PtO parent here with both kids who got into AAP on their first try. There are tons and tons and tons of studies showing kids' success is positively correlated to parental involvement in school. It's chicken and egg.

Kids whose parents give their free time to school, are obviously invested and also likely to be working with kids at home on their reading, math etc. Which is the case in our house. We do not have tutors, they are not geniuses but one got 98 percentile on the COGAT and the other 99th percentile. The former also had two 99th percentiles on the IReady, the latter had 97th and 99th the year they applied.

They give principal placement out primarily to the kids who get pass advanced on SOLs and aren't already in AAP, and they will move you right back out if you don't continue to get pass advanced. It does depend on how many available slots there are -- in 5th grade for one kid, there are roughly eight principal placed kids and in 3rd more like 12 or 15.

Anonymous wrote:https://www.fcps.edu/academics/advanced-academic-programs-aap/forms-advanced-academic-program-aap

AAP Subject-Specific or Part-Time Services Referral Form
Purpose: To apply for Subject-Specific or Part-Time AAP services (Grades K-6).

Who: FCPS Parents/Guardians submit to the school

Deadline: Submit at any time during the school year to the Advanced Academic Resource Teacher (AART)

Download the Subject-Specific or Part-Time Referral Form (PDFs):

Speaking of ZERO transparency. There's no transparency around this process either.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand if you didn’t get in, they your child doesn’t need full time services. This is not a charity program. You get accepted or you don’t. The AART does 1:1 screenings with kids to evaluate them for local part time services. You don’t request principal placements.

Neither of my children have ever met the AART at our school - one of my children had a very high COGAT, high NNAT, and pass advanced on their 3rd grade SOLs. Still not in AAP.

Anonymous wrote:NP. I'm frankly bewildered by this whole process. According to the AART, my kid's test scores are very high, and she's been consistently among the top 10% in her class since K. She's a motivated learner, loves school, easy going--the whole package. Not only did she get rejected, but it seemed like 99% of her entire class shared the same fate. She asked around and only one kid she knew got in. The AART confirmed that very few kids from the school got in and was at a loss herself. I put together a very strong appeal packet; got rejected again. If FCPS is accepting roughly 20% of the student body into aap, that is not reflected at our school. Are they looking for Einstein-level geniuses?

No they are looking for kids who are not white or Asian.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t find our school to be helpful at all. I really don’t know if you have to buddy up with the principal or be in the PTO to have influence. I work full time and it was hard to do that. We never got contacted about principal placement. I only learned about it from this forum. I figured if a kid really stands and was in pool and got rejected, there are grounds to ask for the principal to help. But I don’t think they proactively reach out. So you should do that soon as classes are being determined now for next year.

I am a principal. Asking to be placed in an AAP class would be the fastest way to ensure your kid is not getting into that class. The last thing I would want is for anyone to think is that they have to be in the PTO or “buddy up” to me to get special favors. If word got out that all you had to do was bug the principal with that request, I’d lose all credibility.

You must know that a lot of principals are NOT like you, right? In our FCPS ES, the children that are principal placed are the ones whose parents are on the Board of the PTO or teach at the school. Somehow it's a nice little clique of friends who all end up in AAP together. Magically! We've known a lot of these kids since preschool or Kindergarten. They're not all gifted, a lot of them are pretty dumb, honestly, but mommy's important so they get in. Oh, we also know about their tutors. They ALL have tutors.

NP. I'm frankly bewildered by this whole process. According to the AART, my kid's test scores are very high, and she's been consistently among the top 10% in her class since K. She's a motivated learner, loves school, easy going--the whole package. Not only did she get rejected, but it seemed like 99% of her entire class shared the same fate. She asked around and only one kid she knew got in. The AART confirmed that very few kids from the school got in and was at a loss herself. I put together a very strong appeal packet; got rejected again. If FCPS is accepting roughly 20% of the student body into aap, that is not reflected at our school. Are they looking for Einstein-level geniuses?

