A neighbor just moved from a high achieving LLIV school with some mixing to a center school because they didn't want their 5 year old child being in class with a disabled child or any low performing child for anything longer than K-2 since their child would definitely make AAP. This attitude of keeping children away entirely during the school day should not be encouraged.

19:56 In case you don't know, special ed is integrated for the most part in schools these days. Why shouldn't AAP be as well? A center school just isn't going to have a general ed population that is overly low in academics. Many families just don't even want to be in a school like an AAP center where they're outnumbered and the talk is focused around the Center. An AAP child can attend a class a couple of times a week with a non-AAP child. Come on. FCPS is one of the only schools that even has this program. The rest of the school districts just have pull outs a couple of times a week and their AAP students seem to survive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this the new tactic after last year's push for AAP expansion/dilution met such parental resistance? A poster on the FCAG listserve notified us that at their AAP center, Forest Edge, this fall suddenly AAP is to be "integrated" with base school -- AAP classes taught by base school teachers and vice versa. Other changes as well. Parents were not consulted at all, it was just a big surprise at back to school night.

I hope the parents will not stand for this and that it will not become the new trend spreading throughout FCPS AAP. We pulled our DC out of base school because LLIV was not going to provide the same academic (AND social/emotional) support for him as a center would . . . we thought.

So, centers that adopt this approach are essentially turning themselves into LLIVs? Why would they want to do this?

I know a lot of the gen ed parents are pushing for this. Some of the AAP Level III students are more advanced than the Level IV students in certain subjects. I'm a gen ed parent that has been pushing our center school to integrate math. DC is very advanced in math, but grade level for language arts. The gen ed only has advanced math with in-class differentiation. The AAP classes for our grade teach at different grade levels. It's not fair to offer a more advanced education to a group of students in the school when other students in the school are performing at a higher level.

Anonymous wrote:And here we go again, with the crabs clawing at each other in the bucket. Why not just focus on strengthening the Gen Ed program, and then returning the AAP centers to what they used to be, instead of moaning about parents who have been told their kid fits into the AAP as it currently is run?

We all know the center program has been diluted to include somewhat bright kids, when it should be just for kids who test as highly gifted. Kids at the highly gifted end of the spectrum have been defined as being as "special needs" as kids with learning and behavior challenges, as well as kids who need to learn English. That should not be an issue.

I think that is exactly what we're trying to say. No one disputes that the highly gifted are special needs and should have services to reflect these needs. We are in agreement that AAP needs to be only for these kids, and not for the masses who test simply as above average. And just as important, the Gen Ed program needs to be seriously beefed up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't really see any problem if the AAP and non-AAP kids are mixed together for PE, Music, Art - so what?
They should be separated for English, Math, History, Science because those are the subjects in which academically advanced kids will most benefir from being with others like themselves, no?

I agree. I have a child in a center and I hate that until this year, DC was separated from the Gen Ed kids. It seemed to feed into the hatred that the base school Gen Ed parents have for the AAP parents. I like that they seem to be (from what I can tell from DC) mixing them for some specials. They should do that.

An absurd statement on its face -- since often these are the same parents. I had kids in both AAP and gen. ed. and it didn't turn me against myself. But if I can speak for the Gen Ed. me I'd say that what parents hate are kids who aren't any smarter than theirs being given special instruction and elevated academic status. It's not what AAP was designed for, it's not equitable and it's not right. Period.

Exactly. And so many parents feel this way, I can't believe FCPS hasn't gotten a clue yet and changed the criteria for AAP placement to include only the profoundly gifted, those who cannot be educated in a Gen Ed classroom. The parents who are up in arms whenever somebody states this are those who know their child doesn't fit that criteria and so wouldn't be in AAP if the test scores and other criteria necessary for admission were raised.

Sorry parents with sour grapes...there is a valid reason why I want my AAP child to be with AAP students for social studies and science. My child is not some special snowflake but she has an exceptional memory. She can read something once and remember it. What has been so great about AAP is that they move very quickly. This fast pace has made a huge difference for her.

To be honest, because her gen Ed early grades had such a high percentage of children learning English the teachers had to go especially slowly in those subjects and my daughter was allowed to just sit there and read a book from home. What a waste of her time. All children deserve to be challenged in school.

We were glad to be at a diverse base school and we miss the diversity of her previous classes but she is finally working at an appropriate level in her AAP center.

