How is AAP different from regular classroom

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do a lot of in-school volunteer work. AAP gets the better teachers and for the most part the kids are better behaved. The parents of kids on the cusp lobby really hard to get their kids into AAP, because the non-AAP classes are really slow. Lots of non-English speakers, lots of remediation, lots of behavioral/emotional challenges, lots of kids who are way too mature for their age (not in a good way).

The AAP classes have enrichment because they have parents at home supporting that enrichment: securing supplies, reminding kids of deadlines, helping out with the projects. Usually the AAP kids are the ones in the after-school chess lessons, or Lego robotics, or Odyssey of the Mind. The AAP classes win the read-a-thon and thus get the pizza or ice cream parties. The AAP parents buy the “pizza with the principal” at the PTA auction.

What is the cusp? There seems to be a ton of overlap between the two groups. Some of the top of Gen Ed kids would probably fall right in the middle of aap....
Signed mom of a Gen ed kid with 99%ile on iready with no supplementation or enrichment. Imagine what this kid could do with enrichment, but that would just make the 8 hours spent at school even more boring...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do a lot of in-school volunteer work. AAP gets the better teachers and for the most part the kids are better behaved. The parents of kids on the cusp lobby really hard to get their kids into AAP, because the non-AAP classes are really slow. Lots of non-English speakers, lots of remediation, lots of behavioral/emotional challenges, lots of kids who are way too mature for their age (not in a good way).

The AAP classes have enrichment because they have parents at home supporting that enrichment: securing supplies, reminding kids of deadlines, helping out with the projects. Usually the AAP kids are the ones in the after-school chess lessons, or Lego robotics, or Odyssey of the Mind. The AAP classes win the read-a-thon and thus get the pizza or ice cream parties. The AAP parents buy the “pizza with the principal” at the PTA auction.

What is the cusp? There seems to be a ton of overlap between the two groups. Some of the top of Gen Ed kids would probably fall right in the middle of aap....
Signed mom of a Gen ed kid with 99%ile on iready with no supplementation or enrichment. Imagine what this kid could do with enrichment, but that would just make the 8 hours spent at school even more boring...

Not sure iready is the best indicator for advanced learner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do a lot of in-school volunteer work. AAP gets the better teachers and for the most part the kids are better behaved. The parents of kids on the cusp lobby really hard to get their kids into AAP, because the non-AAP classes are really slow. Lots of non-English speakers, lots of remediation, lots of behavioral/emotional challenges, lots of kids who are way too mature for their age (not in a good way).

The AAP classes have enrichment because they have parents at home supporting that enrichment: securing supplies, reminding kids of deadlines, helping out with the projects. Usually the AAP kids are the ones in the after-school chess lessons, or Lego robotics, or Odyssey of the Mind. The AAP classes win the read-a-thon and thus get the pizza or ice cream parties. The AAP parents buy the “pizza with the principal” at the PTA auction.

What is the cusp? There seems to be a ton of overlap between the two groups. Some of the top of Gen Ed kids would probably fall right in the middle of aap....
Signed mom of a Gen ed kid with 99%ile on iready with no supplementation or enrichment. Imagine what this kid could do with enrichment, but that would just make the 8 hours spent at school even more boring...

Not sure iready is the best indicator for advanced learner.

That didn't answer the question. Probably made you feel really good about yourself.
What is the cusp? It is known that there is a lot of overlap between the kids at the top of Gen Ed and the kids in aap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do a lot of in-school volunteer work. AAP gets the better teachers and for the most part the kids are better behaved. The parents of kids on the cusp lobby really hard to get their kids into AAP, because the non-AAP classes are really slow. Lots of non-English speakers, lots of remediation, lots of behavioral/emotional challenges, lots of kids who are way too mature for their age (not in a good way).

The AAP classes have enrichment because they have parents at home supporting that enrichment: securing supplies, reminding kids of deadlines, helping out with the projects. Usually the AAP kids are the ones in the after-school chess lessons, or Lego robotics, or Odyssey of the Mind. The AAP classes win the read-a-thon and thus get the pizza or ice cream parties. The AAP parents buy the “pizza with the principal” at the PTA auction.