Wait, so you tried for something, were told "no" twice, and now you want the principal to court you and help you get it next year?

That is not how public school works. People outside the principal's jurisdiction said the child is fine where they are, so the principal is going to make classes assuming the child is fine where they are. The classroom teachers will have high/middle/low reading groups, assessments will be done in the fall to push into advanced math as needed, and activities will hopefully be structured to account for various levels of ability.

There is nothing for the principal to do.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand if you didn’t get in, they your child doesn’t need full time services. This is not a charity program. You get accepted or you don’t. The AART does 1:1 screenings with kids to evaluate them for local part time services. You don’t request principal placements.

It’s not a charity program but seems like an entitlement program to some people. That said, most of these programs are not transparent. No different than applying to college, it’s supply and demand. Everyone can’t get in and that’s how it is

I don’t understand if you didn’t get in, they your child doesn’t need full time services. This is not a charity program. You get accepted or you don’t. The AART does 1:1 screenings with kids to evaluate them for local part time services. You don’t request principal placements.

I certainly hope the person that alleges to be a school principal does not work for FCPS. I’m truly amazed how some of these people manage to get promoted beyond their level of incompetence.

As someone mentioned earlier, pursue the appeal process as it is built in to the system automatically. Our daughter also was accepted after initial rejection so it can work for you. (Maybe the “principal” should spend time suggesting this to parents who otherwise think it never works)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t find our school to be helpful at all. I really don’t know if you have to buddy up with the principal or be in the PTO to have influence. I work full time and it was hard to do that. We never got contacted about principal placement. I only learned about it from this forum. I figured if a kid really stands and was in pool and got rejected, there are grounds to ask for the principal to help. But I don’t think they proactively reach out. So you should do that soon as classes are being determined now for next year.

I am a principal. Asking to be placed in an AAP class would be the fastest way to ensure your kid is not getting into that class. The last thing I would want is for anyone to think is that they have to be in the PTO or “buddy up” to me to get special favors. If word got out that all you had to do was bug the principal with that request, I’d lose all credibility.

Ok…. so what are we supposed to do then? Just wait around for your call?

Wow, that’s quite an arrogant statement from a Principal. Perhaps you should attempt to guide and direct parents in lieu of making threatening remarks that serve as part of the problem

Agreed. The principal has no empathy for what families are going through. All we want is the next step after rejection which hurts. We don’t need some power trippy principal not providing any options.

For something supposedly called Principal Placement, there’s a lot of non-answers for the process of how such placement actually works and what happens next.

Like it’s called Principal placement but DO NOT talk to the principal about it? How does that make any sense? So what should we do then?

I think the issue is that the process changes every year. If 29 LIV kids chose to stay, there might not be a need for any principal placed kids, vs. if only 16 choose to stay they'll need to find 10+ other kids to round out the class. I assume teachers and administrators work together to identify kids who can likely handle the academics but also mesh well with the personalities that are going to be in that classroom, just like they do for all grade level classrooms.

Unless your principal listens to parent letters asking for specific teacher placement, I wouldn't expect requests for LLIV placement will be well received.

May 5th was the deadline to accept placements. From then til now they should have a good idea of how these classes will look and whether or not they want to principal place.

The “full time rejects” should be acknowledged during this time like “hey we might have space in our local program, stay tuned.” Or even “we saw you were rejected for full time, let’s see if we can try part time for your child’s strongest subject(s)” or “here’s an update: we don’t have any more space in our local Aap environments but let’s come up with a plan to get your child to where they need to be so they can apply again next year”

But, nah. Crickets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t find our school to be helpful at all. I really don’t know if you have to buddy up with the principal or be in the PTO to have influence. I work full time and it was hard to do that. We never got contacted about principal placement. I only learned about it from this forum. I figured if a kid really stands and was in pool and got rejected, there are grounds to ask for the principal to help. But I don’t think they proactively reach out. So you should do that soon as classes are being determined now for next year.

