My 4th grader's AAP teacher (Mantua) is a first year teacher that was hired this summer with no experience or specific training. She isn't very organized but seems to work hard. I would prefer to have a teacher with more experience, but everybody has to start somewhere.

My kiddo's AAP teacher is in her first year as a teacher. We are her first class. I don't know what that means for AAP, but my kiddo loves her and we love her too. Then again, my kiddo's favorite teacher so far was her second grade teacher. One of the best I've ever come across, and she was obviously NOT an AAP teacher.

i think this is what i have found.

Anonymous wrote:We must have the rare AAP teacher who does NOT have a great deal of experience, as DD's teacher is only in her second year of teaching anything. Not that I have any complaints as DD LOVES her and she seems to have a lot of energy and enthusiasm for teaching that many longer-term teachers may have lost.

perhaps it's just that the AAP kids are easier so the teachers can focus all the energy on teaching?

Anonymous wrote:AAP Center teachers are more likely GT certified, compared to teachers in Local Level 4 classrooms.

This should say endorsed and not certified.

Info on how teachers can obtain the endorsement:
http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/legacy-content/86789J2271B7/$FILE/Attachment%20C.pdf

See page 5 of this document to see # of endorsements:
http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/legacy-content/86789J2271B7/$FILE/Answers%20to%20School%20Board%20Questions.pdf

Anonymous wrote:For a child that is very bright, but not extremely gifted or with an other issues, does it make a difference? Anything else specific that teachers in AAP centers provide? It seems to me that the local level IV has the advantage of allowing our children to stay with friends they know who are close by as well as not having to be bussed to a different SACC center. Plus it makes it easier on us dealing with PTA involvement and other activities at the school.

The difference in the Centers is the peer group. If Local Level 4 has a peer group of 25+ Center-eligible kids in a class, then Local Level 4 is a pretty decent option. However, many Local Level 4 classes do not have that, and, in many cases, only have a handful of Center-eligible kids. The remainder of the class is filled with other students, who may (or may not) be academic peers of the Center-eligible kids.

AAP Center teachers are more likely GT certified, compared to teachers in Local Level 4 classrooms.

Teaching kids that are highly gifted, especially in multiple areas, is not the same as teaching kids that are bright or even mildly gifted.

http://giftedkids.about.com/od/gifted101/qt/IQ_scores.htm

We are at a Center school to start with, so it wasn't an issue for us, but if we had been at a Level IV school, we would have stayed there for all of the reasons you list. The curriculum is the same, so why uproot everything (especially if you have other children at the Level IV school)?

For a child that is very bright, but not extremely gifted or with an other issues, does it make a difference? Anything else specific that teachers in AAP centers provide? It seems to me that the local level IV has the advantage of allowing our children to stay with friends they know who are close by as well as not having to be bussed to a different SACC center. Plus it makes it easier on us dealing with PTA involvement and other activities at the school.

We must have the rare AAP teacher who does NOT have a great deal of experience, as DD's teacher is only in her second year of teaching anything. Not that I have any complaints as DD LOVES her and she seems to have a lot of energy and enthusiasm for teaching that many longer-term teachers may have lost.

Anonymous wrote:How so? Can you be more specific on what they do or how you know they are of higher quality? Thanks!

17:40 here - the teachers at the AAP Center seem to have far greater experience with 2e students that happen to have ADHD. There are absolutely no issues with a 504 plan, and the teachers each initiated the "where would be the best place for you to sit" conversation. In our base school, one of the teachers did not even know issues surrounding ADHD, forget about trying to accommodate for students. The teachers at the AAP Center seem to be quick to work with the uniqueness that a peer group of AAP students provides, and are able to quickly adapt lessons to the interests of the group as a whole (even though those interests might be considered quirky). The AAP Center teachers also collaborate well with the school counselors, and get lunch bunches going and workshops setup for things like organization help.

We had nothing like this in our base school either from the general ed teachers or the Local Level 4 teacher. (We left the base school at mid-year so only had a half-year with the Local Level 4 teacher. Yes, things were that bad there.)

I'm not the PP, but the AAP teachers have to complete a GT credential to be qualified to teach at a center. I have found that they tend to be more experienced and have been selected by the school's principal.
My child's center seems to specialize in GT kids with ADHD- I'm not sure if the teachers have done course work in special ed. issues, but many of them seem to have a "gift" for helping kids with these issues.

How so? Can you be more specific on what they do or how you know they are of higher quality? Thanks!

The three teachers we have experience with in our AAP Center are incredibly better than the general ed teachers we have experience with at our base school, and are also far better than the Local Level 4 teacher at our base school.

Much better in my experience.

How do the teachers compare to general ed?