How hard is it to get into AAP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Everyone at Haycock and surrounding schools knows about the "prepping controversy". It's common knowledge and just one reason AAP itself has become so controversial.

+1

Of the 27 schools with AAP Centers

http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/centers.shtml

the "prepping controversy" occurs at Haycock, Greenbriar West and *maybe* Churchill Road.

+Louise Archer, Westbriar....

My kids go to one of those schools - never heard of the prepping controversy. WTH?

Then you are lucky[u] because my kids went to both of those schools and as the years went on I heard more discussions about whether to prep for the test or just follow the school instructions and send my kid in fortified by a good breakfast. Particularly with incoming classes, new parents to our neighborhood seem to ask me questions about what they need to do to prepare their kids for the AAP test. Five years ago, no one would have asked that question around where we live.

I do - this AAP craze is ridiculous. It is like any other grade - depends on the particular teacher.

[Anonymous]

We're at a center school. The conversations run from prepping for AAP to prepping for travel hockey to prepping for a Bar Mitzvah. I've never run into a controversy, some do, some don't, most are too busy raising their own kids to worry about what some other parent does.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can safely add Mantua to the list as well.

Any center school is going to have prepping going on. That's the problem with centers: everything revolves around AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can safely add Mantua to the list as well.

Mantua is definitely not majority AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh, come on - the prepping is universal for those whose base school is an AAP Center, and they are hoping for AAP..

No it isn't. That statement is completely absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can safely add Mantua to the list as well.

Any center school is going to have prepping going on. That's the problem with centers: everything revolves around AAP.

Not at our center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're at a center school. The conversations run from prepping for AAP to prepping for travel hockey to prepping for a Bar Mitzvah. I've never run into a controversy, some do, some don't, most are too busy raising their own kids to worry about what some other parent does.

Ditto at our school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at a center school. The conversations run from prepping for AAP to prepping for travel hockey to prepping for a Bar Mitzvah. I've never run into a controversy, some do, some don't, most are too busy raising their own kids to worry about what some other parent does.

Ditto at our school.

This is true, but there are some parents -- and I fall into this category -- who look at the bigger picture. For example, how the acceptance of prepping for these tests -despite everything teachers and administrators say, changes a school, a community, the culture of education, etc. in ways that aren't always beneficial to children. It's all fine and good for someone from NYC (and I lived there for years, son don't flame) to come here and say, "our kids prep for kindergarten entry tests, so what's the big deal?" But this isn't New York, or Seoul or Shanghai; it's Northern Virginia where dog eat dog and lives programmed from birth haven't been the rule for the majority certainly. It's not that I worry other kids are getting ahead because they're prepping, because I think there's a limit to that kind of advantage over the long haul. It's just that I think it creates an unhealthy environment for all children and frankly it's hard for me to understand why more parents don't care about that or see it.

[Anonymous]

Those that are upset about prepping fail to address that it is there are plenty of kids who are in the pool and don't get in and plenty of kids not in the pool who get in, so prepping alone, no matter how much and no matter the result of that prepping will guarantee a spot. My kid didn't prep at all though I considered it, however I could care less if a kid prepped or not since I have faith in the system overall. Are there some kids who get in who shouldn't? I'm sure. Are there kids who are not in and should be? I'm sure. Could most kids do just as well in the program even if they don't qualify for it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those that are upset about prepping fail to address that it is there are plenty of kids who are in the pool and don't get in and plenty of kids not in the pool who get in, so prepping alone, no matter how much and no matter the result of that prepping will guarantee a spot. My kid didn't prep at all though I considered it, however I could care less if a kid prepped or not since I have faith in the system overall. Are there some kids who get in who shouldn't? I'm sure. Are there kids who are not in and should be? I'm sure. Could most kids do just as well in the program even if they don't qualify for it?

Yes, yes, and yes. Which makes segregated center AAP classes so absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at a center school. The conversations run from prepping for AAP to prepping for travel hockey to prepping for a Bar Mitzvah. I've never run into a controversy, some do, some don't, most are too busy raising their own kids to worry about what some other parent does.

Ditto at our school.

This is true, but there are some parents -- and I fall into this category -- who look at the bigger picture. For example, how the acceptance of prepping for these tests -despite everything teachers and administrators say, changes a school, a community, the culture of education, etc. in ways that aren't always beneficial to children. It's all fine and good for someone from NYC (and I lived there for years, son don't flame) to come here and say, "our kids prep for kindergarten entry tests, so what's the big deal?" But this isn't New York, or Seoul or Shanghai; it's Northern Virginia where dog eat dog and lives programmed from birth haven't been the rule for the majority certainly. It's not that I worry other kids are getting ahead because they're prepping, because I think there's a limit to that kind of advantage over the long haul. It's just that I think it creates an unhealthy environment for all children and frankly it's hard for me to understand why more parents don't care about that or see it.

Absolutely agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at a center school. The conversations run from prepping for AAP to prepping for travel hockey to prepping for a Bar Mitzvah. I've never run into a controversy, some do, some don't, most are too busy raising their own kids to worry about what some other parent does.

Ditto at our school.

This is true, but there are some parents -- and I fall into this category -- who look at the bigger picture. For example, how the acceptance of prepping for these tests -despite everything teachers and administrators say, changes a school, a community, the culture of education, etc. in ways that aren't always beneficial to children. It's all fine and good for someone from NYC (and I lived there for years, son don't flame) to come here and say, "our kids prep for kindergarten entry tests, so what's the big deal?" But this isn't New York, or Seoul or Shanghai; it's Northern Virginia where dog eat dog and lives programmed from birth haven't been the rule for the majority certainly. It's not that I worry other kids are getting ahead because they're prepping, because I think there's a limit to that kind of advantage over the long haul. It's just that I think it creates an unhealthy environment for all children and frankly it's hard for me to understand why more parents don't care about that or see it.

I think you're talking about heavy studying. The DCUM definition or prepping is reviewing the NNAT and CoGat prep books which if you bought every book there is would be a long weekend. Seriously, there are not that many.

The academies, the workbooks, the drills, etc. don't fit the definition of prepping. It's just studying. Some think there should be no homework, some think it's just right, some supplement. Parent's choice. You may think it's unhealthy, some of us think it's the key to a comfortable life. Make your choices, please let us make ours.....