Anonymous wrote:Nationally --- shouldn't these kids be in AAP? There are some general national standards as to what constitutes, "gifted". We live in a highly educated, high IQ area. No surprise, in the least, that so many kids "should" qualify.

Now, how to best serve them and everyone? I would like to see the total AAP Center numbers at no more than 2x the enrollment of TJ. Keep gifted kids at the base school - with differential instruction w/in the same classroom. Flexible grouping for instruction so all students can advance to the best of their ability/effort.

Nationally, 2% are gifted. It would be reasonable in the FCPS area for 4-5% to be gifted. If you want to include, bright, motivated, almost-gifted kids, the range could stretch up to 10%. There's no way 20% are gifted.

Nationally --- shouldn't these kids be in AAP? There are some general national standards as to what constitutes, "gifted". We live in a highly educated, high IQ area. No surprise, in the least, that so many kids "should" qualify.

Now, how to best serve them and everyone? I would like to see the total AAP Center numbers at no more than 2x the enrollment of TJ. Keep gifted kids at the base school - with differential instruction w/in the same classroom. Flexible grouping for instruction so all students can advance to the best of their ability/effort.

Anonymous wrote:Why is dashboard still not updated on all pages yet? It's the end of 2018 and we still don't have data for each of the schools yet?

It's all there. It just isn't linked anywhere. Go onto the page you want to view, and then in the webpage address bar, replace the 17 with 18 and the 18 with 19.

Why is dashboard still not updated on all pages yet? It's the end of 2018 and we still don't have data for each of the schools yet?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate that they lie so much with their "average class size" stats. Sure -- the average class size for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade is 17 (!!!) kids per class! No way!

My two kids both had 30-32 kids per class in 5th and 6th grade. They had 28-29 in Kindergarten. FCPS counts the special ed classrooms (which have 5 kids in them) as part of their "average class size" and then makes it look like most kids go to a classroom with 17 kids in it!

Similar to the fuzzy accounting when they "built in 10 snow days" by counting 20 min. of dismissal and arrival (walking to and from the buses) as "instructional time". There was no new instructional time... they just re-named time that kids aren't even in the classroom as "instructional time" so that they didn't have to actually give kids the required time in school.

Lies, Lies, Lies, my children! (-- Jim Jones, Guyana.)

The class sizes on dashboard are accurate for our school, around 20-24 ish.

FCPS also has a lot of Title I schools, which tend to have around 20 kids per classroom. I feel for the schools that barely miss the cut for Title I, since their needs are about the same as the Title I schools, but the resources end up being much lower.

Anonymous wrote:I hate that they lie so much with their "average class size" stats. Sure -- the average class size for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade is 17 (!!!) kids per class! No way!

My two kids both had 30-32 kids per class in 5th and 6th grade. They had 28-29 in Kindergarten. FCPS counts the special ed classrooms (which have 5 kids in them) as part of their "average class size" and then makes it look like most kids go to a classroom with 17 kids in it!

Similar to the fuzzy accounting when they "built in 10 snow days" by counting 20 min. of dismissal and arrival (walking to and from the buses) as "instructional time". There was no new instructional time... they just re-named time that kids aren't even in the classroom as "instructional time" so that they didn't have to actually give kids the required time in school.

Lies, Lies, Lies, my children! (-- Jim Jones, Guyana.)

The class sizes on dashboard are accurate for our school, around 20-24 ish.

I hate that they lie so much with their "average class size" stats. Sure -- the average class size for 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th grade is 17 (!!!) kids per class! No way!

My two kids both had 30-32 kids per class in 5th and 6th grade. They had 28-29 in Kindergarten. FCPS counts the special ed classrooms (which have 5 kids in them) as part of their "average class size" and then makes it look like most kids go to a classroom with 17 kids in it!

Similar to the fuzzy accounting when they "built in 10 snow days" by counting 20 min. of dismissal and arrival (walking to and from the buses) as "instructional time". There was no new instructional time... they just re-named time that kids aren't even in the classroom as "instructional time" so that they didn't have to actually give kids the required time in school.

Lies, Lies, Lies, my children! (-- Jim Jones, Guyana.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is it grade 3-5? What are the numbers for grade 3-6?

Is it true that AAP admission has been (slightly) tighter in the past year or two?

OP: sorry.. That was a typo. It's all 3-6

Thanks for the clarification. I can't see the dashboard on my phone (flash).

Anonymous wrote:Why is it grade 3-5? What are the numbers for grade 3-6?

Is it true that AAP admission has been (slightly) tighter in the past year or two?

At our elementary center, the amount of AAP kids has grown by a few percentage points every year according to the dashboard, and is now at over 36% of the school population. The school is very overcrowded now with over 1000 kids and lunches starting almost right after the school day starts. Looking at dashboard numbers, the feeders appear to be sending a little over 20 kids per grade, so roughly 20 to 25% of kids, or a classroom of kids. I know that for both of my younger kids, there were around a half dozen kids who stayed at the base instead of the center, so the qualified number is around 25%

I have a high schooler who went through the center before that big 9th grade testing scandal class, and I think there were only 11 kids from our elementary who went to the center, with 9 going in 3rd grade and the other 2 coming later as military kids.

There were 2 AAP classes when my oldest went through. I think there are 4 now.

Our center has definitely exploded over the past 4 years and the number of AAP kids keeps going steadily up.

Anonymous wrote:Why is it grade 3-5? What are the numbers for grade 3-6?

Is it true that AAP admission has been (slightly) tighter in the past year or two?

This is only anecdotal but our AAP center has one fewer 3rd grade this year from last year.

Anonymous wrote:
Is it true that AAP admission has been (slightly) tighter in the past year or two?

No. It only looks that way because many more 3rd graders defer enrollment and thus aren't counted. Also, more kids join each year. Having 17% of 3rd graders be both AAP qualified and enrolled is huge. The total AAP numbers have shown a steady increase every year for the last 15 or so years.

Anonymous wrote:Why is it grade 3-5? What are the numbers for grade 3-6?

Is it true that AAP admission has been (slightly) tighter in the past year or two?

OP: sorry.. That was a typo. It's all 3-6

Why is it grade 3-5? What are the numbers for grade 3-6?

Is it true that AAP admission has been (slightly) tighter in the past year or two?

I am a big proponent of AAP centers (had one kid go who desperately needed it, had another qualify and stay at the base school, and had one who is an average student who did not even qualify for level 3 pull outs) and I think this number is WAY too high.

AAP center placement should be around 10% of the students, a little higher in some of those TJ areas and a little lower in those low performing areas like Lee and Mount Vernon.

AAP centers should be eliminated in middle school. There is no reason to have them at that age. They should only be offered in elementary school.

FCPS dashboard finally has the numbers for this year:

http://151.188.217.200/fts_drupal_support/dashboard/totals/estotals18-19.html

10614 students are AAP eligible AND enrolled in AAP level IV out of 51126 students in grades 3-5, so it's 20.8% of FCPS 3-6 graders. This number doesn't include students who are accepted into Level IV but choose to remain at the base school for LIII services, and it also doesn't include principal placed students. I would guess then that another 2-ish percent defer AAP enrollment, and another 7+% are principal placed in a LLIV classroom.