Reply to Science says: never get rid of AAP

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Smart people tend to earn more money and intelligence is hereditary. Obviously anti-AAP folks are too dumb to understand correlated omitted variables. lol [/quote]
My kid is in AAP.  My husband and I have graduate degrees.  We are not dumb.  So I’m not AAP hater.  But the system is flawed.   Kids with high scores get rejected.  Kids whose parents have resources and know the system get in on appeal.   And it’s an accelerated program Vs a gifted program.  I think any reasonably intelligent person can see it’s flawed.  The people who get very defensive about any criticism of it to the point that they have to call people dumb shouldn’t be boasting about their intelligence. [/quote]

I guess what frosts me is this assertion that someone's kid is more deserving of opportunities like TJ because they were in AAP. Yes, my kids are in AAP, but so what. All kids deserve great opportunities, not just those whose parents know how to work the system. Lots of bright and gifted kids fallthrough the cracks. [/quote]

What is the evidence/why the assumption that the majority of AAP kids somehow game the system? I’m at an upper SES school and don’t know a single family that did this, maybe I’m just unaware. I parent referred my kid in second, and he wasn’t accepted. Reapplied in third, accepted for fourth. I didn’t talk to the principal or a teacher about it, I just did it on my own. How are people gaming a system? Don’t claim they’re all PTA mom kids. Our center school has a fairly inactive PTA.[/quote]

I don't know about the majority but many get in because their parents work the system.[/quote]

How. Are. They. Working. The. System?

You (and others) keep asserting that over and over again, but without any proof or even a solid allegation, for that matter. [/quote]

The last AAP Audit pointed to how families with higher SES end up with a higher percentage of kids in AAP then other families. It pointed to a higher propensity for parents to refer, parents to appeal, and parents to seek outside testing. FCPS removed the letters of recommendation from the AAP packet because it was noted that higher SES families were more likely to provide those and have kids in opportunities were someone could write a letter. FCPS also removed the awards section because higher SES families were more likely to have their kids involved in math competitions and music competitions.

Essentially, the rules allow all of the above but the Audit noted that as SES increase, the likelihood that parents used the rules increased. It also noted that Asian and White families were far more likely to use the various avenues in order to get their kids into AAP. And they are more likely to reapply. And reapply.

The parents are following the rules but the disparity in who is following those rules is leading to the process tightening. Test scores are no longer given much weight, they seem to be used only to establish the pool of automatic candidates. They removed the awards and letters of recommendation because they were biased towards people who could afford activities.

One of the recommendations from the Audit was to remove parent paid for testing and appeals. [/quote]
The equity report also showed that URMs are being admitted with significantly lower test scores than White or Asian kids, and that after controlling for test scores and GBRS, a AA kid is 5 times more likely to be selected than an Asian kid.

My white DD got rejected and we needed to use the appeals/reapply system to get her in.  She had a 130 CogAT, 15 GBRS, was above grade level in all metrics, eventually got pass advanced on all SOLs with perfect scores on most of them, and got a 98th percentile on IAAT.  Meanwhile, 2 of her close friends who are URMs got in first round with CogAT scores less than 120.  They weren't in the above grade level reading group, didn't get pass advanced on SOLs, failed the IAAT pretty spectacularly (one got 30th percentile), and didn't get the President's Award at the end of 6th.  All of the kids were middle class with educated parents, but at a Title I school.

I don't begrudge letting above average but not really AAP level URMs into the program to promote equity, but let's be honest about the whole thing.  URMs aren't needing to use the appeals or reapply process, because if they're slightly above average, they're already getting in first round.  They don't even need to parent refer, since the teachers are already referring any URM who is somewhat above average.  It's not unjust that I did use the appeals process for my child, since by any objective measurement, she belonged in the program.  What is your solution to the fact that even after lowering the bar significantly for URMs, they're still technically underrepresented in AAP?  Should we lower the bar even more?  Should we reject more White and Asian kids who are above grade level in all metrics?  Should we eliminate appeals to keep kids like mine out of the program?  [/quote]

This is such a good example of how the burden of equity winds up resting on MC or even LC white kids, who are expected to give up spots in AAP and other enrichment to URM for the sake of equity. While a wealthy white family would simply pay for private and private enrichment and bypass the merit-based system for achievement altogether.

This is the problem. It's one thing to say that we need to promote URM students for the sake of equity -- I don't disagree with that. But in practice, high-SES parents protect themselves from participating so it's just MC kids who actually *need* these programs to facilitate not just going to college but being able to afford it who wind up being pushed aside for the sake of giving their URM MC peers a shot. It doesn't actually result in equity. It feels unfair because it is unfair. Meanwhile mediocre kids with wealthy parents will suck up most of the resources anyway. Why are we doing?[/quote]

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