What is the cusp? There seems to be a ton of overlap between the two groups. Some of the top of Gen Ed kids would probably fall right in the middle of aap....
Signed mom of a Gen ed kid with 99%ile on iready with no supplementation or enrichment. Imagine what this kid could do with enrichment, but that would just make the 8 hours spent at school even more boring...

To each their own. I'd rather my kid be a bit bored and learning to their potential than idling just so that school is interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do a lot of in-school volunteer work. AAP gets the better teachers and for the most part the kids are better behaved. The parents of kids on the cusp lobby really hard to get their kids into AAP, because the non-AAP classes are really slow. Lots of non-English speakers, lots of remediation, lots of behavioral/emotional challenges, lots of kids who are way too mature for their age (not in a good way).

The AAP classes have enrichment because they have parents at home supporting that enrichment: securing supplies, reminding kids of deadlines, helping out with the projects. Usually the AAP kids are the ones in the after-school chess lessons, or Lego robotics, or Odyssey of the Mind. The AAP classes win the read-a-thon and thus get the pizza or ice cream parties. The AAP parents buy the “pizza with the principal” at the PTA auction.

What is the cusp? There seems to be a ton of overlap between the two groups. Some of the top of Gen Ed kids would probably fall right in the middle of aap....
Signed mom of a Gen ed kid with 99%ile on iready with no supplementation or enrichment. Imagine what this kid could do with enrichment, but that would just make the 8 hours spent at school even more boring...

To each their own. I'd rather my kid be a bit bored and learning to their potential than idling just so that school is interesting.

School time is for school. Free time is for hobbies, sports, family time, friends, and discovering what in the world they are most passionate about.
Even so, school feels too slow/ boring.
They will have plenty of time to learn to their potential...we never stop learning!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do a lot of in-school volunteer work. AAP gets the better teachers and for the most part the kids are better behaved. The parents of kids on the cusp lobby really hard to get their kids into AAP, because the non-AAP classes are really slow. Lots of non-English speakers, lots of remediation, lots of behavioral/emotional challenges, lots of kids who are way too mature for their age (not in a good way).

The AAP classes have enrichment because they have parents at home supporting that enrichment: securing supplies, reminding kids of deadlines, helping out with the projects. Usually the AAP kids are the ones in the after-school chess lessons, or Lego robotics, or Odyssey of the Mind. The AAP classes win the read-a-thon and thus get the pizza or ice cream parties. The AAP parents buy the “pizza with the principal” at the PTA auction.

What is the cusp? There seems to be a ton of overlap between the two groups. Some of the top of Gen Ed kids would probably fall right in the middle of aap....
Signed mom of a Gen ed kid with 99%ile on iready with no supplementation or enrichment. Imagine what this kid could do with enrichment, but that would just make the 8 hours spent at school even more boring...

Not sure iready is the best indicator for advanced learner.

That didn't answer the question. Probably made you feel really good about yourself.
What is the cusp? It is known that there is a lot of overlap between the kids at the top of Gen Ed and the kids in aap.

Not the PP you quoted who said stuff about the cusp. The bolded is true. If you really want to know you can look at the hard numbers in the 2020 outside committee report and see exactly what the cusp is. In terms of CogAT/NNAT there's a huge range around 100-135 on both where a kid could either be in or out (mostly out on the lower end and mostly in on the higher end), plus that tail at high SES schools of kids with great scores who don't get in.

And it's probably 100% school dependent whether those "kids on the cusp" actually fight to get in. I worked hard to get my kids admitted, but I know lots of people at our mid SES base/center who really didn't care either way. They put together a parent referral and once they got rejected happily moved on to gen ed.

[Anonymous]

The biggest difference is that AAP kids are better able to focus and behavior is better.

In first and second grade, there will be a lot of disruptive kids who often take the attention away from other kids.

[Anonymous]

Our base is center and we’re at a very competitive school w/ a large AAP program. The two biggest benefits for my kids were the advanced math curriculum and the classroom cohort. Both of my kids found similarly driven and quirky-ish kids who they weren’t finding in base. Their friend’ parents, who moved to our center from their base schools, shared similar experiences for their kids. There are some kids who socially will get along anywhere but for my kids, and many of their friends, they felt great sense of relief to finally feel like they belonged. This has helped them build strong self-esteem and i’m grateful they had this elementary experience.

