring spoons (like a tablespoon is 3 teaspoons) and have them do conversions between types of measurement and explain why. Write it all up using the words they tell you. Take a picture or two of whatever you are baking and make it fun for your kid. Win-win: family time plus a really cool AAP sample that actually highlights a thing your kid enjoys - the relationships between complex arithmetic operations.

All it takes is some creativity on your part to turn your child's natural advanced interests into a compelling sample/parent write-up. I polled my family members for ideas for the parent questionnaire, for example. They helped me remember funny/interesting things my kids have said.

And before people criticize and say that a kid who "truly needs" AAP wouldn't need this level of work - my kids did well in the program and I slept better at night knowing I'd shown them in the best possible light during the application process.

Thanks, I will try some of this. I don't think it's problematic to put a bit of work into getting the best examples from home, but my point is more that DC is advanced but not gifted, and thus I'm not sure I'll get any examples that suggest giftedness and I'm wondering if that's fine. Only way area I'd say maybe DC is gifted is that they pick things up relatively quickly (e.g., math concepts and learning to read), though that might just be above average and because they are regularly being introduced to new concepts (by me). DC can focus for a long time, but it's typically on creating things (models) or reading. Not anything I would say that qualifies DC as being gifted. When I think of gifted kids I think of miniature adults who are really different from other kids. My kid is not such a kid. But they are without a doubt advanced by at least a year and would likely benefit from more advanced material provided the pace isn't too intense.

I know this is a well worn debate, but I wonder if the committee even really expects kids who are in AAP to show gifted characteristics, or if they simply find ways to rank kids in terms of how advanced they are. Isn't it the case that ~10% of each second grade class are admitted? So isn't it simply about identifying the 10% who is gifted OR most advanced?

I have a math-y kid who did very well in AAP all through ES (and 2 slightly less math-y kids who did fine). Trust me when I say she wasn't exploring square roots and powers in 2nd grade. You're probably comparing your kid against an imagined standard. Go check out the stats in this 2020 review of kids admitted to AAP to see what the AAP cohort really looks like. It's 20% of the county. https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/BPLQKV69B096/$file/FCPS%20final%20report%2005.05.20.pdf

They aren't looking for truly gifted. Just high average. I have several years of experience across multiple AAP classrooms my kids were in that confirms this.

The 10% number you are thinking of are the 10% who are in-pool. I believe only 2/3 of in-pool kids get admitted, because the process truly is as holistic as they say.

Thank you! It is just hard to know what to think when you hear diverging opinions and people talk of giftedness. My kid likes math and learned to read quickly and is curious and has a positive attitude about school, but I don't see really see giftedness.

I thought the top 10% of second grade at each school would be admitted. So it's around 2/3 of 10% and then the rest is parent referrals and appeals?

It's 20% of the county but isn't there also a certain proportion from each school that is admitted? I thought that was a recent rule to ensure that there's representation from each school and that children are being identified relative to their peers?

Yes, kids are compared to their peers. So a kid at a high SES hard striving school is compared to other similar kids. This is relatively new in the past few years.

They always say they don't have actual quotas for each school. That said, they certainly appear to have certain soft quotas based on staffing and simply classrooms at the center. Logistically they really can't go from 1 AAP class one year to 4 the next in a grade. But the emphasis is on soft. They can - and do from what I've seen at our center - go up and down a class. And contrary to what people might tell you on here centers absolutely will use principal placing to fill out a class if they have half of that extra AAP class via the regular admissions pathway and they need a few more kids to move so the numbers work out. I wouldn't worry too too much about things like quotas. Just put together a compelling packet for your personal kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child sounds smart and hard working. That’s what thy are looking for.

That would be an accurate characterization. Bright, positive, hardworking. I hope AAP would be what DC needs and doesn't cause insecurity. Until now I think DC has been something of a big fish in a little pond. If AAP is too fast paced or the dynamic is not good I guess DC could always go back to gen ed (assuming they got into AAP in the first place).

It probably depends on the school, but I will say our center has a lot of very high-stress 3rd graders, but also clearly a lot of high-pressure parents. The teacher (who is amazing) does a good job diffusing the stress and tears. If you support your kid and help them avoid the pressure -cooker nonsense they'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child sounds smart and hard working. That’s what thy are looking for.

That would be an accurate characterization. Bright, positive, hardworking. I hope AAP would be what DC needs and doesn't cause insecurity. Until now I think DC has been something of a big fish in a little pond. If AAP is too fast paced or the dynamic is not good I guess DC could always go back to gen ed (assuming they got into AAP in the first place).

PP here who listed out my kids' samples. My bright and hardworking kid was near top (but not top) of class at her AAP center. Now our center is merely mid-SES with just a handful of kids doing outside math enrichment in each grade, so if you are at one of the truly high SES intense centers YMMV. But there simply aren't enough textbook gifted kids to fill out AAP, even in a place full of smart parents like FCPS.

Our base school is a center and it is not a truly high SES intense center but it's a good school. And DC has made a positive impression on their teacher already. So I *think* they'd do ok in AAP and not feel like they are in over their head or others are way smarter/faster, but I guess I will see (maybe).

I wonder if the goals of AAP have evolved even if some of the nomenclature have not caught up. If it was a true G&T program, I'd expect a different process and a smaller program. This seems to be more about providing different levels of differentiation to address widely divergent needs in a given grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your child sounds smart and hard working. That’s what thy are looking for.

That would be an accurate characterization. Bright, positive, hardworking. I hope AAP would be what DC needs and doesn't cause insecurity. Until now I think DC has been something of a big fish in a little pond. If AAP is too fast paced or the dynamic is not good I guess DC could always go back to gen ed (assuming they got into AAP in the first place).

It probably depends on the school, but I will say our center has a lot of very high-stress 3rd graders, but also clearly a lot of high-pressure parents. The teacher (who is amazing) does a good job diffusing the stress and tears. If you support your kid and help them avoid the pressure -cooker nonsense they'll be fine.

Thanks! Our values definitely don't align with pressure-cooker. Have always just wanted to give DC opportunities to learn and to value learning. We celebrate when they achieve things but we are not preoccupied with it. They don't need to be the best or the smartest, or to get into TJ, an Ivy, etc. etc. I would hate if they started being super preoccupied with whose smartest, etc., but I believe our base school, which is a center school, is well-rounded and this sort of mindset would be diffused even if there are some of those parents/kids.