Anonymous wrote:PP, I should say that I just moved here. Seems like I should apply since it seems people here are crazy over the AAP program (it was hardly mentioned where I used to live). Is it because the AAP program is so great or the rest is so bad??
The program is great, but so are the regular schools, students and teachers (I have a child in each program).
In my opinion, there is a huge advantage to being in AAP if you have a child with exceptional intelligence, capable of doing work far above the average smart classmates and without an academic peer group. For us, AAP gave my child a peer group, where he wasn't "the smart kid" getting extra/different assignments from everyone else. Late elementary school is where social dynamics begin to shift, and our kid was starting to notice that shift. Our kid's assessment of AAP is "I love that I am just a regular kid and everyone likes to talk about the same type of stuff as me. It is cool to be smart in my class."
On the academic side my child is now sufficiently challenged where 80-90% effort is required to do well in the class, as opposed to 50% effort in the regular classes. The effort that earned As in the regular classes now earns Bs & Cs in AAP, and we are thrilled with that. It doesn't matter what your IQ is if you don't know how to work hard, and AAP helps to teach that lesson. We are happy our kid will learn that now in elementary school, instead of struggling when challenges hit in high school when grades actually count. My other child is able to learn that lesson through the regular classes, but the oldest was not.