I am a principal. Asking to be placed in an AAP class would be the fastest way to ensure your kid is not getting into that class. The last thing I would want is for anyone to think is that they have to be in the PTO or “buddy up” to me to get special favors. If word got out that all you had to do was bug the principal with that request, I’d lose all credibility.

Ok…. so what are we supposed to do then? Just wait around for your call?

Wow, that’s quite an arrogant statement from a Principal. Perhaps you should attempt to guide and direct parents in lieu of making threatening remarks that serve as part of the problem

Agreed. The principal has no empathy for what families are going through. All we want is the next step after rejection which hurts. We don’t need some power trippy principal not providing any options.

For something supposedly called Principal Placement, there’s a lot of non-answers for the process of how such placement actually works and what happens next.

Like it’s called Principal placement but DO NOT talk to the principal about it? How does that make any sense? So what should we do then?

I think the issue is that the process changes every year. If 29 LIV kids chose to stay, there might not be a need for any principal placed kids, vs. if only 16 choose to stay they'll need to find 10+ other kids to round out the class. I assume teachers and administrators work together to identify kids who can likely handle the academics but also mesh well with the personalities that are going to be in that classroom, just like they do for all grade level classrooms.

Unless your principal listens to parent letters asking for specific teacher placement, I wouldn't expect requests for LLIV placement will be well received.

https://www.fcps.edu/academics/advanced-academic-programs-aap/forms-advanced-academic-program-aap

AAP Subject-Specific or Part-Time Services Referral Form
Purpose: To apply for Subject-Specific or Part-Time AAP services (Grades K-6).

Who: FCPS Parents/Guardians submit to the school

Deadline: Submit at any time during the school year to the Advanced Academic Resource Teacher (AART)

Download the Subject-Specific or Part-Time Referral Form (PDFs):

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t find our school to be helpful at all. I really don’t know if you have to buddy up with the principal or be in the PTO to have influence. I work full time and it was hard to do that. We never got contacted about principal placement. I only learned about it from this forum. I figured if a kid really stands and was in pool and got rejected, there are grounds to ask for the principal to help. But I don’t think they proactively reach out. So you should do that soon as classes are being determined now for next year.

I am a principal. Asking to be placed in an AAP class would be the fastest way to ensure your kid is not getting into that class. The last thing I would want is for anyone to think is that they have to be in the PTO or “buddy up” to me to get special favors. If word got out that all you had to do was bug the principal with that request, I’d lose all credibility.

Ok…. so what are we supposed to do then? Just wait around for your call?

Wow, that’s quite an arrogant statement from a Principal. Perhaps you should attempt to guide and direct parents in lieu of making threatening remarks that serve as part of the problem

Agreed. The principal has no empathy for what families are going through. All we want is the next step after rejection which hurts. We don’t need some power trippy principal not providing any options.

For something supposedly called Principal Placement, there’s a lot of non-answers for the process of how such placement actually works and what happens next.

Like it’s called Principal placement but DO NOT talk to the principal about it? How does that make any sense? So what should we do then?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t find our school to be helpful at all. I really don’t know if you have to buddy up with the principal or be in the PTO to have influence. I work full time and it was hard to do that. We never got contacted about principal placement. I only learned about it from this forum. I figured if a kid really stands and was in pool and got rejected, there are grounds to ask for the principal to help. But I don’t think they proactively reach out. So you should do that soon as classes are being determined now for next year.

I am a principal. Asking to be placed in an AAP class would be the fastest way to ensure your kid is not getting into that class. The last thing I would want is for anyone to think is that they have to be in the PTO or “buddy up” to me to get special favors. If word got out that all you had to do was bug the principal with that request, I’d lose all credibility.

Ok…. so what are we supposed to do then? Just wait around for your call?

Wow, that’s quite an arrogant statement from a Principal. Perhaps you should attempt to guide and direct parents in lieu of making threatening remarks that serve as part of the problem