Reply to How to improve AAP and General Ed Together

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]All I'm seeing in this thread is 'how to placate Gen Ed parents so we can keep our AAP', not 'how to improve both'.

The suggestions by the pro AAP side are simply:

Let's mix them at lunch and recess.
Let's maybe add a homeroom time so our special children and socialize with the others.
Maybe some of those others can sit in on some of our kids' classes if they "can handle it".
Let's try to make Level II/III services more standard so there won't be so much focus on changing Level IV.

NONE of this improves Gen Ed.  [/quote]

I don't understand the lunch/recess thing.  How does that improve anyone's education?  My kids left their Title 1 base school which had no Level IV option to go to a center and they made new friends.   They see some old friends from their base school in their soccer leagues, at playdates, parties, neighborhood events, etc.  Their very good friends are still their very good friends and FCPS didn't have to rearrange the school schedule to accommodate that. If we're talking about improving education, I don't see how this is a priority.

My children have never had 'homeroom' in elementary school.  What does that even mean?  Morning meeting?  What do you hope to accomplish in that time?

Making Level 2 & 3 more standard sounds like a great idea to me.  If the complaint is truly about meeting students where they are and challenging them at different levels - what is wrong with this?  Some schools even have principal/teacher placement for Local IV for kids that didn't qualify with the screening process.

And what is your recommendation for improving Gen Ed besides eliminating AAP?  Let's hypothetically say we reduce AAP to 5% of students by raising the benchmark test scores.  When you say 'offer the current AAP to all"  that would mean same curriculum, but go faster and deeper for everyone.  So with 95% of kids left in Gen Ed....you expect that all or most will keep up?  And that teachers will be able to differentiate for all of those kids - even though parents are complaining that even with the 'top' skimmed off, teachers are overwhelmed and unable to do this?  and the kids that can't keep up, what happens to them?  They get relegated to a program called "Remedial Education"?  Talk about feeling stigmatized.

I've come across so many articles/books over recents years that talk about how bad it is for kids that we push them so young - "The Race to Nowhere" field of research.  About how we pressure and push our kids to do so much and go so fast and for what?  I can only imagine if the AAP curriculum and pace were implemented for everyone and the backlash that would cause - parents lamenting, "what are we doing to our kids?!"

The parents I know - and I don't live in a TJ manic neighborhood - did not talk about or lift a finger to 'push' their children into AAP.  We just got letters in the mail and had a decision to make and not everyone's was an automatic yes.  Most of us were hesitant because it meant leaving the base school, which we loved and didn't know what to expect.  Some stayed, some went (we're talking a handful, not enough for a class at the base school) and as far as I know everyone feels like they made the right decision for their child. My experience IRL is worlds away from the drama I see on DCUM.

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