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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Kids can get in based on the virtue of their Verbal OR Math abilities.  Not all kids are "Advanced" at both subjects, yet at center they are treated like they are.

Manage the differentiation better at the school level.  Use some of the funds saved on the giant fustercluck of transportation and logistics to support actual G/T programming in schools on the appropriate subjects for each child. [/quote]

I couldn't agree with you more.  It makes no sense that most of these kids aren't "advanced" in ALL subjects, much less actually gifted (is there any other word that's been overused so much?).  [b]There is no reason the vast majority couldn't be differentiated, along with all kids, in their own base schools. [/b] I'd love to know just how many HIGHLY gifted kids there are in FCPS, who actually need a separate learning environment.  Probably a tiny, tiny fraction of those currently in AAP. [/quote]

[b]the problem is the differentiation is a joke (LLII and LLIII) so parents of these kids push for AAP because better to not be ready for advancement in all subjects than to be advanced in some and get no advancement[/b]. [/quote]

This PP is right. Differentiation is indeed a joke. Teachers are too overwhelmed and must focus on their class's overall testing scores. So teachers end up having to teach to the kids who need the most remedial help, not come up with anything that truly interests or challenges kids who could do more in a subject.

And this discussion overall misses the point that AAP is about academic [i]aptitude[/i], not achievement at the moment the student enters the AAP center. A kid has to show aptitude for learning, not genius scores and high reading levels etc. DCUM threads about AAP always get mired in test scores and reading grade levels etc. and no one wants to understand that kids are supposed to be placed in it because they have the ability to learn more complex things possibly at a faster pace -- not because they already enter it knowing math three grades ahead and reading at a high school level. It does happen that many kids who qualify do tend to be already advanced in what they know because they've already been learning faster than or differently from other kids, but there is a vocal group on DCUM obsessed with the idea that kids should be bona fide geniuses for any form of AAP, and everyone else should be together in the same classes getting supposed "differentiation" -- it's just ridiculous and [b]leaves out in the cold those bright kids who aren't geniuses but who could rise to challenges well.[/b] That [i]could [/i]happen in the classroom but in our school it did not, and teachers had to focus on the kids who needed help, not those who could use advancement. That's why parents go for centers so often.[/quote]

You mean like most of the kids still in Gen. Ed?  Because I assure you:  most of them are very bright and able to rise to challenges just as well as those in AAP.  Which is why leaving the dividing line where it is makes no sense.  Either offer advanced classes to [i]every[/i] child (because like it or not, every child has potential), or create a far smaller program for kids who are highly gifted.  [/quote]

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