Most Asian cultures don't acknowledge that there IS such a thing as 'giftedness'. Instead, kids are believed to be intelligent because they are hard working. Giftedness as some kind of innate quality is actually a Western concept that is going to be alien to many groups coming for other cultures. Test prep is the norm in places like Korea and the Philippines because it's based on a different notion of what intelligence is. By the way, Asians would laugh in your face if you tried to explain that your child was differently gifted or had multiple intelligences.

To use a weak analogy, if you work with a kid on his foot and passing skills for a soccer evaluation or on hitting and catching for a baseball evaluation I don't see that as cheating because you are teaching that child a skill he then owns and specifically uses in those arenas.

If you coach a child how to take an entrance test is that really a good indicator of how that child would perform in a program that goes beyond identifying patterns?

There is no perfect way to evaluate for AAP, we all know that. For better or worse the county has tried to create a series of tests and means for parental/teacher input to make the hard decisions.

The NNAT is part of that imperfect process, the integrity of which is compromised when parents start teaching TO the tests, IMO.

Anonymous wrote:Where has FCPS every said prepping is cheating or raises ethical concerns? I have heard of teachers making comments, but as far as I am aware, FCPS does not have any policy, and I work for the county.

I don't know if there is a written policy anywhere, but exposing kids to the types of questions on the test ahead of time has to have an effect on the test results. (Otherwise, why would people do it?) The test is supposed to reflect how well a child deals with and solves problems the child has not seen before. Sure, some kids may have seen some of the types of problems in the course of doing other things, but it is unlikely most kids would have seen all of the different types unless they are doing prep that focuses on the kinds of questions on these tests.
The results just won't be a good reflection of how well a child deals with new situations if the types of problems are not new to the child, so the results would be less useful for that child. My own ethics tell me that it is wrong to try to make my child look like he does better with new problems than he actually does, which would be the effect of prepping, but I realize that not everyone shares my personal system of ethics and morals.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it cheating? I just don't get the animosity. What's the harm in having your kids do logic puzzles to familiarize themselves with what will be on the test? It is crazy to me that parents whose kids do not get into AAP complain that their kids are smart too and should be in AAP but then take no steps to help them. If you truly don't care, more power to you and just leave it all alone, but for parents who do care, I think it is ridiculous not to help your child.

It's not a matter of caring or not caring; some parents have ethical concerns, others don't have the means or wherewithal to help their kids. Every kid should have the same opportunity to get into AAP and they don't. If AAP were gone tomorrow in many parts of FCPS it wouldn't make a bit of difference to student achievement, anyway. In many areas it's became a sham and very divisive, and I'd be willing to bet that most people who ask about prepping are from those areas.

I agree 100%.

Anonymous wrote:Where has FCPS every said prepping is cheating or raises ethical concerns? I have heard of teachers making comments, but as far as I am aware, FCPS does not have any policy, and I work for the county.

http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/pdfs/2013GMUReview.pdf

P. 211

Considerations Related to Identification Procedures

External forces place great stressors on FCPS-AAP, especially related to over-identification. This concern arose throughout the study. In particular, parents and the community place great importance on entry into FCPS-AAP. Pressures related to community standing have contributed to a “cottage” test preparation industry and inflated use of external assessments apparently resulting in over-identification of some groups.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where has FCPS every said prepping is cheating or raises ethical concerns? I have heard of teachers making comments, but as far as I am aware, FCPS does not have any policy, and I work for the county.

Our principal said it at an AAP informational meeting last year.

The principal said prepping is cheating or unethical? Or said something like "there is no need to prepare, just do your best..." Those are different things.

If you are fine with prepping, then make sure you include that your child studied for the test using workbooks on your parent information sheet. Because its no big deal and not unethical, right?

Very good idea. Should be mandatory to disclose any prepping and grounds for disqualification if such information is not disclosed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where has FCPS every said prepping is cheating or raises ethical concerns? I have heard of teachers making comments, but as far as I am aware, FCPS does not have any policy, and I work for the county.

Our principal said it at an AAP informational meeting last year.

The principal said prepping is cheating or unethical? Or said something like "there is no need to prepare, just do your best..." Those are different things.

If you are fine with prepping, then make sure you include that your child studied for the test using workbooks on your parent information sheet. Because its no big deal and not unethical, right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where has FCPS every said prepping is cheating or raises ethical concerns? I have heard of teachers making comments, but as far as I am aware, FCPS does not have any policy, and I work for the county.

Our principal said it at an AAP informational meeting last year.

The principal said prepping is cheating or unethical? Or said something like "there is no need to prepare, just do your best..." Those are different things.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is it cheating? I just don't get the animosity. What's the harm in having your kids do logic puzzles to familiarize themselves with what will be on the test? It is crazy to me that parents whose kids do not get into AAP complain that their kids are smart too and should be in AAP but then take no steps to help them. If you truly don't care, more power to you and just leave it all alone, but for parents who do care, I think it is ridiculous not to help your child.

It's not a matter of caring or not caring; some parents have ethical concerns, others don't have the means or wherewithal to help their kids. Every kid should have the same opportunity to get into AAP and they don't. If AAP were gone tomorrow in many parts of FCPS it wouldn't make a bit of difference to student achievement, anyway. In many areas it's became a sham and very divisive, and I'd be willing to bet that most people who ask about prepping are from those areas.

+1,000,000

Anonymous wrote:Where has FCPS every said prepping is cheating or raises ethical concerns? I have heard of teachers making comments, but as far as I am aware, FCPS does not have any policy, and I work for the county.

Our principal said it at an AAP informational meeting last year.

And stop trying to pretend only Asians prep. Asians are not obsessed with AAP as whites. Stop prepping 7 year old kids!

Where has FCPS every said prepping is cheating or raises ethical concerns? I have heard of teachers making comments, but as far as I am aware, FCPS does not have any policy, and I work for the county.

Anonymous wrote:How is it cheating? I just don't get the animosity. What's the harm in having your kids do logic puzzles to familiarize themselves with what will be on the test? It is crazy to me that parents whose kids do not get into AAP complain that their kids are smart too and should be in AAP but then take no steps to help them. If you truly don't care, more power to you and just leave it all alone, but for parents who do care, I think it is ridiculous not to help your child.

It's not a matter of caring or not caring; some parents have ethical concerns, others don't have the means or wherewithal to help their kids. Every kid should have the same opportunity to get into AAP and they don't. If AAP were gone tomorrow in many parts of FCPS it wouldn't make a bit of difference to student achievement, anyway. In many areas it's became a sham and very divisive, and I'd be willing to bet that most people who ask about prepping are from those areas.

Anonymous wrote:Prep....you'll be happy you did. I'm curious why people are criticized for prepping for the nnat but not the SAT.

Different kinds of tests, which has been endlessly discussed on multiple threads. NNAT and CogAT were designed to test the abilities of 7 and 8 year olds to solve problems they have never seen. The truly smart ones without LDs typically can take these cold and do great. The SATs test your academic readiness for college. For what it's worth, my kid didn't prep for SAT either and got a near perfect score.

But by all means, press on and turn your kids into little study machines in Kindergarten. While you're at it make sure they're playing higher level sports and being tutored in at least one instrument as well. Childhood is a waste of time anyway.

How is it cheating? I just don't get the animosity. What's the harm in having your kids do logic puzzles to familiarize themselves with what will be on the test? It is crazy to me that parents whose kids do not get into AAP complain that their kids are smart too and should be in AAP but then take no steps to help them. If you truly don't care, more power to you and just leave it all alone, but for parents who do care, I think it is ridiculous not to help your child.