Why won't FCPS kick kids out of AAP or re-evaluate them annually?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm under no delusions my child is "gifted". We worked hard on a parent packet to get him into AAP partially because AAP classrooms have less distractions, move faster, and cover a larger depth of materials. More importantly, as poor and elitist as it sounds, the peer groups tend to be better.

He's not falling behind, but he's not the smartest kid at his table either. I'm fully aware there are just as qualified kids as him in General Ed that could be swapped out with no difference.

All that to say, OP, stay away from your silly ideas that I'd have to re-qualify every year! It was stressful enough the first time, and kid (and parents) don't need the added hardship year to year! Also imagine the social implications of being relegated... Ouch!

This is such a terrible argument! If you admit that any other kid could swap in with yours, and that the environment is better, why would you think you can lay claim to a spot?

I didn't say it was fair. I asked that you stay away from all these "silly" ideas! I selfishly don't want to have to go through that process again and get lucky each and every year. If my child was kicked out, I'd be raising up a storm of litigation.

To be fair, if FCPS were to kick kids out of AAP or re-evaluate, they wouldn't force parents to go through another entire application process. That would be too large of a time sink for too little gain. It's more likely that kids scoring below a specific SOL threshold (maybe 480) would be booted or at least re-assessed.

There is

I think the fair thing would be SOLs both above 500 puts a kid in and below a certain threshold pushes them out. The kids in advanced math already have the pressure to score high to stay in, so FCPS doesn't really mind doing that to kids

Teacher here. I disagree with this. If a kid has an off day they shouldn’t be kicked out. Also SOLs are very teacher dependent. My adv math class last year there were only 4 pass advance. After having me my pass adv rate was 80 percent.

I think sticking a label on a kid in 2nd grade and locking out kids that maybe had a bad day in 2nd grade and giving social promotion to kids that got parent referred in seems a bit unfair.

Right? What is that teacher talking about? AAP is largely decided by a test taken on a single day by a 7 or 8 year old kid. I guess being kicked out is just infinitely worse than being told from the jump you’re not worthy in some people’s eyes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm under no delusions my child is "gifted". We worked hard on a parent packet to get him into AAP partially because AAP classrooms have less distractions, move faster, and cover a larger depth of materials. More importantly, as poor and elitist as it sounds, the peer groups tend to be better.

He's not falling behind, but he's not the smartest kid at his table either. I'm fully aware there are just as qualified kids as him in General Ed that could be swapped out with no difference.

All that to say, OP, stay away from your silly ideas that I'd have to re-qualify every year! It was stressful enough the first time, and kid (and parents) don't need the added hardship year to year! Also imagine the social implications of being relegated... Ouch!

This is such a terrible argument! If you admit that any other kid could swap in with yours, and that the environment is better, why would you think you can lay claim to a spot?

I didn't say it was fair. I asked that you stay away from all these "silly" ideas! I selfishly don't want to have to go through that process again and get lucky each and every year. If my child was kicked out, I'd be raising up a storm of litigation.

To be fair, if FCPS were to kick kids out of AAP or re-evaluate, they wouldn't force parents to go through another entire application process. That would be too large of a time sink for too little gain. It's more likely that kids scoring below a specific SOL threshold (maybe 480) would be booted or at least re-assessed.

There is

I think the fair thing would be SOLs both above 500 puts a kid in and below a certain threshold pushes them out. The kids in advanced math already have the pressure to score high to stay in, so FCPS doesn't really mind doing that to kids

Teacher here. I disagree with this. If a kid has an off day they shouldn’t be kicked out. Also SOLs are very teacher dependent. My adv math class last year there were only 4 pass advance. After having me my pass adv rate was 80 percent.

I think sticking a label on a kid in 2nd grade and locking out kids that maybe had a bad day in 2nd grade and giving social promotion to kids that got parent referred in seems a bit unfair.

Right? What is that teacher talking about? AAP is largely decided by a test taken on a single day by a 7 or 8 year old kid. I guess being kicked out is just infinitely worse than being told from the jump you’re not worthy in some people’s eyes.

