Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm appealing.

Coat 122
Nnat 132
Low GRBS - but we do not kiss the AARTs a**

Do we really have to? I did not know that.

We didn't kiss anyone's ass and DS had solid GBRSs. His Teachers were very complimentary at the parent Teacher conferences. When we asked what he might need some help with at home they thought we were crazy. I doubt the AART or the Principal has any idea who we are.

So it’s AART person, who decides and finalizes the GBRS report? My DC got very remarkable comments from the teacher. Too good for not being rejected. but had 2 OO and 4 FO. I feel the score is given by AART. She messed it up. Do I really had to please her?

The file you requested lists everyone in the committee. My child's file had 5 people in it. I have only interacted with the main second grade teacher, and it was only twice. Once for parent teacher conference everyone could sign up. Another was an email from the teacher that my child has to remember to have her writing journal. The other 4 people have no clue who I am, and apart from the administrator, I would not be able to recognize the other three. So no, you do not have to "please" the AART.

Anonymous wrote:Hi

For my daughter:
2nd grade
NNAT 150
GBRS: 2FO,2 CO

There was a section that says: Accommodation provided for student. Area of strength in Maths and Reading.

For my kid, it is No in Maths.

Question:
a) Do you know what the above means. Are these supposed to be both YEs
b) Her commentary says he is great problem solver
c) What test would you recommend since NNAT is High- should we do WISC or Kaufman or CAS or Stanford


Please provide inputs on how we can make the case. We also changed schools and the daughter was in pull out group in old school. What do you recommend we put in the appeal? The AART is not helping at all.

1) I don't know what it means and how they test it for math. But my DD tested a grade above in reading per the DRA score. She got a Yes in both (she's in).
2) Can you ask a committee member why there were only two FO?
3) I've never even heard of such a high NNAT. Isn't that 99.9%? You can't get that high of a score by fluke or just by prepping for it, so I think the 150 score would suffice. Can you get feedback on the work samples you submitted? Perhaps get input from families that got in as to what kind of work samples they submitted? My school's AART said to include at least one Math sample that shows how the student arrived at the answer.

Anonymous wrote:I'm appealing.

Coat 122
Nnat 132
Low GRBS - but we do not kiss the AARTs a**

We don't either. The AART has no idea who we are, because we haven't contacted her nor have we kissed anyone's a**. If the AART at your school is swayed by parents who do this, perhaps report the bad behavior to someone?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm appealing.

Coat 122
Nnat 132
Low GRBS - but we do not kiss the AARTs a**

Do we really have to? I did not know that.

I really think people fixate on the AART because they don't want to hold anything against their child's teacher--the child's current second grade teacher. Let's not fool ourselves, though. Of course the teacher has the most input.

We never had to kiss any a** at all and both our kids got in L4 with 4COs. You do know that GBRS scores are taken in K, 1st, and 2nd grade, do you?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no big difference in AAP and Honors in MS. I had one in AAP and 1 in Honors both were accelerated math. I would not worry about it. By HS it is obsolete. Anyone can take Honors or AP(or IB) classes.

The difference is very slight, at least at out non-center MS. The AAP honors sections go a little more in depth with a few extra projects, but overall the curriculum is the same (and the difference doesn’t even apply to math since there are no AAP only classes there). If your kid comes into MS already in AAP, great, but if you’re new to FCPS or dealing with a case of principal placement in ES, it’s not worth applying for AAP at that point IMO.

This! The difference is MS is whether or not your dc can take Algebra 1 in 7th. Another one (seldom discussed) is that your DC is placed with other AAP kids who are ‘smart’ and so will be ‘more challenged’.

Anonymous wrote:There is no big difference in AAP and Honors in MS. I had one in AAP and 1 in Honors both were accelerated math. I would not worry about it. By HS it is obsolete. Anyone can take Honors or AP(or IB) classes.

The difference is very slight, at least at out non-center MS. The AAP honors sections go a little more in depth with a few extra projects, but overall the curriculum is the same (and the difference doesn’t even apply to math since there are no AAP only classes there). If your kid comes into MS already in AAP, great, but if you’re new to FCPS or dealing with a case of principal placement in ES, it’s not worth applying for AAP at that point IMO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm appealing.

Coat 122
Nnat 132
Low GRBS - but we do not kiss the AARTs a**

Do we really have to? I did not know that.

I really think people fixate on the AART because they don't want to hold anything against their child's teacher--the child's current second grade teacher. Let's not fool ourselves, though. Of course the teacher has the most input.

