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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here; thanks everyone!
And what do you guys make of the articles that say that kids in lower performing, less affluent schools might be up to 4 grades behind the better schools? 
Right now, my son is definitely not the best in his class! so it's not like he is "not challenged enough". But I heard that a 5th grader who was top of her class in math did not get into the AP math class when she started middle school. So, being on grade level (or even above) in a lower performing school does not really guarantee you anything??[/quote]

It's simple - when you have 25 kids in a classroom and 20 of them are struggling, the five who aren't look brilliant.  With fcps's brainless AAP system, the best students will be removed from the classroom after 2nd grade, leaving the middle students to become the highest students.  So what looks high to the teacher and students is actually only mediocre.  The mediocre student is the best student now, and there is nothing for them to set their siights on that is higher.  No example.  And the teacher is too busy trying to get the struggling students up to the middle to worry about the one that's already there.  Then in middle school those mediocre students are dumped in with all the kids whose idea of "high" is a whole level higher, and who have had the opportunity to work above grade level.  It's a completely unfair system.[/quote]

Statistically speaking, for whatever reason, only a small handful of children will typically leave a school where 4/5s of the students are struggling to go to AAP.  So this particular issue is unfounded.  [/quote]

It is NOT a small handful.  AAP has a ridiculous number of kids in it - way more than can actually be "gifted."  It's about a handful PER GRADE LEVEL, or 20-30% of the entire fcps student population.  That means one to three from each classroom.  The few that would have been the best students.  That's plenty to make a big difference.  [/quote]

While you are ranting, get the facts right. AAP does not pretend to serve only gifted kids. It's a broader program than that.  Hence the name "Advanced Academics" and not GT. It pulls about 17% of the relevant grades (not all grades, and not 20-30%), but does so very unevenly. In affluent areas 1/3-1/2 of the grade might qualify.  In those that are less so it is often less than 5 kids per grade, and maybe 1-2.  That is, of course, because academic achievement so closely tracks with SES.  So while AAP is a big program, it takes relatively few kids from Title I schools. At any rate, back to your regularly scheduled rant. [/quote]

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