Reply to Should AAP demographics represent FCPS as a whole

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]You've missed the entire point, which is that AAP is not a gifted program.  The curriculum is simply advanced by one year - something most kids could certainly do if given the opportunity.  PP even suggested starting this in the 1st grade, so that ALL kids are ahead.

Certainly, not all kids are going to reach the same heights.  But that goes for kids within AAP as well.  Some kids are going to excel above and beyond any others - and that has nothing to do with being in AAP.[/quote]

I can tell your mind is made up.  But for anyone else listening, the AAP curriculum is [u]not[/u] simply the same curriculum advanced by one year.  At least not from our experience.  If that's all there was to it, there would not be so many people howling about not being part of it.  This is just the kind of misinformed belief one would expect to follow the constant hater drumbeat that AAP is "not a gifted program."  [/quote]

Well, from our experience, this is [i]exactly[/i] what AAP is.  The curriculum was no more challenging than that of the next grade up.  I know that AAP parents love to tell themselves, their kids, and anyone who will listen that AAP is a gifted program, but it ceased being that over a decade ago when FCPS decided to include far more kids than they used to.  Nothing wrong with an advanced curriculum, but it's very misleading to call it a "gifted" curriculum.  Because it's simply advanced, many of us are arguing that it should be open to any child capable of doing the work.  No need for a faux-gifted label in the first place.[/quote]

Well then what the heck meets your definition of a "Gifted Program"?  I don't live in Fairfax County, but from what I've read the AAP program blows doors on any gifted programs I've heard of anywhere. My 4th grade daughter's gifted program consists of her being bused to another school one day a week for enrichment activities. This is typical of every school district I've heard of except Fairfax County.  These activities are great, but the rest of the time she is still 
learning the exact same curriculum and doing the exact same assignments as everyone else. I would much rather trade her one day a week of enrichment activities for a full time program where she is taught all academic subject a grade level up. [/quote]
Your DD is not in a gifted program; what she receives is advanced academic "pull out" services.  I think what people are confusing is a "gifted child" with the AAP program.  Yes, there are many gifted children in the AAP program; however, many kids in that program are capable of doing way more challenging academics than what AAP provides.  There in lies the rub...the AAP curriculum is just slightly advanced; however, the testing to get in is so over-the-top compared to the actual benefit of the actual program for most gifted kids.  What parents are saying is that don't say AAP is a gifted program when it is not...be honest and say what it actually is an advanced academic program (AAP)...and for those parents who have gifted kids that actually score off the chart...you would be well served to actually find resources outside the FCPS to address your kids gifted needs.  Otherwise, admission to AAP should be parent referral...[/quote]

We don't live in Fairfax County. Her pull out program is what the gifted program consists of in our area. My point s that the Fairfax County AAP program is a far more comprehensive program than what I have heard of anywhere else. I'm curious as to what the poster who insists that AAP is not a real gifted program, thinks a Gifted program should be?[/quote]

Take a look at the Schilling School for Gifted Children.  The Lower School curriculum 1.5 - 2 years above grade level [b]with individualized learning options.[/b] The program meets the kids where they are and allows them to go as far above grade level as appropriate. A program of this kind would be unsupportable by a public school system.  So, the compromise is AAP.  FCPS made a financial decision at some point to go with the AAP model...nothing wrong with that but they didn't adjust the paradigm that AAP could be afforded to an even wider group of students.[/quote]

But why single out AAP then?  No public school district has a gifted program that is anywhere close to your example. By saying "AAP is not a real gifted program",[b] the implication is that it is common for other school districts to offer "real" gifted programs[/b]. Fairfax County comes closer to this than any public school system I've seen. [/quote]
I am implying the opposite; that it is not common for other school districts to offer "real" gifted programs because the cost of doing so is prohibitive. Also, the numbers of gifted kids in a typical school district is generally low which also would make it difficult to justify a "real" gifted program.  FCPS has a great AAP program...my point is that given the level of instruction...it should be open to a wider group of kids across the county.  [/quote]

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