I knew someone would respond with the lines you are quoting. Of course everyone has a chance to do well and find love. What I have said it the great majority of those at the top have had great opportunities throughout their lives and each opportunity has created others. The Supreme Court Justices all went to Harvard and Yale, coincidence? The majority of those going to the best universities benefited from private school educations and households that create learning environments. It all builds. Its about having the best opportunity. I am speaking of the majorities, not the outliers that you are citing.

Exactly how may TJ grads did not go to AAP as a %? A very small majority I would believe.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prepped my child, and I am glad I did. He is in the pool and he will be admitted based upon his other academic credentials. He will be challenged and get better teachers and be among better, more serious classmates. He will learn good study habits and more material. He will then be better prepared for AP classes and high school. This will advance him in his class ranking, grades, and SATs. He will do better as a result, get into a better college and then get a better job and career. He will make more money, live in a bigger house, attract a prettier wife, and join a nice country club. He will learn the value of being prepared and teach this to his children by prepping them when they are in second grade. As a result they will be admitted to AAP and will repeat their in their fathers success.

I have to assume this passage is a parody.

I love trolls, especially on DCUM. Only problem is its hard, and probably sad, that some may really not be trolls. This thread is living up to the entertainment I enjoy here. Carry on!

OP of the passage here. I am no troll. Don't kid yourself, all opportunities build on prior opportunity. I know, not in all cases, there are great success stories from those who came from no opportunity or who came from bad circumstance, but the majority of success stories are the result of good breaks and the best learning environment. Do you not think that those who do best in high school in Fairfax County come from AAP? Do you not think that those who do best in High School do best in college admission and go to the best universities? Do you not think that those who go to the best universities get the best jobs or go on to become doctors, lawyers, or academics? I realize that AAP students are inately smart, but the rigors of the program make all the kids better students in the long run, better than those in the general program. Yes it is parody, but it is true. I want my DC to have the best opportunity to succeed and I will do whatever I can to provide that path to her.

oh my gosh. I thought you were a troll or joking. Let me tell you, I have worked in higher ed. There are PLENTY of students who are national merit finalists, Ivy acceptance, and TJ grads who DID NOT go to AAP. Conversely, I have worked with a AAP students who went on to AP and ivymlevel and dropped out with anxiety, depression, lack of maturity, not their dream but parents. Please don't kid yourself or act superior. I have one in aap and one in gen ed. They both have the exact same chance of succes or failure, happiness, love. If you really think aap sets anyone up for more succcess over anyone else ( it's elementary school!) then, well, I have no idea what to say to you. Oh yea...go to NPR and look at the book review. The chinese women who was imprisoned as a child, left the prison as a late teen went to community college, and 30 years later she has one of the most successful companies in 3d printing. She did all this without AAP!

OP of the passage here. I am no troll. Don't kid yourself, all opportunities build on prior opportunity. I know, not in all cases, there are great success stories from those who came from no opportunity or who came from bad circumstance, but the majority of success stories are the result of good breaks and the best learning environment. Do you not think that those who do best in high school in Fairfax County come from AAP? Do you not think that those who do best in High School do best in college admission and go to the best universities? Do you not think that those who go to the best universities get the best jobs or go on to become doctors, lawyers, or academics? I realize that AAP students are inately smart, but the rigors of the program make all the kids better students in the long run, better than those in the general program. Yes it is parody, but it is true. C
You are pathetic! A bright , motivated child will succeed regardless of their GT experience. Your kids however have been set up to fail by you needing them to be in AAP. Clearly your value as a human being is based on whether or not your child is in the AAP program. Elementary school AAP has as much to do with professional success as whether or not your child was born under a full moon.

"I want my DC to have the best opportunity to succeed and I will do whatever I can to provide that path to her." Does that include paying her 2nd grade teacher a bribe to inflate her GBRs?

Anonymous wrote:

I love trolls, especially on DCUM. Only problem is its hard, and probably sad, that some may really not be trolls. This thread is living up to the entertainment I enjoy here. Carry on!

Is this your new word. I agree you are a troll...whatever that means.

"In Internet slang, a troll (pron.: /?tro?l/, /?tr?l/) is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion."

Oh yeah, trolls are found in pretty much every threads here at DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I taught some extremely bright kids who were heads and shoulders ahead of the others. I was easily able to accommodate them in my classroom. However, occasionally there is that child that is VERY HIGHLY gifted. This is a child who really is a prodigy. I would think that there are only a handful per grade level across the county. Those children might need something different.
Frankly, I think the whole program should be scrapped.

15:34 here. Thank you. This was my point as well. If the base school really and truly can't accommodate a child, then the system has to provide an alternative. But no one can convince me that 16% of our second graders are so gifted that they can't be accommodated in our very highly ranked gen ed public schools.

Smartest post winner. Thank you.

Anonymous wrote:We don't tell athletes, surgeons, pilots, judges, lawyers or tax accountants not to prepare or prep.

Are these surgeons, pilots, and judges in second grade?? You're talking about grown adults who are making choices for their own further education--not 6-year-olds whose prep is entirely driven by Mom and Dad.

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I taught some extremely bright kids who were heads and shoulders ahead of the others. I was easily able to accommodate them in my classroom. However, occasionally there is that child that is VERY HIGHLY gifted. This is a child who really is a prodigy. I would think that there are only a handful per grade level across the county. Those children might need something different.
Frankly, I think the whole program should be scrapped.