You are several years out of date. The test scores are no longer highly weighted in the process of evaluating children. The HOPE scores are much more important and they do not depend upon one good or bad day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm under no delusions my child is "gifted". We worked hard on a parent packet to get him into AAP partially because AAP classrooms have less distractions, move faster, and cover a larger depth of materials. More importantly, as poor and elitist as it sounds, the peer groups tend to be better.

He's not falling behind, but he's not the smartest kid at his table either. I'm fully aware there are just as qualified kids as him in General Ed that could be swapped out with no difference.

All that to say, OP, stay away from your silly ideas that I'd have to re-qualify every year! It was stressful enough the first time, and kid (and parents) don't need the added hardship year to year! Also imagine the social implications of being relegated... Ouch!

This is such a terrible argument! If you admit that any other kid could swap in with yours, and that the environment is better, why would you think you can lay claim to a spot?

I didn't say it was fair. I asked that you stay away from all these "silly" ideas! I selfishly don't want to have to go through that process again and get lucky each and every year. If my child was kicked out, I'd be raising up a storm of litigation.

To be fair, if FCPS were to kick kids out of AAP or re-evaluate, they wouldn't force parents to go through another entire application process. That would be too large of a time sink for too little gain. It's more likely that kids scoring below a specific SOL threshold (maybe 480) would be booted or at least re-assessed.

There is

I think the fair thing would be SOLs both above 500 puts a kid in and below a certain threshold pushes them out. The kids in advanced math already have the pressure to score high to stay in, so FCPS doesn't really mind doing that to kids

Teacher here. I disagree with this. If a kid has an off day they shouldn’t be kicked out. Also SOLs are very teacher dependent. My adv math class last year there were only 4 pass advance. After having me my pass adv rate was 80 percent.

I think sticking a label on a kid in 2nd grade and locking out kids that maybe had a bad day in 2nd grade and giving social promotion to kids that got parent referred in seems a bit unfair.

Right? What is that teacher talking about? AAP is largely decided by a test taken on a single day by a 7 or 8 year old kid. I guess being kicked out is just infinitely worse than being told from the jump you’re not worthy in some people’s eyes.

You are several years out of date. The test scores are no longer highly weighted in the process of evaluating children. The HOPE scores are much more important and they do not depend upon one good or bad day.

But they do for the pool, and not all parents really understand the benefits of applying. I know for my first DC I never thought to apply because I thought the teacher would tell me if I should...lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm under no delusions my child is "gifted". We worked hard on a parent packet to get him into AAP partially because AAP classrooms have less distractions, move faster, and cover a larger depth of materials. More importantly, as poor and elitist as it sounds, the peer groups tend to be better.

He's not falling behind, but he's not the smartest kid at his table either. I'm fully aware there are just as qualified kids as him in General Ed that could be swapped out with no difference.

All that to say, OP, stay away from your silly ideas that I'd have to re-qualify every year! It was stressful enough the first time, and kid (and parents) don't need the added hardship year to year! Also imagine the social implications of being relegated... Ouch!

This is such a terrible argument! If you admit that any other kid could swap in with yours, and that the environment is better, why would you think you can lay claim to a spot?

I didn't say it was fair. I asked that you stay away from all these "silly" ideas! I selfishly don't want to have to go through that process again and get lucky each and every year. If my child was kicked out, I'd be raising up a storm of litigation.

To be fair, if FCPS were to kick kids out of AAP or re-evaluate, they wouldn't force parents to go through another entire application process. That would be too large of a time sink for too little gain. It's more likely that kids scoring below a specific SOL threshold (maybe 480) would be booted or at least re-assessed.

There is

I think the fair thing would be SOLs both above 500 puts a kid in and below a certain threshold pushes them out. The kids in advanced math already have the pressure to score high to stay in, so FCPS doesn't really mind doing that to kids

Teacher here. I disagree with this. If a kid has an off day they shouldn’t be kicked out. Also SOLs are very teacher dependent. My adv math class last year there were only 4 pass advance. After having me my pass adv rate was 80 percent.

