Anonymous wrote:What are the most competitive schools/centers to gain eligibility for AAP?

The AART at our high SES/base and center school said there are no quotas on how many kids can be in AAP. So why does there seem to be different standards/metrics on who gets in across different schools? Or are there in fact quotas that FCPS is not transparent about.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks to this community for all the support!

My child got in on appeal and in case it's helpful - he was in-pool based on tests and had good HOPE scores, but the work samples from school were really not reflective of his abilities. Given this, we decided to appeal and focused on three things:
1) new work samples -- I thought about having child do a complex math problem or doing a "what's the error in this logic?" that I've seen others suggest. Ultimately, we went with AART advice which is - you know your kid - what do you see when child plays and gets excited about things? Where do you see that critical and creative thinking pop?
2) Wrote a cover level explaining why the earlier submission underrepresented child's abilities, how this package fills that gap, and why AAP is a good fit for child.
3) Took wisc test and examiner comments were really helpful for our case

What was your child’s WISC score? Do you think it was other test scores that initially found them to be ineligible?

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Anonymous wrote:Just got the email from the AART at my son's school - he's been accepted for full-time AAP on appeal! Haven't gotten the email from the AAP office with the acceptance link yet, so maybe that will come later in the week.

Do you mind sharing stats and/or pyramid?

Sure! Lord knows I poured over enough of these posts looking for the same info from others.

2nd grade
McLean HS Pyramid
Fall MAP RIT score 207 (most recent MAP 229, but I don't think that would've been considered - that testing date was after I submitted the appeals packet).
NGAT 133 (119 verbal, 132 nonverbal, 126 quantitative)
WISC-V FSIQ 136 (142 VCI, 126 VSI, 131 FRI; 107 WMI, 116 PSI)
HOPE Scores - 1 Sometimes, 4 Often, 5 Almost Always, 1 Always. Exceptional talent boxes marked for Math, Science, and Reading.
AuDHD with an IEP

I submitted 3 new work samples; 1 was a dictation (I typed up as he talked) where he detailed an original space travel idea of his, 1 was a dictation regarding Greek mythology and character motivations, and 1 was a photo of something he'd built along with a typed description of how he built it and his understanding of how it works.

Hope this helps someone else!

Correction. The email I received earlier this week from the AART was in error, and kiddo was not deemed eligible on appeal after all. Extremely frustrating position to be in, but I’m grateful that we hadn’t talked to our son about it at all yet, so he happily is unaware of any of this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got the email from the AART at my son's school - he's been accepted for full-time AAP on appeal! Haven't gotten the email from the AAP office with the acceptance link yet, so maybe that will come later in the week.

Do you mind sharing stats and/or pyramid?

Sure! Lord knows I poured over enough of these posts looking for the same info from others.

2nd grade
McLean HS Pyramid
Fall MAP RIT score 207 (most recent MAP 229, but I don't think that would've been considered - that testing date was after I submitted the appeals packet).
NGAT 133 (119 verbal, 132 nonverbal, 126 quantitative)
WISC-V FSIQ 136 (142 VCI, 126 VSI, 131 FRI; 107 WMI, 116 PSI)
HOPE Scores - 1 Sometimes, 4 Often, 5 Almost Always, 1 Always. Exceptional talent boxes marked for Math, Science, and Reading.
AuDHD with an IEP

I submitted 3 new work samples; 1 was a dictation (I typed up as he talked) where he detailed an original space travel idea of his, 1 was a dictation regarding Greek mythology and character motivations, and 1 was a photo of something he'd built along with a typed description of how he built it and his understanding of how it works.

Hope this helps someone else!

Correction. The email I received earlier this week from the AART was in error, and kiddo was not deemed eligible on appeal after all. Extremely frustrating position to be in, but I’m grateful that we hadn’t talked to our son about it at all yet, so he happily is unaware of any of this.

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Anonymous wrote:Just got the email from the AART at my son's school - he's been accepted for full-time AAP on appeal! Haven't gotten the email from the AAP office with the acceptance link yet, so maybe that will come later in the week.

Congratulations to you and your son. That's a happy outcome.
Our AART told us they will inform about the subject specific/part time AAP decisions this week.

A couple yrs ago, we received notification from our AART that my DC was declined level 3 part time AAP (approved level 2) on Thursday, and then received notification on Friday that she got in on appeal for full-time AAP. Further evidence that our local committee had absolutely no idea what they were doing.

