Basic AAP Questions

[Anonymous]

Would someone be so kind as to explain the AAP process to a family new to FCPS?
I read posts with abbreviations e.g., NNAT, Cognat, etc. When are these tests administered and do parents receive the test scores?

Thank you very much for any information.

[Anonymous]

NNAT (Naglieri Nonverbal Abilities Test) is taken in February of 1st grade with scores coming home to parents in April or May.
CogAT (Cognitive Abiliies Test) is taken in October of 2nd grade with scores coming to parents in January.
Also in January, they set the cutoff for the 2nd grade screening pool. This year and many years it was 132 on either test. We got the letter telling us we were in pool in the same envelope as our CogAT score but not everyone does. This is school specific. If you are in pool, you are automatically considered for AAP, with decisions in early April. If not, you can fill out a parent referral to be considered. Parent referrals are due in mid January. Most people end up getting their CogAT score just days before (or even after!) the referrals are due.
The other big score considered is the GBRS (Gifted Behaviors Rating Scale). The child is rated 1-4 in four categories for a total possible score of 16. A team (at our school it is 2nd grade teacher, AART, reading specialist, and principal) come up with the score and provide supporting commentary. This is put together for all kids in pool and those referred by parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would someone be so kind as to explain the AAP process to a family new to FCPS?
I read posts with abbreviations e.g., NNAT, Cognat, etc. When are these tests administered and do parents receive the test scores?

Thank you very much for any information.

https://www.fcps.edu/academics/academic-overview/advanced-academic-programs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NNAT (Naglieri Nonverbal Abilities Test) is taken in February of 1st grade with scores coming home to parents in April or May.
CogAT (Cognitive Abiliies Test) is taken in October of 2nd grade with scores coming to parents in January.
Also in January, they set the cutoff for the 2nd grade screening pool. This year and many years it was 132 on either test. We got the letter telling us we were in pool in the same envelope as our CogAT score but not everyone does. This is school specific. If you are in pool, you are automatically considered for AAP, with decisions in early April. If not, you can fill out a parent referral to be considered. Parent referrals are due in mid January. Most people end up getting their CogAT score just days before (or even after!) the referrals are due.
The other big score considered is the GBRS (Gifted Behaviors Rating Scale). The child is rated 1-4 in four categories for a total possible score of 16. A team (at our school it is 2nd grade teacher, AART, reading specialist, and principal) come up with the score and provide supporting commentary. This is put together for all kids in pool and those referred by parents.

I am not OP.

I must say this. Very nicely put. Thanks for taking time to explain this.

[Anonymous]

I will add something to clarify what the PP said. If you believe that your child belongs in the AAP program, do not wait for the CogAT scores to come home. Do a parent referral (and ahead of that, collate samples of work) anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will add something to clarify what the PP said. If you believe that your child belongs in the AAP program, do not wait for the CogAT scores to come home. Do a parent referral (and ahead of that, collate samples of work) anyway.

+ 1. OP. Not sure how old your kid(s) are but as this pp said, collect work samples as a matter of course and notate when/what/how it was done. For instance, my kid used to draw a lot from age 2 or 3. Most of it would look abstract and really cool. I once asked him to explain how/what he was doing and came to find out that he's translating whatever he thinks into art. Something along the lines of "I threw the ball at John" gets a fuzzy line with a brown oval to represent the ball. "The ball hit Johnny". a fallen figure; "other kids came running" - a bunch of walking, flying, running objects that look like birds.. etc. before you know it, an entire event is now a picture that looked really cool. We submitted a couple of those. Same kid also developed a board game with rules at 5. We included that. Nothing is too insignificant.

[Anonymous]

^ I suspect the PP's kid's scores were strong enough to get him in without the toddler art samples and 5-year-old-developed board game. These are cute and endearing to parents, but I would stick to stronger, more recent (to 2nd grade) samples to show your kid's strengths/match to the program. For example, I might include the board game thing if the "rules" were clearly written, grammatically correct, and complex sentence structure since that would show that the child is pretty advanced for his age. But mostly I'd stick to writing or displays of creative genius that would be impressive to most teachers and not just relatives of the kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^ I suspect the PP's kid's scores were strong enough to get him in without the toddler art samples and 5-year-old-developed board game. These are cute and endearing to parents, but I would stick to stronger, more recent (to 2nd grade) samples to show your kid's strengths/match to the program. For example, I might include the board game thing if the "rules" were clearly written, grammatically correct, and complex sentence structure since that would show that the child is pretty advanced for his age. But mostly I'd stick to writing or displays of creative genius that would be impressive to most teachers and not just relatives of the kid.

+1...seriously, toddler art?!! There’s no way in hell that would get a kid in AAP. Lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ I suspect the PP's kid's scores were strong enough to get him in without the toddler art samples and 5-year-old-developed board game. These are cute and endearing to parents, but I would stick to stronger, more recent (to 2nd grade) samples to show your kid's strengths/match to the program. For example, I might include the board game thing if the "rules" were clearly written, grammatically correct, and complex sentence structure since that would show that the child is pretty advanced for his age. But mostly I'd stick to writing or displays of creative genius that would be impressive to most teachers and not just relatives of the kid.

+1...seriously, toddler art?!! There’s no way in hell that would get a kid in AAP. Lol.

