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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Parent of one in AAP now and one in TJ who was in AAP.

Older one was our first experience with this whole process.  We moved DC from base school that had just instituted LLIV bc we wanted a larger peer group and the ability to move around in class groupings for the next 4 years due to specific issues at the base school.  Younger child was found eligible after we parent referred him into the pool (ie no appeal, but we did ask him to be considered.)  We did this to make our lives easier by having both kids at the same school.  Flame away on that one.  To tell the truth though, younger child excelled in AAP and at the school  - more so than older child.  Younger may have excelled at base as well.  We were not at all impressed with the AAP Center for ES, [b]but LOVE the MS AAP Center[/b].

So my advice is that you really need to figure out what will work best for YOUR child and YOUR family.  [/quote]

AAP parent of MS kid - I am not thrilled with my DS's MS expeirence. The kids are all groups together and so his circle is a smaller one. I was kinda looking forward to him expanding his circle. But he's got the same kids in all his classes except PE and one elective.  He's happy and I'm happy. I think it did make middle school easier that he's in a small group of the same kids, but I was expecting the tracking and smaller social cirlce to happen later. The teachers are all great, but they also teach on level classes also. And by great teachers I mean my DS has a schedule of the kind of teachers that you expect to get just 1 a year and he has a whole schedule of teachers. The one teacher he complains about is a "normal" teacher - she's good, just not a super star like the others.[/quote]

Well boo hoo for your child that he's only getting "normal" teachers in a public middle school.  Do you expect that just because someone teaches an AAP class they're going to be great?   The funny thing is, good teachers are important, but motivated, critically thinking students who love learning are important to the process as well.  This isn't about getting spoon-fed from some great mind, or some special formula.  It's about trying to expose extremely bright kids to more advanced material.  My GT kid complained about some of his teachers too, but if he was interested in the area he did plenty of exploring and learning on his own.  [/quote]

Let me clarify - I do not support my child in his complaining about his one "normal" teacher.  The teachers my kid has are all great - he has a whole schedule of the kinds of teachers that you usually only get one or two teachers a year. These great teachers are not just AAP teachers, they also teach on level classes, so on level kids also get these teachers.  You do not have to be AAP to get the good teachers.  I am thrilled with the teachers and school (base school), I just don't like the fact that the kids don't mix with the general population. We didn't go off to middle school and have a "normal" time, they are still segmented. [b]It could just be a fluke of the schedule, but the same group of kids go to all their core classes together and 1/2 of them are in the same Hr. Alegebra class (reminder, Hr. Alegebra isn't an AAP class[/b]).  [/quote]

They have the same core classes together -- but don't they mix with other kids in things like PE, orchestra/band/chorus, art classes, language classes, etc.? My AAP middle schooler knows plenty of kids who aren't in AAP, through this kind of mixing. It is exactly how it was done in her ES AAP, with AAP core classes and everyone in Gen Ed and AAP mixed in all the specials, music, recess, field trips, whatever. If your child's ES was like that, why did you anticipate that MS would be different, PP? If your MS is not mixing up the kids in the non-core academics classes, that would seem odd, but I'd bet that your child does specials, PE or electives with a mixed group.

PP, is it possible that your son's MS AAP program is organized into "teams" as many middle schools are, both AAP and Gen Ed students? The teams are just a way to group students administratively and it means that sometimes kids on the same team are in a lot of the same classes together. It's done for easier scheduling, that's all. That's just a function of the team concept in MS in general, not an issue with AAP in MS in particular. It does mean some of the same kids are in the same classes together because they're on the same team that year. But your child has other opportunities to be with other kids, all the time, just not in core academics.[/quote]

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