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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I feel like I failed as a parent today! My child (2nd grader) came home crying today because apparently three of her friends are switching schools to go to an AAP center next year. I’m happy with my child’  performance and school, and  didn’t even consider pushing for this. But she’s been crying for over an hour about how she is “stupid” and will have no friends next year. She doesn’t even want to see these girls tomorrow because [b]they told her they aren’t friends with her anymore[/b]. I had absolutely on idea this is something kids talk about- this is my first kid. Have other parents experienced  this ? [/quote]

This sounds very unreal.[/quote]

NP.  I assure you, this is absolutely real.  The same scenario happened with my child back in 2nd grade too.  What made it even worse was that he attended a center school already and so had to see these mean kids for the rest of his elementary years - they were in the AAP classes and he was in GE.  When they all found out they had gotten in, they made a lunch table for only themselves, and anyone not accepted to AAP was not allowed to sit there.  This lasted for a few days until I and a few other parents notified the teachers and then that ended.  But as another poster said, the damage had been done.  My son was called "dumb" and the kids who had been his best friends immediately shunned him.

Being told as a SEVEN year old that you're either "smarter" than other kids, or "not as smart" is incredibly damaging.  The truth is, the vast majority of these kids are identical in ability.  Only a very few at either end of the spectrum are so different that they need a specialized curriculum.

The AAP nonsense continued through middle school.  Once high school rolled around, my son took all honors and AP classes and excelled.  He was accepted to a top 20 college.  He says to this day that nothing ever made him feel as bad as those kids who were chosen for AAP.  And it was all [b]so unnecessary[/b].  The school could have simply had flexible groupings for the four core subjects, that kids could cycle into and out of as needed.  Instead, they choose to divide and label kids into two giant groups - groups full of almost identical kids.  It's a total sham.[/quote]

Wow - I could have written the above post!
Our base elementary is a center school.  The kids all know that 3rd grade is when the "smart" kids go into the AAP classes.  When younger DS came home the first day of 3rd grade, he was in tears because he was in the "dumb" class.  Absolutely broke my heart.  Fast forward to high school and he decided he wanted to do the IB diploma.  I think DS had a huge chip on his shoulder and wanted to prove to his classmates that he was very capable.  He graduated in the top 5% of his FCPS high school and just finished his freshman year at W&M where he made the dean's list.

I hate how FCPS implements AAP and agree with the above poster about flexible groupings.

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+2 they make elementary school AAP out to be the end all be all of everything but a lot of kids are “late bloomers” in terms of the academics and end up doing well in honors and AP classes in HS without elementary AAP at all. [/quote]

Separating kids based on 2nd grade testing is absurd [/quote]

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