Anyone thinking of not going to AAP?

[Anonymous]

Spoke with another family who have a child in the program as well as children not in it and they were less than impressed. They acknowledged that the math was more advanced, but did not find the center's treatment of the other core subjects to be overwhelming, and actually thought that the education their non-AAP kids got was comparable.

Just curious as to whether others had qualified, but elected not to go.

[Anonymous]

It truly depends on which school is your base. You will find great and not-so-great teachers in all schools. A good teacher will bring that curriculum alive. I also have found that our AAP center hires a lot of new teachers directly into AAP. I personally like the teachers who have more experience in general. I would take a closer look at what each school has to offer instead of a general go/don't go decision.

[Anonymous]

We elected not to go, but we had a great local school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spoke with another family who have a child in the program as well as children not in it and they were less than impressed. They acknowledged that the math was more advanced, but did not find the center's treatment of the other core subjects to be overwhelming, and actually thought that the education their non-AAP kids got was comparable.

Just curious as to whether others had qualified, but elected not to go.

It all depends upon your school options. I suggest speaking to parents of 3rd graders and, if you can, parents of 6th graders at each of the schools. It has been my personal experience that the wide differential between AAP and general ed really shows up at the end of elementary school (in 6th grade).

You can always elect to defer AAP placement until middle school.

[Anonymous]

09:28 here -- I should have added that not all kids really need AAP. If your kid doesn't need AAP, why bother?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spoke with another family who have a child in the program as well as children not in it and they were less than impressed. They acknowledged that the math was more advanced, but did not find the center's treatment of the other core subjects to be overwhelming, and actually thought that the education their non-AAP kids got was comparable.
Just curious as to whether others had qualified, but elected not to go.

This exactly 100% mirrors DC's experience in 3-6, but in 7th it does start living up to expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoke with another family who have a child in the program as well as children not in it and they were less than impressed. They acknowledged that the math was more advanced, but did not find the center's treatment of the other core subjects to be overwhelming, and actually thought that the education their non-AAP kids got was comparable.

Just curious as to whether others had qualified, but elected not to go.

It all depends upon your school options. I suggest speaking to parents of 3rd graders and, if you can, parents of 6th graders at each of the schools. It has been my personal experience that the wide differential between AAP and general ed really shows up at the end of elementary school (in 6th grade).

You can always elect to defer AAP placement until middle school.

+1 Which is one of the reasons why allowing marginal candidates in at low grades but having no reapplication in middle school is screwed up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoke with another family who have a child in the program as well as children not in it and they were less than impressed. They acknowledged that the math was more advanced, but did not find the center's treatment of the other core subjects to be overwhelming, and actually thought that the education their non-AAP kids got was comparable.

Just curious as to whether others had qualified, but elected not to go.

It all depends upon your school options. I suggest speaking to parents of 3rd graders and, if you can, parents of 6th graders at each of the schools. It has been my personal experience that the wide differential between AAP and general ed really shows up at the end of elementary school (in 6th grade).

You can always elect to defer AAP placement until middle school.

+1 Which is one of the reasons why allowing marginal candidates in at low grades but having no reapplication in middle school is screwed up.

Not sure I agree with the idea of reapplication, but it has been my experience that there is a large runway/ramp up effort in 5th and particularly 6th grade AAP to be readied for middle school. It is not just in math, either. Obviously there is a need for ramp up to advanced math as the IAAT is administered in January of 6th grade. But language arts also has a big ramp up with word stems, vocabulary, etc., all in preparation for AAP Center requirements in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, all, for the thoughtful responses.

[Anonymous]

My kid didn't go to the AAP Center for ES or MS, and now he's in the same math classes as all of his peers that did go to the AAP MS. As long as you are on the advanced math track, you are good to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid didn't go to the AAP Center for ES or MS, and now he's in the same math classes as all of his peers that did go to the AAP MS. As long as you are on the advanced math track, you are good to go.

Yes, it works out great simply for math. For the three other core courses, the curriculum is different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spoke with another family who have a child in the program as well as children not in it and they were less than impressed. They acknowledged that the math was more advanced, but did not find the center's treatment of the other core subjects to be overwhelming, and actually thought that the education their non-AAP kids got was comparable.

Just curious as to whether others had qualified, but elected not to go.

If you wouldn't mind sharing, which Center was that where your friend was not impressed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you wouldn't mind sharing, which Center was that where your friend was not impressed?

Belvedere/Glasgow

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you wouldn't mind sharing, which Center was that where your friend was not impressed?

Belvedere/Glasgow

If you wouldn't mind sharing, what's the base school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you wouldn't mind sharing, what's the base school?

Sorry, would prefer not to.