The AART at our school was formerly in the AAP office and on the panel to review appeals. She clearly stated to us that work samples that are aligned with GBRS qualities and additional relevant information is definitely what the committee is looking for. It's not just scores, but demonstration of the GBRS characteristics in practice.

Anonymous wrote:Is there information anywhere on how much weight different parts of the AAP application receive? Such as, CoGat is 50% of the decision, GBRS 30%, etc? This would be useful to anyone applying or appealing decisions, and would seem to make the system more fair and standardized.

Evaluation on eligibility is done on the whole child, so no, those percentages do not exist. It only exists in the speculation of dcum.

Is there information anywhere on how much weight different parts of the AAP application receive? Such as, CoGat is 50% of the decision, GBRS 30%, etc? This would be useful to anyone applying or appealing decisions, and would seem to make the system more fair and standardized.

Anonymous wrote:Really it varies. I have seen essays on ancient diseases, poems, comics, photos of kid made creations with commentary...anything that shows the 4 qualities listed on the GBRS.

How many different files have you seen?

There was a work sample that was done in school that the teacher had marked wrong. It had to do with explaining a fraction. We thought that DC showed creative thinking. Our older child was going to a math tutoring center and we asked the director, who was a college professor, to look at the work sample He was surprised that the teacher marked it wrong. We ended up not submitting it but looking back, I should have. DC is now in middle school and is definitely skilled at creatively explaining concepts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Work samples won't help with an appeal.

Really? D.C. met the cut off scores but school submitted really bad work samples (a worksheet). GBRS was 11 so what else do I focus on for appeal (will be submitting WISC scores above 132 but obviously test scores weren't the issue).

It won't hurt anything, especially since the school did not do a good job on the work samples. IMO, if you have good work samples that show creative thinking, then you should submit it. I don't believe they give as much credence to work done at home as they do in school, so choose good samples of schoolwork (not things like worksheets).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Work samples won't help with an appeal.

Really? D.C. met the cut off scores but school submitted really bad work samples (a worksheet). GBRS was 11 so what else do I focus on for appeal (will be submitting WISC scores above 132 but obviously test scores weren't the issue).

Yes, really. No work sample will tip an admit or a decline no matter how abysmal or stellar.

Both our kids went through AAP. In both cases, we submitted the optional form along with several work samples. In some cases, it was a poem or story the child had written in KG or first grade, math sheets solved (e.g. 3 digit multiplication), picture of a puzzle game they created, etc.

I think submitting such info. tells the school/teacher/system that you as a parent are interested in the child's education, will spend the time to make sure the child is successful, and will fight if the kid doesn't get in.

Anonymous wrote:Work samples won't help with an appeal.

Really? D.C. met the cut off scores but school submitted really bad work samples (a worksheet). GBRS was 11 so what else do I focus on for appeal (will be submitting WISC scores above 132 but obviously test scores weren't the issue).

Work samples won't help with an appeal.

Make sure you attach 2 school samples.

We did a parent referral from private, so we submitted 6 pages of work. Her score in verbal was lowest, so we focused on submitting more written samples - one poem, and one story (3 pages). One photo of her science fair presentation, one piece of art (which tied in with the question on her ability to focus and work for extended periods of time on things that interest her; she drew a detailed eye, and a tiger, from a YouTube video), and one math sample, which consisted of some geometry work, and elementary algebra work.

Wish there were a way to attach documents; I could show you what some of this looked like.

I had DS do an applied math problem based on a question he asked. It was about deciding which one was a better deal. He drew pictures and did some calculations and then wrote an answer to his question.

Really it varies. I have seen essays on ancient diseases, poems, comics, photos of kid made creations with commentary...anything that shows the 4 qualities listed on the GBRS.

Thank you