On the flip side, I also know a number of parents with kids in GenEd who viewed the quirky, bookish AAP cohort as a potential negative when applying bc their kids were thriving socially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More project based learning. The math is a full grade advanced. Kids are overall more interested in learning so the teacher can move at a faster pace.

So they literally start with fourth grade math in third? That would be fine with me but was not expecting it.

Any examples of what you mean by project-based learning? Is it defined by the curriculum or does it vary by teacher? Also curious about how much independence they get relative to regular class.

They are doing the same math but just more extensions. So where are the other classes are tested on multiplication tables up to 10 the aap class will go to 12 or for subtraction they might go out two additional digits. My child has a lot of friends in the pbl classes and the work hasn't been significantly different. They are also doing the same science and social studies units at our school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More project based learning. The math is a full grade advanced. Kids are overall more interested in learning so the teacher can move at a faster pace.

So they literally start with fourth grade math in third? That would be fine with me but was not expecting it.

Any examples of what you mean by project-based learning? Is it defined by the curriculum or does it vary by teacher? Also curious about how much independence they get relative to regular class.

They are doing the same math but just more extensions. So where are the other classes are tested on multiplication tables up to 10 the aap class will go to 12 or for subtraction they might go out two additional digits. My child has a lot of friends in the pbl classes and the work hasn't been significantly different. They are also doing the same science and social studies units at our school.

I have two kids who went through AAP and have a kid who just got in. The 3rd grade math is not all that advanced or fast. I can only imagine how slow gen ed math is. A bright kid can do the AAP math with zero effort. My oldest will take AP calculus BC as a junior as will most of the kids he was in AAP with in elementary school. A few kids will move forward in math outside of school and try to take algebra in 6th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More project based learning. The math is a full grade advanced. Kids are overall more interested in learning so the teacher can move at a faster pace.

^^ Best answer.
No waisting class time with remedial learning because some kids are lagging behind. There’s less disruption and acting out because kids are more engaged.

My kid saw this first hand. She was in AAP through MS. But in HS, there is no AAP. She notices the difference.

[Anonymous]

Wasting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More project based learning. The math is a full grade advanced. Kids are overall more interested in learning so the teacher can move at a faster pace.

^^ Best answer.
No waisting class time with remedial learning because some kids are lagging behind. There’s less disruption and acting out because kids are more engaged.

My kid saw this first hand. She was in AAP through MS. But in HS, there is no AAP. She notices the difference.

Are you in fcps? My kid who coasted in AAP has to study his but off for his AP classes in high school. AP World and AP US History are known as the classes that it is difficult to get an A. I’m not sure what you mean she notices a difference. There were no AAP classes but there honors and AP classes.

[Anonymous]

AAP is a self-selecting group of UMC kids whose parents prioritize education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do a lot of in-school volunteer work. AAP gets the better teachers and for the most part the kids are better behaved. The parents of kids on the cusp lobby really hard to get their kids into AAP, because the non-AAP classes are really slow. Lots of non-English speakers, lots of remediation, lots of behavioral/emotional challenges, lots of kids who are way too mature for their age (not in a good way).

The AAP classes have enrichment because they have parents at home supporting that enrichment: securing supplies, reminding kids of deadlines, helping out with the projects. Usually the AAP kids are the ones in the after-school chess lessons, or Lego robotics, or Odyssey of the Mind. The AAP classes win the read-a-thon and thus get the pizza or ice cream parties. The AAP parents buy the “pizza with the principal” at the PTA auction.

What is the cusp? There seems to be a ton of overlap between the two groups. Some of the top of Gen Ed kids would probably fall right in the middle of aap....
Signed mom of a Gen ed kid with 99%ile on iready with no supplementation or enrichment. Imagine what this kid could do with enrichment, but that would just make the 8 hours spent at school even more boring...

To each their own. I'd rather my kid be a bit bored and learning to their potential than idling just so that school is interesting.

School time is for school. Free time is for hobbies, sports, family time, friends, and discovering what in the world they are most passionate about.
Even so, school feels too slow/ boring.
They will have plenty of time to learn to their potential...we never stop learning!

this is just what you think. It is not what everyone thinks. childhood is for learning.