Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 11:32     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
NP. My niece was in AAP from 3rd-8th grade. In high school now. When I sat down with her recently to prep for PSAT and SAT, I was shocked at how little critical reading skills she had. Math she aced no problem, but it took a lot of work to help her read critically. She was a straight 4s, straight A kid in Vienna.

It seems to me that AAP morphed over the past couple of decades into more of math heavy program that really was geared ultimately for the previous TJ application process. In other words, I am concerned hat the AAP program isn't really as broadly educational as it should be for true advanced academics.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 09:58     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Moved to FCPS several years ago when oldest was in 6th grade. Qualified for AAP based on some IQ test they took in previous school district, but deferred AAP services until 7th grade (pyramid school was AAP center) because didn't want to change schools in the middle of the year. ES then wasn't an AAP center. Middle kid (2 years younger) didn't qualify for AAP but took all honors in middle school. They both ended up at TJ and doing well. My youngest (1st grade) attends a high performing ES at an AAP center, but I don't have any experience on how the AAP process works as I didn't have kids that started at FCPS this young. It just seems stressful with parents getting testing done independently etc. Is AAP in elementary and middle really necessary for students to be prepared for and be successful in high school AP classes, honors etc?


AAP is mostly a way to segregate kids into groups of those who value school and those who don't care.


I've had a kid in elementary AAP every year for the past 6. At my base school, the segregation is notably less true now than it was when we started. Full disclosure: I'm not sure this is a good thing. I understand it as an attempt to appear more "equitable" and because parents make comments like yours. For my kids, being grouped in AAP was a positive thing, both academically and socially. It allowed them more freedom to be themselves, and to spend more time learning rather than waiting for other kids to catch up.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 09:50     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
Anonymous wrote:Lol, there is no way you know who the "smartest kids in the AAP class" are.


NP. I've had three kids go through AAP and they certainly had a clear sense of who was struggling and who wasn't, who needed extra help, who was always done first. It varied by subject but these differences are impossible to hide in a classroom where kids are learning together.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 09:18     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Moved to FCPS several years ago when oldest was in 6th grade. Qualified for AAP based on some IQ test they took in previous school district, but deferred AAP services until 7th grade (pyramid school was AAP center) because didn't want to change schools in the middle of the year. ES then wasn't an AAP center. Middle kid (2 years younger) didn't qualify for AAP but took all honors in middle school. They both ended up at TJ and doing well. My youngest (1st grade) attends a high performing ES at an AAP center, but I don't have any experience on how the AAP process works as I didn't have kids that started at FCPS this young. It just seems stressful with parents getting testing done independently etc. Is AAP in elementary and middle really necessary for students to be prepared for and be successful in high school AP classes, honors etc?


AAP is mostly a way to segregate kids into groups of those who value school and those who don't care.

And that’s why it’s necessary.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 09:01     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
Anonymous wrote:Lol, there is no way you know who the "smartest kids in the AAP class" are.


Kids know these things. When you were a student, you knew who the smartest kids were. Our kids know too. Are they lying when they tell their parents which kids are the smartest? I suppose that's possible.
Anonymous
Post 03/01/2024 08:17     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
Anonymous wrote:Moved to FCPS several years ago when oldest was in 6th grade. Qualified for AAP based on some IQ test they took in previous school district, but deferred AAP services until 7th grade (pyramid school was AAP center) because didn't want to change schools in the middle of the year. ES then wasn't an AAP center. Middle kid (2 years younger) didn't qualify for AAP but took all honors in middle school. They both ended up at TJ and doing well. My youngest (1st grade) attends a high performing ES at an AAP center, but I don't have any experience on how the AAP process works as I didn't have kids that started at FCPS this young. It just seems stressful with parents getting testing done independently etc. Is AAP in elementary and middle really necessary for students to be prepared for and be successful in high school AP classes, honors etc?


AAP is mostly a way to segregate kids into groups of those who value school and those who don't care.
Anonymous
Post 02/29/2024 20:30     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
Lol, there is no way you know who the "smartest kids in the AAP class" are.
Anonymous
Post 02/29/2024 20:23     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
Anonymous wrote:My DD did not make the cut in 2nd grade. It was the year that covid hit though, so no one in her class got in. It was her 4th-grade teacher who told me to get her in, as she had not answered a SINGLE question wrong. If they make a small mistake in the cogAT in second grade, they won't pass. Trust your gut and appeal if refused.

