How exactly do children get selected for AAP?

[Anonymous]

Both our kids have gone through AAP we're all very happy with it. It helped that their school has LLIV (which they and all their friends picked over the center).

We didn't "prep" them or anything although I do feel like the application process tests the parents' writing ability more than anything about the kids. And I'm not a big fan of the requirement that the recommendations come from a non-FCPS employee - because that means it will come from somebody providing private math or music lessons, etc. So that gives a leg up to kids whose families can afford stuff like that. Plus it's a bit of a conflict of interest to ask somebody that you pay on a weekly or monthly basis to write an honest letter about your kid when this person would obviously like to continue to be paid on a weekly or monthly basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both our kids have gone through AAP we're all very happy with it. It helped that their school has LLIV (which they and all their friends picked over the center).

We didn't "prep" them or anything although I do feel like the application process tests the parents' writing ability more than anything about the kids. And I'm not a big fan of the requirement that the recommendations come from a non-FCPS employee - because that means it will come from somebody providing private math or music lessons, etc. So that gives a leg up to kids whose families can afford stuff like that. Plus it's a bit of a conflict of interest to ask somebody that you pay on a weekly or monthly basis to write an honest letter about your kid when this person would obviously like to continue to be paid on a weekly or monthly basis.

Just FYI - A lot has changed since your kids went through the application process. No more letters or recommendation, local in-pool scores, and a move to a more “holistic” approach, which allegedly looks at the whole student, but really just weighs GBRS from FCPS teacher most heavily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both our kids have gone through AAP we're all very happy with it. It helped that their school has LLIV (which they and all their friends picked over the center).

We didn't "prep" them or anything although I do feel like the application process tests the parents' writing ability more than anything about the kids. And I'm not a big fan of the requirement that the recommendations come from a non-FCPS employee - because that means it will come from somebody providing private math or music lessons, etc. So that gives a leg up to kids whose families can afford stuff like that. Plus it's a bit of a conflict of interest to ask somebody that you pay on a weekly or monthly basis to write an honest letter about your kid when this person would obviously like to continue to be paid on a weekly or monthly basis.

Just FYI - A lot has changed since your kids went through the application process. No more letters or recommendation, local in-pool scores, and a move to a more “holistic” approach, which allegedly looks at the whole student, but really just weighs GBRS from FCPS teacher most heavily.

Pretty much

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It is not on the horizon in the sense it has not been announced or anything. However, the recent plan to suddenly introduce local level iv at all schools is still underway (has been done as a phased in approach).

One has to question why suddenly do LLIV at all ESes while still maintaining centers?

The most obvious and logical reason is once each school had LLIV established, centers can then be abolished. Hence the speculation and some people thinking this is on the horizon, if unspoken thus far.

Interesting. But if this is the long-run plan I'd assume there's been some public discussion about it?

If I was an anti-center gathouse employee or school board member, I would never openly say "I want to get rid of centers eventually" because of the potential backlash. But that wouldn't keep me from wanting to get rid of centers eventually or supporting plans that support that goal like LLIV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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.

Right- your reason for buying in a lower performing school was to go on more vacations. That poster was asking about going to a lower performing school to try to game the system for a better chance to get into AAP.

While I personally wouldn’t gamble w/ my kids’ educational opportunities by betting on AAP acceptance at a lower performing school, clearly it was worth it to you for vacations and ultimately worked out.

Give it a rest.

Agree that's not much of a gamble. Outcomes have more to do with parents and home life than specific schools. The same kid would do about the same at any of these schools. Only real estate agents push this silly myth about good and bad schools.

There are definitely bad schools out there, just look at DCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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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

Interesting. We're new to FCPS after a temp assignment in overseas so my kids are fluent in Spanish after just a couple of years. But word on the street was specifically to not mention any Spanish at registration otherwise you are treated as ESOL and have to go to some testing center for an evaluation to see if your kids need ESOL classes. This would certainly complicate the process when moving from out of the country..