I think sticking a label on a kid in 2nd grade and locking out kids that maybe had a bad day in 2nd grade and giving social promotion to kids that got parent referred in seems a bit unfair.

Right? What is that teacher talking about? AAP is largely decided by a test taken on a single day by a 7 or 8 year old kid. I guess being kicked out is just infinitely worse than being told from the jump you’re not worthy in some people’s eyes.

You are several years out of date. The test scores are no longer highly weighted in the process of evaluating children. The HOPE scores are much more important and they do not depend upon one good or bad day.

This. I actually agree with the teacher. Scores below a specific threshold shouldn't lead to the kid automatically being kicked out. Instead, if a kid gets a low score, then grades, iready scores, and the teacher's view of the kid should additionally be considered when determining whether gen ed would be a more appropriate placement.

FCPS has really made advanced placement overly complicated. There are 3 important factors: test scores, achievement (iready and SOL) scores, and teacher's view. If the kid checks the box in two out of the three, they should be in. If they're already in AAP, but can't check either the achievement box or the teacher's recommendation box, they should be removed. There's no need for a bloated process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm under no delusions my child is "gifted". We worked hard on a parent packet to get him into AAP partially because AAP classrooms have less distractions, move faster, and cover a larger depth of materials. More importantly, as poor and elitist as it sounds, the peer groups tend to be better.

He's not falling behind, but he's not the smartest kid at his table either. I'm fully aware there are just as qualified kids as him in General Ed that could be swapped out with no difference.

All that to say, OP, stay away from your silly ideas that I'd have to re-qualify every year! It was stressful enough the first time, and kid (and parents) don't need the added hardship year to year! Also imagine the social implications of being relegated... Ouch!

This is such a terrible argument! If you admit that any other kid could swap in with yours, and that the environment is better, why would you think you can lay claim to a spot?

I didn't say it was fair. I asked that you stay away from all these "silly" ideas! I selfishly don't want to have to go through that process again and get lucky each and every year. If my child was kicked out, I'd be raising up a storm of litigation.

To be fair, if FCPS were to kick kids out of AAP or re-evaluate, they wouldn't force parents to go through another entire application process. That would be too large of a time sink for too little gain. It's more likely that kids scoring below a specific SOL threshold (maybe 480) would be booted or at least re-assessed.

I think the fair thing would be SOLs both above 500 puts a kid in and below a certain threshold pushes them out. The kids in advanced math already have the pressure to score high to stay in, so FCPS doesn't really mind doing that to kids

Putting aside the logical fallacy of standardized tests not being a good measure for entry, but being an excellent measure of exit for a minute…

I don’t love the AAP program as it exists, because I don’t think it’s actually meeting the needs of the kids who need advanced education, but since it does exist, I’m all for having on-ramps and off-ramps.

Having said that, the issue becomes the accelerated math. Elementary AAP covers 1.5 years of math in a school year, which means the SOLs don’t align with grade level after 4th grade. For example, my kid was in 5th grade last year, but took the 6th grade math SOL (and scored “pass-advanced”, since we are using that metric to determine what is “advanced”). You can’t take a General Education kid who scored “pass-advanced” on the 5th grade math SOL and drop him into 7th grade math and expect him to thrive without the additional tutoring to catch him up…which this board condemns.

Likewise, you can’t take an AAP kid who didn’t score “pass-advanced” on the 6th grade math SOL when he was in 5th grade and say he isn’t “advanced”, since he is already working a grade level ahead.

It would make sense to take kids who are failing the SOL and drop them back to general education for that subject (so if you didn’t pass sixth grade math in fifth grade, you take it again in sixth grade), but I imagine there are not a ton of kids in the AAP program who are truly failing. Just kids who at one measured point in time did a smidge better than OP’s kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm under no delusions my child is "gifted". We worked hard on a parent packet to get him into AAP partially because AAP classrooms have less distractions, move faster, and cover a larger depth of materials. More importantly, as poor and elitist as it sounds, the peer groups tend to be better.

