Anonymous wrote:Of course. Why wouldn't you talk to your kids teacher about your kids future education?

Agree! 2nd grade is a potential stepping stone- teachers must have some opinion.

Anonymous wrote:We never talked about it with our son's teacher. Not during the conference (even though we knew he'd be in pool based on NNAT), not after test scores came out, not at all. I don't see the point in discussing it with them if your child's automatically in the pool. They don't have a say in the decision and what you talk about isn't going to impact what they put on the GBRS.

Well, obviously. But the OP didn't say his/her son was in the pool.

DC's teacher brought it up- said she'd submit DC for AAP if test scores were below cut off.

Of course. Why wouldn't you talk to your kids teacher about your kids future education?

We never talked about it with our son's teacher. Not during the conference (even though we knew he'd be in pool based on NNAT), not after test scores came out, not at all. I don't see the point in discussing it with them if your child's automatically in the pool. They don't have a say in the decision and what you talk about isn't going to impact what they put on the GBRS.

Mine didn't mention it but did mention some higher level games and activities I should consider for my son...ThimkFun type games.

I simply asked, "How did the test go?" because it was taken just last week. We had talked about focus issues, so I did want to know, in general, whether DC was spacing out or fidgeting--not how he did.

I agree that you don't want to spend your conference time talking about a potential GBRS, but I don't think the subject is tremendously off-limits, either.

Not enough time in parent teacher conferences.

The sooner you get information, the better your decision will be if your child is in the pool and you have to possibly choose to move your child to a center school, etc. Information gathering is NOT helicoperting or being an obsessed "My kid MUST do AAP" parent; it's just finding out what you need to know about a process that could profoundly affect your child. Why would anyone not get information early? We have a seventh grade AAP student and we're gathering information now about things like how high school AP and IB work, etc. because we don't want to make a rushed decision or try to scramble to learn what it all means in January of our child's eighth grade year. So I favor at least asking, "Can you explain the overall AAP admission process and what happens with that the rest of this year?"

I have had teachers bring it up before, but I have never been the one to mention it first. Kindergarten and first grade teachers brought AAP into the conversation at all the conferences. We just had the second grade conference and the teacher did not mention THE phrase, but rather talked around it: child is doing pull out enrichment, working on higher learning concepts, going into more depth in assignments, math enrichment as necessary, etc. Not a breath about AAP, so I did not mention it either.

I would only talk about if it they mention it first, UNLESS your child is already in the pool from the NNAT, and you have doubts as to whether AAP or switching schools will be a good fit for your child. Then I think it is okay to say something like "My child is in the pool, but we are unsure if the larger classes/school, faster pace, new school, etc is going to be a good place for her..."

Just randomly bringing up AAP without any lead ins from the teacher, and without having NNAT scores in the pool just lend itself to a potentially awkward conversation where either the teacher might clam up, or you might here what you don't want to hear.

Focus on the now, and not the next year. Scores are not even back yet.

No -many teachers are philosophically opposed to AAP. As an
AAP parent, I can see their point. They'd like to be able to devote the same quality of resources to all students. Calling yourself out as anxious about AAP placement could only hurt your child's chances.

Anonymous wrote:NO. Wait till the tests results come out. At least act like you've read the info on the FCPS website!!

the first grade NNAT scores are already out -- so some of us know our kids will be in the pool already. I don't think there is anything wrong with bringing it up.... BUT... IME, teachers are generally ill-informed or hostile to kids going to AAP. That may not be the case everywhere.

NO. Wait till the tests results come out. At least act like you've read the info on the FCPS website!!

No, if you have to bring it up, your teacher doesn't think your kid is gifted/AAP material.

Just wondering if this was early..