Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have never heard of anyone getting a consultant for this. That is ridiculous. If your child has an 80 reading iready, he likely also had a low VALS score.

What you need is to help your child become a better reader. Gened is probably fine for your child.

I downplayed AAP in case my child did not get in. She did get in.

My child got in with a 78th percentile in iReady reading. Always read the full score report. It showed that child was 4 years ahead in comprehension, but behind in vocabulary, which I wrote about in the application as a reason the gen-ed class was not a good fit. The AAP class works on vocabulary, while the gen-ed class works on spelling.

Anonymous wrote:I have never heard of anyone getting a consultant for this. That is ridiculous. If your child has an 80 reading iready, he likely also had a low VALS score.

What you need is to help your child become a better reader. Gened is probably fine for your child.

I downplayed AAP in case my child did not get in. She did get in.

Anonymous wrote:

ps I won't reply to snarky comments. You truly do not understand unless your very deserving child is rejected.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Update is that I mailed the appeal packet off yesterday and now trying to forget about it all. I know some of her good friends will be going off to the center school....

WISC results included were:
FSIQ 132 (98th)
(Of note was a 144 on Fluid Reasoning which is the 99.8 percentile, wow!)

I included the 3rd Qtr Report Card which reflected all 3s and 4. Winter VALLSS which showed marked improvement and the Winter Math iReady showing 97th percentile.

I put my heart into that darn cover letter and now we wait. My husband and I are perturbed with this process to say the least. If appeal doesn't succeed, maybe principal placement at local school? If that is a bust...just grin and bear it? Private school? FCPS is a huge nameless faceless machine in my eyes at this point. Sigh.

OP I can commiserate. Just sent our appeal in yesterday and it really is a maddening process. Having it hang over our heads over Spring Break was the opposite of fun.

DC's best friend and entire friend group is going to the center school and of course DC feels awful and is crying about it. It is pretty mind boggling how this kind of thing starts so early.

ps I won't reply to snarky comments. You truly do not understand unless your very deserving child is rejected.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Update is that I mailed the appeal packet off yesterday and now trying to forget about it all. I know some of her good friends will be going off to the center school....

WISC results included were:
FSIQ 132 (98th)
(Of note was a 144 on Fluid Reasoning which is the 99.8 percentile, wow!)

I included the 3rd Qtr Report Card which reflected all 3s and 4. Winter VALLSS which showed marked improvement and the Winter Math iReady showing 97th percentile.

I put my heart into that darn cover letter and now we wait. My husband and I are perturbed with this process to say the least. If appeal doesn't succeed, maybe principal placement at local school? If that is a bust...just grin and bear it? Private school? FCPS is a huge nameless faceless machine in my eyes at this point. Sigh.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Update is that I mailed the appeal packet off yesterday and now trying to forget about it all. I know some of her good friends will be going off to the center school....

WISC results included were:
FSIQ 132 (98th)
(Of note was a 144 on Fluid Reasoning which is the 99.8 percentile, wow!)

I included the 3rd Qtr Report Card which reflected all 3s and 4. Winter VALLSS which showed marked improvement and the Winter Math iReady showing 97th percentile.

I put my heart into that darn cover letter and now we wait. My husband and I are perturbed with this process to say the least. If appeal doesn't succeed, maybe principal placement at local school? If that is a bust...just grin and bear it? Private school? FCPS is a huge nameless faceless machine in my eyes at this point. Sigh.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Update is that I mailed the appeal packet off yesterday and now trying to forget about it all. I know some of her good friends will be going off to the center school....

WISC results included were:
FSIQ 132 (98th)
(Of note was a 144 on Fluid Reasoning which is the 99.8 percentile, wow!)

I included the 3rd Qtr Report Card which reflected all 3s and 4. Winter VALLSS which showed marked improvement and the Winter Math iReady showing 97th percentile.

I put my heart into that darn cover letter and now we wait. My husband and I are perturbed with this process to say the least. If appeal doesn't succeed, maybe principal placement at local school? If that is a bust...just grin and bear it? Private school? FCPS is a huge nameless faceless machine in my eyes at this point. Sigh.

Anonymous wrote:I am considering appealing my son’s AAP denial and would like to hire a consultant to help. Can you recommend anyone?

138 CogAT
134 Nnat
81st reading iready
96th for math iready
All 4s in 2nd and 3rd grade

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am in the same boat with my 2nd grade gal. We parent referred AND she was universally screened. It was a no. I will be submitting an appeal since I agree with previous posts that it can't hurt.

Cogat 149 (yes, she was familiar with the types of questions via a book and darn she is good at them)
NNAT 138 (zero prep)
HOPE is 1AA, 4O, 6S
Only Math indicated as exceptional at the bottom
Math in 97+ in all testing and was already designated Level 3 for 2nd grade.

Weaker reading scores for iReady and VALLSS (Fall 649 to Winter 664). It's always strange to me since I know she can read! For a sanity check I've had her working with a third party reading teacher so that I know what she knows without the variables of friends/fun/teachers surrounding her. The school really drops the ball on literacy I think - they really couldn't care other than meeting the very basic minimums. The perception of a lower reading ability is definitely her Achilles' heel in this first go of the process. How could I mitigate this? I agree that I wouldn't want her to be in an accelerated class if she will feel stressed or lost. Maybe after 3rd grade we will see a change and be able to apply again but I will still appeal and see.