Original Poster of this comment here. In second grade, her teacher got one question done in 10 minutes. She has always worked faster. Did 10 times better in fourth grade and the smartest kids in her AAP class got in the same year she did. Top 3.
Anonymous
Post 02/29/2024 11:22     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My DD did not make the cut in 2nd grade. It was the year that covid hit though, so no one in her class got in. It was her 4th-grade teacher who told me to get her in, as she had not answered a SINGLE question wrong. If they make a small mistake in the cogAT in second grade, they won't pass. Trust your gut and appeal if refused.

It appears poster meant not one question wrong on 4th grade teacher's quiz, not CoGAT.


Sounds like the kid matured in their test taking strategies and grew academically in the 2 years since. Or they had a terrible day in 2nd grade and the truth came out over a year of consistent observation. Either way, sounds like the process worked as intended--kid eventually made it in.

But you really don't have to do *that* well on the COGAT to be considered. My child got a raw score of 136/156 (87%) and ended up with a composite score of 135, in the 99 percentile. That's plenty of "small mistakes" with a relatively high scaled score!
Anonymous
Post 02/29/2024 10:54     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
Anonymous wrote:My DD did not make the cut in 2nd grade. It was the year that covid hit though, so no one in her class got in. It was her 4th-grade teacher who told me to get her in, as she had not answered a SINGLE question wrong. If they make a small mistake in the cogAT in second grade, they won't pass. Trust your gut and appeal if refused.

It appears poster meant not one question wrong on 4th grade teacher's quiz, not CoGAT.
Anonymous
Post 02/29/2024 10:09     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
Same, kid did NOT have a perfect CoGAT (did OK, and did better on NNAT but also not perfect score) and was accepted to AAP.
Anonymous
Post 02/29/2024 09:52     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My DD did not make the cut in 2nd grade. It was the year that covid hit though, so no one in her class got in. It was her 4th-grade teacher who told me to get her in, as she had not answered a SINGLE question wrong. If they make a small mistake in the cogAT in second grade, they won't pass. Trust your gut and appeal if refused.


This is absolutely not true. There are huge ranges of scores who get accepted. The cogat is scaled 100-150, and regularly parents share students with 125s getting in. That’s hardly “can’t make a mistake”

I truly wish this was true.


It is.
-Parent with a kid who scored a 131 CoGAT and 125 NNAT, missed plenty of questions on both, who is in AAP and doing just fine.
Anonymous
Post 02/28/2024 19:06     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My DD did not make the cut in 2nd grade. It was the year that covid hit though, so no one in her class got in. It was her 4th-grade teacher who told me to get her in, as she had not answered a SINGLE question wrong. If they make a small mistake in the cogAT in second grade, they won't pass. Trust your gut and appeal if refused.


This is absolutely not true. There are huge ranges of scores who get accepted. The cogat is scaled 100-150, and regularly parents share students with 125s getting in. That’s hardly “can’t make a mistake”

I truly wish this was true.
Anonymous
Post 02/28/2024 18:58     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
Anonymous wrote:My DD did not make the cut in 2nd grade. It was the year that covid hit though, so no one in her class got in. It was her 4th-grade teacher who told me to get her in, as she had not answered a SINGLE question wrong. If they make a small mistake in the cogAT in second grade, they won't pass. Trust your gut and appeal if refused.


This is absolutely not true. There are huge ranges of scores who get accepted. The cogat is scaled 100-150, and regularly parents share students with 125s getting in. That’s hardly “can’t make a mistake”
Anonymous
Post 02/28/2024 18:54     Subject: Is AAP really necessary?
My DD did not make the cut in 2nd grade. It was the year that covid hit though, so no one in her class got in. It was her 4th-grade teacher who told me to get her in, as she had not answered a SINGLE question wrong. If they make a small mistake in the cogAT in second grade, they won't pass. Trust your gut and appeal if refused.