I could have written this a few years ago. Our AART and principal were adamant that my second grader was no more than level 2. Got into AAP on appeal a few days later and scoring 99th percentile on all these exams ever since. These AARTs have no idea. And this was at one of the elementary schools this board considers well-regarded.

Shit yes same. I was so happy the appeals process didn’t involve our useless AART. And yes. Here we are, scoring pass advanced on the SOLs and absolutely thriving at our center.

This is not directed at your child and their need for AAP, but scoring Pass Advanced on SOLs is not an indicator that a child needs AAP.

Lots of lowly gen ed kids also pass advance, despite not getting the extra pbl

DP. Honestly, this speaks poorly of the efficacy of the AAP program. In theory, the kids selected start out more advanced and are more gifted than the kids who weren't selected. They are then given a stronger peer group and access to more advanced materials, while the top gen ed kids are largely ignored. In middle school, they theoretically get more rigorous courses. If the AAP program were at all effective, then the AAP kids, with all of their extra nurturing, should be leaps and bounds ahead of the bright gen ed kids. But this largely isn't the case.

SOLs are a low and inconsistent bar, but one would think that if an AAP kid, after benefitting from the stronger class environment, more advanced materials, and more teacher attention earns the same SOL score as a bright gen ed kid, who was denied access to all of the same, the gen ed kid is more "worthy" of being in AAP than the AAP kid.

For many reasons there are many kids in gen ed who are fully interchangeable with the kids in the aap classroom.... I've yet to see a good explanation yet for why

Because the program is too large so the edges get blurry. Reduce it back to a truer gifted program - 5 percent or so - and that will be less of an issue.

It’s not really a case of the edges being blurry. It’s a consequence of selecting based on “vibes” rather than objective metrics. It’s why there are kids who are objectively advanced in all subjects getting rejected and other kids who aren’t advanced in anything getting in.

There aren't metrics to show which kids are objectively advanced in all subjects for 2nd grade. There are metrics to show that some kids are objectively advanced in *some* areas.

The only areas that matter for 2nd grade or really almost all of ES are math and language arts. Early and mid elementary science and history classes are more or less nonfiction reading comprehension classes.

Sure, I'm just we can't know there are kids who are "objectively advanced in all subjects" not getting in because the early grades aren't being given objective testing in all subjects.

Even VALLS doesn't test actual reading comprehension. It has an auditory comprehension section which is a proxy, but that's not the same as actual reading comp. Some kids may have great reading comprehension and are not as strong with auditory and vice versa.

What we do know is that some parents report strong scores in the areas that are measured and still do not get into AAP.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got the email from the AART at my son's school - he's been accepted for full-time AAP on appeal! Haven't gotten the email from the AAP office with the acceptance link yet, so maybe that will come later in the week.

Congratulations to you and your son. That's a happy outcome.
Our AART told us they will inform about the subject specific/part time AAP decisions this week.

A couple yrs ago, we received notification from our AART that my DC was declined level 3 part time AAP (approved level 2) on Thursday, and then received notification on Friday that she got in on appeal for full-time AAP. Further evidence that our local committee had absolutely no idea what they were doing.

I could have written this a few years ago. Our AART and principal were adamant that my second grader was no more than level 2. Got into AAP on appeal a few days later and scoring 99th percentile on all these exams ever since. These AARTs have no idea. And this was at one of the elementary schools this board considers well-regarded.

Shit yes same. I was so happy the appeals process didn’t involve our useless AART. And yes. Here we are, scoring pass advanced on the SOLs and absolutely thriving at our center.

This is not directed at your child and their need for AAP, but scoring Pass Advanced on SOLs is not an indicator that a child needs AAP.

Lots of lowly gen ed kids also pass advance, despite not getting the extra pbl

DP. Honestly, this speaks poorly of the efficacy of the AAP program. In theory, the kids selected start out more advanced and are more gifted than the kids who weren't selected. They are then given a stronger peer group and access to more advanced materials, while the top gen ed kids are largely ignored. In middle school, they theoretically get more rigorous courses. If the AAP program were at all effective, then the AAP kids, with all of their extra nurturing, should be leaps and bounds ahead of the bright gen ed kids. But this largely isn't the case.

SOLs are a low and inconsistent bar, but one would think that if an AAP kid, after benefitting from the stronger class environment, more advanced materials, and more teacher attention earns the same SOL score as a bright gen ed kid, who was denied access to all of the same, the gen ed kid is more "worthy" of being in AAP than the AAP kid.

