How exactly do children get selected for AAP?

[Anonymous]

One of life's great mysteries. I think you have to have decent test scores, good report card, good math/reading/writing. It helps if kid speaks a second language also, urm gets extra points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of life's great mysteries. I think you have to have decent test scores, good report card, good math/reading/writing. It helps if kid speaks a second language also, urm gets extra points.

How exactly would the committee know this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of life's great mysteries. I think you have to have decent test scores, good report card, good math/reading/writing. It helps if kid speaks a second language also, urm gets extra points.

How exactly would the committee know this?

You guys need to attend AAP seminar they give every Sept. I understand it is overwhelming but it all has logics behind it. Parent can submit answers to a questionnaire. https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/AAPParentGuardianQuestionnaire.pdf

I doubt second language or some trophy helps much. It's not about achievement but about aptitude. The questionnaire is literally telling you what they are looking for, you need to supply specific examples to show why your child is meeting the expectations.

For example, there is no place to put "My son can speak Spanish fluently". But under "1. my child surprises me with their knowledge", you could say he finds surprising connections between English and Spanish such as same latin root or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of life's great mysteries. I think you have to have decent test scores, good report card, good math/reading/writing. It helps if kid speaks a second language also, urm gets extra points.

How exactly would the committee know this?

You guys need to attend AAP seminar they give every Sept. I understand it is overwhelming but it all has logics behind it. Parent can submit answers to a questionnaire. https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/AAPParentGuardianQuestionnaire.pdf

I doubt second language or some trophy helps much. It's not about achievement but about aptitude. The questionnaire is literally telling you what they are looking for, you need to supply specific examples to show why your child is meeting the expectations.

For example, there is no place to put "My son can speak Spanish fluently". But under "1. my child surprises me with their knowledge", you could say he finds surprising connections between English and Spanish such as same latin root or whatever.

Thank you! This is very helpful. And a poster also shared a link to a full PPT earlier. Agree, feels overwhelming at first but lots of good information to help orient to what this is all about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of life's great mysteries. I think you have to have decent test scores, good report card, good math/reading/writing. It helps if kid speaks a second language also, urm gets extra points.

How exactly would the committee know this?

Because it was one of the questions that the teacher had asked along with what extra curriculars they do. Why would they ask that if they have no intention of using the information?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of life's great mysteries. I think you have to have decent test scores, good report card, good math/reading/writing. It helps if kid speaks a second language also, urm gets extra points.

How exactly would the committee know this?

You guys need to attend AAP seminar they give every Sept. I understand it is overwhelming but it all has logics behind it. Parent can submit answers to a questionnaire. https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/AAPParentGuardianQuestionnaire.pdf

I doubt second language or some trophy helps much. It's not about achievement but about aptitude. The questionnaire is literally telling you what they are looking for, you need to supply specific examples to show why your child is meeting the expectations.

For example, there is no place to put "My son can speak Spanish fluently". But under "1. my child surprises me with their knowledge", you could say he finds surprising connections between English and Spanish such as same latin root or whatever.

Language spoken at home is part of the packet. If my child was fluent in Spanish, I would update their records at the base school to reflect Spanish was the language spoken at home - that will get more of a bump than any of the questionnaire answers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of life's great mysteries. I think you have to have decent test scores, good report card, good math/reading/writing. It helps if kid speaks a second language also, urm gets extra points.

How exactly would the committee know this?

You guys need to attend AAP seminar they give every Sept. I understand it is overwhelming but it all has logics behind it. Parent can submit answers to a questionnaire. https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/AAPParentGuardianQuestionnaire.pdf

I doubt second language or some trophy helps much. It's not about achievement but about aptitude. The questionnaire is literally telling you what they are looking for, you need to supply specific examples to show why your child is meeting the expectations.

For example, there is no place to put "My son can speak Spanish fluently". But under "1. my child surprises me with their knowledge", you could say he finds surprising connections between English and Spanish such as same latin root or whatever.

Language spoken at home is part of the packet. If my child was fluent in Spanish, I would update their records at the base school to reflect Spanish was the language spoken at home - that will get more of a bump than any of the questionnaire answers

Curious about what you mean that this will give more of a bump than questionnaires and why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of life's great mysteries. I think you have to have decent test scores, good report card, good math/reading/writing. It helps if kid speaks a second language also, urm gets extra points.

Speaking a second language overlaps with but is distinct from being an URM, so I don't think it's accurate to say that speaking a second language helps, unless it would help for some other reason?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of life's great mysteries. I think you have to have decent test scores, good report card, good math/reading/writing. It helps if kid speaks a second language also, urm gets extra points.

Speaking a second language overlaps with but is distinct from being an URM, so I don't think it's accurate to say that speaking a second language helps, unless it would help for some other reason?

Exactly, a girl in my son's class speaks German, is that gonna make her URM?

[Anonymous]

NP - op don’t by a house hoping your kid can get into aap and then go to a different school. You never know when fcps is going to do away with the center school model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of life's great mysteries. I think you have to have decent test scores, good report card, good math/reading/writing. It helps if kid speaks a second language also, urm gets extra points.

How exactly would the committee know this?

You guys need to attend AAP seminar they give every Sept. I understand it is overwhelming but it all has logics behind it. Parent can submit answers to a questionnaire. https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/forms/AAPParentGuardianQuestionnaire.pdf

I doubt second language or some trophy helps much. It's not about achievement but about aptitude. The questionnaire is literally telling you what they are looking for, you need to supply specific examples to show why your child is meeting the expectations.

For example, there is no place to put "My son can speak Spanish fluently". But under "1. my child surprises me with their knowledge", you could say he finds surprising connections between English and Spanish such as same latin root or whatever.

Language spoken at home is part of the packet. If my child was fluent in Spanish, I would update their records at the base school to reflect Spanish was the language spoken at home - that will get more of a bump than any of the questionnaire answers

Curious about what you mean that this will give more of a bump than questionnaires and why.

From the FCPS AAP page "FCPS Advanced Academic Programs is committed to identifying and developing strengths and talents in all students including:... Students with high academic potential who are from culturally and linguistically diverse populations" The second question on the Academic Record Information section is "is the Student a Language Minority Student"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buying a home in a lower performing school district seems insane for this reason.

That's what we did and I don't think it's insane at all. Lower mortgage means our family's overall quality of life is drastically better using it as extra vacation funds. We provided support at home that DD needed so she was still above grade level relative to her peers early on. She got into AAP easily so she's in the classes with other high performers anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP - op don’t by a house hoping your kid can get into aap and then go to a different school. You never know when fcps is going to do away with the center school model.

Is this something on the horizon? I've heard this a few times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Buying a home in a lower performing school district seems insane for this reason.

That's what we did and I don't think it's insane at all. Lower mortgage means our family's overall quality of life is drastically better using it as extra vacation funds. We provided support at home that DD needed so she was still above grade level relative to her peers early on. She got into AAP easily so she's in the classes with other high performers anyway.

Thanks for sharing this. I am curious how much lower performing are we talking here? Were you concerned about other aspects of the school environment? I'm assuming she's happy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of life's great mysteries. I think you have to have decent test scores, good report card, good math/reading/writing. It helps if kid speaks a second language also, urm gets extra points.

Speaking a second language overlaps with but is distinct from being an URM, so I don't think it's accurate to say that speaking a second language helps, unless it would help for some other reason?

It shouldn't help, but it's included in the packet for a reason. My cynical take is that there's some sneaky way that FCPS can report the demographics for AAP that conflates ESOL kids with privileged white people who speak a second language and thus makes it appear that FCPS is admitting more ESOL kids.