My fear is that my AAP child might be forced to interact on a daily basis with the unwashed gened caste children. This may result in my DC not getting into Harvard, Princeton, or Yale.

And here we go again, with the crabs clawing at each other in the bucket. Why not just focus on strengthening the Gen Ed program, and then returning the AAP centers to what they used to be, instead of moaning about parents who have been told their kid fits into the AAP as it currently is run?

We all know the center program has been diluted to include somewhat bright kids, when it should be just for kids who test as highly gifted. Kids at the highly gifted end of the spectrum have been defined as being as "special needs" as kids with learning and behavior challenges, as well as kids who need to learn English. That should not be an issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christ, the sense of entitlement with some of you. And your precious little snowflakes.

Entitlement?

It was a hard decision to move our DC, who deals with anxiety and ADHD along with the "giftedness," to a new school (our center). We did it because the program represented itself a certain way, which come September, is suddenly changed without notice. Had we known, it probably would have impacted our choice about what was in his beswt interests. We didn't get any clue of this at the orientation in the spring.

I don't think any parent would like that.

I can only agree with the first poster here. Do you ever hear what you're saying or read what you've written? Your child attends a public school. It seems you want him to be given private school amenities. All of us want what is best for our children, but many AAP parents seem to forget that there are MANY other children within FCPS, and not just their precious snowflakes. All of our children have needs of one kind or another, and many are overlooked. If you feel that your child's issues will cause him to crumble if he's taught by a (gasp) non-AAP teacher, methinks you need to be looking into private school or homeschooling.

+1000 At last, a voice of sanity.

Anonymous wrote:Forest Edge already had mixed specials, lunch, and recess. This is going further.

an why shouldn't they? if you want your kids in a bubble try homeschooling.

Anonymous wrote:We were told that social studies and science are for about 2-4 hours a week in the schools. If they are mixing those classes, it's really not a lot of time.

Are you sure? What if something the Gen Ed kids do rubs off on your AAP snowflakes in that time? I mean they might learn social skills, or god forbid, that someone who doesn't do as well on tests still has a lot to offer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't really see any problem if the AAP and non-AAP kids are mixed together for PE, Music, Art - so what?
They should be separated for English, Math, History, Science because those are the subjects in which academically advanced kids will most benefir from being with others like themselves, no?

I agree. I have a child in a center and I hate that until this year, DC was separated from the Gen Ed kids. It seemed to feed into the hatred that the base school Gen Ed parents have for the AAP parents. I like that they seem to be (from what I can tell from DC) mixing them for some specials. They should do that.

An absurd statement on its face -- since often these are the same parents. I had kids in both AAP and gen. ed. and it didn't turn me against myself. But if I can speak for the Gen Ed. me I'd say that what parents hate are kids who aren't any smarter than theirs being given special instruction and elevated academic status. It's not what AAP was designed for, it's not equitable and it's not right. Period.

Anonymous wrote:Wasn't a big part of the whole idea of centers to provide a community of peers for our students who learn differently, etc.? Wasn't this one of the findings in the independent study FCPS had done a few months ago -- that's why "critical mass" at new centers was said to be important and should be a factor in opening any new centers at MS level -- along with properly credentialed AAP teachers.

Now it seems they are ignoring, even reversing, these guiding principles.

Yes. But that ship sailed when they watered down the AAP admission standards to let not only gifted but high-achieving students in. AAP classes were last composed primarily of kids who learned differently in the early to mid-2000s....Sorry you can't have it both ways.

We were told that social studies and science are for about 2-4 hours a week in the schools. If they are mixing those classes, it's really not a lot of time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Christ, the sense of entitlement with some of you. And your precious little snowflakes.

Entitlement?

It was a hard decision to move our DC, who deals with anxiety and ADHD along with the "giftedness," to a new school (our center). We did it because the program represented itself a certain way, which come September, is suddenly changed without notice. Had we known, it probably would have impacted our choice about what was in his beswt interests. We didn't get any clue of this at the orientation in the spring.

I don't think any parent would like that.

I can only agree with the first poster here. Do you ever hear what you're saying or read what you've written? Your child attends a public school. It seems you want him to be given private school amenities. All of us want what is best for our children, but many AAP parents seem to forget that there are MANY other children within FCPS, and not just their precious snowflakes. All of our children have needs of one kind or another, and many are overlooked. If you feel that your child's issues will cause him to crumble if he's taught by a (gasp) non-AAP teacher, methinks you need to be looking into private school or homeschooling.