Reply to The difference btw the AAP class and the General Ed class

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]AAP is a joke.  At this point, we all know it. [b] FCPS should either return to a very small GT program or have flexible groupings for all.  Or both.[/b][/quote]

I teach Gen Ed and already do flexible groupings. Adding the AAP kids back in would make my 6 reading groups possibly jump to 8. Meaning less time for everyone. How does that make sense?[/quote]

How do you have 6 reading group levels?  Even in AAP, the teachers capped the kids at one year above grade level materials.  To have 6 levels, you would need 1 year above grade level through 4 years below grade level.  Adding AAP kids would just add kids to your 1 year above grade level group (and sadly, to your on grade level and one year below grade level groups).  If classes were still maintained at around 25 kids, you'd end up with fewer kids who need extensive support, which should make teaching much easier.  [/quote]

In 6th grade we have kids reading at every level K-8.

In grades 4-6 you can have a ton of groups! [/quote]
Wow.  Kids reading at a K-3rd grade level don’t belong in a 6th grade classroom.  They wouldn’t be able to understand any of the science or social studies materials, and they’re too far behind for the classroom teacher to handle without shortchanging everyone else in the class.   [/quote]

Welcome to today's classrooms, which is why basically every teacher will tell you pulling AAP kids back into a gen ed classroom and calling it a cluster model is a terrible idea.[/quote]

You're ignoring the suggestion in bold.  Having a very small and VERY selective GT program would keep the highest achievers separate.  That leaves the rest, the vast majority of whom are very similar.  The existing flexible groupings could remain, as the really advanced kids would not be mixed back in.[/quote]

But now additional high achievers don’t get any attention because the teacher still has to help the 8-10 kids that are low. All of the data we collect (and admin) tells us to help those students with more frequent groups and 1:1 attention. Leaving those additional high-achievers to silent read and go on Lexia and ST Math.[/quote]

I'm the PP with the DD in gen ed who was always a year ahead in reading and got perfect scores on the SOLs.  I also have another kid who attended the center.  In 4th grade, the gen ed title I program had kids reading from K-5th* grade level.  In AAP 4th grade, my kid's class had kids reading from 3rd-5th* grade level.  Neither the gen ed program nor the AAP one tested kids beyond one year above grade level, nor did they teach groups more than one year above grade level.  
 
Yes, the best thing would be to have all of the kids reading one year above in a separate program.  This isn't happening though.  The gen ed teacher needed to provide reading groups for kids reading a year above grade level.  Meanwhile, the AAP teacher needed groups spanning below grade level through above.  Most of the AAP kids could have been folded back into the gen ed program without adding any burden to the gen ed teacher, as she was already providing 3rd-5th grade reading groups.  [/quote]

In the last 6 years, we have been directed to create reading groups where the students are at, so in 4th grade that was often groups from 1-5. Your school is doing something different than many, many schools in FCPS. How can you have a 3rd grade reading group for kids with 50-80 sight words? It makes no sense.[/quote]

It's an AAP center class.  No body has 50-80 sight words in 4th grade AAP.  My point was that if a gen ed 4th grade classroom had groupings from K-5 and the AAP 4th grade classroom had groupings from 5-8, keeping them separate makes sense.  If the gen ed classroom has groupings from K-5 and the AAP one has groupings from 3-5, there's no real reason for the separation.  [b]FCPS is doing something very wrong here, both in letting kids below grade level into AAP, keeping some kids above grade level out of AAP, and only providing groupings up to 1 year above grade level in AAP.[/b][/quote]

This ^^.  It absolutely boggles the mind that there are ANY kids reading below grade level in AAP, when there are advanced readers still in GE.  None of this makes any sense.[/quote]

[b]You can be a great reader and not do well on the cogats,[/b] you can be a terrible reader and do well on the quantitive and non-verbal sections [/quote]

Which is why the AAP selection process is ridiculous. [/quote]

How so? It would be absurd if it was based only on test scores, but as is, takes into consideration both test scores, work samples and teacher evaluation. Seems pretty well-rounded to me.[/quote]

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