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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Is anyone willing/able to speak to their experience in a center or in local AAP at in retrospect having one (or more) school years under their belt? We kept my DD at her base school and I am somewhat questioning the choice. The work seemed a little more challenging but I still think she was a little bored. Honestly, the biggest change was the peer group and it wasn't all positive. It could be the age, but there was lots of tattletaling and social drama that she had not experienced previously. I am not sure the center would be that different and she is really not interested in changing schools but wanted to throw this question out there. [/quote]

For us, the base school is the center, so the reflection is more about whether f/t AAP seems like an improvement over what would be expected in gen ed (dc is in 3rd grade).

My observation as someone who visited the classroom many times and also has a good relationship with my child is that the peer group changed, but not entirely in a good way. There were several rowdy kids and many coming from a different base school in a lower SES area. Teacher raises her voice regularly.

There are quite a few kids who might have been advanced relative to the base school but do not seem advanced in the current classroom. That is, because of current FCPS practices, you end up again with a very broad range of skills/abilities in one class.

Not that it matters--the teacher is sticking to the curriculum and is not adding in anything more advanced. There seems to be little by way of acceleration. They supposedly go "deeper" into concepts, but I do not see much evidence of challenge or teaching in a way that is engaging curiosity. Lots of paper being glued into note books. Teacher also refuses to allow dc to do other work that is more challenging (while another AAP teacher allows some kids to do algebra...). That's fine because we'll do other math at home and classroom can be practicing fluency.

[b]The teacher just doesn't seem that into teaching (maybe time to retire?) and the method of teaching seems uncreative at best. Seems also very constrained by the curriculum and testing.[/b]
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I doubt you are in the same class, but we are in the same situation at a center school that is also a base school. My DC has been struggling with the math all year and I asked this week trying to get a better handle on where the breakdown is occurring. DC did not struggle with math last year, this is new. DC claims, and I almost don't believe it except DC is typically very reliable with this sort of reporting, is the teacher teaches VERY few lessons. It's almost all independent work, in all subjects, like read pages x-y then come grab a worksheet, that does not have much basic practice and is mainly extensions. Well no wonder. So for a kid who does not go to Curie or the like and is seeing the material for the first time, this method of heavy independent work is not working out so great. It's not obvious at a classroom level because so many kids do go to those type of places outside of school. I wish I had known that beforehand but it seems to be isolated to this particular older teacher who is probably just trying to hold until retirement. Hoping the teacher next year puts in more effort. [/quote]

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