Anonymous wrote:Other than Montgomery County which spends considerably more per child than FCPS and doesn't teach advanced math in general ed, what other school systems are teaching advanced instruction better than FCPS?

What do you mean Montgomery County doesn't teach advanced math in General Ed? Any student has the option of starting advanced math at the Compacted 4/5 level without regard to entry into HGC (highly gifted center).

Anonymous wrote:I think "how gifted" FCPS's program is and discussing kids who "don't need to be there" are related. The fact it is so large means that it captures kids who truly, at the end of the day, are bright but not gifted.

So now we are back to vacationing in Rimini vs. Sorrento again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are kidding yourself if you think our kids are getting an advanced education in AAP. The stuff they are doing is nowhere near as creative as the average public school in Minnesota. I had the privelege of attending an American school overseas, and learned the hard way that America is ridiculously behind the rest of the world when it comes to education.

FCPS has watered down the AAP program so it is almost just regular school with more homework. The ONLY real difference is possible exposure to more advanced math, if that happens to be your child's area.

- signed parent of two AAP students who is not impressed

My sister lives in Colorado, and at her middle school (West) in the Cherry Creek School district, there are sixth graders walking over to the nearby high school (Cherry Creek) for Calculus.

People who think AAP is the premier gifted program in the country are deluding themselves.

I don't think people think that, but either way, this group of super gifted children is not what this thread is about. The focus is on the kids who are in the gifted program, but don't need to be there. Not how gifted is FCPS's gifted program. Start another thread for that if you want.

I think "how gifted" FCPS's program is and discussing kids who "don't need to be there" are related. The fact it is so large means that it captures kids who truly, at the end of the day, are bright but not gifted.

I contend that if FCPS parents want to claim it's one of the best school districts in the state, or country, that logically has to encompass a wider base than just the AAP centers. It's ridiculous that people are asserting that their run-of-the-mill bright children are incapable of being educated in the mainstream.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are kidding yourself if you think our kids are getting an advanced education in AAP. The stuff they are doing is nowhere near as creative as the average public school in Minnesota. I had the privelege of attending an American school overseas, and learned the hard way that America is ridiculously behind the rest of the world when it comes to education.

FCPS has watered down the AAP program so it is almost just regular school with more homework. The ONLY real difference is possible exposure to more advanced math, if that happens to be your child's area.

- signed parent of two AAP students who is not impressed

My sister lives in Colorado, and at her middle school (West) in the Cherry Creek School district, there are sixth graders walking over to the nearby high school (Cherry Creek) for Calculus.

People who think AAP is the premier gifted program in the country are deluding themselves.

I don't think people think that, but either way, this group of super gifted children is not what this thread is about. The focus is on the kids who are in the gifted program, but don't need to be there. Not how gifted is FCPS's gifted program. Start another thread for that if you want.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. California IS broke, and seems to have eliminated all of the G/T programming.

Wonder how all of those truly smart kids of Silicon Valley engineers, etc., will survive in a regular school, where their brilliance is dimmed by the mere sight of those not as smart.

Oh right! They're thriving. The school still provides appropriate educational experiences and levels in neighborhood facilities.

The white and Asian kids are thriving, at least. Also, note that 57% of the elementary students reported using math tutoring. This was in 2013, so perhaps things have changed significantly since then.

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2013/08/30/palo-alto-school-district-ranks-sixth-in-state

coughillegalimmigrantscough

According to the link, it is the advanced and average students who need tutors to keep up.

Given the demographics and competitiveness of that area, more likely it's kids using tutors as enrichment, not remediation to keep up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. California IS broke, and seems to have eliminated all of the G/T programming.

Wonder how all of those truly smart kids of Silicon Valley engineers, etc., will survive in a regular school, where their brilliance is dimmed by the mere sight of those not as smart.

Oh right! They're thriving. The school still provides appropriate educational experiences and levels in neighborhood facilities.

The white and Asian kids are thriving, at least. Also, note that 57% of the elementary students reported using math tutoring. This was in 2013, so perhaps things have changed significantly since then.

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2013/08/30/palo-alto-school-district-ranks-sixth-in-state

coughillegalimmigrantscough

According to the link, it is the advanced and average students who need tutors to keep up.

The committed parents work with any size AAP or none at all. They humbly acknowledge that their kids are like many other gifted kids, but need to be prepped and trained to their full potential. If the AAP capacity is limited, then the bragging parents who self-label their child as gifted will whine about the competition from the other better gifted kids who enter with solid scores.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And btw you're the one who wants a lower proportion of AA kids in AAP by making it more restrictive.

No, you are missing the point. The program should be treated like a special needs program. Kids that are so advanced they aren't really able to participate in regular classrooms should be placed in an environment that helps them achieve their potential.

The rest of them should be TOGETHER. Helping each other, learning from each other, challenging each other. The idea is to bring the bottom UP, not the top DOWN.

What "bringing the bottom up" meant in another state was that my second grader spent nearly the first half of the year tutoring first graders and kindergartners in how to read instead of learning anything from his grade level teacher. He literally would be sent to various lower grade classes every reading class. Sometimes he would complete a worksheet before going but being used as a teaching assistant was a daily occurance. When I complained, the teacher spouted off much of the same lines as are in your last sentence. My favorite was "But he is learning so much by sitting with the other kids and teaching them to read" Umm...no.

