Reply to On the chopping block: AAP Centers

Forum Index » Advanced Academic Programs (AAP)

Reply to "On the chopping block: AAP Centers"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][b]Again - with a very tiny exception, the vast majority of AAP kids are normal. There's a huge overlap between AAP and Gen Ed kids, as all of us know. If we were talking about GT, from more than a decade ago, then yes, those kids were exceptional. But the pendulum has swung so far in the other direction that the AAP of today is simply not a gifted model any longer. There is no need for FCPS to continue creating an artificial "peer group" for a massive group of basically mainstream kids.[/b]

+100  Well said and so true!  [/quote]

I would say, by and large, 20-30% of the kids in GenED could do fine in AAP, and would be no different than 1/2 the AAP students.  Whether that is a huge overlap or not is up to interpretation.  Like any cutoff, there will be issues at the edges.  Certainly, the best non-AAP student is smarter  than the worst AAP student.  But, the top half of AAP are certainly smarter that the vast majority of non-AAP student.  But, if you cut the boundary so that AAP was half the size, you would still end up with issues at the edges.

FCPS has created a system where the kids that [b]NEED[/b] AAP are getting in (at probably the 99.5% level).  To do that, they also admit 3-4x as many kids that do not need it, but will do fine in it.

I think that is actually a good tradeoff.[/quote]

I disagree.  By admitting only the students who absolutely [b]need[/b] a different learning environment - and that number has got to be minuscule - AAP would become more similar to what GT once was.  There wouldn't be this ridiculous jockeying to get in because it would be understood that AAP was a special ed program, reserved [b]only[/b] for kids with exceptional ability.  [/quote]

Disagree.

Having a kid who is at that upper 99% range in multiple testing scenarios, what you describe (a miniscule group of students only in the upper 99% range) is one of the worst possible ideas, particularly at the elementary level.

A center program that is about two, maybe three classes is ideal. What you are proposing would be very negative for those kids at the very top.
[/quote]

The very tiny portion of kids "at the top" shouldn't be dictating how the majority of kids are taught.  [/quote]

So which is it?

A tiny minority dictating the program or a large, bloated majority?  It can't be both.

I personally think it is neither. What happens in my one kid's AAP class has zero bearing on how my bright gen ed kid and his peers are being taught.

But if you think a miniscule minority of kids segragated into tiny classes away from everyone else and only with the handful of kids who score in the upper 99% is the way to run a gifted program, you are very ill informed.  The current system is not ideal but it is a good system. I would rather they err on the side of including a few more kids than ideal than to miss a bunch of kids in the 97-98% range.[/quote]

I think you misunderstood my comment.  The point is that a tiny minority of highly gifted kids shouldn't require massive amounts of kids to be placed in AAP and the resulting centers.  How is that fair to General Ed. students?  If gifted kids are the exception to the rule, the schools should reflect that ratio.  I don't think the current system is ideal by any means.  At our center school, my child is in one of only TWO General Ed classes for his grade.  In the meantime, there are FOUR AAP classes; the other grades have similar ratios.  So this means my child is with the same handful of kids throughout elementary school.  [b]Why is this somehow ok with you and other AAP parents?  As long as your child has plenty of different classmates each year, then I guess the system is working just fine.    :roll: [/b] [/quote]

Here again to counter this mentality. What do you want from me? To attend supervisor meetings, to bring it up with the principal? What can I do to show it is not OK with me. Tell you that ... because I'm getting the feeling you're just looking for a place to vent and have people commiserate with you and that's why you are a fixture here.[/quote]

It's also a little strange to not have any kids in AAP and spend so much time stalking an AAP forum. [/quote]

I see - so then parents who have kids attending a center school shouldn't have any say in how their school is administered?  You've got to be kidding.  This is the school my children attend.  You'd better believe I have a stake in what goes on there.[/quote]

You get that trolling an anonymous Internet forum have exactly zero impact on how your kids' school is run, right?  It may make you feel better, to vent, bit I  doubt a single  DCUMer  has ever effected any sort of large scale change in a government bureaucracy. If you want to have a say in how your school is administered, become active in the PTA, go to a school board meeting, serve on a principal selection committee  or campaign for a member of the school board.  But don't troll DCUM and tell us or yourself that you are "having a say" about anything. You're a troll venting in anonymous forum who feels the need to be nasty to other parents. At least have the decency to own it. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics