If you read the threads from last spring when the AAP decisions went out, there was a lot of hand wringing from parents whose kids got in-pool scores but were not accepted to AAP on the first round. There's no guarantee that parent referring would result in an acceptance, but I think a lot of those parents wished they had done the additional step of submitting a parent referral. This is just my assessment though of reading those threads. I'd say if you're on the fence about the referral, better to just do it.

Anonymous wrote:FCPS is changing NNAT and Cogat formats questions to include never before seen questions and tricks to battle against heavily prepared parents. So a lot of last GBRS and test score discussions are not as relevant for this and upcoming years. 1. Teacher’s comments 2. Work samples matter more.

Op should rather check whether the child follows instructions of the AART and class room teacher very well. If yes, then you will get higher GBRS.

I like this post. I'm not sure if it's 50% crazy or 100% crazy but I like it.

FCPS is changing NNAT and Cogat formats questions to include never before seen questions and tricks to battle against heavily prepared parents. So a lot of last GBRS and test score discussions are not as relevant for this and upcoming years. 1. Teacher’s comments 2. Work samples matter more.

Op should rather check whether the child follows instructions of the AART and class room teacher very well. If yes, then you will get higher GBRS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A teacher stopped me in the hall and asked to speak to me. This is a teacher who sees all the kids at some point each week (specials teacher). She said she hopes I was applying for aap for one kid because he belonged in aap because of the connections he makes and questions he asks and then she gave me examples of what he says from a paper she had on her desk. This was my younger child. What’s funny is my older kid got a 16 gbrs and this one got a 15. Both got in. Both second grade teachers said the kids would be good candidates for aap. FWIW friends noted the teacher’s were more neutral when they asked if their kids would be good fits

Sure. Your kids are the most special snowflakes to grace an AAP classroom. Regular people, however, shouldn't bother asking the teacher, since they will get a very neutral response.

Not at all...the teacher gave the same kid a 15...meaning the specials teacher saw more in the kid then the teacher herself. Kids got in to the program that year when the teacher of those kids gave a very neutral response whether they should get in. It's opaque usually. My "16" gbrs kid wasn't seen as special to the teacher who teaches specials at the school but was seen as more "gifted" to the second grade teacher...

That was the point.

What is your opinion? Was the specialist right? Or the classroom teacher? Are they equally advanced in aap? Did they have similar scores?

The 16-gbrs kid had 140s on both nnat and cogat, which I am guessing the specials teacher would have no idea about. The other kid had a pretty average nnat but highish cogat. I can't recall the score exactly but maybe a 135 or so. I agree with the specialist in that my one kid stands out to ME that he seems brighter to ME than my other kid but along the way I've seen brighter kids at the school that stand out to ME. I guess I'd say the kid the teacher made the comment about, probably does stand out to others, but there are a few others (two) like that at the school who are even (far) brighter. You know kids like that when you see them and I'm talking back in second grade I'd encouter a kid like this and within being around them for a few minutes, you'd know this kid was different. This isn't your typical smart kid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also- even if the scores are “in-pool”, send in the parent referral form and include work samples. You never know what the school will send in the package for the work samples, and some teachers are better than others at procuring good samples from the class. Include a strong example of writing.

Eh. The work samples made at school are given more weight than anything a parent sends in. Rightly so.

They should be placing more emphasis on the work done at school, of course. That's what I thought last year and didn't send in any work from home. DS had in-pool scores and wasn't accepted, and when I looked at the package the work samples didn't really demonstrate his abilities. See last year's thread "My kid got 99% CogAT and was rejected" - several people said that they didn't do much for the parent referral and their kids were not accepted, despite having good scores.

^^ sent in

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also- even if the scores are “in-pool”, send in the parent referral form and include work samples. You never know what the school will send in the package for the work samples, and some teachers are better than others at procuring good samples from the class. Include a strong example of writing.

Eh. The work samples made at school are given more weight than anything a parent sends in. Rightly so.

Fwiw i sent home school work that was sent home - and noted that. I didn’t have my kid prep / revise anything at home.

With my oldest, I was not planning to refer him. We thought if he tested in, we would consider it - but otherwise we had younger kids going to the base and it would be easier to keep them together.

In the end, we got “lucky” because DS1 got a 132 on the Cogat and that was the in pool score (and he was found eligible). But if he had gotten a 130 I wouldn’t have refered him, which in hindsight would have probably been a mistake.

Now I am going to refer DS2 (2nd grade now) but I know a little more this time about what is above grade level, etc. that I didn’t know about with DS1.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A teacher stopped me in the hall and asked to speak to me. This is a teacher who sees all the kids at some point each week (specials teacher). She said she hopes I was applying for aap for one kid because he belonged in aap because of the connections he makes and questions he asks and then she gave me examples of what he says from a paper she had on her desk. This was my younger child. What’s funny is my older kid got a 16 gbrs and this one got a 15. Both got in. Both second grade teachers said the kids would be good candidates for aap. FWIW friends noted the teacher’s were more neutral when they asked if their kids would be good fits

Sure. Your kids are the most special snowflakes to grace an AAP classroom. Regular people, however, shouldn't bother asking the teacher, since they will get a very neutral response.

Not at all...the teacher gave the same kid a 15...meaning the specials teacher saw more in the kid then the teacher herself. Kids got in to the program that year when the teacher of those kids gave a very neutral response whether they should get in. It's opaque usually. My "16" gbrs kid wasn't seen as special to the teacher who teaches specials at the school but was seen as more "gifted" to the second grade teacher...

That was the point.

What is your opinion? Was the specialist right? Or the classroom teacher? Are they equally advanced in aap? Did they have similar scores?

Anonymous wrote:
Not at all...the teacher gave the same kid a 15...meaning the specials teacher saw more in the kid then the teacher herself. Kids got in to the program that year when the teacher of those kids gave a very neutral response whether they should get in. It's opaque usually. My "16" gbrs kid wasn't seen as special to the teacher who teaches specials at the school but was seen as more "gifted" to the second grade teacher...

That was the point.

Um. No. A 15 GBRS is still ludicrously high. There's no real difference between a 16 and a 15 GBRS, other than splitting hairs. In both cases, the teachers thought the kids absolutely belong in AAP and are probably the most gifted kids in the entire grade. 12 or 13 is like the median score for kids who are admitted to AAP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A teacher stopped me in the hall and asked to speak to me. This is a teacher who sees all the kids at some point each week (specials teacher). She said she hopes I was applying for aap for one kid because he belonged in aap because of the connections he makes and questions he asks and then she gave me examples of what he says from a paper she had on her desk. This was my younger child. What’s funny is my older kid got a 16 gbrs and this one got a 15. Both got in. Both second grade teachers said the kids would be good candidates for aap. FWIW friends noted the teacher’s were more neutral when they asked if their kids would be good fits

Sure. Your kids are the most special snowflakes to grace an AAP classroom. Regular people, however, shouldn't bother asking the teacher, since they will get a very neutral response.

Not at all...the teacher gave the same kid a 15...meaning the specials teacher saw more in the kid then the teacher herself. Kids got in to the program that year when the teacher of those kids gave a very neutral response whether they should get in. It's opaque usually. My "16" gbrs kid wasn't seen as special to the teacher who teaches specials at the school but was seen as more "gifted" to the second grade teacher...

That was the point.

No, your point was to brag about your “16 GBRS” kid.