AAP Notifications

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please don't act like this is a competition your child "won" It starts the attitudes that are prevalent at some school between "us and them".

But it is a competition. Whether it should be or not is another discussion. For anything where there are limited spots, there is a competition. Portfolios are being compared with other portfolios in the pool especially for those with lower scores. I will be excited if my child gets in. I will be excited if my child makes the basketball team, cheerleading squad or what ever activity they choose to become involved. However, I will not be devastated if my child does not get into AAP. They will ultimately be successfully with proper motivation and guidance regardless of where they go to school. I am and will always be excited when my child has new opportunities. What parent wouldnt?

Sorry. There are not limited spots in AAP. It is for anyone who qualifies and truly needs it. Therefore, should not be seen as a competition.

Not all competitions are against others. Would "challenge" be more agreeable to you? Or is it better to just pretend that academic effort has no role at all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please don't act like this is a competition your child "won" It starts the attitudes that are prevalent at some school between "us and them".

But it is a competition. Whether it should be or not is another discussion. For anything where there are limited spots, there is a competition. Portfolios are being compared with other portfolios in the pool especially for those with lower scores. I will be excited if my child gets in. I will be excited if my child makes the basketball team, cheerleading squad or what ever activity they choose to become involved. However, I will not be devastated if my child does not get into AAP. They will ultimately be successfully with proper motivation and guidance regardless of where they go to school. I am and will always be excited when my child has new opportunities. What parent wouldnt?

Sorry. There are not limited spots in AAP. It is for anyone who qualifies and truly needs it. Therefore, should not be seen as a competition.

Not all competitions are against others. Would "challenge" be more agreeable to you? Or is it better to just pretend that academic effort has no role at all?

AAP is not about academic effort. A kid in GE can put in just as much effort as an AAP kid. It's about finding the right class to keep your kid challenged. For some kids it's AAP for some it's Gen Ed. One is not better than the other and one does not mean one kids tries harder than the other. Do you not get that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please don't act like this is a competition your child "won" It starts the attitudes that are prevalent at some school between "us and them".

But it is a competition. Whether it should be or not is another discussion. For anything where there are limited spots, there is a competition. Portfolios are being compared with other portfolios in the pool especially for those with lower scores. I will be excited if my child gets in. I will be excited if my child makes the basketball team, cheerleading squad or what ever activity they choose to become involved. However, I will not be devastated if my child does not get into AAP. They will ultimately be successfully with proper motivation and guidance regardless of where they go to school. I am and will always be excited when my child has new opportunities. What parent wouldnt?

Sorry. There are not limited spots in AAP. It is for anyone who qualifies and truly needs it. Therefore, should not be seen as a competition.

Not all competitions are against others. Would "challenge" be more agreeable to you? Or is it better to just pretend that academic effort has no role at all?

AAP is not about academic effort. A kid in GE can put in just as much effort as an AAP kid. It's about finding the right class to keep your kid challenged. For some kids it's AAP for some it's Gen Ed. One is not better than the other and one does not mean one kids tries harder than the other. Do you not get that?

Even though my child is in AAP and I'll find out soon whether a second child is in, the truth is that MANY kids not in AAP could easily handle the curriculum. Your post seems to indicate that a child in the base program is in that program because it IS the right fit for him/her. It may be...or it may be that he/she is in that program but could easily be in the AAP program, like many others.

[Anonymous]

No one needs it. They may beneifit from it but they dont need it. AAP is nice to have but it is not necessary. There are limited spots to everything that has a budget. if there were no competition, how are people selected from the pool? Everyone in pool has already met some standard. You cant convince me that the people on the committee can tell me one child is more gifted than another based on limited information they are reviewing for most applicants having never met them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please don't act like this is a competition your child "won" It starts the attitudes that are prevalent at some school between "us and them".

