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I certainly hope that you are not my child's teacher. Crude language is never necessary and never respected.

If a kid scores high and is in AAP they must be brilliant. WHETHER OR NOT THEY DO SHIT IN CLASS. Scores clearly tell the teachers that a child is a genius. NOT AT ALL. I teach 3rd grade AAP in FCPS and I have so many under qualified kids whose parents forced them into GT. These kids struggle to do their work and should not be here even though they are brilliant! I wish i had students who applied themselves to their work. Because so many parents appeal and threaten to sue we have kids who are the equivalnet of mushrooms in our AAP program. They thrive on shit and they are shit. I wish things went bacvk to when I began in the county and the GT kids were actually bright. Now most are ther because their parents are pushy.

Anonymous wrote:As a former FCPS GT student, my sense of AAP seems to be alot different than what other's perceptions are on here.

My understanding is that AAP is not "harder". They don't learn material that is much more difficult. The pace may be faster, and higher level thinking is encouraged/developed, but it's not as if these kids are learning some impossible concepts.

If a child scores well on Cogat or the NNAT, then they should be able to handle AAP. If they get anxious over tests as the OP suggested, maybe they would get anxious even if they were in the "regular" classroom.

If a child get's a C average in AAP, they may very well be a C average student in a "regular" classroom as well.

Following instructions, focusing on the task at hand, and being engaged everyday go a long way toward classroom performance, and this doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with a Cogat or NNAT score.

I say this because I don't think parents should be turned off by AAP. It is a wonderful program for kids who are a good fit. It isn't torture, the kids aren't turned into mini college students. For me and alot of my classmates growing up, it was actually alot of FUN.

Exactly. AAP does not seem "harder" to the kid for whom that class is a good fit because the material is suited to the child's capabilities.

And you are right, the qualities in bold are qualities any student can work to acquire and have nothing to do with academic ability.

As a former FCPS GT student, my sense of AAP seems to be alot different than what other's perceptions are on here.

My understanding is that AAP is not "harder". They don't learn material that is much more difficult. The pace may be faster, and higher level thinking is encouraged/developed, but it's not as if these kids are learning some impossible concepts.

If a child scores well on Cogat or the NNAT, then they should be able to handle AAP. If they get anxious over tests as the OP suggested, maybe they would get anxious even if they were in the "regular" classroom.

If a child get's a C average in AAP, they may very well be a C average student in a "regular" classroom as well.

Following instructions, focusing on the task at hand, and being engaged everyday go a long way toward classroom performance, and this doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with a Cogat or NNAT score.

I say this because I don't think parents should be turned off by AAP. It is a wonderful program for kids who are a good fit. It isn't torture, the kids aren't turned into mini college students. For me and alot of my classmates growing up, it was actually alot of FUN.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents decision. Sounds like a ambitious mom pushing average/borderline kid in AAP. Very not desirable.

This is not a solid assumption. I can attest to having a highly sensitive child -- who scored 99th percentile on verbal and 97th composite. Seriously, when a kid is in the top 5 % of all kids in the country, you can't really say that they are "average" or "borderline" and that their mother is pushing them too much. If you had a sensitive kid, you'd know it doesn't matter if it's AAP or regular classroom, the kid tends toward the drama. Yeah, they may be average or below average on Emotional IQ. Be careful who you're judging if you don't have a PhD in child psych/development.

The difference is your sensitive child qualified qualified for the program through scores and I assume your sensitive child isn't in tears every night over schoolwork. I also assume you don't have to tutor your child on a regular basis.

Nobody here is saying gifted kids can't be both sensitive and gifted. Plenty of gifted children are emotionally complex. The issue here is are the tears because this is gifted stuff or because a child is being pushed beyond his ability and he is stressed out. Kids have many years of school ahead of them you want them to feel positive about learning, even if it's just the child loves Science, but doesn't enjoy Math. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, but if the issue is the program is not the right fit why should a child have to spend his nights this upset. Even if he is gifted and he's just not a good test taker, that doesn't mean the AAP program is what is best for his individual needs. It sounds like once a kid is in the parents are the only people deciding whether or not the fit continues to be ideal.

Re:school counselor. I would assume if the child appears stressed the teacher would recommend it. Don't get the sense this mom would refer her child to a counselor or at least would be open to the suggestion from another parent.

Anonymous wrote:it's like the pope, once you're in there you're in there for life (well, end of 8th grade anyway). But I'm pretty sure some have decided to withdraw.

