Bad News for Test Prep Parents

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10/22/2013 08:09

Subject: Bad News for Test Prep Parents

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Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Definitely true at our center. So many kids have been "bumped up" to AAP over the past year (due to parent appeals), that the GE classes have dwindled significantly. It's really becoming ridiculous that AAP kids now far outnumber GE in our 4th grade. Anyone who appeals can get their child in, making AAP pretty much meaningless for the kids who are at the highest end of the spectrum, and making GE very unappealing for the others. Several kids at our school have left for privates, rather than get stuck in GE where up to a third of the class are special needs. I thought GE was where the majority of kids were supposed to be educated. Something is very skewed with the current system.

Who told you that anyone who appeals can get their kids in? I know many parents (especially this year) who did not manage to "get their kids in" on appeal. In my DS's school (Center), the appeals round generated only a handful of new entries (single-digit), and those few who made it in on appeal had fantastic WISC scores. The ones who had just good WISC scores, stayed at GE. Actually, the AAPRT herself told us that the kids who get in on appeal usually do better at AAP than the ones who get in during the first round, because the appeals kids are doubled-screened (NNAT/CogAT plus WISC). Without a great WISC score no one makes it on appeal. So, it's not the appeals that overcrowd the AAP classes, it's the helicopter parents who work the teachers to get their kids high GBRSs and usually make it in the first round. For the record, DS made it in the first round with good scores and decent GBRS, but his best friend, a highly talented boy with high scores but low GBRS, had to submit a stellar WISC to get in. According to DS, his friend's now doing much better than anyone else in his class...

Actually PP it is my experience with 4 siblings with families within FCPS (yes, we are one of those big, stay put families) that the majority of the parents who appeal DO get their kids in. Between all of us combined with the people we know there is evidence of this fully. Countless examples of successful parent appeals over the years. AAP is not nearly the academically exclusive program that it was in my day regardless of what it was called then and is called now.

Those who actually appeal are usually the ones with a strong WISC to submit. Those who even shell out $400 for their child to take the WISC are the ones with a strong conviction and reason to believe that their child will do well. If the child has always been average in school, and with average NNAT and CogAT, why would parents bother with the time and expense? The appealers are a self-selected group. Parents who took their child for a WISC and learned FSIQ was 115 probably did not advertise the fact or send the scores in.

+1000

Actually, if you check threads on WISC and appeals, people post that they were told by experienced WISC testers not to submit their kids' very good WISC scores and to wait for a new WISC the following year because of some weaknesses in certain sub-test areas. In other words, there is at least anecdotal evidence (by parents posting in this forum) that the general advice is to not appeal with a less than great WISC and to try instead for a strong overall score in a year.