But it is a competition. Whether it should be or not is another discussion. For anything where there are limited spots, there is a competition. Portfolios are being compared with other portfolios in the pool especially for those with lower scores. I will be excited if my child gets in. I will be excited if my child makes the basketball team, cheerleading squad or what ever activity they choose to become involved. However, I will not be devastated if my child does not get into AAP. They will ultimately be successfully with proper motivation and guidance regardless of where they go to school. I am and will always be excited when my child has new opportunities. What parent wouldnt?

Sorry. There are not limited spots in AAP. It is for anyone who qualifies and truly needs it. Therefore, should not be seen as a competition.

Not all competitions are against others. Would "challenge" be more agreeable to you? Or is it better to just pretend that academic effort has no role at all?

AAP is not about academic effort. A kid in GE can put in just as much effort as an AAP kid. It's about finding the right class to keep your kid challenged. For some kids it's AAP for some it's Gen Ed. One is not better than the other and one does not mean one kids tries harder than the other. Do you not get that?

Even though my child is in AAP and I'll find out soon whether a second child is in, the truth is that MANY kids not in AAP could easily handle the curriculum. Your post seems to indicate that a child in the base program is in that program because it IS the right fit for him/her. It may be...or it may be that he/she is in that program but could easily be in the AAP program, like many others.

I am the pp and I also have one in AAP... and one not. You are correct, there are many kids who could easily handle AAP work. I was only pointing out that AAP decisions are supposed to be about fit not anything else really. Gen Ed kids try just as hard as anyone else. The whole AAP program and gone completely out of whack in my opinion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one needs it. They may beneifit from it but they dont need it. AAP is nice to have but it is not necessary. There are limited spots to everything that has a budget. if there were no competition, how are people selected from the pool? Everyone in pool has already met some standard. You cant convince me that the people on the committee can tell me one child is more gifted than another based on limited information they are reviewing for most applicants having never met them.

"No one needs it" says someone without children who actually needed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one needs it. They may beneifit from it but they dont need it. AAP is nice to have but it is not necessary. There are limited spots to everything that has a budget. if there were no competition, how are people selected from the pool? Everyone in pool has already met some standard. You cant convince me that the people on the committee can tell me one child is more gifted than another based on limited information they are reviewing for most applicants having never met them.

Just curious, why are you on the AAP board? Are you saying you'd decline a spot of offered then? Or just a negative person who wants to kill anything that they can't take advantage of?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one needs it. They may beneifit from it but they dont need it. AAP is nice to have but it is not necessary. There are limited spots to everything that has a budget. if there were no competition, how are people selected from the pool? Everyone in pool has already met some standard. You cant convince me that the people on the committee can tell me one child is more gifted than another based on limited information they are reviewing for most applicants having never met them.

Just curious, why are you on the AAP board? Are you saying you'd decline a spot of offered then? Or just a negative person who wants to kill anything that they can't take advantage of?

NP here. I agree that it isn't a "NEED," but a preference. This is from a parent of a child with a 145 IQ, and I still don't think she 'needs' the program. Is she doing well in it, sure. Do I want her in it? Sure. Does she need it (and without it will flounder?) Um, no.

[Anonymous]

Explain need. There are other mechanisms to achieve the same end Would they not have progressed if AAP didnt exist at all? Many other jurisdictions dont have similar programs at the elementary stage. Anyway, Im not against AAP. I just dont get the life or death importance seemingly placed on it.

[Anonymous]

In some cases there ARE limited spots. Lots of schools do lotteries for Level III kids to fill empty seats in their in-house Level IV classes. It's hard to explain to your kid who earned 600s on all SOLs and all 4s on their report card in the 3rd and 4th grade Level IV classes that she was lotteried into that she can't be in the 5th grade Level IV class with all her friends who earned lower grades and SOL scores because she lost out in the lottery and didn't have the standardized test scores to qualify for Level IV.

