Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Base school level IV is not the same quality as a center school

It really depends on the school.

It depends on the teacher.

Anonymous wrote:Base school level IV is not the same quality as a center school

It really depends on the school.

Base school level IV is not the same quality as a center school

We just got this letter from my kid's AART teacher. They are calling it "AAP Subject Specific Advanced Differentiation". There's also a part-time and full-time designation, and there's a chart listing the differences but I don't exactly understand what it means on-the-ground.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard the AAP program used to be offered at separate elementary schools starting in second grade. But now it's a few separate classes in every single elementary school? Which classes? When did the change happen? What was your experience of the program?

If your child qualifies for level IV AAP, or “full time” AAP, they have the choice of attending their center school (which often is a different elem school), or they can stay at their base school and join the local level IV class. Not all schools have a local level IV class, but more and more are creating one to retain their kids because they don’t want to lose their higher performing kids to other schools for SOL purposes. So, on paper the two classes are supposed to be similar and follow the same curriculum, but in practice they often do not. They usually don’t have enough kids to qualify for level IV at the base school to make an entire class, so they fill it with other higher performing kids. These are known as the “principal placed kids” and they did not qualify by central committee. Some of those kids won’t be able to keep up and some parents will push their way in or use their favor with the principal to get principal placed. It seems unfair to me.

This happens at the center school as well, especially for advanced math.

There's definitely principal placing at the centers (if needed) and Dr. Reid is pushing schools to allow more kids into advanced math who aren't level IV eligible. I don't think - contrary to PP's worries - that this pulled down my AAP kids' class experience at all. If anything it was kids who were full-time/level IV eligible that needed the most help, not the hard-working kids whose teachers and test scores identified them as ready for more advanced content. Maybe our school is just good at properly identifying kids since we are a center where lots of teachers have advanced academic teaching credentials? But I think most schools are probably pretty good at this (and the "use their favor" fears are always overblown on DCUM).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I heard the AAP program used to be offered at separate elementary schools starting in second grade. But now it's a few separate classes in every single elementary school? Which classes? When did the change happen? What was your experience of the program?

If your child qualifies for level IV AAP, or “full time” AAP, they have the choice of attending their center school (which often is a different elem school), or they can stay at their base school and join the local level IV class. Not all schools have a local level IV class, but more and more are creating one to retain their kids because they don’t want to lose their higher performing kids to other schools for SOL purposes. So, on paper the two classes are supposed to be similar and follow the same curriculum, but in practice they often do not. They usually don’t have enough kids to qualify for level IV at the base school to make an entire class, so they fill it with other higher performing kids. These are known as the “principal placed kids” and they did not qualify by central committee. Some of those kids won’t be able to keep up and some parents will push their way in or use their favor with the principal to get principal placed. It seems unfair to me.

This happens at the center school as well, especially for advanced math.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No - I’m a DP. I heard this from the AAP office - one of the staff members. That person’s AART is not wrong. Please stop trying to be so critical. Please chill.

PP who's AART said this. Others have reported it on this site also. The level I-IV versus "full-time/part-time" distinction is a pretty funny hill to die on.

I’m not critical, perfectly chill, and it’s certainly not my hill to die on. My kids are in full-time AAP, so this has no bearing on my life. The feedback on this forum has made it clear that there’s no uniform county-wide policy on how the elementary schools implement Part time/ local level II,III — Call it whatever you want. Some of these local “part time” programs are frankly pretty useless from a services standpoint, while others are more robust with a vast difference btwn level 2 and level 3. If there were a change a year ago to move away from leveling, it’s surprising that it hasn’t been reflected on the FCPS website in all this time.

I can see them changing it. DS has been in LIII and Advanced Math at his base school, we deferred and there was no LLIV at the school at the time. He and his friends all talked about being in AAP, as in the LIII pullout. I think there were a few parents surprised that they could not enroll their kids in LIV classes for MS next year because they thought their kid was in AAP. We are not at a school where AAP is hyped or pushed for so it is not something a lot of people discuss or know about. The LIV meeting when DS was in 2nd had maybe 20 parents there and some of those were younger kids parents.

The LI designation is useless since it is the AART meeting with the entire class once a month. I swear they put it there so they could say that everyone gets AAP services to appease some parents.

The LII designation at our school is pretty useless. It was some harder worksheets and a higher reading group. I don’t know if the AART meet with the LII kids separately from time to time but DS never told us about it if that happened.

The LIII designation can be good, depending on your school. We saw DS bring home projects that they had worked on and discuss books they had read and the like.

I feel like the Part-Time designation would be applied to LIII and the Full-Time to LIV. Just drop the LII or call it something pre-AAPish.

Anonymous wrote:No - I’m a DP. I heard this from the AAP office - one of the staff members. That person’s AART is not wrong. Please stop trying to be so critical. Please chill.

PP who's AART said this. Others have reported it on this site also. The level I-IV versus "full-time/part-time" distinction is a pretty funny hill to die on.

No - I’m a DP. I heard this from the AAP office - one of the staff members. That person’s AART is not wrong. Please stop trying to be so critical. Please chill.

Anonymous wrote:They just haven’t updated the website.

Or your AART is wrong?

Anonymous wrote:I heard the AAP program used to be offered at separate elementary schools starting in second grade. But now it's a few separate classes in every single elementary school? Which classes? When did the change happen? What was your experience of the program?

If your child qualifies for level IV AAP, or “full time” AAP, they have the choice of attending their center school (which often is a different elem school), or they can stay at their base school and join the local level IV class. Not all schools have a local level IV class, but more and more are creating one to retain their kids because they don’t want to lose their higher performing kids to other schools for SOL purposes. So, on paper the two classes are supposed to be similar and follow the same curriculum, but in practice they often do not. They usually don’t have enough kids to qualify for level IV at the base school to make an entire class, so they fill it with other higher performing kids. These are known as the “principal placed kids” and they did not qualify by central committee. Some of those kids won’t be able to keep up and some parents will push their way in or use their favor with the principal to get principal placed. It seems unfair to me.

They just haven’t updated the website.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They got rid of the numbered level designations

No, they didn’t. Unless this happened in the last week?

NP. Our AART said they were focusing on calling it "part time program" (level II and level III) and "full time program" (level IV). Why? I guess to try and remove more of the sting posters were talking about on another thread - not that the naming makes a difference really.

Part time program and full time program of what? Advanced Academic Program.

They got rid of the levels, but still call it AAP. Instead calling them level II/III, they just call it part time AAP.

Then why are the levels still up on the FCPS website and why did our elementary school send letters in June to parents of students who qualified for levels II/III from the local committee indicating those recipients would be receiving those part-time II/III services next year?

They haven't gotten rid of them, but according to our AART they are just focusing on calling them "part time" and "full time."

Maybe that's your AARTs personal focus. The rest of the school district seems to be focusing on calling out the levels.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They got rid of the numbered level designations

No, they didn’t. Unless this happened in the last week?

NP. Our AART said they were focusing on calling it "part time program" (level II and level III) and "full time program" (level IV). Why? I guess to try and remove more of the sting posters were talking about on another thread - not that the naming makes a difference really.

Part time program and full time program of what? Advanced Academic Program.

They got rid of the levels, but still call it AAP. Instead calling them level II/III, they just call it part time AAP.

Then why are the levels still up on the FCPS website and why did our elementary school send letters in June to parents of students who qualified for levels II/III from the local committee indicating those recipients would be receiving those part-time II/III services next year?

They haven't gotten rid of them, but according to our AART they are just focusing on calling them "part time" and "full time."