No, it's not true that "once you're in there, you're in there for life." Parents can opt their kids out of AAP if they want. I know one family that moved their child from an AAP center back to their base school. I don't know the reasons why. But why does someone else's reason matter? Why does the original poster even feel the need to ask this question to start with if he or she doesn't even really know why this child is struggling?

The post comes across as if the OP is assuming the child with "average scores" is not a good fit for AAP and has "stress or academics" issues. Yes, the level of the work could be the problem here--but children do have issues at home unrelated to school, social issues at school that have nothiing to do with AAP academics, stress from changing schools to go to an AAP center, or many other things going on that could be stressing this child out. The academic work itself might not be the real problem; why assume AAP is to blame? There may be a bigger picture here.

The mom may not be tutoring her kids because she's some pushy parent; she may be doing it because the kid is having a rough patch and needs a little extra help right now.

If the OP wants to help, he or she could suggest that the mom see the school counselor. Kids new to AAP often are stressed by moving to a new school more than by any academic issues. My own child saw the counselor a couple of times at the start of AAP in third grade and it helped her with the transition and she was fine.

There were quite a few borderline at our ES center. With all the hype about the top 1% and so on, some of these kids just were not exceptionally bright, able to do the homework, or really elite in any way. Others were EMO. Most, however, did fit the mold pretty well --high scores math, reading, ect.

Once your DC is in they are in for the duration. However, if your DC is struggling in a subject, the teachers will recommend taking Honors or regular instead. IMHO, that is much better than crying every night over homework.

It would be interesting to see high school data on the kids who were eligible for and opted out of AAP.

As a former teacher, my experience and observation is that a truly bright GT kid learns in spite of the teacher--not because of the teaher.

Sensitive is par for the course for very gifted kids, but tutors should not be, unless this is a twice-exceptional kid. I know some 2e kids who stay in the program and some who qualify but stay in base for the better supports.

Given the number of questions we get here about parents coaching their kids for the CogAt, I think it is quite likely that some kids are over-identified and over their heads. But I agree with PP that it is hard to tell that from the outside.

Anonymous wrote:Parents decision. Sounds like a ambitious mom pushing average/borderline kid in AAP. Very not desirable.

This is not a solid assumption. I can attest to having a highly sensitive child -- who scored 99th percentile on verbal and 97th composite. Seriously, when a kid is in the top 5 % of all kids in the country, you can't really say that they are "average" or "borderline" and that their mother is pushing them too much. If you had a sensitive kid, you'd know it doesn't matter if it's AAP or regular classroom, the kid tends toward the drama. Yeah, they may be average or below average on Emotional IQ. Be careful who you're judging if you don't have a PhD in child psych/development.

Parents decision. Sounds like a ambitious mom pushing average/borderline kid in AAP. Very not desirable.

it's like the pope, once you're in there you're in there for life (well, end of 8th grade anyway). But I'm pretty sure some have decided to withdraw.

Anonymous wrote:
Just curious-no dog in this fight. My kids are not even of age for testing and we aren't interested.

We know a couple in our neighborhood that got their kid into AAP despite solidly average scores. I also know from mom tutors the child and deals with tears almost every night over homework or quizes, but the mom just sees this as sensitive gifted kid stuff and she stopped talking to me for a while when I even asked questions to gather if maybe her child was unhappy in the program. For all I know he is a sensitive gifted child. It's none of my business, but when I heard about the crying every night I was concerned. The teachers are the experts here, not me.

So, do teachers ever decide it isn't the right environment and then advocate for the child to be placed out of the program if the child is struggling and/or unhappy?

I thinks the school can point out that the child isn't doing well, but I think once you're in you're in so parents have final say.

Just curious-no dog in this fight. My kids are not even of age for testing and we aren't interested.

We know a couple in our neighborhood that got their kid into AAP despite solidly average scores. I also know from mom tutors the child and deals with tears almost every night over homework or quizes, but the mom just sees this as sensitive gifted kid stuff and she stopped talking to me for a while when I even asked questions to gather if maybe her child was unhappy in the program. For all I know he is a sensitive gifted child. It's none of my business, but when I heard about the crying every night I was concerned. The teachers are the experts here, not me.

So, do teachers ever decide it isn't the right environment and then advocate for the child to be placed out of the program if the child is struggling and/or unhappy?