15:34 here. Thank you. This was my point as well. If the base school really and truly can't accommodate a child, then the system has to provide an alternative. But no one can convince me that 16% of our second graders are so gifted that they can't be accommodated in our very highly ranked gen ed public schools.

I love trolls, especially on DCUM. Only problem is its hard, and probably sad, that some may really not be trolls. This thread is living up to the entertainment I enjoy here. Carry on!

Is this your new word. I agree you are a troll...whatever that means.

Anonymous wrote:

I prepped my son. Got the new Fairfax County test prep. as well as numerous other CogAT tests and critical thinking books. We worked half an hour or so a day for two or three weeks and then crammed with tests before the exam (plus the section specific practice tests each night during the test). My DC did great. I have no regrets whatsoever. We are thrilled and so is she. I think you waited a little to long to start, as it is a process to get some of the patterns down. The repeat, as there are only so many ways you can flip a pattern.

I suspect you're a troll, since your "son" became a "she" further down in your post. However, if not, this is probably the best example I've seen of why these tests should be invalidated. "Only so many ways you can flip a pattern?" This measures nothing but a parent's ability to game the system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prepped my child, and I am glad I did. He is in the pool and he will be admitted based upon his other academic credentials. He will be challenged and get better teachers and be among better, more serious classmates. He will learn good study habits and more material. He will then be better prepared for AP classes and high school. This will advance him in his class ranking, grades, and SATs. He will do better as a result, get into a better college and then get a better job and career. He will make more money, live in a bigger house, attract a prettier wife, and join a nice country club. He will learn the value of being prepared and teach this to his children by prepping them when they are in second grade. As a result they will be admitted to AAP and will repeat their in their fathers success.

I have to assume this passage is a parody.

I love trolls, especially on DCUM. Only problem is its hard, and probably sad, that some may really not be trolls. This thread is living up to the entertainment I enjoy here. Carry on!

OP of the passage here. I am no troll. Don't kid yourself, all opportunities build on prior opportunity. I know, not in all cases, there are great success stories from those who came from no opportunity or who came from bad circumstance, but the majority of success stories are the result of good breaks and the best learning environment. Do you not think that those who do best in high school in Fairfax County come from AAP? Do you not think that those who do best in High School do best in college admission and go to the best universities? Do you not think that those who go to the best universities get the best jobs or go on to become doctors, lawyers, or academics? I realize that AAP students are inately smart, but the rigors of the program make all the kids better students in the long run, better than those in the general program. Yes it is parody, but it is true. I want my DC to have the best opportunity to succeed and I will do whatever I can to provide that path to her.

For engaged and focused students prep lasts a lifetime.

Only a fool would chastise students for studying for exams or tests remotely or at the time of the test. We don't tell athletes, surgeons, pilots, judges, lawyers or tax accountants not to prepare or prep.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The principal told me to prep! I was so dumb! It took me some time to understand that when he said ..."you go on the Internet and you find some ...ummm materials... then you have your DCs study them...then you will see a rise in scores..." He meant prep, duhh. And then you will leave this school and never come back! What great advice and so glad I did! Really worked well. A win-win for all.

I asked a parent what the test was like and she referred to this site. I bought a book from Amazon 4 days before the actual test and my DC did the test on the weekends. I am not sure if it helped or not because when he did the test, he made very few mistakes. The actual test results seemed lower.

I prepped my son. Got the new Fairfax County test prep. as well as numerous other CogAT tests and critical thinking books. We worked half an hour or so a day for two or three weeks and then crammed with tests before the exam (plus the section specific practice tests each night during the test). My DC did great. I have no regrets whatsoever. We are thrilled and so is she. I think you waited a little to long to start, as it is a process to get some of the patterns down. The repeat, as there are only so many ways you can flip a pattern.

Anonymous wrote:The principal told me to prep! I was so dumb! It took me some time to understand that when he said ..."you go on the Internet and you find some ...ummm materials... then you have your DCs study them...then you will see a rise in scores..." He meant prep, duhh. And then you will leave this school and never come back! What great advice and so glad I did! Really worked well. A win-win for all.

I asked a parent what the test was like and she referred to this site. I bought a book from Amazon 4 days before the actual test and my DC did the test on the weekends. I am not sure if it helped or not because when he did the test, he made very few mistakes. The actual test results seemed lower.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ah yes, we are back to tracking students again. Of course, we can't call it that. So now it's just been renamed AAP. We can't have these little snowflakes mix with "regular" students. That would "slow them down." March on FCPS. Reward and increase opportunities for the kids who test well at the beginning of life. The world is their oyster.

Dividing classes by ability is an effective way to teach the most students to the highest level of ability.

It works in sports, dance, orchestra/music classes, language lessons, art classes, computer programming classes, etc.

I am an exceptionally accomplished seamstress. If I were placed in a beginning or intermediate class or a high school home ec class, I might be able to help others learn to sew, but I would not learn anything new myself. On the flip side, I have a basic background in French and am a decent student, but if I were placed in a level 3 college course I would drown.

What is wrong with meeting students where they are? By pretending everyone is the same, we do a disservice to all.

So well said!!! 10+
Why do we have no problem with the grouping by abilities in sports, music, etc but academics?