Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let me clarify the 89% math was iready math in early September. I don’t have any other math score but I assume it has gone up.

I’m not questioning if he’s gifted or just bright, I thought most aap are bright and not truly gifted….

Most kids in AAP are scoring in the 99th percentile in one iReady and probably 95th or higher percentile in the second. DS was 99th percentile for both iReadys and Passed Advanced for all of his SOLs, including 600s two out of four years in reading and math and a 600 on the science SOL. He is not a genius, but he is really smart.

The 89th percentile in Math is strong but not high enough for AAP at most schools.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.

My first was a 99th percentile kid, all the time.

My second was a low-90th percentile kid.

My third was like 88th percentile.

All 3 were admitted to AAP.

Very tired of the "if your kid is merely bright they don't belong in AAP" tropes. People - it's not that special. It's 20% of the county.

This. The top 20% of the country is not all geniuses. Not even close.

This fact is what makes it so hard for people to accept that their child didn't get in. It would be one thing if AAP only took truly gifted 1-3% of kids in FCPS. Then you're in good company. I think it's hard for parents to accept that their kid can't even make the lowered standard. It's a real knock on the ego.

Anonymous wrote:Both my kids in AAP have 140+ iqs (based on wisc) Their test scores over the years have varied a lot. My youngest hasn’t had an IQ test done, and didn’t get accepted to AAP. I would say based on what we see at home, he is smarter than both his siblings.

His test scores are between the other two, but he doesn’t care about impressing the teachers. He’s great at following directions, but has no interest in sounding smart in class. I haven’t requested a HOPE score, but I’m guessing it was mediocre. The AAP process is annoying at best, but how one teacher sees your kid is not the end of that child’s journey.

This but good if parent venting here if means NOT venting in front of child. That is truly the worst when parents voice disappointment and end of world if don’t get in AAP first time in front of kids when it is just not at all.

Both my kids in AAP have 140+ iqs (based on wisc) Their test scores over the years have varied a lot. My youngest hasn’t had an IQ test done, and didn’t get accepted to AAP. I would say based on what we see at home, he is smarter than both his siblings.

His test scores are between the other two, but he doesn’t care about impressing the teachers. He’s great at following directions, but has no interest in sounding smart in class. I haven’t requested a HOPE score, but I’m guessing it was mediocre. The AAP process is annoying at best, but how one teacher sees your kid is not the end of that child’s journey.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids like Jeremy Schumer who was doing calculus at age 6 and went to college at 12 (Ivy League)- those are the geniuses. AAP stands for advanced. Big difference.

There's a lot of space between child prodigies and ordinary above average kids. If we define +1 SD as "bright," +2 SD as "gifted," and +3 SD or higher as "genius," then AAP includes a lot of bright kids, a decent number of gifted kids, and a small handful of geniuses.

I would not expect any bright kids to struggle with the FCPS AAP curriculum.

op asked if all kids in AAP are genius-level gifted. They are advanced and almost none are genius. That fact doesn’t move the needle though on whether her bright DC should be in AAP so while an interesting question, not relevant if about OP wanting DC in AAP.

Best advice if don’t get in first time- appeal and if rejected again, apply again next year.

OP is hurt because the Teacher said that her daughter isn't gifted which counters her own feelings about her child. She was pretty clear on that in her initial post. It sounded like the OP asked for a conference to discuss why her daughter wasn't accepted into AAP and was hurt by the combination of the HOPE scores and the Teachers comments.

As parents you have to understand that people will see your kid differently then you and that their lenses might be showing things that you need to know. Your kid is going to behave differently at school so the Teacher is going to see them differently then you. I had one friend comment that the GBRSs made her kid seem very average. He is a smart kid but not intellectually curious. He does well in school but isn't the kid asking for more. He would prefer to be in the slower moving class because it is less work but keeps up fine when placed in the advanced group. My experience has been that the parents of kids not accepted all think that the Teachers don't understand their kid and don't see their inherent amazingness. I don't think that is the case at all, I mean some Teachers might not like a particular kid, but for the most part, Teachers are asked to be evaluated on what they see in the classroom and in the class work.

It sounds like the OP was told that she had a bright child who has not demonstrated a need for AAP based on what they are seeing in the classroom. The test scores are strong but not over the top amazing. The math test score is good but not great. I would bet that the child's math grade is good but that the child doesn't pick up on the concepts immediately and isn't able to work that far ahead. There is nothing wrong with that, it is where the kid is.

I look at it this way. There's aptitude and then there's ability. My child took a WISC (measure aptitude) and got 95% in math and 99.9% in verbal. FSIQ was 136, meaning child is considered "gifted" but not genius level- except for maybe the verbal area. Anyway, the iready (measuring ability) scores in 2nd grade were only high 80s, low 90s. So there was a disconnect between aptitude and ability, which I interepeted that the curriculum was not sufficient. I started supplementing outside of school by March of 2nd grade and what do you know, the iready percentiles went up to high 90s by fall of thied grade. Child got into AAP on appeal and the winter iready continued similar percentiles so I do believe this curriculum is sufficient.

