This may be just in my child's school, but the kids who are in the young scholars at my son's school include Caucasian and Asian children. I know at least one of the Caucasian kids receives donations from our school's Food for Thought program (supplemental meals for her and her family, meaning that they are below poverty line)--I'm not sure about the children who are Asian. Additionally, one girl in my son's grade is pulled out for level II as well as Young Scholars. Maybe this is more on a school by school basis?

They have AVID in MS, not YS. AVID is open to any student.

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. The misinformation in these posts is rampant. The Young Scholars program looks different at different schools; FWIW, about half of the students identified at my middle school are Caucasian.

OP, instead of seeking accurate information here, save your time and arrange a conversation with your AART or DSS.

They have Young Scholars at middle schools?

I thought it was an elementary program to prep disadvantaged minorities for AAP.

Anonymous wrote:The first rule of Young Scholars is that no one knows the rules of Young Scholars.

Site-based management. A term for letting the schools do whatever with no real consequences. Thank God for SOLs. This is the only way to keep the administration in check.

The first rule of Young Scholars is that no one knows the rules of Young Scholars.

My kid was selected for Young Scholars in Kindergarten. She is half Asian and half American. We are not low income. She was not in AAP.
She is in middle school now. She has her strengths (very superior in verbal reasoning) but definitely is not AAP material. We were happy with the gen education she got at her elementary school.
She really enjoyed Young Scholars and got a lot out of it. Not sure how she was selected but looking back now, I am glad that her teacher saw her potential in Science- which seemed to be the focus for Young Scholars at her school. She had YS meetings before school once a week and a couple of Saturday family sessions. We see her continued interest in Science now so we have put her in Honors Science in 7th grade.

YS is not selective. Not many YS from our school are in AAP. YS is used at our school to help kids from two-working households or those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. We are a minority family. Child has perfect SOLs, perfect scores, 16 GBRS,and in AAP.

I am SAHM, and when I asked about YS in K, the school had advised that YS was not ideal for my child asmy child already had access to things that others did not.

Anonymous wrote:I have two kids, mixed Asian and white, who were in Young Scholars at two very different FFX schools pre-third grade, who both went on to full-time AAP Centers, but I still have NO idea how Young Scholars works or who gets in. That's how confusing it is.

YS varies from school to school.

I have two kids, mixed Asian and white, who were in Young Scholars at two very different FFX schools pre-third grade, who both went on to full-time AAP Centers, but I still have NO idea how Young Scholars works or who gets in. That's how confusing it is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If only that was the case. The young scholars program will remain only for low-income, minority, and sorta AAP'ish level children. Very few (if any, as I think about it now) of the kids selected for the young scholars program were in my DC's advanced academic pull outs. So, it's a mystery how they identified them and why they were deemed young scholar material, but not level - II worthy. And, the school invests some significant summer resources to the young scholars summer program. It's frustrating to say the least.

So young scholars is not as rigorous as AAP Level II?

Does the program compliment AAP?

For some reason, I thought young scholars was to help kids get into AAP.

Not in my experience is Young Scholars at all a gateway of sorts to AAP. There is a notation on the AAP application if the applicant was in the Young Scholars program and the AAP teacher runs the Young Scholars program at my DC's school, but it does not mirror what DC is learning in class. Young Scholars at DC's school is used to help low income and/or minority children potentially get into the AAP program or be exposed to some of the AAP concepts of higher level thinking. The common thread in DC's Young Scholars program is definitely geared towards low-resourced children (read: free or reduced price lunch eligible kids).

Teacher here. The misinformation in these posts is rampant. The Young Scholars program looks different at different schools; FWIW, about half of the students identified at my middle school are Caucasian.

OP, instead of seeking accurate information here, save your time and arrange a conversation with your AART or DSS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my DC's school, all the young scholars are primarily Hispanic and low income. They identify children that appear to have budding critical thinking skills, but don't have the home support to encourage that level of thinking.

OP here. Does that mean that they won't pick any white or Asian kids for the young scholars program? Or just a few Asian or white kids will get picked?

Since only Hispanics and black kids will receive this special benefit, maybe you could tell the school it would be a racial discrimination to not include your child? Public school programs should be open to all willing participants without regard to race, gender etc.

OP here. This is bothering me greatly that there will be racial discrimination against my child. I originally asked this question expecting parents to say that the child needed to test at 95th percentile on a test, show critical thinking skills in the top 20% of a class or a teacher picks X number of children based on X categories.

program is meant for kids who do not have many of the advantages some other families have. If you feel that your family is disadvantaged, maybe you could have a talk with your child's school principal and explain why you cannot provide certain educational experiences for your child. They might be able to work with you.
If you do have the ability to provide educational advantages for your child, it might be better to do that and allow those that are not so fortunate to fill the spaces in the program.

What if a child is Hispanic or black but comes from a high income family? Would they be included?

Any average intelligence Hispanic or black child will be included in young scholars in the hope they might scrape into AAP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my DC's school, all the young scholars are primarily Hispanic and low income. They identify children that appear to have budding critical thinking skills, but don't have the home support to encourage that level of thinking.

OP here. Does that mean that they won't pick any white or Asian kids for the young scholars program? Or just a few Asian or white kids will get picked?

Since only Hispanics and black kids will receive this special benefit, maybe you could tell the school it would be a racial discrimination to not include your child? Public school programs should be open to all willing participants without regard to race, gender etc.

OP here. This is bothering me greatly that there will be racial discrimination against my child. I originally asked this question expecting parents to say that the child needed to test at 95th percentile on a test, show critical thinking skills in the top 20% of a class or a teacher picks X number of children based on X categories.

The program is meant for kids who do not have many of the advantages some other families have. If you feel that your family is disadvantaged, maybe you could have a talk with your child's school principal and explain why you cannot provide certain educational experiences for your child. They might be able to work with you.
If you do have the ability to provide educational advantages for your child, it might be better to do that and allow those that are not so fortunate to fill the spaces in the program.

Anonymous wrote:If only that was the case. The young scholars program will remain only for low-income, minority, and sorta AAP'ish level children. Very few (if any, as I think about it now) of the kids selected for the young scholars program were in my DC's advanced academic pull outs. So, it's a mystery how they identified them and why they were deemed young scholar material, but not level - II worthy. And, the school invests some significant summer resources to the young scholars summer program. It's frustrating to say the least.

So young scholars is not as rigorous as AAP Level II?

Does the program compliment AAP?

For some reason, I thought young scholars was to help kids get into AAP.