He's not falling behind, but he's not the smartest kid at his table either. I'm fully aware there are just as qualified kids as him in General Ed that could be swapped out with no difference.

All that to say, OP, stay away from your silly ideas that I'd have to re-qualify every year! It was stressful enough the first time, and kid (and parents) don't need the added hardship year to year! Also imagine the social implications of being relegated... Ouch!

This is such a terrible argument! If you admit that any other kid could swap in with yours, and that the environment is better, why would you think you can lay claim to a spot?

I didn't say it was fair. I asked that you stay away from all these "silly" ideas! I selfishly don't want to have to go through that process again and get lucky each and every year. If my child was kicked out, I'd be raising up a storm of litigation.

To be fair, if FCPS were to kick kids out of AAP or re-evaluate, they wouldn't force parents to go through another entire application process. That would be too large of a time sink for too little gain. It's more likely that kids scoring below a specific SOL threshold (maybe 480) would be booted or at least re-assessed.

There is

I think the fair thing would be SOLs both above 500 puts a kid in and below a certain threshold pushes them out. The kids in advanced math already have the pressure to score high to stay in, so FCPS doesn't really mind doing that to kids

Teacher here. I disagree with this. If a kid has an off day they shouldn’t be kicked out. Also SOLs are very teacher dependent. My adv math class last year there were only 4 pass advance. After having me my pass adv rate was 80 percent.

I think sticking a label on a kid in 2nd grade and locking out kids that maybe had a bad day in 2nd grade and giving social promotion to kids that got parent referred in seems a bit unfair.

Nobody is locked out, you can reapply every year. I have no idea what “social promotion” nonsense you’re referring to in the AAP program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm under no delusions my child is "gifted". We worked hard on a parent packet to get him into AAP partially because AAP classrooms have less distractions, move faster, and cover a larger depth of materials. More importantly, as poor and elitist as it sounds, the peer groups tend to be better.

He's not falling behind, but he's not the smartest kid at his table either. I'm fully aware there are just as qualified kids as him in General Ed that could be swapped out with no difference.

All that to say, OP, stay away from your silly ideas that I'd have to re-qualify every year! It was stressful enough the first time, and kid (and parents) don't need the added hardship year to year! Also imagine the social implications of being relegated... Ouch!

This is such a terrible argument! If you admit that any other kid could swap in with yours, and that the environment is better, why would you think you can lay claim to a spot?

I didn't say it was fair. I asked that you stay away from all these "silly" ideas! I selfishly don't want to have to go through that process again and get lucky each and every year. If my child was kicked out, I'd be raising up a storm of litigation.

To be fair, if FCPS were to kick kids out of AAP or re-evaluate, they wouldn't force parents to go through another entire application process. That would be too large of a time sink for too little gain. It's more likely that kids scoring below a specific SOL threshold (maybe 480) would be booted or at least re-assessed.

I think the fair thing would be SOLs both above 500 puts a kid in and below a certain threshold pushes them out. The kids in advanced math already have the pressure to score high to stay in, so FCPS doesn't really mind doing that to kids

Putting aside the logical fallacy of standardized tests not being a good measure for entry, but being an excellent measure of exit for a minute…

I don’t love the AAP program as it exists, because I don’t think it’s actually meeting the needs of the kids who need advanced education, but since it does exist, I’m all for having on-ramps and off-ramps.

Having said that, the issue becomes the accelerated math. Elementary AAP covers 1.5 years of math in a school year, which means the SOLs don’t align with grade level after 4th grade. For example, my kid was in 5th grade last year, but took the 6th grade math SOL (and scored “pass-advanced”, since we are using that metric to determine what is “advanced”). You can’t take a General Education kid who scored “pass-advanced” on the 5th grade math SOL and drop him into 7th grade math and expect him to thrive without the additional tutoring to catch him up…which this board condemns.

Likewise, you can’t take an AAP kid who didn’t score “pass-advanced” on the 6th grade math SOL when he was in 5th grade and say he isn’t “advanced”, since he is already working a grade level ahead.

