Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Well many students and parents think class size does matter as well as the way information is taught even for AAP. They feel it's high enough academically but too impersonal and leaves less room for creativity.
Below are two recent posts from the private school forum.
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/267941.page
I have two kids at the most sought after AAP center in FCPS. The work is challenging and the teachers are wonderful, but the program is still not right for kids with very high IQs. My kids (WISC scores of 144 and 148) are still just being pushed to memorize and calculate and are drowning in homework, there is no room for higher thinking or reasoning and no room for their endless creativity and crazy passions. If you simply have a high acheiving student that can work at a fast pace, its great, but if your child is highly capable an out of the box thinker, it may not be the best fit. We are looking at Howard Gardner and The New School for next year.
I agree -- finally someone says it. I felt the work was just being crammed in to my DS. He was making all As in FCPS, but so are/were 30% of the class. If 30% of the class are "excelling" that means a certain number are just waiting around. The busy/work homework was a joke also. In private school, he goes much more in depth in Math. "At FCPS the teachers just threw it at us, work sheet after work sheet. I just filled them out and got my 100%. Now I understand Math much better" It has been wonderful to see the joy of learning come back to my student after years of the glazed eyes. Nice to not be worrying all the time, either. He is not a super high IQ kid.
I am surprised that your AAP center is so sought after. We have found the opposite to be true with our school's center program.
This pp is probably at Haycock or Louise Archer. People seem to go nuts about those two.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Well many students and parents think class size does matter as well as the way information is taught even for AAP. They feel it's high enough academically but too impersonal and leaves less room for creativity.
Below are two recent posts from the private school forum.
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/267941.page
I have two kids at the most sought after AAP center in FCPS. The work is challenging and the teachers are wonderful, but the program is still not right for kids with very high IQs. My kids (WISC scores of 144 and 148) are still just being pushed to memorize and calculate and are drowning in homework, there is no room for higher thinking or reasoning and no room for their endless creativity and crazy passions. If you simply have a high acheiving student that can work at a fast pace, its great, but if your child is highly capable an out of the box thinker, it may not be the best fit. We are looking at Howard Gardner and The New School for next year.
I agree -- finally someone says it. I felt the work was just being crammed in to my DS. He was making all As in FCPS, but so are/were 30% of the class. If 30% of the class are "excelling" that means a certain number are just waiting around. The busy/work homework was a joke also. In private school, he goes much more in depth in Math. "At FCPS the teachers just threw it at us, work sheet after work sheet. I just filled them out and got my 100%. Now I understand Math much better" It has been wonderful to see the joy of learning come back to my student after years of the glazed eyes. Nice to not be worrying all the time, either. He is not a super high IQ kid.
I am surprised that your AAP center is so sought after. We have found the opposite to be true with our school's center program.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:That is kind of the point. A truly bright kid can learn in any environment. Class size shouldn't matter if you are truly exceptional in learning. However, if you need more silence and individualized teacher instruction, the center is not a good fit. The idea behind the center was to move through learning at a quicker pace.
Haha! If you are expecting a quiet learning environment in an AAP center, you will be in for arude awakening![]()
AAP is lots of things for accelerated learners; quiet and orderly it is not.
Reread what I said, please. I was noting that truly smart kids can learn in ANY environment, if a kids needs it to be quiet or less fast, they are in the wrong place. My reply was to an above poster about class size. no need to HA HA at my post, obviously you do not read very well.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:That is kind of the point. A truly bright kid can learn in any environment. Class size shouldn't matter if you are truly exceptional in learning. However, if you need more silence and individualized teacher instruction, the center is not a good fit. The idea behind the center was to move through learning at a quicker pace.
Haha! If you are expecting a quiet learning environment in an AAP center, you will be in for arude awakening![]()
AAP is lots of things for accelerated learners; quiet and orderly it is not.
Anonymous wrote:Well many students and parents think class size does matter as well as the way information is taught even for AAP. They feel it's high enough academically but too impersonal and leaves less room for creativity.
Below are two recent posts from the private school forum.
http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/267941.page
I have two kids at the most sought after AAP center in FCPS. The work is challenging and the teachers are wonderful, but the program is still not right for kids with very high IQs. My kids (WISC scores of 144 and 148) are still just being pushed to memorize and calculate and are drowning in homework, there is no room for higher thinking or reasoning and no room for their endless creativity and crazy passions. If you simply have a high acheiving student that can work at a fast pace, its great, but if your child is highly capable an out of the box thinker, it may not be the best fit. We are looking at Howard Gardner and The New School for next year.
I agree -- finally someone says it. I felt the work was just being crammed in to my DS. He was making all As in FCPS, but so are/were 30% of the class. If 30% of the class are "excelling" that means a certain number are just waiting around. The busy/work homework was a joke also. In private school, he goes much more in depth in Math. "At FCPS the teachers just threw it at us, work sheet after work sheet. I just filled them out and got my 100%. Now I understand Math much better" It has been wonderful to see the joy of learning come back to my student after years of the glazed eyes. Nice to not be worrying all the time, either. He is not a super high IQ kid.
Anonymous wrote:That is kind of the point. A truly bright kid can learn in any environment. Class size shouldn't matter if you are truly exceptional in learning. However, if you need more silence and individualized teacher instruction, the center is not a good fit. The idea behind the center was to move through learning at a quicker pace.
Anonymous wrote:Maybe they are struggling because there are 32 kids! Lets reduce class size first for everyone to a reasonable level to help the students and teachers and then decide whether to make the cutoff higher.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:In practice, there are difference largely the result of the cohorts.
At our school, there were five 2nd grade kids found center-eligible last year. Four of them went to the assigned center and the last kid stayed at the base school. This last kid had such a miserable time at the base school in 3rd grade that he transferred to the center school last month.
Anonymous wrote:I didn't know the PTA could pay for teachers. Can they? We have a full time AAP teacher at our local level IV school I think, but our K child only gets a worksheet given to the teacher every couple of weeks. There is no pull out at the kindergarten level.
Anonymous wrote:I do wish we had the opportunity to observe a class in each setting before making a decision.