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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There is way too much focus on AAP classes in FCPS and it is creating a new form of segregation.  If your kid is so smart and isn't challenged in their class then look into them skipping a grade.  [/quote]

All kids are entitled to FAPE (not just SpED kids), and Virginia law requires schools to offer some sort of "gifted" education program.  Grade skipping introduces a whole new set of problems.  I already have a kid who is youngest in their grade and whose IQ doesn't match their emotional maturity, so skipping a grade is going to compound problems, not make them better.  It is a good idea for some kids, but, for most, it's not.  To say nothing of ending up with a kid who's ready for college at 16 or 17, which isn't great either.[/quote]

This isn’t an argument for aap at all. Aap is not a gifted program. It’s not even that advanced. Aap kids are barely getting any real math acceleration in elementary school.

No. The reason aap is so loved by parents who can get their kids into the program is that it feels exclusive. It is very similar to a mediocre private school.[b] It is just a way to get your kid into a better class. [/b]

So it’s an extremely flawed public education program that is completely unnecessary. Many gifted programs like this across the country at least serve to keep high performing students in failing districts and helps with diversity in segregated areas. Aap doesn’t do that. [/quote]

yes. that is the point.[/quote]

Agree. And even many of the parents who go through the motions of parent-referrals see this. Especially if they have a LOCAL Level IV program because it is in your face all the time. But the flaw is in the process. What parent who sees that this is the case is going to "take a stand" against the process and refuse to apply, to the detriment of their own kid. Most will not. So long as there is the opportunity to get your child into the "better class" there will be parents who go ahead and try to make it happen. And by "better class" I mean that the AAP class is generally an environment that often (not always) has fewer student-behavioral issues, where the teacher is not having to navigate a wide array of abilities as she is in the gen-ed class, and where the  students are generally motivated to study and/or try to do well in school, either because they are interested in achievement or because their parents reinforce and support this at home. 
Some gen ed classes still have students who exhibit those characteristics as well, of course. But they represent a smaller population among the gen ed classes. And once a parent realizes that and also sees that there is this "parent referral" mechanism to push for their child to be in the AAP class, most will do what it takes to pursue that whether or not they think their child is truly gifted.[/quote]

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