Anyone attend 11/29 cluster 1,2,and 3 AAP meeting at Kilmer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thoreau is a very nice school which would greatly benefit from Level IV AAP. There are plenty of students there in Honors who could easily qualify for AAP, or already have.

Yep. Of the big current AAP programs, Rocky Run and Kilmer seem like they may be gutted the most, with kids leaving Kilmer for Thoreau and Cooper.

Amazing how if the MS realignment is somehow supposed to respond in some way to this civil rights complaint, the biggest AAP center in the fall of 2013 could be at Cooper.

Fall of 2014.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Science Olympiad is not just for AAP though, so that argument makes no sense.

The big AAP centers have the most successful team.

They have large numbers of kids interested in programs like Science Olympiad, Odyssey of the Mind, Robotics, Video Game Programing club, etc.

Take 11 kids, move them to a new middle school that up to this point has not had enough interest in those types of programs, and see how successful they are at implementing the same level of program the students at the larger centers currently have. It is not going to happen, and those students in the tiny centers are going to be shortchanged vs what the kids in larger centers are getting.

Another thing to consider, is that by having such a small group of kids in middle school is opening those kids up to all sorts of social issues. I don't know if you have been around many AAP classes, but those classes tend to be dominated by quirky, geeky, nerdy kids who in other situation are the type of kids who tend to be singled out as bully victims. At a center with 2-3 classes, those kids have a peer group where they can just be one of the crowd, or in some cases, have the opportunity to become a social leader. In a regular classroom setting, many of these kids are the ones who are isolated, made fun of and have trouble fitting in. Having such a tiny group of AAP students at the middle school level drastically increases the odds that these kids are going to have a less than positive school experience than they would have in a larger AAP program, and increases the odds of isolation and bullying.

My child's AAP teacher last year said that one of the things she likes best about the peer group in AAP is that it brings together many kids from different schools, who are they type of kids who usually end up bullied, and gives them a place where they fit in and where their differences are seen as something to be accepted, not something to be teased. I think she hit it on the head. Although this sentiment has gone unstated on this board, I think this is one of the many reasons why AAP parents are so emotional about the proposed changes.

This post must set some sort of record for small-minded bigotry, unfounded assumptions, and sterotypes, even for DCUM.

This reply must set some sort of record for baseless accusation and pointless attack, even for DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Thoreau is a very nice school which would greatly benefit from Level IV AAP. There are plenty of students there in Honors who could easily qualify for AAP, or already have.

Quite a few students from Archer AAP declined the Jackson offer. AAP Archer to Jackson= 1/2 of the sixth grade: 4 classes.

[Anonymous]

One School Board member (Ryan McElveen) called the Cluster meetings An Agonizing Success:

http://www.ryanforschoolboard.com/1/post/2012/12/aap-meetings-an-agonizing-success.html

Some might wonder how I could consider this week’s Advanced Academic Placement (AAP) meetings to be anything resembling a success—after all, many people were disappointed with the meeting format and probably left feeling that answers to their questions were far from complete.

But if there was one good news story to emerge from the sometimes-heated AAP meetings, it was this: staff and the School Board heard, loudly and clearly, from AAP parents who, on the whole, are pleased with the education their children receive in Fairfax County Public Schools, and they don’t want to see any drastic changes to the opportunities the county provides. Most important, the high turnout at the meetings proved that many of our parents are fully committed to ensuring that their children receive a high-quality education, no matter what school they attend.

For those not aware, the county staff is proposing an expansion of AAP Level IV centers at elementary and middle schools in pyramids that do not already have them, including Annandale, Edison, Falls Church, Marshall, South County and Robinson. At the same time, they are working to address overcrowding at several AAP centers in Clusters 1, 2 and 8. The School Board has not yet decided how to proceed, as we have yet to even sit down together to consider the AAP task force proposal.

For me, the key take away from the community meetings was that the School Board first needs to focus on addressing the extreme overcrowding at Haycock, Louise Archer, and Hunters Woods Elementary Schools and slow down the system-wide expansion to new AAP centers. As we look to potentially create new centers around the county, we will need to ensure that they have matriculating AAP student cohorts large enough to sustain vibrant centers, are staffed with highly-qualified teachers and can support the extra-curricular activities to which students at our established AAP centers have become accustomed. A one-size-fits-all approach has never, and will never, be successful in a county as geographically and demographically diverse as Fairfax County.

. . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One School Board member (Ryan McElveen) called the Cluster meetings An Agonizing Success:

http://www.ryanforschoolboard.com/1/post/2012/12/aap-meetings-an-agonizing-success.html

Some might wonder how I could consider this week’s Advanced Academic Placement (AAP) meetings to be anything resembling a success—after all, many people were disappointed with the meeting format and probably left feeling that answers to their questions were far from complete.

But if there was one good news story to emerge from the sometimes-heated AAP meetings, it was this: staff and the School Board heard, loudly and clearly, from AAP parents who, on the whole, are pleased with the education their children receive in Fairfax County Public Schools, and they don’t want to see any drastic changes to the opportunities the county provides. Most important, the high turnout at the meetings proved that many of our parents are fully committed to ensuring that their children receive a high-quality education, no matter what school they attend.

For those not aware, the county staff is proposing an expansion of AAP Level IV centers at elementary and middle schools in pyramids that do not already have them, including Annandale, Edison, Falls Church, Marshall, South County and Robinson. At the same time, they are working to address overcrowding at several AAP centers in Clusters 1, 2 and 8. The School Board has not yet decided how to proceed, as we have yet to even sit down together to consider the AAP task force proposal.