It would make sense to take kids who are failing the SOL and drop them back to general education for that subject (so if you didn’t pass sixth grade math in fifth grade, you take it again in sixth grade), but I imagine there are not a ton of kids in the AAP program who are truly failing. Just kids who at one measured point in time did a smidge better than OP’s kid.

Only because they are AAP. You can do that to a kid who pushes in for advanced math. The kids pushing into advanced math know it and take tests seriously

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm under no delusions my child is "gifted". We worked hard on a parent packet to get him into AAP partially because AAP classrooms have less distractions, move faster, and cover a larger depth of materials. More importantly, as poor and elitist as it sounds, the peer groups tend to be better.

He's not falling behind, but he's not the smartest kid at his table either. I'm fully aware there are just as qualified kids as him in General Ed that could be swapped out with no difference.

All that to say, OP, stay away from your silly ideas that I'd have to re-qualify every year! It was stressful enough the first time, and kid (and parents) don't need the added hardship year to year! Also imagine the social implications of being relegated... Ouch!

This is such a terrible argument! If you admit that any other kid could swap in with yours, and that the environment is better, why would you think you can lay claim to a spot?

I didn't say it was fair. I asked that you stay away from all these "silly" ideas! I selfishly don't want to have to go through that process again and get lucky each and every year. If my child was kicked out, I'd be raising up a storm of litigation.

To be fair, if FCPS were to kick kids out of AAP or re-evaluate, they wouldn't force parents to go through another entire application process. That would be too large of a time sink for too little gain. It's more likely that kids scoring below a specific SOL threshold (maybe 480) would be booted or at least re-assessed.

There is

I think the fair thing would be SOLs both above 500 puts a kid in and below a certain threshold pushes them out. The kids in advanced math already have the pressure to score high to stay in, so FCPS doesn't really mind doing that to kids

Teacher here. I disagree with this. If a kid has an off day they shouldn’t be kicked out. Also SOLs are very teacher dependent. My adv math class last year there were only 4 pass advance. After having me my pass adv rate was 80 percent.

I think sticking a label on a kid in 2nd grade and locking out kids that maybe had a bad day in 2nd grade and giving social promotion to kids that got parent referred in seems a bit unfair.

Nobody is locked out, you can reapply every year. I have no idea what “social promotion” nonsense you’re referring to in the AAP program.

I'm curious what the stats are on how many families apply every year until they get in.
...and at what point it's less worth it because the kid ends up skipping quite a bit of math

[Anonymous]

They don’t skip a year of math until 5th. In 5th, AAP math covers 5-6 curriculum and in 6th, they’re taking 7th grade math. I’ve known quite a few people who started pushing into level IV math in 6th. It wasn’t a seamless transition but they did it. By middle school it’s pointless for some b/c of honors course offerings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Having said that, the issue becomes the accelerated math. Elementary AAP covers 1.5 years of math in a school year, which means the SOLs don’t align with grade level after 4th grade. For example, my kid was in 5th grade last year, but took the 6th grade math SOL (and scored “pass-advanced”, since we are using that metric to determine what is “advanced”). You can’t take a General Education kid who scored “pass-advanced” on the 5th grade math SOL and drop him into 7th grade math and expect him to thrive without the additional tutoring to catch him up…which this board condemns.

Likewise, you can’t take an AAP kid who didn’t score “pass-advanced” on the 6th grade math SOL when he was in 5th grade and say he isn’t “advanced”, since he is already working a grade level ahead.

The bolded is untrue. My kid's gen ed advanced math class had kids jump up from regular math in 5th grade or even in 6th grade. They were fine. The math curriculum spirals a lot. Kids who score pass advanced on the SOL are showing that they have enough mastery that they do not need another spiral of the material. A few kids took regular math in 5th grade, scored pass advanced in 5th, and then jumped to advanced math (7th grade math) in 6th. Did they qualify for Algebra in 7th? No. Did they do fine with 6th grade advanced math, and were they well prepared for M7H in 7th? Absolutely!