Why is this even a thread.

It's the Advanced Academic Program, not the Gifted Genius Program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids like Jeremy Schumer who was doing calculus at age 6 and went to college at 12 (Ivy League)- those are the geniuses. AAP stands for advanced. Big difference.

There's a lot of space between child prodigies and ordinary above average kids. If we define +1 SD as "bright," +2 SD as "gifted," and +3 SD or higher as "genius," then AAP includes a lot of bright kids, a decent number of gifted kids, and a small handful of geniuses.

I would not expect any bright kids to struggle with the FCPS AAP curriculum.

op asked if all kids in AAP are genius-level gifted. They are advanced and almost none are genius. That fact doesn’t move the needle though on whether her bright DC should be in AAP so while an interesting question, not relevant if about OP wanting DC in AAP.

Best advice if don’t get in first time- appeal and if rejected again, apply again next year.

PP here, and I agree with you. The teacher has a bizarre view of AAP if she thinks the program is for the truly gifted and not a correct fit for OP's very bright child.

OP, I'm assuming the HOPE score was low. Sometimes, that has more to do with teacher bias than your child's performance. After I received my kid's AAP rejection in 2nd, I requested the packet as well as the GBRS ratings for K and 1st. K teacher gave a 15. 1st grade gave a 16. 2nd grade gave a 10. When we applied again in 3rd, the teacher gave a 16. If the appeal doesn't work, there's a good chance that the 3rd grade teacher will wonder why your child isn't already in AAP and will give a high rating.

Isaac Newton went home during college closure and invented calculus and the theory of gravity. He explained how fast apples fall, the tides, and lunar/planetary cycles. His professor then resigned his chair and recommended Newton.

Gauss corrected his father's arithmetic at age 3. As a teenager, he constructed a 17-gon with ruler and compass, the first big progress since ancient Greeks.

Mozart wrote his first symphony at age 8.

By comparison, your kid is no genius.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids like Jeremy Schumer who was doing calculus at age 6 and went to college at 12 (Ivy League)- those are the geniuses. AAP stands for advanced. Big difference.

There's a lot of space between child prodigies and ordinary above average kids. If we define +1 SD as "bright," +2 SD as "gifted," and +3 SD or higher as "genius," then AAP includes a lot of bright kids, a decent number of gifted kids, and a small handful of geniuses.

I would not expect any bright kids to struggle with the FCPS AAP curriculum.

op asked if all kids in AAP are genius-level gifted. They are advanced and almost none are genius. That fact doesn’t move the needle though on whether her bright DC should be in AAP so while an interesting question, not relevant if about OP wanting DC in AAP.

Best advice if don’t get in first time- appeal and if rejected again, apply again next year.

I have a child who is highly reward driven and competitive,straight A’s, and teachers did help push him into gifted when his test scores were borderline 96%. I have another child who is a daydreamer, not competitive, not driven, with higher test scores who will probably not get into the gifted program, and I would not push back on that because he’s just not that into it. So it’s not just about IQ.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The majority of AAP class kids are bright kids (various level and area). I would say only 2-3 in each AAP class are genius level, and it is very easy to tell who they are when you attend their events. Bright kids will survive AAP curriculum just fine.

I doubt that there are 2-3 in most classes. Don't confuse gifted with genius. There might be 2-3 gifted kids in each class but very few classes will have a genius.

Agree. My brother is a genius. My kids, husband, and I range between bright and gifted but the difference between any of us and my brother is quite stark, as is obvious to anyone who spends time with him/us. Our kids were in AAP and I have yet to meet any friends of theirs who were geniuses. AAP is nice to have for bright/gifted kids, but woefully inadequate for a genius. (My brother supplemented his schoolwork with college classes beginning in elementary school; as the dumb one in my family, I didn’t start college classes until high school.)

I feel like genius is a lot higher level than gifted. To me, genius is like a prodigy that knows a lot of knowledge in depth beyond my imagination.

Somewhere between 2-5% of kids are truly gifted, with even a smaller percentage being profoundly gifted. Most kids in AAP are high achievers but not gifted and that makes sense since the program focuses on advanced academics. Doing well in school doesn't mean that a kid is gifted.

Anonymous wrote:The majority of AAP class kids are bright kids (various level and area). I would say only 2-3 in each AAP class are genius level, and it is very easy to tell who they are when you attend their events. Bright kids will survive AAP curriculum just fine.

I doubt that there are 2-3 in most classes. Don't confuse gifted with genius. There might be 2-3 gifted kids in each class but very few classes will have a genius.

Anonymous wrote:Kids like Jeremy Schumer who was doing calculus at age 6 and went to college at 12 (Ivy League)- those are the geniuses. AAP stands for advanced. Big difference.

There's a lot of space between child prodigies and ordinary above average kids. If we define +1 SD as "bright," +2 SD as "gifted," and +3 SD or higher as "genius," then AAP includes a lot of bright kids, a decent number of gifted kids, and a small handful of geniuses.

I would not expect any bright kids to struggle with the FCPS AAP curriculum.