Anonymous wrote: My family's experience does not exist in a vacuum. My family is not so special that we are the only ones with this experience. Many, many parents have similar experiences as mine . I cannot quantify how many, but neither can ANYONE making any claims on this board. What percentage of children feel stigmatized? For all we know it's only anecdotal and it's only the posters here on this board . What percentage of parents feel that their children are not being appropriately challenged in general education? Can you quantify that with evidence? No. It's only anecdotal "evidence" on this board .

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I'm at a LLIV school that has a homeroom, but in case there's a difference I don't want to reference it. I'd rather the person with the 6th grader who has a homeroom talk about the center experience or someone else. I know our center has homerooms as well, but don't know the specifics of how it is structured.

What I was hoping to get rather than anecdotal references were some evidence based opinions on how to make AAP and general ed stronger and less divisive. Just looking on the VA schools page, there's a person looking to buy a home with a 3 year old and are concerned about grades 3-6th because of the AAP program. How can the program be changed so that this person isn't so concerned about the elementary school she's buying into?

I think if the crazies quit harping constantly about AAP then it becomes less of an issue.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I'm at a LLIV school that has a homeroom, but in case there's a difference I don't want to reference it. I'd rather the person with the 6th grader who has a homeroom talk about the center experience or someone else. I know our center has homerooms as well, but don't know the specifics of how it is structured.

What I was hoping to get rather than anecdotal references were some evidence based opinions on how to make AAP and general ed stronger and less divisive. Just looking on the VA schools page, there's a person looking to buy a home with a 3 year old and are concerned about grades 3-6th because of the AAP program. How can the program be changed so that this person isn't so concerned about the elementary school she's buying into?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I'm at a LLIV school that has a homeroom, but in case there's a difference I don't want to reference it. I'd rather the person with the 6th grader who has a homeroom talk about the center experience or someone else. I know our center has homerooms as well, but don't know the specifics of how it is structured.

What I was hoping to get rather than anecdotal references were some evidence based opinions on how to make AAP and general ed stronger and less divisive. Just looking on the VA schools page, there's a person looking to buy a home with a 3 year old and are concerned about grades 3-6th because of the AAP program. How can the program be changed so that this person isn't so concerned about the elementary school she's buying into?

I think if the crazies quit harping constantly about AAP then it becomes less of an issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I'm at a LLIV school that has a homeroom, but in case there's a difference I don't want to reference it. I'd rather the person with the 6th grader who has a homeroom talk about the center experience or someone else. I know our center has homerooms as well, but don't know the specifics of how it is structured.

What I was hoping to get rather than anecdotal references were some evidence based opinions on how to make AAP and general ed stronger and less divisive. Just looking on the VA schools page, there's a person looking to buy a home with a 3 year old and are concerned about grades 3-6th because of the AAP program. How can the program be changed so that this person isn't so concerned about the elementary school she's buying into?

I think if the crazies quit harping constantly about AAP then it becomes less of an issue.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I'm at a LLIV school that has a homeroom, but in case there's a difference I don't want to reference it. I'd rather the person with the 6th grader who has a homeroom talk about the center experience or someone else. I know our center has homerooms as well, but don't know the specifics of how it is structured.

What I was hoping to get rather than anecdotal references were some evidence based opinions on how to make AAP and general ed stronger and less divisive. Just looking on the VA schools page, there's a person looking to buy a home with a 3 year old and are concerned about grades 3-6th because of the AAP program. How can the program be changed so that this person isn't so concerned about the elementary school she's buying into?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I'm seeing in this thread is 'how to placate Gen Ed parents so we can keep our AAP', not 'how to improve both'.

The suggestions by the pro AAP side are simply:

Let's mix them at lunch and recess.
Let's maybe add a homeroom time so our special children and socialize with the others.
Maybe some of those others can sit in on some of our kids' classes if they "can handle it".
Let's try to make Level II/III services more standard so there won't be so much focus on changing Level IV.


NONE of this improves Gen Ed.

I don't understand the lunch/recess thing. How does that improve anyone's education? My kids left their Title 1 base school which had no Level IV option to go to a center and they made new friends. They see some old friends from their base school in their soccer leagues, at playdates, parties, neighborhood events, etc. Their very good friends are still their very good friends and FCPS didn't have to rearrange the school schedule to accommodate that. If we're talking about improving education, I don't see how this is a priority.

My children have never had 'homeroom' in elementary school. What does that even mean? Morning meeting? What do you hope to accomplish in that time?

Making Level 2 & 3 more standard sounds like a great idea to me. If the complaint is truly about meeting students where they are and challenging them at different levels - what is wrong with this? Some schools even have principal/teacher placement for Local IV for kids that didn't qualify with the screening process.

And what is your recommendation for improving Gen Ed besides eliminating AAP? Let's hypothetically say we reduce AAP to 5% of students by raising the benchmark test scores. When you say 'offer the current AAP to all" that would mean same curriculum, but go faster and deeper for everyone. So with 95% of kids left in Gen Ed....you expect that all or most will keep up? And that teachers will be able to differentiate for all of those kids - even though parents are complaining that even with the 'top' skimmed off, teachers are overwhelmed and unable to do this? and the kids that can't keep up, what happens to them? They get relegated to a program called "Remedial Education"? Talk about feeling stigmatized.

I've come across so many articles/books over recents years that talk about how bad it is for kids that we push them so young - "The Race to Nowhere" field of research. About how we pressure and push our kids to do so much and go so fast and for what? I can only imagine if the AAP curriculum and pace were implemented for everyone and the backlash that would cause - parents lamenting, "what are we doing to our kids?!"

The parents I know - and I don't live in a TJ manic neighborhood - did not talk about or lift a finger to 'push' their children into AAP. We just got letters in the mail and had a decision to make and not everyone's was an automatic yes. Most of us were hesitant because it meant leaving the base school, which we loved and didn't know what to expect. Some stayed, some went (we're talking a handful, not enough for a class at the base school) and as far as I know everyone feels like they made the right decision for their child. My experience IRL is worlds away from the drama I see on DCUM.

What an excellent post.

You should repost it without the post so everyone can read it

Why is it such an excellent post? It isn't proposing any suggestions for improving AAP and general ed except having standards for Level 2 and Level 3. Great, but how should that be done? No specifics are listed. It's just one person's observations of their own child's experience. Big whoop. Reducing AAP to 5% is offered with no analysis as to why to do this. And they haven't said anything about how the base school kids not in AAP feel about being in a center, how large their center is, or how often their child mingles with non-AAP kids during the school day. Whether the school feels segregated. All people seem to do on this board is offer observations. No actual suggestions.

Redusing AAP to a very small percentage (top 5%) has been proposed ad nauseam by the "AAP IS BS" camp. With NO analysis as to how or why to do this. I'm asking those who have proposed this some questions. Any answers?