Our AART is wonderful. Kids love her and very responsive to parents.

Anonymous wrote:Nobody claimed it was universal.

OP asked if all AARTs are standoffish. PP answered the question.

Our AART at Title I school is full time, very responsive, and very well liked by the kids and parents. Not very many parent-referred Level IV applications or appeals, so she may feel less pressure to be guarded around parents.

Anonymous wrote:Why are AARTs part time at some schools and full time at other school? Who decides this? Does the principal have to pay the aart out of her school's budget and therefore must decide whether to pay for part time or full time? Or does gatehouse divvy up all the AARTs across the county?

I think it's principal's choice like with many specialists.

Per the 2020 external review of AAP all middle and elementary schools were supposed to be moving to having 1.0 FTE AARTs (effectively 1 AART per school). Not sure why that seems to have stalled? They spent a lot of money on that review and the only thing they have implemented from it is local building norms. There was a lot more recommended, including dropping the NNAT.

Why are AARTs part time at some schools and full time at other school? Who decides this? Does the principal have to pay the aart out of her school's budget and therefore must decide whether to pay for part time or full time? Or does gatehouse divvy up all the AARTs across the county?

They can be helpful about the process without giving parents confirmation that their child will get in. I don't think any parent expects confirmation from the AART about how to get in. They know the AART does not make the decisions. But responding to emails from parents should be doable. I'm not sure what their exact job description is - maybe their job description does not include the need to talk to parents and they can just ignore them if they want? I honestly don't know.

Clearly you can't make a generalization about all AARTs.

They may come across as standoffish because they can't provide all the information that you want. Parents want confirmation if I do X, Y, and Z my child will get into AAP and you aren't going to get that information. Our AART is careful in her responses to parents and I can see how that would be perceived as standoffish.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I agree. I found ours to be extremely unhelpful. I got more information from the website than from the AART.

They work directly with the kids in pull-outs so yes, I do expect them to know something about my kid's readiness for AAP. You can be neutral on eligibility determination without pretending you don't know a given kid is working several levels ahead. (Contrast with the classroom teacher, who was very supportive.)

Agree with this PP. I'm not even sure my child got pull outs at all or even knows my DC personally by name. My DC says they rarely see the AART teacher. Of course the classroom teacher has been amazing at making sure my DC has been challenged throughout the year, but I know its not easy when there are so many varying needs in the classroom. Kudos to good teachers!

Depending on how a school allocates their positions, an AART may actually be covering 2-3 different schools. The only full time AART I had seen was at a Title 1 school.

My DC is at a Title 1 school. I do think their AART teacher is full time, not sure though. My DC doesn’t get any services, even though they should be getting level 2/3. I’ve asked the classroom teachers if the AART is pulling students, the teachers have told me they do whole group instruction instead. I’ve asked my DC if the AART teacher has ever led a lesson, and the answer has always been no. On the other hand when I emailed questions about the AAP process, the AART teacher was responsive and helpful.

My child's HOPE form was signed by the AART but neither of children has ever met the AART (they are in 2nd and 4th grades and the 4th grader is supposed to be Level II).

In our school, AART is useless. She is not working with kids in LII or LIII. When my kid was in first and second grade (LII), I asked the teachers, and they told me that AART provided a few worksheets, but they were for the whole class. She never worked with the LII or LIII kids. She is never available, answers emails, or provides information. My kid was in the pool and got into LIV. AART didn't submit any reasonable work, we did it.
The only thing she did was a LIV presentation...

Our AART has always been very friendly and helpful.

Nobody claimed it was universal.

Our school's AART is the only reason my kids are in AAP (neither made the cutoff and I would not have completed parent packets w/o her prompting).

So, sorry you've not had a great experience, but isn't universal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I agree. I found ours to be extremely unhelpful. I got more information from the website than from the AART.

They work directly with the kids in pull-outs so yes, I do expect them to know something about my kid's readiness for AAP. You can be neutral on eligibility determination without pretending you don't know a given kid is working several levels ahead. (Contrast with the classroom teacher, who was very supportive.)

Agree with this PP. I'm not even sure my child got pull outs at all or even knows my DC personally by name. My DC says they rarely see the AART teacher. Of course the classroom teacher has been amazing at making sure my DC has been challenged throughout the year, but I know its not easy when there are so many varying needs in the classroom. Kudos to good teachers!

Depending on how a school allocates their positions, an AART may actually be covering 2-3 different schools. The only full time AART I had seen was at a Title 1 school.

Anonymous wrote:OP, I agree. I found ours to be extremely unhelpful. I got more information from the website than from the AART.

They work directly with the kids in pull-outs so yes, I do expect them to know something about my kid's readiness for AAP. You can be neutral on eligibility determination without pretending you don't know a given kid is working several levels ahead. (Contrast with the classroom teacher, who was very supportive.)

Agree with this PP. I'm not even sure my child got pull outs at all or even knows my DC personally by name. My DC says they rarely see the AART teacher. Of course the classroom teacher has been amazing at making sure my DC has been challenged throughout the year, but I know its not easy when there are so many varying needs in the classroom. Kudos to good teachers!