For your second point, if a 5th grader took the 6th grade math SOL and did poorly (failed or even less than a 450), it is likely that FCPS policies would not allow that kid to drop down to regular and essentially repeat 6th grade math the next year. It would probably be in the child's best interests to repeat the year of math, if FCPS allowed, since there's no point in "being advanced" if the kid doesn't have adequate mastery of the material.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wouldn't this weed out the kids who were prepped in? My kid is definitely in classes with kids who don't belong in AAP but because they don't get counseled out or reevaluated annually, they're just stuck there and it's (a) hard for those kids and (b) annoying for the truly advanced kids who they are holding behind.

I feel sorry for your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm under no delusions my child is "gifted". We worked hard on a parent packet to get him into AAP partially because AAP classrooms have less distractions, move faster, and cover a larger depth of materials. More importantly, as poor and elitist as it sounds, the peer groups tend to be better.

He's not falling behind, but he's not the smartest kid at his table either. I'm fully aware there are just as qualified kids as him in General Ed that could be swapped out with no difference.

All that to say, OP, stay away from your silly ideas that I'd have to re-qualify every year! It was stressful enough the first time, and kid (and parents) don't need the added hardship year to year! Also imagine the social implications of being relegated... Ouch!

This is such a terrible argument! If you admit that any other kid could swap in with yours, and that the environment is better, why would you think you can lay claim to a spot?

I didn't say it was fair. I asked that you stay away from all these "silly" ideas! I selfishly don't want to have to go through that process again and get lucky each and every year. If my child was kicked out, I'd be raising up a storm of litigation.

To be fair, if FCPS were to kick kids out of AAP or re-evaluate, they wouldn't force parents to go through another entire application process. That would be too large of a time sink for too little gain. It's more likely that kids scoring below a specific SOL threshold (maybe 480) would be booted or at least re-assessed.

There is

I think the fair thing would be SOLs both above 500 puts a kid in and below a certain threshold pushes them out. The kids in advanced math already have the pressure to score high to stay in, so FCPS doesn't really mind doing that to kids

Teacher here. I disagree with this. If a kid has an off day they shouldn’t be kicked out. Also SOLs are very teacher dependent. My adv math class last year there were only 4 pass advance. After having me my pass adv rate was 80 percent.

I think sticking a label on a kid in 2nd grade and locking out kids that maybe had a bad day in 2nd grade and giving social promotion to kids that got parent referred in seems a bit unfair.

Right? What is that teacher talking about? AAP is largely decided by a test taken on a single day by a 7 or 8 year old kid. I guess being kicked out is just infinitely worse than being told from the jump you’re not worthy in some people’s eyes.

You are several years out of date. The test scores are no longer highly weighted in the process of evaluating children. The HOPE scores are much more important and they do not depend upon one good or bad day.

I don’t know what the HOPE scores are, but in my day if your kid wasn’t in-pool based on test scores (maybe a bad day), then the parents had to apply. That application was heavily reliant upon work samples. So many parents either 1) didn’t know they could apply, 2) didn’t know that they were supposed to have have been saving their little kid’s “work samples” (because what sane person would?), or 3) didn’t understand that other kids’ “work samples” were ultimately just mommy’s work (think Pam and her thank you sketches).

I would hope that it no longer works this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm under no delusions my child is "gifted". We worked hard on a parent packet to get him into AAP partially because AAP classrooms have less distractions, move faster, and cover a larger depth of materials. More importantly, as poor and elitist as it sounds, the peer groups tend to be better.

He's not falling behind, but he's not the smartest kid at his table either. I'm fully aware there are just as qualified kids as him in General Ed that could be swapped out with no difference.

All that to say, OP, stay away from your silly ideas that I'd have to re-qualify every year! It was stressful enough the first time, and kid (and parents) don't need the added hardship year to year! Also imagine the social implications of being relegated... Ouch!

This is such a terrible argument! If you admit that any other kid could swap in with yours, and that the environment is better, why would you think you can lay claim to a spot?

I didn't say it was fair. I asked that you stay away from all these "silly" ideas! I selfishly don't want to have to go through that process again and get lucky each and every year. If my child was kicked out, I'd be raising up a storm of litigation.

