Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is one of those that got 99th percentile test scores at a high SES school who didn't get into AAP. Her friends at other schools with lower test scores got in. It's infuriating - is this FCPS way of encouraging young families to move to crappier parts of the county? I'm confident my child would have gotten in at a school with different peers.

That fact may be your child did not cut it against your child’s competition at their school. It makes sense the way they are doing it based on the school’s population. If you don’t like it move or go private.

It actually doesn’t make any sense when the AAP curriculum is determined at the county level and not the local elementary. A 99% student should have access to the advanced curriculum, especially in math, where that child is cut off from future educational opportunities that they’re fully qualified and capable of. It makes no sense that a 99% kid can’t get advanced math but a 92% kid does at another school.

If the local elementary schools want to start more widely offering AAP accelerated math to qualified students, then I might feel differently. At our high SES center school, I know a number of highly qualified GE kids who had to jump through hoops to get into AAP math every school year, oftentimes missing 4-6 weeks of classes before the testing was completed and they were allowed in, late and now behind on curriculum.

They have to consider the space available.

No, they don’t. Space is not supposed to be a barrier

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is one of those that got 99th percentile test scores at a high SES school who didn't get into AAP. Her friends at other schools with lower test scores got in. It's infuriating - is this FCPS way of encouraging young families to move to crappier parts of the county? I'm confident my child would have gotten in at a school with different peers.

That fact may be your child did not cut it against your child’s competition at their school. It makes sense the way they are doing it based on the school’s population. If you don’t like it move or go private.

It actually doesn’t make any sense when the AAP curriculum is determined at the county level and not the local elementary. A 99% student should have access to the advanced curriculum, especially in math, where that child is cut off from future educational opportunities that they’re fully qualified and capable of. It makes no sense that a 99% kid can’t get advanced math but a 92% kid does at another school.

If the local elementary schools want to start more widely offering AAP accelerated math to qualified students, then I might feel differently. At our high SES center school, I know a number of highly qualified GE kids who had to jump through hoops to get into AAP math every school year, oftentimes missing 4-6 weeks of classes before the testing was completed and they were allowed in, late and now behind on curriculum.

They have to consider the space available.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is one of those that got 99th percentile test scores at a high SES school who didn't get into AAP. Her friends at other schools with lower test scores got in. It's infuriating - is this FCPS way of encouraging young families to move to crappier parts of the county? I'm confident my child would have gotten in at a school with different peers.

Wrong. Files are screened at a central location. Readers are not comparing students from the same school. Each file is read and considered separately from all others.

The screening committee sits down with a stack of files from EACH school at a time. They are, in fact, comparing students from the same school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child is one of those that got 99th percentile test scores at a high SES school who didn't get into AAP. Her friends at other schools with lower test scores got in. It's infuriating - is this FCPS way of encouraging young families to move to crappier parts of the county? I'm confident my child would have gotten in at a school with different peers.

That fact may be your child did not cut it against your child’s competition at their school. It makes sense the way they are doing it based on the school’s population. If you don’t like it move or go private.

It actually doesn’t make any sense when the AAP curriculum is determined at the county level and not the local elementary. A 99% student should have access to the advanced curriculum, especially in math, where that child is cut off from future educational opportunities that they’re fully qualified and capable of. It makes no sense that a 99% kid can’t get advanced math but a 92% kid does at another school.

If the local elementary schools want to start more widely offering AAP accelerated math to qualified students, then I might feel differently. At our high SES center school, I know a number of highly qualified GE kids who had to jump through hoops to get into AAP math every school year, oftentimes missing 4-6 weeks of classes before the testing was completed and they were allowed in, late and now behind on curriculum.

Anonymous wrote:My child is one of those that got 99th percentile test scores at a high SES school who didn't get into AAP. Her friends at other schools with lower test scores got in. It's infuriating - is this FCPS way of encouraging young families to move to crappier parts of the county? I'm confident my child would have gotten in at a school with different peers.

