Reply to 10 reasons I am fine with my child NOT being an AAP kid

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Reply to "10 reasons I am fine with my child NOT being an AAP kid"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]Good PP, maybe the system should be the other way around. AAP should be for the all kids, and only provide extra/special help to those who need it. I know a couple of kids that didn't make it to AAP and they are A students. It is not fair for them to have a mediocre education.[/quote]

PP here.  This kid has always been an A student in regular classes, but achieved those As with minimal effort.  I would say that in most classes (not all) his working at 50-70% effort put him consistently at the top of his class, even with differentiated instruction.  That is not a positive learning environment and we worried what would happen in middle/high school when the work became demanding and he had never been expected to work to his abilities.  A solid example of this issue would be the year that his teacher gave homework in a weekly packet.  The packet was supposed to average 20-30 minutes per night, he would complete the entire packet, unassisted, in about 20-30 minutes in one sitting.  Many other parents in the class were concerned about the volume of the homework and the amount of time most of the kids were spending on it, so the teacher had to cut back a bit.  That is not a good learning experience to work at so little effort in my opinion.

In the AAP class, this same 50-70% effort results in Bs with a few Cs because the bar is set much higher.  When he gives closer to 85-90% effort or more, he gets As.  His progress report alternates with assignment scores between solid As vs. Bs and one or two Cs, with overall subject grades split between solid As and a few Bs.  When he compares the grades to the assignments, he will say that he was daydreaming, or rushing, or not paying attention to assignments with lower scores.  The teacher expects him to work to his level, and because the peer group is at the same/similar/above level the expectations for the entire class reflect that.  He is developing study skills, organization and realistic expectations as to what is true effort.

I guess the best way I can explain the difference is that in his previous years of school, he was mostly "given" his As, where in the AAP class he is actually having to "earn" his As.  This is in relation to him, how he compares to his peer group and the speed/proficiency at which the class is expected to work.  I would rather all my kids be in a learning environment where they have to earn their grades by working to their full potential, be it an advanced, traditional or remedial class.  That is a much better life lesson than coasting.[/quote]

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