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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Yes in practice giving the underdog kid extra help throughout their education life will yield a measure of success in closing the achievement gap.  I think what people are really having trouble with here is the concept of what "closing the achievement gap" means and how "equity" is used to do that.  Unfortunately, what you should be lobbying for as a parent of White/Asian origin whose kids are being left out is what a previous poster noted--incorporate a robust GenEd program so that you don't feel like your kids are "losing out" on an education.  Whether you just arrived to this country from S. Korea or India isn't the issue.  Chances are, your smart kid will get into a good college and earn a rewarding degree to become successful irrespective of AAP placement in elementary school.  However, there's less empirical data that the same occurs for the H/AA kid that shows potential.  Chances are, without giving them a leg up in the process, that kid's trajectory is not the same.  It's not great to hear, I get that, but it is what is being discussed in all circles dealing with this issue.[/quote]

There's a difference between giving an underdog kid extra help so they can merit the advanced classes vs. artificially boosting them into classes for which they are unqualified, watering down the class, and then inflating their grades so they look like they belong there.  FCPS already has some programs that actually boost minority students and help them thrive in advanced courses.  In theory, Young Scholars is supposed to function to give underdogs a leg up.  Likewise, the middle school AVID program is designed to give disadvantaged students the help they need to meet the requirements of an honors class, which is great.  FCPS has also been known to pressure minorities into taking AAP classes for which they are grossly unqualified and ultimately get like a 1 on the AP Exam.  But since they're only rated on minority participation and not minority success, they're perfectly happy to use minority kids as props without actually helping them achieve.

As far as AAP goes, 3rd and 4th grade are very foundational.  Pushing kids into faster paced math classes than they can handle is not beneficial to anyone.  If the class moves too fast for the kid to fully and completely understand the content, then those comprehension gaps will ultimately cause problems.  Likewise, kids who are not reading above grade level will be unable to fully engage with the AAP language arts curriculum.  Additionally, in both cases, the teacher will have to water down the entire class for the kid who is behind.  There is a limit to just how much differentiation the teacher can do within one classroom, and the bottom kids will generally require the lion's share of the teacher's attention.  [/quote]

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