For many reasons there are many kids in gen ed who are fully interchangeable with the kids in the aap classroom.... I've yet to see a good explanation yet for why

Because the program is too large so the edges get blurry. Reduce it back to a truer gifted program - 5 percent or so - and that will be less of an issue.

It’s not really a case of the edges being blurry. It’s a consequence of selecting based on “vibes” rather than objective metrics. It’s why there are kids who are objectively advanced in all subjects getting rejected and other kids who aren’t advanced in anything getting in.

There aren't metrics to show which kids are objectively advanced in all subjects for 2nd grade. There are metrics to show that some kids are objectively advanced in *some* areas.

The only areas that matter for 2nd grade or really almost all of ES are math and language arts. Early and mid elementary science and history classes are more or less nonfiction reading comprehension classes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got the email from the AART at my son's school - he's been accepted for full-time AAP on appeal! Haven't gotten the email from the AAP office with the acceptance link yet, so maybe that will come later in the week.

Do you mind sharing stats and/or pyramid?

Sure! Lord knows I poured over enough of these posts looking for the same info from others.

2nd grade
McLean HS Pyramid
Fall MAP RIT score 207 (most recent MAP 229, but I don't think that would've been considered - that testing date was after I submitted the appeals packet).
NGAT 133 (119 verbal, 132 nonverbal, 126 quantitative)
WISC-V FSIQ 136 (142 VCI, 126 VSI, 131 FRI; 107 WMI, 116 PSI)
HOPE Scores - 1 Sometimes, 4 Often, 5 Almost Always, 1 Always. Exceptional talent boxes marked for Math, Science, and Reading.
AuDHD with an IEP

I submitted 3 new work samples; 1 was a dictation (I typed up as he talked) where he detailed an original space travel idea of his, 1 was a dictation regarding Greek mythology and character motivations, and 1 was a photo of something he'd built along with a typed description of how he built it and his understanding of how it works.

Hope this helps someone else!

Correction. The email I received earlier this week from the AART was in error, and kiddo was not deemed eligible on appeal after all. Extremely frustrating position to be in, but I’m grateful that we hadn’t talked to our son about it at all yet, so he happily is unaware of any of this.

Anonymous wrote:We got the appeal decision and kid was found eligible! In case it helps anyone, we submitted new information with our appeal package- wisc (136), Winter Map (222), q3 progress report with all 4s, and written samples. My kid is also 2(e) with a 504. Tbh the entire process was extremely frustrating, non-transparent and to some extent discriminatory against neurodivergence kids who don’t always know how to present themselves well in class (hence low HOPE scores). I wish fcps fixes the process by identifying kids based on merit and not subjective teacher opinions.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got the email from the AART at my son's school - he's been accepted for full-time AAP on appeal! Haven't gotten the email from the AAP office with the acceptance link yet, so maybe that will come later in the week.

Congratulations to you and your son. That's a happy outcome.
Our AART told us they will inform about the subject specific/part time AAP decisions this week.

A couple yrs ago, we received notification from our AART that my DC was declined level 3 part time AAP (approved level 2) on Thursday, and then received notification on Friday that she got in on appeal for full-time AAP. Further evidence that our local committee had absolutely no idea what they were doing.

I could have written this a few years ago. Our AART and principal were adamant that my second grader was no more than level 2. Got into AAP on appeal a few days later and scoring 99th percentile on all these exams ever since. These AARTs have no idea. And this was at one of the elementary schools this board considers well-regarded.

Shit yes same. I was so happy the appeals process didn’t involve our useless AART. And yes. Here we are, scoring pass advanced on the SOLs and absolutely thriving at our center.

This is not directed at your child and their need for AAP, but scoring Pass Advanced on SOLs is not an indicator that a child needs AAP.

Lots of lowly gen ed kids also pass advance, despite not getting the extra pbl

DP. Honestly, this speaks poorly of the efficacy of the AAP program. In theory, the kids selected start out more advanced and are more gifted than the kids who weren't selected. They are then given a stronger peer group and access to more advanced materials, while the top gen ed kids are largely ignored. In middle school, they theoretically get more rigorous courses. If the AAP program were at all effective, then the AAP kids, with all of their extra nurturing, should be leaps and bounds ahead of the bright gen ed kids. But this largely isn't the case.

SOLs are a low and inconsistent bar, but one would think that if an AAP kid, after benefitting from the stronger class environment, more advanced materials, and more teacher attention earns the same SOL score as a bright gen ed kid, who was denied access to all of the same, the gen ed kid is more "worthy" of being in AAP than the AAP kid.