I asked my local AART for the packet and it just was underwhelming content. The work samples provided by the school were just awful. Like some completely banal worksheets that I am sure my daughter did not consider to put any special effort into at all. My AART said she cannot advise or consult with us at all. (Ok.....)

I jumped on the GMU testing and already have the WISC test set for April 14. I assume she will do well on that because she actually loves to do logic stuff in general and has a great memory. She loves to play all kinds of board games and card games and is so focused and patient with me (haha). She can discuss ethical issues and mortality concepts at length (had a few deaths of those close to us). She is just a kid that gets it - she surprises me all the time with her 'wise beyond her years' thinking.

I am trying to quiet my mind around 'omg, my kid wasn't considered amazing!?' I was in G&T classes from an early age and was in IB through middle & high school. I can admit that I have more of my own emotions invested in this 'verdict' than my daughter does. I did not mention anything to her about referrals or applying or the decision but I did ask her if she would like to be a in class that focuses more and she said yes.

Bottom line and I think other parents share this: What I want for my child is an environment where she is not disturbed by all kinds of behavioral issues and scenes. I can see her jaded at times that so much time and effort is spent on a few kids who are drastically below the norm in both knowledge set and general behavior expectations. If the appeal is not successful, I will approach the school for principal placement since we do have the Level 4 class locally. If that is also a bust, the part I dread is having her discover she has to be with the kids for another year that just waste her learning time. The public school here has been underwhelming and at times I consider looking into private schools - but this location is so convenient near to our house that I can't see me making that leap soon.

Appeal plan is:
Cover letter (possibly just face the reading stuff head on? haven't decided. Can her extra reading teacher provide input?)
5 non-math work samples
WISC score if it is decent

Given that we are all sensitive to this topic, I am grateful to be able to share, vent and think along with you all here.

Great scores! I bet she'll enjoy the WISC. Did you ever ask for the comprehensive report from the reading I-Ready? Or more info on the VAALLSS? Sometimes that helps spot some weaknesses you can work with her to shore up. My child was super fluent from an early age but comprehension was not quite there. We got a comprehension work book and also signed up for an academic summer camp for part of the summer and that helped. I agree the school drops the ball and smart kids fall through the cracks. You have to be observant to shore things up.

Anonymous wrote:I am in the same boat with my 2nd grade gal. We parent referred AND she was universally screened. It was a no. I will be submitting an appeal since I agree with previous posts that it can't hurt.

Cogat 149 (yes, she was familiar with the types of questions via a book and darn she is good at them)
NNAT 138 (zero prep)
HOPE is 1AA, 4O, 6S
Only Math indicated as exceptional at the bottom
Math in 97+ in all testing and was already designated Level 3 for 2nd grade.

Weaker reading scores for iReady and VALLSS (Fall 649 to Winter 664). It's always strange to me since I know she can read! For a sanity check I've had her working with a third party reading teacher so that I know what she knows without the variables of friends/fun/teachers surrounding her. The school really drops the ball on literacy I think - they really couldn't care other than meeting the very basic minimums. The perception of a lower reading ability is definitely her Achilles' heel in this first go of the process. How could I mitigate this? I agree that I wouldn't want her to be in an accelerated class if she will feel stressed or lost. Maybe after 3rd grade we will see a change and be able to apply again but I will still appeal and see.

I asked my local AART for the packet and it just was underwhelming content. The work samples provided by the school were just awful. Like some completely banal worksheets that I am sure my daughter did not consider to put any special effort into at all. My AART said she cannot advise or consult with us at all. (Ok.....)

I jumped on the GMU testing and already have the WISC test set for April 14. I assume she will do well on that because she actually loves to do logic stuff in general and has a great memory. She loves to play all kinds of board games and card games and is so focused and patient with me (haha). She can discuss ethical issues and mortality concepts at length (had a few deaths of those close to us). She is just a kid that gets it - she surprises me all the time with her 'wise beyond her years' thinking.

I am trying to quiet my mind around 'omg, my kid wasn't considered amazing!?' I was in G&T classes from an early age and was in IB through middle & high school. I can admit that I have more of my own emotions invested in this 'verdict' than my daughter does. I did not mention anything to her about referrals or applying or the decision but I did ask her if she would like to be a in class that focuses more and she said yes.

Bottom line and I think other parents share this: What I want for my child is an environment where she is not disturbed by all kinds of behavioral issues and scenes. I can see her jaded at times that so much time and effort is spent on a few kids who are drastically below the norm in both knowledge set and general behavior expectations. If the appeal is not successful, I will approach the school for principal placement since we do have the Level 4 class locally. If that is also a bust, the part I dread is having her discover she has to be with the kids for another year that just waste her learning time. The public school here has been underwhelming and at times I consider looking into private schools - but this location is so convenient near to our house that I can't see me making that leap soon.

Appeal plan is:
Cover letter (possibly just face the reading stuff head on? haven't decided. Can her extra reading teacher provide input?)
5 non-math work samples
WISC score if it is decent

Given that we are all sensitive to this topic, I am grateful to be able to share, vent and think along with you all here.

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the purpose of AAP. Some kids where are strong in math and science probably get left behind. Why not just offer advanced math, science, and English to all students who are capable without an entire separate, complex, expensive program that is not fair to all that involves parents kissing up for principal placement, appeals, test prep, and outside WISC testing their way in. Enough already.

Anonymous wrote:
<snip>

Appeal plan is:
Cover letter (possibly just face the reading stuff head on? haven't decided. Can her extra reading teacher provide input?)
5 non-math work samples
WISC score if it is decent

<snip>