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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

This sounds very unreal.[/quote]

NP.  I assure you, this is absolutely real.  The same scenario happened with my child back in 2nd grade too.  What made it even worse was that he attended a center school already and so had to see these mean kids for the rest of his elementary years ...  Being told as a SEVEN year old that you're either "smarter" than other kids, or "not as smart" is incredibly damaging.  The truth is, the vast majority of these kids are identical in ability.  Only a very few at either end of the spectrum are so different that they need a specialized curriculum.  ...  He says to this day that nothing ever made him feel as bad as those kids who were chosen for AAP...[/quote]

Completely real.  OP, My heart is broken for your son!  NP, It sounds like he had the resilience to get through this, so congrats on parenting well done.  We moved here when my son was in 5th grade and he didn't get in that year.  It was a HUGE hit to his confidence and really impacted his entire view of himself.  We learned that what AAP vs. NonAAP would truly mean, wasn't extra enrichment, but that some kids walk into school every day being told they are smart and capable, the others are labeled as "not as smart and not as capable."  The lunch soccer games are AAP vs. Non-AAP.  Every.  Single. Day.  And if you follow the threads here, you'll know that it's largely based on a subjective eval of cover letters and work samples. The kids are 7!  FCPS, How is this any way to raise a next generation of leaders??  FCPS and particularly center schools do nothing to counter the message all the kids receive every single day.

OP, Hang in there.  You didn't fail your son, FCPS did.  If anything, talk to your principal.  They should get out in front of this w/ second graders every spring (but they don't!) and they should be reinforcing positive messages through elementary.  On the upside...  it is fortunate that it sounds like your son is not at a center school.  Fall will be much easier without that constant reminder.  [/quote]

[b]The majority get in through test scores and are smarter[/b] but the parent referrals and principal picks invites helicopter parents and teacher's pets into the program and these are the elements of the program most likely to have kids that feel like they are better than others.  It's ironic that the kids who act like they are better are the ones that didn't get in because they were better.  The really smart kids either have an attitude well before AAP or don't.  They didn't need AAP to tell them they were smart.[/quote]

The problem is that this is no longer necessarily true.  The AAP equity report showed that GBRS was 4 times more important than test scores for AAP selection.  This also meshes with my experience, where quite a lot of kids with CogAT scores in the 120s but high GBRS got in.  Several of these kids were not even in the LII math pullout or highest reading group with my DD, who got rejected with much higher scores.

I agree on the second point.  The most obnoxious child and parent were from a girl who prepped like crazy for CogAT, still got only a 120, but was a massive teacher's pet.  The mom was a frequent classroom volunteer, and the girl was one of those who had the super expensive, cute matchy clothes.  The child bullied mine for "not being smart," and the mom went on at great length about how her child wasn't a good test taker, but the AAP committee really saw through that and realized that her daughter was gifted and special.   :roll: [/quote]

Wait.  WHAT!?!?!  GBRS is 4 times more important than tests?!?!?  Since when?  This is basically teacher recommendation isn't it?  Doesn't this just encourage the worst kind of parental behavior and helicopter parenting?[/quote]

The problem with the Cogat is twofold: parents prepping have really skewed the norms and the wrong students are scoring highly on it and the right students aren't.  So the solution is to discount it.  [/quote]

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