I was trying to be nice about it, but yeah. It wasn't about the work samples here. But I suspect the screening committee has lots of fun stories about what they see...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NNAT (Naglieri Nonverbal Abilities Test) is taken in February of 1st grade with scores coming home to parents in April or May.
CogAT (Cognitive Abiliies Test) is taken in October of 2nd grade with scores coming to parents in January.
Also in January, they set the cutoff for the 2nd grade screening pool. This year and many years it was 132 on either test. We got the letter telling us we were in pool in the same envelope as our CogAT score but not everyone does. This is school specific. If you are in pool, you are automatically considered for AAP, with decisions in early April. If not, you can fill out a parent referral to be considered. Parent referrals are due in mid January. Most people end up getting their CogAT score just days before (or even after!) the referrals are due.
The other big score considered is the GBRS (Gifted Behaviors Rating Scale). The child is rated 1-4 in four categories for a total possible score of 16. A team (at our school it is 2nd grade teacher, AART, reading specialist, and principal) come up with the score and provide supporting commentary. This is put together for all kids in pool and those referred by parents.

Just want to ask a quick question: I see other posts saying about WISC IV & V test. Do kids have to take that test beside those NNAT & CogAT? Thanks

[Anonymous]

WISC is not offered or required by FCPS. But some people have their child take the WISC as an added data point (particularly in case an appeal is needed if Naglieri or CogAT is low). You can schedule a WISC assessment (it's an IQ test administered by a psychologist or a grad student, as it is done at GMU) through GMU or through a psychologist in private practice. Costs the same amount (around $400) but is very reliable. With a score of 125 or better, (especially if certain sub scores are over 135), it can help an appeal or bolster an original submission with lower CogAT scores, as WISC is delivered in a one-on-one setting and is considered to be a more reliable indication of intelligence and comes with a detailed writeup from the person administering the test.
If it doesn't turn out that your child's score would help your case, you just don't submit the results. Either way, it gives some good insight into your child's strengths and areas of weakness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NNAT (Naglieri Nonverbal Abilities Test) is taken in February of 1st grade with scores coming home to parents in April or May.
CogAT (Cognitive Abiliies Test) is taken in October of 2nd grade with scores coming to parents in January.
Also in January, they set the cutoff for the 2nd grade screening pool. This year and many years it was 132 on either test. We got the letter telling us we were in pool in the same envelope as our CogAT score but not everyone does. This is school specific. If you are in pool, you are automatically considered for AAP, with decisions in early April. If not, you can fill out a parent referral to be considered. Parent referrals are due in mid January. Most people end up getting their CogAT score just days before (or even after!) the referrals are due.
The other big score considered is the GBRS (Gifted Behaviors Rating Scale). The child is rated 1-4 in four categories for a total possible score of 16. A team (at our school it is 2nd grade teacher, AART, reading specialist, and principal) come up with the score and provide supporting commentary. This is put together for all kids in pool and those referred by parents.

New to VA here. Does the above apply only to Level IV, or lower levels? Also, if a school has a local level IV instead of a center, are the same test criteria and scores above used for local level IV ? Put another way, I'm curious if it is less competitive/easier to be in a school's local level IV vs applying to the assigned center?

[Anonymous]

It is my understanding that the primary difference between LLIV and center based, is that all the kids in center level IV are placed through the AAP screening process, whereas the LLIV can have kids that chose not to go to the center although they were eligible, and any that are principal placed. According to the center principal, center AAP classes can have as few kids as enroll (in our center, 3rd grade AAP has 19 kids each), but LLIV is generally “filled up” to certain numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is my understanding that the primary difference between LLIV and center based, is that all the kids in center level IV are placed through the AAP screening process, whereas the LLIV can have kids that chose not to go to the center although they were eligible, and any that are principal placed. According to the center principal, center AAP classes can have as few kids as enroll (in our center, 3rd grade AAP has 19 kids each), but LLIV is generally “filled up” to certain numbers.

Still a bit confused about the above. I thought I heard it was the other way around, i.e centers have a lot more AAP students, but local level IV AAP programs don't have as many kids, esp if many choose to attend the center, (and some schools have only as little as 1 LLIV AAP class per grade?) If this is true, wouldn't it be easier for a child to attend their school's local level AAP vs applying to a different school that is the assigned center for their base school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is my understanding that the primary difference between LLIV and center based, is that all the kids in center level IV are placed through the AAP screening process, whereas the LLIV can have kids that chose not to go to the center although they were eligible, and any that are principal placed. According to the center principal, center AAP classes can have as few kids as enroll (in our center, 3rd grade AAP has 19 kids each), but LLIV is generally “filled up” to certain numbers.

Still a bit confused about the above. I thought I heard it was the other way around, i.e centers have a lot more AAP students, but local level IV AAP programs don't have as many kids, esp if many choose to attend the center, (and some schools have only as little as 1 LLIV AAP class per grade?) If this is true, wouldn't it be easier for a child to attend their school's local level AAP vs applying to a different school that is the assigned center for their base school?

As I understand it, the only guaranteed way to get into either the Center or local level IV is by being found eligible for level IV by the central committee.
I understand that at some local level IV schools the principal has some leeway to principal place students not found eligible for level IV by the central committee in the local level IV classroom.