GT/Selected kids

[Anonymous]

A friend of mine did pull her kid out of AAP about mid-way through the year. He handled the work just fine, he missed his friends too much and really wanted to go back to regular classes. His teachers work with him to keep him interested and he's doing fine of course.

[Anonymous]

Of course!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP: The idea of the GBRS is that the teachers and schools should know what to look for. How the child approaches the problem is as important as the answer at this age. Creativity is hard to measure, but critical for the AAP.

Personally, I would not have a problem with the GBRS if teachers were good identifiers of giftedness. Did you know that teachers only identify giftedness about 20% of the time? Parents recognize it about 90% of the time. Perhaps the parents should be completing the GBRS and the county taking more stock in that assessment?

My DD scored a 146 on the NNAT and we have had her WISC-IV performed. She is considered intellectually gifted per the psychologist. However, her teachers (AART included) initially tried to tell me that she was not gifted before testing was performed. School finally agreed she was gfted after testing was conducted, but not performing. Turns out my DD was so turned off by FCPS this past year that she was completely shutting down. She was BORED in general ed. despite teacher telling me DD was not bored. If her teachers were to complete the GBRS, I am confident she would not have scored high. Mid year we moved my DD to private gifted school. We have a completely different child and it was the best decision that we ever made - even an FCPS teacher saw an amazing difference. My DD needed an accelerated program, but had we left her to FCPS she might have missed out on the AAP program because of the GBRS aspect.

We are dealing with the same thing for our daughter. We have noticed she is shutting dow n in gen ed and comes home so frustrated. They have done the same thing in math for 3 weeks and she mastered in the first week but becuase not everyone has ithe concepts the teacher keeps going over it. We have struggled with her being bored since Kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Im not on any committee to choose who gets in and who doesnt but we did just have our DD get selected for AAP. My guess is what seems mostly overlooked on this board is whether or not the parents of kids who were automatically in the pool submitted the extra work samples and filled out the questionaire. The selection committee probably puts a lot of weight on this with the mindset that the parents are committed are cared enough about it to take the time to put the package together. Yes its optional but those who dont are directly competing with those who did and it does say a lot. So if your child gets good grades and did well on the tests but did not get in, you should not necessarily point the finger at the school or the process but at yourselves.

We didn't submit anything at all for my daughter. We didn't even fill out the parent form and she got in. Our School GT teacher (I can't remember what they call them now) told us that it wasn't necessary to submit anything because they didn't pay too much attention to them. After all, you can't prove it is their work. etc......I did mean to submit the parent form, but the huge snow storm hit right around the time it was due, and I never got it out. Anyway, she got in with no need to appeal and has done excellent.

[Anonymous]

I filled out the questionnaire, because it was the one chance the committee would hear from me before their decision. I kept the answers concise and gave a specific example of dc's behavior for each questions. I did not do work samples from home---kept those back in case of appeal and because my dc's teacher told me she had lots of good stuff to send in. DC got in with no issues.

[Anonymous]

My kid's first grade teacher told me over a year ago to start saving dc's work from home. She told me that in her opinion, dc was looking like a great candidate for the AAP program. So, when dc did something on paper that surprised me, into the box it went instead of the recycle bin. We didn't need the box for appeal, and it's fun to look through it and see dc's progress over that year.

[Anonymous]

2 problems - not transparent process, too much based on teacher opinions. All involved teachers gossip together and form opinions. The extra public money should be spent on raising standards for all instead of kids/parents that some how have a rapport with the teachers. Process should be more on objective criteria - tests or grades, instead of teachers interpretation of kid behaviors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 problems - not transparent process, too much based on teacher opinions.

Seems pretty transparent to me with all of the information posted on the FCPA website and certainly not "too much based" on teacher opinions.

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

How important are the test scores in determining eligibility for full-time AAP (level IV) center placement?
Test scores are just one piece of data considered when a file is reviewed for full-time AAP (level IV) center placement. The Level IV Center Central Selection Committee, made up of FCPS teachers, specialists, and administrators, considers multiple criteria, including: the Gifted Behaviors Rating Scale (GBRS), ability and achievement test scores, work samples, student progress reports, and other optional information such as the Parent/Guardian Questionnaire (available at http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/forms.shtml).

[Anonymous]

^^FCPS website

[Anonymous]

Also, what extra money? AAP costs minimal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, what extra money? AAP costs minimal.

There is no extra money other than transportation costs. These kids are in very full classrooms. It makes no difference cost wise whether they occupy a seat in an AAP classroom or a gen ed classroom.

[Anonymous]

The process is so thorough with so many checks and balances. It's bureaucratic in the best meaning of the term. If you don't score in, you can parent refer. If one table of the screening committee rejects an applicant, it goes to another table for a second look. If you don't get in, you can appeal. It's amazing how many chances are given. And, as PP said, the website is so thorough --there's so much information up there if people would refer to the website or their AART instead of posting questions on here!

[Anonymous]

ITA. The county does an amazing job with this. The parents get crazy. But the county is fair . . . a personal reference from Obama would not distract the committee from"the big three" . . . test scores, GBRS, grades.

[Anonymous]

I do agree that there are checks and balances. However, I strongly feel these checks and balances are heavily weighted towards those who can afford to get outside testing done.

[Anonymous]

don't agree. the county paid for 2 tests and if your child does well on them you don't need any additional testing. the only people who are going to look into outside testing on those on the fringe.