Reply to No CogAT testing in FCPS AAP Screening this year

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Reply to "No CogAT testing in FCPS AAP Screening this year"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It always amazes me how some parents think it is the end all be all. Having had one in AAP and one not, it really is not all that you would think it was cracked up to be. I think 5 th grade was the biggest difference(some more in depth projects). Everything else was not that different. Except for math. And then in MS(at least at Longfellow) Math is the only difference. My kids were on the same team and, except for math, had the exact same assignments and projects. for Language Arts, SS and science. A few papers were due a few days ahead in AAP but that was it. Maybe because all classes at that school are honors anyways….[/quote]

It makes a huge difference for those of us in schools with high ESOL and FARMS populations where your example is not the case, but you would not understand that.[/quote]

Oh no. Your kids will have to go to school with brown kids for one more year. 
[/quote]

What’s your base school? Serious question.[/quote]

Better question: why do you think you and your kids are better than the families at your base school to the extent you rely on AAP as an escape ? [/quote]

It is fair for parents to be worried that their kid is not being challenged when a Teacher is focused on bringing other kids up to grade level. That does not mean that the kids below grade level are not smart or capable but that they probably have not had the same opportunities that kids with better off parents have or kids whose parents are native English speakers.

Parents want the best education they can get for their kids. In schools were there is a higher percentage of kids below grade level, it is harder for kids who are above grade level to get an education that challenges them. In FCPS, parents of the at grade level or above grade level that means AAP where the course material is aimed to above grade level kids. I have known people who have moved after Kindergarten at a FARMs school because it was clear that their child was not going to get much attention since the child was above grade level or on grade level.

Property is expensive in this area so there are a good number of middle class families that are buying houses where the in boundary school is Title 1. It is not surprising to me that those parents are looking for alternatives, whether that is language immersion, magnet schools, or AAP. [/quote]

NP.  Pretty much this. AAP is our only hope any an appropriate education for our kid. Unfortunately it’s become a target and there are a lot of misunderstandings and ill-will about it within the school administration.  If it slides downhill much faster we are moving somewhere cheaper so that we can afford to all of the extra supplementation and time we have to spend on educating our kid (see the thread about spelling for an example).  That’s fine, if that’s what the county wants. Tired of the the free riding-off of educated middle class parents that just wanted a decent public education for their kids and made sacrifices to get it.[/quote]

PP Poster who posted the "It is fair post."

AAP is being targeted because it is too easy to "buy" your way in and is biased towards families who have the money, time, and education to provide enrichment opportunities to kids. Whether it is families sending kids to test centers to practice for the NNAT and CogAT, or families that can send their kids to tutoring centers like Kumon, or families that have the money and access to robotics/chess/coding club type things, AAP is biased towards those families.

The program needs to be adjusted so that it can identify all the kids who would benefit from a faster class pace, that includes the kids who don't score well on the NNAT or CogAT because they are from families were there have been fewer opportunities for at home enrichment or paid enrichment. The use of parent referrals, appeals, and WISC scores highly benefits the Middle to Upper Middle Class families.

Every school should have a full time AART. Every school should have weekly Level III pullouts. Every school should have advanced math that starts in third. Every school should have a local level IV option that serves the top 10% of the kids at that school. The disparity across the county is alarming.[/quote]

I don’t agree about local resources being the solution at all. Not unless we completely redraw our boundaries and every elementary school is roughly balanced the same way.  Centers are very important for bringing kids from different neighborhoods together. I hate the push away from them.[/quote]

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