Reply to Why such obvious hate toward AAP parents or hope-to-be in AAP parents

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In my view, the AAP hate is caused by a simple fact:

Historically, the program takes about 15-20% of the student population.
Probably only 1 kid per school is truly noticeably more "gifted" than everyone else, and probably the next 50% of the population is smart enough to do the AAP work.

But the kids really aren't that distinguishable... so it leads to a bit of a crap shoot about who gets in and who doesn't.  And that breeds animosity.[/quote]

This. +1000
The notion of pulling out 15-20% of the kids for a program is absurd. Their learning needs can be met in the base elementary school. I know because I've been teaching in FCPS for over 15 years, both at center and non-center schools.  There is such a pathetic desperation in so many of these posts---about scores, re-testing, waiting for letters, etc. and yes, I know I'm about to get flamed because parents are "just trying to do what's best for their child." But that's exactly my point: all this energy is to get your kid into an overcrowded class that really isn't that different from a non-AAP classroom. And the sad part is that is that the program isn't meeting every kids' needs. There are truly, truly gifted kids who do need something different. But the AAP classroom really isn't set up for that because there are so many kids in there that are bright, but not at all ready or capable of the pace that those 1% gifted kids need.

Putting on my flame-retardant coat...but the OP asked. [/quote]

I have an AAP kids and I agree that most kids could do the AAP work.  In all honesty, my DC probably could have been served in the base school.  He's incredibly creative and I don't think the base school would have nurtured that as well (our base school is all worksheets and testing), but he would have gotten a decent education.  DC is not at the top of the AAP class, more like the middle to lower half.  I really like the education he has gotten at the center and truly believe it's better than our base school, but I think many kids at the base school are capable of doing the AAP program material.  I have another child not in AAP.  She certainly could do the AAP material and keep up, but her test scores were too low (not even high enough that you could refer with a straight face).   I wonder why she doesn't get the chance to learn in fun ways and is stuck with worksheets and memorization.  It does seem unfair.  The Gen Ed classrooms should be using the same fun methods that the AAP classes use.  Maybe then there would be less desperation.[/quote]

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