For me, the key take away from the community meetings was that the School Board first needs to focus on addressing the extreme overcrowding at Haycock, Louise Archer, and Hunters Woods Elementary Schools and slow down the system-wide expansion to new AAP centers. As we look to potentially create new centers around the county, we will need to ensure that they have matriculating AAP student cohorts large enough to sustain vibrant centers, are staffed with highly-qualified teachers and can support the extra-curricular activities to which students at our established AAP centers have become accustomed. A one-size-fits-all approach has never, and will never, be successful in a county as geographically and demographically diverse as Fairfax County.

. . .

Sounds like a win for the haves.

[Anonymous]

Well, maybe that just means they will loosen up AAP standards to have larger cohorts across the board.

[Anonymous]

The draft FPAC proposal to be discussed on 12/4 and presented to the School Board recommends the AAP county wide changes be postponed until more review has been done. There is a link on the FPAC meeting calendar on the fcps.edu website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The draft FPAC proposal to be discussed on 12/4 and presented to the School Board recommends the AAP county wide changes be postponed until more review has been done. There is a link on the FPAC meeting calendar on the fcps.edu website.

Thank you VERY MUCH for posting this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The draft FPAC proposal to be discussed on 12/4 and presented to the School Board recommends the AAP county wide changes be postponed until more review has been done. There is a link on the FPAC meeting calendar on the fcps.edu website.

Thanks! Does it make any recommendation about Haycock, LA and HW?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The draft FPAC proposal to be discussed on 12/4 and presented to the School Board recommends the AAP county wide changes be postponed until more review has been done. There is a link on the FPAC meeting calendar on the fcps.edu website.

Thanks so much!

Can you please post a link? I can't find this information on the fcps site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The draft FPAC proposal to be discussed on 12/4 and presented to the School Board recommends the AAP county wide changes be postponed until more review has been done. There is a link on the FPAC meeting calendar on the fcps.edu website.

Thanks so much!

Can you please post a link? I can't find this information on the fcps site.

Webpage:
http://www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/fpac/index.shtml

Draft quarterly report (including recommendation about proposed AAP changes):
http://www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/fpac/reports/quarterlyreport12-13-12.pdf

DRAFT
PROPOSED AAP CHANGES: While FPAC concurs (and recommended in our most recent
Annual Report) that a County-wide review of the AAP Program is needed, we are
concerned that adequate coordination has not yet occurred between Instructional
Services and Facilities Planning on the recommendations to be brought forward to the
School Board regarding changes to the AAP centers and locations. Such changes will
have a dramatic affect on where students attend school, and the impact on facilities
must be fully assessed, and the timing of such changes coordinated. We believe that
further coordination is needed, in light of Capacity and Space Guideline 3:

CAPACITY AND SPACE GUIDELINE 3: Coordination will occur among FCPS
departments when proposing new or revised instructional programs and
Educational Specifications.

See RECOMMENDATION 4 below.



RECOMMENDATIONS:
4. FPAC recommends that the School Board ensure adequate coordination with
Facilities Planning staff has occurred and that an analysis of the impact of
changes on facilities has been fully examined prior to acting on recommendations
from the AAP Task Force.

[Anonymous]

As long as the overcrowding is addressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Thoreau is a very nice school which would greatly benefit from Level IV AAP. There are plenty of students there in Honors who could easily qualify for AAP, or already have.

Quite a few students from Archer AAP declined the Jackson offer. AAP Archer to Jackson= 1/2 of the sixth grade: 4 classes.

If those students from Archer AAP declined the Jackson offer and are happy at Thoreau, then let them continue to attend Thoreau. Don't take the freedom of choice from those who want to attend a bigger and better AAP Center at Luther Jackson. Luther Jackson has enjoyed a bigger AAP Center the last couple of years and have enjoyed a success for their enrichment activities such as Science Olympiad and Mathcount programs. They've done very well at Science Olympiad the last couple of years coming in 4th place behind the power houses of Longfellow, Kilmer, and Lake Braddock last year. If you can draw from a bigger pool of AAP students then you can have successful enrichment programs. I noticed that not many non AAP kids were interested in joining enrichment activities. Science Olympiad only had 1 non-AAP student in the Science Olympiad team last year. AAP kids will lose out if they make every middle schools an AAP Center! If AAP kids are happy at Thoreau then let them stay there. Don't take the choice away from other AAP kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they would only slow it down until they at least have the fully certified teachers to staff all these new centers.

I've seen this sentiment a lot in recent threads on this topic. DH is an AAP teacher in Fairfax County. When he first started the job, he wasn't a certified AAP teacher. He had a certain amount of years (maybe it was 5, I forget) to complete the training and earn the special certification. Right now at the center where he teaches, each year existing teachers are reassigned to fill needs for more AAP teachers (and the shrinking need for general education teachers) - many of them do not have the certification and are given the usual amount of time to get the certification. What I'm telling you all is that this is not a new thing and should not be a major concern for parents of AAP students. Hopefully this eases some concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they would only slow it down until they at least have the fully certified teachers to staff all these new centers.

I've seen this sentiment a lot in recent threads on this topic. DH is an AAP teacher in Fairfax County. When he first started the job, he wasn't a certified AAP teacher. He had a certain amount of years (maybe it was 5, I forget) to complete the training and earn the special certification. Right now at the center where he teaches, each year existing teachers are reassigned to fill needs for more AAP teachers (and the shrinking need for general education teachers) - many of them do not have the certification and are given the usual amount of time to get the certification. What I'm telling you all is that this is not a new thing and should not be a major concern for parents of AAP students. Hopefully this eases some concerns.

Highly qualified teachers are but one element of the Readiness Checklist. The other elements include a critical mass of students identified for Level IV services, a school plan for Level IV services & extracurricular activities (e.g., Math Counts, Science Olympiad etc.), facility readiness, and transportation.