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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can we all just agree that we hate having AAP Centers?[/quote]

I can certainly agree with this.  They create far too many issues, resentment, and divisiveness.  [/quote]

I can certainly disagree with this as my student does not have a peer group at the base school. (He was subjected to frequent bullying, among other things.)[/quote]so a child who just misses the cut off for eligibility in your school has to stay and get bullied? You bought your house around certain school boundaries. But your kid gets the option to leave. Hmmm[/quote]

It sucks that a child just misses the cut off, but exactly. Her child qualified for a special program.  Part of the reason he qualified for the program is a learning style that has statistically high likelihood of being 2e, which is a group of kids that has a very high likelihood of being bullied.  And her child stayed in boundary (the AAP boundary) as the school boundary is defined in the FCPS Boundary locator. Google it and plug your address in there. It will spit out 2 boundaries: one AAP, one not.  Both are real boundaries, depending on your child's program. And you don't ditch a program almost everyone agrees is needed at some level (whether that is top .5%, 1%, 2%, whatever) because a small number of kids are misidentified or just miss the cut off.  And there are frequent complaints from Gen Ed that FCPS overidentifies kids, and should be less willing to take that borderline kid.

This is true. At any cutoff there will be those that just miss the cut off. Life is not fair and it is not equal. What is a parent going to do when their kid was never taught multiplication In school and is learning beyond multiplication. All the other kids learned all their factors years prior to 3rd grade and the teacher is flying through the math lessons because the kids already know it all or only need a couple minutes to pick it up. The parent will complain that the teacher does not teach the material in class, b/c their child goes home not knowing how to do their homework. Teachers give homework to review what goes on in class, the last thing a teacher will do is give a student homework on material they have never been taught in class.

Some posters with GE kids on this thread have made really good points that have changed the way I think about the Center school structure. I would note lunate centers, but I see where They can be unnecessary, or even counterproductive in some cases. But a few posters (or maybe even one vocal poster) is so mean and seem to have so little compassion for AAP kids, some of whose parents describe bullying, social isolation, a genuine academic inability to function in a Gen Ed setting and struggles with 2e. And also has so little of actual substance to say. That poster (because I'd like to think it's just one) hurts people raising valid issues by turning open minded AAP parents off. And yes, that person I would characterize as a troll.  Because they are not on this board to discuss a real issue in our schools. They only want to belittle others (kids!), presumably to make themselves feel better. [/quote]

I think a lot of the anger directed toward the entire AAP situation can be summed up in this way:  AAP kids are given a choice of schools that GE kids are not.  The GE child who is bullied at his/her base school is stuck there unless the family can fulfill one of the very specific criteria for transferring.  The bullied AAP kid, on the other hand, is able to leave for a center school, with no hoops to jump through as the GE student must.

Another example is the family who moves into a "lesser" school boundary, but can send their AAP child to a better school simply because s/he gets into AAP.  Meanwhile, the GE kids at this base school have no such option for leaving.

Can you and others possibly see the incredible inequities the families of GE children (not to mention these kids themselves) see every day?  If the situations were reversed, and your child was stuck unhappily at one school, but a large group of his/her peers were able to opt for another school - you'd be furious and speaking up about it too.  The system is clearly sending a message to our General Ed kids - they are second class citizens within FCPS.[/quote]

It is not an inequity becasue every last child in the district is screened for entry into this program. Not once, but multiple times. Not limited to teacher recommendations or parent applications or school quotas as has been the case in the three other states we lived in.  Every single child.  If the parents don't agree with the results, they can provide their own testing or request rescreening. Every single student not accepted can reapply every single year. If you move in from out of state you are tested for the program, both with the cogat and the nnat. Even if you have tests from the other states, which might have qualified you for the GT program there but were too low to qualify in Fairfax County.

FCPS leaves not a single stone unturned to do their utmost to provide this service to every possibke kid who could qualify.

If that is not equitable than what is?[/quote][/quote]

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