Wrong. Files are screened at a central location. Readers are not comparing students from the same school. Each file is read and considered separately from all others.

Anonymous wrote:My child is one of those that got 99th percentile test scores at a high SES school who didn't get into AAP. Her friends at other schools with lower test scores got in. It's infuriating - is this FCPS way of encouraging young families to move to crappier parts of the county? I'm confident my child would have gotten in at a school with different peers.

That fact may be your child did not cut it against your child’s competition at their school. It makes sense the way they are doing it based on the school’s population. If you don’t like it move or go private.

Anonymous wrote:My child is one of those that got 99th percentile test scores at a high SES school who didn't get into AAP. Her friends at other schools with lower test scores got in. It's infuriating - is this FCPS way of encouraging young families to move to crappier parts of the county? I'm confident my child would have gotten in at a school with different peers.

Yes to your question.

Anonymous wrote:My child is one of those that got 99th percentile test scores at a high SES school who didn't get into AAP. Her friends at other schools with lower test scores got in. It's infuriating - is this FCPS way of encouraging young families to move to crappier parts of the county? I'm confident my child would have gotten in at a school with different peers.

Yes, your child would’ve gotten in at a school with less competitive student population. Our base school student population at a high SES school drops substantially as parents pull their high performing kids who didn’t get in and send to private.

My child is one of those that got 99th percentile test scores at a high SES school who didn't get into AAP. Her friends at other schools with lower test scores got in. It's infuriating - is this FCPS way of encouraging young families to move to crappier parts of the county? I'm confident my child would have gotten in at a school with different peers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AAP is supposed to meet the needs of kids who need more than what they can be provided at their school. High SES schools have more kids who are at a higher level and fewer kids who are massively behind. As such, the overall peer group is stronger and the top 10%, the kids who are supposed to need a different environment, looks different. There are plenty of high scoring kids to make up the upper end of the gen ed class.

AAP is not that special. We deferred DS in favor of language immersion. He stepped into AAP classes at MS with no problem. There is no indication that the AAP kids were exposed to any type of material that put them ahead of my kids who did not have that same exposure. Advanced Math is what is most important because it actually accelerates class work. The rest of it is not that exciting or different.

And yes, there are plenty of distracting kids in AAP. Most of the kids who left our ES for the Center were, to be frank, distractions in the classroom and struggling socially. The reports that we had from the parents of the kids that left was that their kid struggled socially at the Center as well.

The only schools where AAP is probably really needed are the Title 1 and near Title 1 schools where there are a lot fewer kids who on grade level, never mind ahead. The kids on grade level probably get some of the Teachers attention but the kids who are ahead get nothing. The separate class is needed in order to get those students who are ahead what they need. You don’t have that type of discrepancy at at high SES school whihc reduces the need for specialized programs.

That's part of it. It also provides a cohort to gifted aka high IQ students and provides specific curriculum and experienced and/or trained teachers.

By deferring, your DC missed out on those latter experiences.

Just to piggyback on pp here:
The AAP cohort was an absolute game-changer for my kids academically and socially, even at our high SES center/base school. It was a Completely different experience from genEd and they finally felt like they had a group where they were understood and fit in and were academically moving at a faster pace.

High scoring kids or not, Advanced math isn’t offered at the genEd level if you don’t place in AAP, so the designation matters, even if you’re in a high SES schools with high scoring kids in genEd. Your child won’t be able to take algebra 1 honors in 7th if they aren’t on the AAP track.

PP claims AAP is nothing special yet still had their child step into the AAP program in MS after deferring in elementary for language immersion (which, frankly, appeals to a similar cohort as AAP). If it’s nothing special, why not continue on genEd track?

Anonymous wrote:AAP is supposed to meet the needs of kids who need more than what they can be provided at their school. High SES schools have more kids who are at a higher level and fewer kids who are massively behind. As such, the overall peer group is stronger and the top 10%, the kids who are supposed to need a different environment, looks different. There are plenty of high scoring kids to make up the upper end of the gen ed class.