To be fair, if FCPS were to kick kids out of AAP or re-evaluate, they wouldn't force parents to go through another entire application process. That would be too large of a time sink for too little gain. It's more likely that kids scoring below a specific SOL threshold (maybe 480) would be booted or at least re-assessed.

There is

I think the fair thing would be SOLs both above 500 puts a kid in and below a certain threshold pushes them out. The kids in advanced math already have the pressure to score high to stay in, so FCPS doesn't really mind doing that to kids

Teacher here. I disagree with this. If a kid has an off day they shouldn’t be kicked out. Also SOLs are very teacher dependent. My adv math class last year there were only 4 pass advance. After having me my pass adv rate was 80 percent.

I think sticking a label on a kid in 2nd grade and locking out kids that maybe had a bad day in 2nd grade and giving social promotion to kids that got parent referred in seems a bit unfair.

Right? What is that teacher talking about? AAP is largely decided by a test taken on a single day by a 7 or 8 year old kid. I guess being kicked out is just infinitely worse than being told from the jump you’re not worthy in some people’s eyes.

You are several years out of date. The test scores are no longer highly weighted in the process of evaluating children. The HOPE scores are much more important and they do not depend upon one good or bad day.

This. I actually agree with the teacher. Scores below a specific threshold shouldn't lead to the kid automatically being kicked out. Instead, if a kid gets a low score, then grades, iready scores, and the teacher's view of the kid should additionally be considered when determining whether gen ed would be a more appropriate placement.

FCPS has really made advanced placement overly complicated. There are 3 important factors: test scores, achievement (iready and SOL) scores, and teacher's view. If the kid checks the box in two out of the three, they should be in. If they're already in AAP, but can't check either the achievement box or the teacher's recommendation box, they should be removed. There's no need for a bloated process.

If the hope score will get a low tester in and keep a high tester out, then why bother with the test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm under no delusions my child is "gifted". We worked hard on a parent packet to get him into AAP partially because AAP classrooms have less distractions, move faster, and cover a larger depth of materials. More importantly, as poor and elitist as it sounds, the peer groups tend to be better.

He's not falling behind, but he's not the smartest kid at his table either. I'm fully aware there are just as qualified kids as him in General Ed that could be swapped out with no difference.

All that to say, OP, stay away from your silly ideas that I'd have to re-qualify every year! It was stressful enough the first time, and kid (and parents) don't need the added hardship year to year! Also imagine the social implications of being relegated... Ouch!

This is such a terrible argument! If you admit that any other kid could swap in with yours, and that the environment is better, why would you think you can lay claim to a spot?

I didn't say it was fair. I asked that you stay away from all these "silly" ideas! I selfishly don't want to have to go through that process again and get lucky each and every year. If my child was kicked out, I'd be raising up a storm of litigation.

To be fair, if FCPS were to kick kids out of AAP or re-evaluate, they wouldn't force parents to go through another entire application process. That would be too large of a time sink for too little gain. It's more likely that kids scoring below a specific SOL threshold (maybe 480) would be booted or at least re-assessed.

There is

I think the fair thing would be SOLs both above 500 puts a kid in and below a certain threshold pushes them out. The kids in advanced math already have the pressure to score high to stay in, so FCPS doesn't really mind doing that to kids

Teacher here. I disagree with this. If a kid has an off day they shouldn’t be kicked out. Also SOLs are very teacher dependent. My adv math class last year there were only 4 pass advance. After having me my pass adv rate was 80 percent.

I think sticking a label on a kid in 2nd grade and locking out kids that maybe had a bad day in 2nd grade and giving social promotion to kids that got parent referred in seems a bit unfair.

Nobody is locked out, you can reapply every year. I have no idea what “social promotion” nonsense you’re referring to in the AAP program.

Just because you don't understand doesn't make it nonsense. Social promotion is letting kids coast along academically despite not meeting metrics.

[Anonymous]

Hilarious to acknowledge and recognize that a significant number of the AAP ES end up at JMU with my kid.