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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Aren't you all tired of beating this drum about getting rid of AAP/AAP centers? In every post possible these people run over  to dump on the program. Well guess what, even if they scrapped AAP and did flexible groups based on ability instead, the kids would still be able to tell who is in the "smart" group and who isn't and comment on it.

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I don't agree.  Flexible groups could be moved in/out of over time and kids could be grouped differently for different subjects.  Homerooms/ specials would be a complete mix.  The fully segregated class system that FCPS has implemented, based on completely subjective measures of 7 year olds does more harm than good.  The parents of the 50% of kids who get in don't complain and the other 50% of parents are completely dismissed as bitter.  So it persists.  But that doesn't make it a good way to educate, even if it helps a lot of kids/ parents feel superior.
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+1000
Flexible groupings are absolutely the solution.  No one would be permanently labeled anything - kids would cycle into and out of groups as appropriate.  It's really unbelievable to me that AAP has persisted as long as it had.  Whatever happened to the very small, very selective GT program along with flexible groupings for everyone else?[/quote]

Have you set foot in an FCPS elementary classroom? 1) 50% of students are not in AAP 2) there’s absolutely no way teachers are going to successfully implement differentiated teaching and identify students to regularly cycle through flexible groupings in class sizes of 28+. In theory, sure, sounds great. In practice, never going to happen. My kid couldn’t even get a math worksheet with higher level content she was begging her teacher for. “I’m sorry, I have nothing more to give you” is what she was told. Flexible groupings. lol. [/quote]

Good grief.  How many times must this be repeated to you?  [u]Flexible grouping does NOT mean multiple groups in one classroom.[/u]  It means each teacher takes a group for all four core classes.  So Mrs. X has advanced language arts, Mrs. Y has grade-level, and Mr. Z has remedial.  Then the teachers have different groups for math, science, and social studies.  The kids switch for each subject anyway.  The kids can cycle into and out of these groups as they improve/need more help.  No one is locked into any group or label.  And each teacher only has one level to worry about.[/quote]

So here's the problem - the kids who aren't in the above grade level classes feel dumb. We saw this this year with the different reading groups in our 2nd grade class. Teacher gave each group a color or whatever, and would move kids around between groups as needed. Nobody ever *told* the kids that one group was the smart group, but it turns out, they're observant and they can figure that out.

It turns out, flexible grouping doesn't actually protect the feelings of the kids who aren't at the top; it's the same problem as knowing your friends are going to the AAP center and you're not. This is going to be an issue weather we divide kids into center/non centers, different classes, different groups within a class, or different levels for each subject. *It even happens if you just teach at one level*, because the kids can tell who is getting it and who isn't.

The other issue with flexible grouping is that, for the most part, kids aren't just moving up and down all over the place. Sure, there are a few kids who might bounce between two levels throughout the year, but almost nobody is rocketing from the bottom to the top. I know teachers who have taught in schools that tried really hard to implement this, only to find out that in general, the kids didn't move much.

Realistically, I honestly feel like things would work best if you just every year sorted the kids into different classes in general order of academic ability

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PP here who loves the 80s.  I was always way above grade level in reading but pretty average in Math.  Without flexible groupings, I would have either been bored to tears in reading, or always struggling in Math.  And this was in a podunk school system with low property values.  I'm actually not worried about kids feeling dumb, I don't like the idea of it, but it has been going on for hundreds of years.  What I think is dumber is wasting gobs of money bussing kids around and manufacturing an us vs. them attitude because we think kids can't handle walking across the hall for Math class.[/quote]

But at AAP centers, kids are so separated they don't even share lunch together. That's my issue. Even when I had leveled teaching - i.e. advanced in match or whatever, I'd be mixed with other kids for things like music, art, lunch, gym, etc. I HATE how separated the kids are, like living in silos[/quote]

I don't think that's true everywhere.

My kid played with his non-AAP friends during lunch.  Honestly at that age their friends are from things like little league not math break-out sessions.[/quote]

Agreed - our center has kids in AAP and Gen Ed together and mixed for specials (art, music, PE, plus choir/strings/band), lunch, and recess. [/quote]

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