+100000 We were so happy to leave the base school and my 7 year old's job behind.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are kidding yourself if you think our kids are getting an advanced education in AAP. The stuff they are doing is nowhere near as creative as the average public school in Minnesota. I had the privelege of attending an American school overseas, and learned the hard way that America is ridiculously behind the rest of the world when it comes to education.

FCPS has watered down the AAP program so it is almost just regular school with more homework. The ONLY real difference is possible exposure to more advanced math, if that happens to be your child's area.

- signed parent of two AAP students who is not impressed

This is not the case at our schools (base school with Local Level IV compared to Center school).

- signed parent of two AAP students who is thankful for Level IV Centers

As they expand the program it gets easier and easier. Gen Ed at FCPS is just a joke, although there are a few good teachers.
-- signed also mother of 2 in AAP

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow y'all.

We moved here last year from Edmond, OK, and people really need to take a step back and realize Fairfax County is no different than many, many other areas that have pockets of well-educated, relatively affluent populations. (Sorry, but it's true.) Fairfax has a very unusual delivery model with AAP that is not a reflection of how many "brilliant" kids that are here or that they have unusual needs vs. kids across the country, but because it has morphed into a behemoth to accommodate pushy parents.

In Edmond more than 30% of the school population is identified as gifted. The in-school services are superb.

Don't you get that is the complaint here: too easy to get into! Edmund has 30% in it because a 97% on the NNAT or two sections of the CogAT are a basis for automatic admission. Here, you'd need a 98% To be automatically CONSIDERED in the possible pool of applicants.

And Edmund serves them in school. That's the point.

And so does fcps. Our level three and advanced math combination are very good for kids like my bright non center kid.

I can't help but think how nasty, insulting and disparaging these kinds of anti AAP threads are towards the many amazing base schools and non AAP teachers and the birght or even average kids throughout fcps.

Your comment doesn't make sense. The "anti-AAP" posters (or at least those of us advocating downsizing AAP) are saying that it's exactly because there are so many bright, non-AAP kids that AAP need not segregate them into two very similar groups. The point many of us are trying to make is that most kids are perfectly able to do AAP work. Instead, we're advocating for a far smaller and more selective program, only for the very highly gifted, with all other kids in General Ed. And with a major revamping of the Gen Ed curriculum too.

How is that "insulting and disparaging" the non-AAP kids? My own child is a very bright, General Ed student who is perfectly capable of doing AAP work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Which is funny coming from someone who is adamant that AAP not return to a smaller, more selective program because you know full well your child wouldn't qualify. You seem to enjoy the AAP label more than anybody. God forbid your snowflake is sent marching back to Gen Ed. The shame!

Pot meets kettle. You have my vote for most despicable line in the thread.

Actually, I think the first poster's assessment was spot on. A true "gifted" program in Fx would eliminate 90+% of those in AAP. That's why people are trying to defend the AAP.

Ps. The "pot/kettle" line is a non sequitor.

+1
The people defending AAP as it now stands know that if it returned to a more selective, true gifted program, their kids would most likely not make the cut. And as you said, nor would the vast majority of kids. Gifted kids are not a dime a dozen, in FCPS or in the world at large.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Palo Alto suspended its gifted program back in 2012.

http://www.pausd.org/gifted-talented-education

And they are served perfectly well in non AAP-style schools. Gasp! And I would be willing to bet those kids as a whole are probably even smarter than Fairfax County.

Absolutely. One (of many) issues with AAP is that all of the kids now in it are somehow under the mistaken impression that they are the cream of the crop, smarter than all others. FCPS has done a huge disservice to all kids by dividing them up in this way.

Anonymous wrote:
I can't help but think how nasty, insulting and disparaging these kinds of anti AAP threads are towards the many amazing base schools and non AAP teachers and the birght or even average kids throughout fcps.

+10000

Some of the posters here appear to insinuate anyone not in Level IV AAP is an illegal immigrant in MS-13 and unable to read or write.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow y'all.

We moved here last year from Edmond, OK, and people really need to take a step back and realize Fairfax County is no different than many, many other areas that have pockets of well-educated, relatively affluent populations. (Sorry, but it's true.) Fairfax has a very unusual delivery model with AAP that is not a reflection of how many "brilliant" kids that are here or that they have unusual needs vs. kids across the country, but because it has morphed into a behemoth to accommodate pushy parents.

In Edmond more than 30% of the school population is identified as gifted. The in-school services are superb.

Don't you get that is the complaint here: too easy to get into! Edmund has 30% in it because a 97% on the NNAT or two sections of the CogAT are a basis for automatic admission. Here, you'd need a 98% To be automatically CONSIDERED in the possible pool of applicants.

And Edmund serves them in school. That's the point.

And so does fcps. Our level three and advanced math combination are very good for kids like my bright non center kid.

I can't help but think how nasty, insulting and disparaging these kinds of anti AAP threads are towards the many amazing base schools and non AAP teachers and the birght or even average kids throughout fcps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting. California IS broke, and seems to have eliminated all of the G/T programming.

Wonder how all of those truly smart kids of Silicon Valley engineers, etc., will survive in a regular school, where their brilliance is dimmed by the mere sight of those not as smart.

Oh right! They're thriving. The school still provides appropriate educational experiences and levels in neighborhood facilities.

The white and Asian kids are thriving, at least. Also, note that 57% of the elementary students reported using math tutoring. This was in 2013, so perhaps things have changed significantly since then.

http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2013/08/30/palo-alto-school-district-ranks-sixth-in-state

coughillegalimmigrantscough