AAP is not that special. We deferred DS in favor of language immersion. He stepped into AAP classes at MS with no problem. There is no indication that the AAP kids were exposed to any type of material that put them ahead of my kids who did not have that same exposure. Advanced Math is what is most important because it actually accelerates class work. The rest of it is not that exciting or different.

And yes, there are plenty of distracting kids in AAP. Most of the kids who left our ES for the Center were, to be frank, distractions in the classroom and struggling socially. The reports that we had from the parents of the kids that left was that their kid struggled socially at the Center as well.

The only schools where AAP is probably really needed are the Title 1 and near Title 1 schools where there are a lot fewer kids who on grade level, never mind ahead. The kids on grade level probably get some of the Teachers attention but the kids who are ahead get nothing. The separate class is needed in order to get those students who are ahead what they need. You don’t have that type of discrepancy at at high SES school whihc reduces the need for specialized programs.

That's part of it. It also provides a cohort to gifted aka high IQ students and provides specific curriculum and experienced and/or trained teachers.

By deferring, your DC missed out on those latter experiences.

AAP is supposed to meet the needs of kids who need more than what they can be provided at their school. High SES schools have more kids who are at a higher level and fewer kids who are massively behind. As such, the overall peer group is stronger and the top 10%, the kids who are supposed to need a different environment, looks different. There are plenty of high scoring kids to make up the upper end of the gen ed class.

AAP is not that special. We deferred DS in favor of language immersion. He stepped into AAP classes at MS with no problem. There is no indication that the AAP kids were exposed to any type of material that put them ahead of my kids who did not have that same exposure. Advanced Math is what is most important because it actually accelerates class work. The rest of it is not that exciting or different.

And yes, there are plenty of distracting kids in AAP. Most of the kids who left our ES for the Center were, to be frank, distractions in the classroom and struggling socially. The reports that we had from the parents of the kids that left was that their kid struggled socially at the Center as well.

The only schools where AAP is probably really needed are the Title 1 and near Title 1 schools where there are a lot fewer kids who on grade level, never mind ahead. The kids on grade level probably get some of the Teachers attention but the kids who are ahead get nothing. The separate class is needed in order to get those students who are ahead what they need. You don’t have that type of discrepancy at at high SES school whihc reduces the need for specialized programs.

You seem to have a misunderstanding of what the purpose of the pool is. No one is keeping anyone out of anything. The purpose of the pool is to ensure that as many kids as possible are REVIEWED. Kids who are at schools with higher poverty tend to have parents that are not in tune to doing referrals.

I’ve worked at Title 1 schools and non-Title 1 schools. The percentage of parent referrals in the non-Title 1 schools far and away outpaces the Title 1 referrals.

Being in-pool is not a guarantee of admission to full-time services at any school, whether the kid is from McLean or the Route 1 corridor. Again, it’s a way to ensure kids that might not ever be considered are considered.

Not really. The idea of the pool cutoffs being very very high in some high COL schools is twofold: it tacitly acknowledges and accounts for the prepping that occurs there and explicitly acknowledges and accounts for the high level of gen ed classes in those schools. Those schools may already use part or all of the AAP curriculum materials in their classrooms, even before the new LA curriculum, and already have a high performing cohort.

There's no dumbing down in those schools. And many of those children are referred by their parents, even if they aren't in pool.

The in pool scores for higher SES school is significantly higher than lower SES schools. It seems like FCPS is trying to keep students from wealthier schools from accessing AAP. Students scoring in the 99th percentile are not “in pool” at some elementary schools. I can understand lowering the “in pool” requirement for schools that traditionally have less AAP students; but it makes absolutely no sense to try to keep students scoring in the 98th/99th percentile from accessing A
The Advanced Academic Program.

FCPS is trying to “dumb down” the higher performing high schools by lowering the academics for students starting in 3rd grade. Less kids in AAP will mean lower I-ready/SOL scores, less kids taking advanced math in middle school, overall less prepared students for AP/DE classes in high school.