[Anonymous]

I went to school in Fairfax County in the 80's and one or two kids in my class were in AAP. They left the school to attend a Center. This makes sense to me compared to what AAP has morphed in to these days. More than half of my DC's class is in Level IV. I sort of see why people want to slash the program and take it back to what it used to be. If your child is at a school like mine, and they do not get in, be prepared for years of them questioning their intelligence and comments from classmates. That's why I mention "fit" in my previous posts. Stress to them that Johnny needs this environment (AAP) to learn best and you need something different. After all, that's what it should be about but kids just don't get it when parents treat it differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Explain need. There are other mechanisms to achieve the same end Would they not have progressed if AAP didnt exist at all? Many other jurisdictions dont have similar programs at the elementary stage. Anyway, Im not against AAP. I just dont get the life or death importance seemingly placed on it.

That's because there is no life or death struggle. The fact that you would even phrase it that way suggests you are not as neutral as you believe. AAP is a worthwhile program that offers educational value to the kids placed in it. I'm for it and don't mind saying so. But people on these boards would not be forced to defend their choices and concerns at all -- and make AAP seem like a bigger deal than it is in the process -- if they were not so incessantly baited, scorned and challenged by haters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In some cases there ARE limited spots. Lots of schools do lotteries for Level III kids to fill empty seats in their in-house Level IV classes. It's hard to explain to your kid who earned 600s on all SOLs and all 4s on their report card in the 3rd and 4th grade Level IV classes that she was lotteried into that she can't be in the 5th grade Level IV class with all her friends who earned lower grades and SOL scores because she lost out in the lottery and didn't have the standardized test scores to qualify for Level IV.

what "lottery" ??? those spots are filled by the Principal...at his/her discretion.

You people are nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one needs it. They may beneifit from it but they dont need it. AAP is nice to have but it is not necessary. There are limited spots to everything that has a budget. if there were no competition, how are people selected from the pool? Everyone in pool has already met some standard. You cant convince me that the people on the committee can tell me one child is more gifted than another based on limited information they are reviewing for most applicants having never met them.

Just curious, why are you on the AAP board? Are you saying you'd decline a spot of offered then? Or just a negative person who wants to kill anything that they can't take advantage of?

I am on this forum the same reason as the rest I assume. I'm trying to see when decisions are be sent. We have not decided whether or not to send child to center if offered. Havent fully discussed it with the child or visited the potential school. It is a nice opportunity if presented but is not an automatic yes we will have to way pros and cons. I am mostly anxious for decisions because I will most likely need to make some logistic changes in our afternoons if school is changed. The sooner we can start planning, the easier the transition will be for my younger kids. My comments about it being a competition was not a slight against AAP but is my view on how children are 'chosen'. Others are welcome disagree as they already have. The program does have value but isnt a determining factor in most children's academic sucess

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to school in Fairfax County in the 80's and one or two kids in my class were in AAP. They left the school to attend a Center. This makes sense to me compared to what AAP has morphed in to these days. More than half of my DC's class is in Level IV. I sort of see why people want to slash the program and take it back to what it used to be. If your child is at a school like mine, and they do not get in, be prepared for years of them questioning their intelligence and comments from classmates. That's why I mention "fit" in my previous posts. Stress to them that Johnny needs this environment (AAP) to learn best and you need something different. After all, that's what it should be about but kids just don't get it when parents treat it differently.

I agree with a lot of this. There are 75 kids currently in my son's grade -- 3 classes, of which one is Level IV. 6 kids from the grade went to AAP center in 3rd grade. 8 kids were put in the Level IV class to fill seats because there weren't enough Level IV kids to make a full class. So of the 80 or so kids that started in that grade in that school, at least a third of them are considered "gifted" enough for Level IV services. Not that many kids are gifted and in need of special services to succeed. AAP mostly just makes the parents feel good about themselves. (And yes, I have a kid in AAP who is doing well. I still think many of the AAP parents are ridiculous, and classifying a third of a class as "advanced" or "gifted" or whatever is short-sighted.)