Aren't you asked directly if the child speaks another language?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It is not on the horizon in the sense it has not been announced or anything. However, the recent plan to suddenly introduce local level iv at all schools is still underway (has been done as a phased in approach).

One has to question why suddenly do LLIV at all ESes while still maintaining centers?

The most obvious and logical reason is once each school had LLIV established, centers can then be abolished. Hence the speculation and some people thinking this is on the horizon, if unspoken thus far.

This would require a lot of redistricting and people would be so pissed about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It is not on the horizon in the sense it has not been announced or anything. However, the recent plan to suddenly introduce local level iv at all schools is still underway (has been done as a phased in approach).

One has to question why suddenly do LLIV at all ESes while still maintaining centers?

The most obvious and logical reason is once each school had LLIV established, centers can then be abolished. Hence the speculation and some people thinking this is on the horizon, if unspoken thus far.

This would require a lot of redistricting and people would be so pissed about it.

Not so sure. There's no need for centers if they have LLIV at every school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It is not on the horizon in the sense it has not been announced or anything. However, the recent plan to suddenly introduce local level iv at all schools is still underway (has been done as a phased in approach).

One has to question why suddenly do LLIV at all ESes while still maintaining centers?

The most obvious and logical reason is once each school had LLIV established, centers can then be abolished. Hence the speculation and some people thinking this is on the horizon, if unspoken thus far.

This would require a lot of redistricting and people would be so pissed about it.

Not so sure. There's no need for centers if they have LLIV at every school.

DP. That's not how math works. If the students currently at the centers all stay at their base schools, then the base schools will have too many students and the former center schools will have too few. So massive redistricting would be required to fix this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both our kids have gone through AAP we're all very happy with it. It helped that their school has LLIV (which they and all their friends picked over the center).

We didn't "prep" them or anything although I do feel like the application process tests the parents' writing ability more than anything about the kids. And I'm not a big fan of the requirement that the recommendations come from a non-FCPS employee - because that means it will come from somebody providing private math or music lessons, etc. So that gives a leg up to kids whose families can afford stuff like that. Plus it's a bit of a conflict of interest to ask somebody that you pay on a weekly or monthly basis to write an honest letter about your kid when this person would obviously like to continue to be paid on a weekly or monthly basis.

Wait what?

We wrote nothing and our daughter is in AAP and gets enrichment. The letter we got showed lots of different paths to qualify. We definitely did not write letters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just a friendly note to parents who feel icky about prepping for the the CogAT and NNAT. By virtue of the fact that the tests are trainable (extremely trainable) they are not really reliable indicators of native intelligence. So, you should not feel like you are gaming an intelligence test because they are absolutely not at all reliable or good as intelligence tests. I have personally trained above average kids to perform on these tests as if they were geniuses. Prep your kid if that's what's going to help you sleep at night if AAP is that important to you.

Only intelligence tests administered in a clinical setting by a licensed professional are reliable.

Not true. These tests are not different in kind from IQ tests (I am a researcher who has administered IQ tests to children). Matrix reasoning, for example, appears on these tests in some form and is an index of fluid intelligence. IQ as indexed by IQ tests is trainable, but that's not going to transfer broadly to other indices of IQ. Verbal knowledge is also tested in IQ tests and of course that's trainable, just as you can practice matrix reasoning. There's likely a limit to improvements made by practicing items but to the extent that you can improve your score by training, why not? It shows you and your kid are highly motivated, can learn, and these things are likely well correlated with success in AAP and beyond.

It is true that a highly intelligent person completing these tests with no prep would get a result that is a better measure of something like IQ (although they may have been partly "prepped" by a life of privilege and enrichment). But ultimately what matters is what the tests tell others about likely success in an advanced program. What evidence is there that prepping leads to kids being ill prepared for advanced work in AAP?

There is nothing magical about a licensed clinician administering an IQ test.

When we appealed, we had DC take the WISC privately. It helped bolster their case and they were admitted.

This widely used tactic is often successful. Wear them down by repeatedly appealing.

[Anonymous]

Anyone who really wants to get into AAP can get in.