For many reasons there are many kids in gen ed who are fully interchangeable with the kids in the aap classroom.... I've yet to see a good explanation yet for why

Because the program is too large so the edges get blurry. Reduce it back to a truer gifted program - 5 percent or so - and that will be less of an issue.

It’s not really a case of the edges being blurry. It’s a consequence of selecting based on “vibes” rather than objective metrics. It’s why there are kids who are objectively advanced in all subjects getting rejected and other kids who aren’t advanced in anything getting in.

There aren't metrics to show which kids are objectively advanced in all subjects for 2nd grade. There are metrics to show that some kids are objectively advanced in *some* areas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got the email from the AART at my son's school - he's been accepted for full-time AAP on appeal! Haven't gotten the email from the AAP office with the acceptance link yet, so maybe that will come later in the week.

Congratulations to you and your son. That's a happy outcome.
Our AART told us they will inform about the subject specific/part time AAP decisions this week.

A couple yrs ago, we received notification from our AART that my DC was declined level 3 part time AAP (approved level 2) on Thursday, and then received notification on Friday that she got in on appeal for full-time AAP. Further evidence that our local committee had absolutely no idea what they were doing.

I could have written this a few years ago. Our AART and principal were adamant that my second grader was no more than level 2. Got into AAP on appeal a few days later and scoring 99th percentile on all these exams ever since. These AARTs have no idea. And this was at one of the elementary schools this board considers well-regarded.

Shit yes same. I was so happy the appeals process didn’t involve our useless AART. And yes. Here we are, scoring pass advanced on the SOLs and absolutely thriving at our center.

This is not directed at your child and their need for AAP, but scoring Pass Advanced on SOLs is not an indicator that a child needs AAP.

Lots of lowly gen ed kids also pass advance, despite not getting the extra pbl

DP. Honestly, this speaks poorly of the efficacy of the AAP program. In theory, the kids selected start out more advanced and are more gifted than the kids who weren't selected. They are then given a stronger peer group and access to more advanced materials, while the top gen ed kids are largely ignored. In middle school, they theoretically get more rigorous courses. If the AAP program were at all effective, then the AAP kids, with all of their extra nurturing, should be leaps and bounds ahead of the bright gen ed kids. But this largely isn't the case.

SOLs are a low and inconsistent bar, but one would think that if an AAP kid, after benefitting from the stronger class environment, more advanced materials, and more teacher attention earns the same SOL score as a bright gen ed kid, who was denied access to all of the same, the gen ed kid is more "worthy" of being in AAP than the AAP kid.

For many reasons there are many kids in gen ed who are fully interchangeable with the kids in the aap classroom.... I've yet to see a good explanation yet for why

Because the program is too large so the edges get blurry. Reduce it back to a truer gifted program - 5 percent or so - and that will be less of an issue.

It’s not really a case of the edges being blurry. It’s a consequence of selecting based on “vibes” rather than objective metrics. It’s why there are kids who are objectively advanced in all subjects getting rejected and other kids who aren’t advanced in anything getting in.

There aren't metrics to show which kids are objectively advanced in all subjects for 2nd grade. There are metrics to show that some kids are objectively advanced in *some* areas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got the email from the AART at my son's school - he's been accepted for full-time AAP on appeal! Haven't gotten the email from the AAP office with the acceptance link yet, so maybe that will come later in the week.

Do you mind sharing stats and/or pyramid?

Sure! Lord knows I poured over enough of these posts looking for the same info from others.

2nd grade
McLean HS Pyramid
Fall MAP RIT score 207 (most recent MAP 229, but I don't think that would've been considered - that testing date was after I submitted the appeals packet).
NGAT 133 (119 verbal, 132 nonverbal, 126 quantitative)
WISC-V FSIQ 136 (142 VCI, 126 VSI, 131 FRI; 107 WMI, 116 PSI)
HOPE Scores - 1 Sometimes, 4 Often, 5 Almost Always, 1 Always. Exceptional talent boxes marked for Math, Science, and Reading.
AuDHD with an IEP

I submitted 3 new work samples; 1 was a dictation (I typed up as he talked) where he detailed an original space travel idea of his, 1 was a dictation regarding Greek mythology and character motivations, and 1 was a photo of something he'd built along with a typed description of how he built it and his understanding of how it works.

Hope this helps someone else!

Correction. The email I received earlier this week from the AART was in error, and kiddo was not deemed eligible on appeal after all. Extremely frustrating position to be in, but I’m grateful that we hadn’t talked to our son about it at all yet, so he happily is unaware of any of this.