There is no big difference in AAP and Honors in MS. I had one in AAP and 1 in Honors both were accelerated math. I would not worry about it. By HS it is obsolete. Anyone can take Honors or AP(or IB) classes.

Anonymous wrote:We moved to FCPS last year, and my DC started his 6th grade year virtually. He was "principal placed" to the school's Level 4 AAP. We officially submitted an application for the AAP for 7th grade (an AAP center school) but rejected. His 6th grade AAP teacher recommended to register all honors classes in 7th grade. Middle school says, the AAP and Honors classes have the same curriculum and teachers. We asked, "then why the separation"? She didn't really give us an answer, because this is a "polarizing" issue.

At this late in the AAP game (7th grade), what REALLY is a crucial difference between AAP and Honors? Is it worth appealing? I'm Asian and husband is South American...if race really matters in the selective process, wouldn't they want a "Latino" in AAP? But my being Asian cancels that out? and what is GBRS?

The more I learn about the whole system, the more pointless the whole things seems...like shouldn't FCPS be spending more $$ making ALL schools good and solid?? If a kid is truly GIFTED, wouldn't that be really obvious to teachers? Like if there is Mozart in the school orchestra, wouldn't someone notice??

For MS, I'm not sure I'd bother with it.

As for spending money improving schools, FCPS spends a lot of money on low income schools and sends the best resources, principals and teachers, to low performing schools. The AAP program isn't expensive, the students don't get extras, they just get teachers, which they would otherwise need even without the program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved to FCPS last year, and my DC started his 6th grade year virtually. He was "principal placed" to the school's Level 4 AAP. We officially submitted an application for the AAP for 7th grade (an AAP center school) but rejected. His 6th grade AAP teacher recommended to register all honors classes in 7th grade. Middle school says, the AAP and Honors classes have the same curriculum and teachers. We asked, "then why the separation"? She didn't really give us an answer, because this is a "polarizing" issue.

At this late in the AAP game (7th grade), what REALLY is a crucial difference between AAP and Honors? Is it worth appealing? I'm Asian and husband is South American...if race really matters in the selective process, wouldn't they want a "Latino" in AAP? But my being Asian cancels that out? and what is GBRS?

The more I learn about the whole system, the more pointless the whole things seems...like shouldn't FCPS be spending more $$ making ALL schools good and solid?? If a kid is truly GIFTED, wouldn't that be really obvious to teachers? Like if there is Mozart in the school orchestra, wouldn't someone notice??

because AAP isn't a program for the truly gifted. Because there is no measure difference between bight gen ed kids and most AAP Kids (the non gifted ones). Go read the current thread in FCPS about AAP vs. gen ed. Go read earlier threads about AAP in middle schools (i.e., it's pointless).

*bright

Anonymous wrote:We moved to FCPS last year, and my DC started his 6th grade year virtually. He was "principal placed" to the school's Level 4 AAP. We officially submitted an application for the AAP for 7th grade (an AAP center school) but rejected. His 6th grade AAP teacher recommended to register all honors classes in 7th grade. Middle school says, the AAP and Honors classes have the same curriculum and teachers. We asked, "then why the separation"? She didn't really give us an answer, because this is a "polarizing" issue.

At this late in the AAP game (7th grade), what REALLY is a crucial difference between AAP and Honors? Is it worth appealing? I'm Asian and husband is South American...if race really matters in the selective process, wouldn't they want a "Latino" in AAP? But my being Asian cancels that out? and what is GBRS?

The more I learn about the whole system, the more pointless the whole things seems...like shouldn't FCPS be spending more $$ making ALL schools good and solid?? If a kid is truly GIFTED, wouldn't that be really obvious to teachers? Like if there is Mozart in the school orchestra, wouldn't someone notice??

because AAP isn't a program for the truly gifted. Because there is no measure difference between bight gen ed kids and most AAP Kids (the non gifted ones). Go read the current thread in FCPS about AAP vs. gen ed. Go read earlier threads about AAP in middle schools (i.e., it's pointless).

We moved to FCPS last year, and my DC started his 6th grade year virtually. He was "principal placed" to the school's Level 4 AAP. We officially submitted an application for the AAP for 7th grade (an AAP center school) but rejected. His 6th grade AAP teacher recommended to register all honors classes in 7th grade. Middle school says, the AAP and Honors classes have the same curriculum and teachers. We asked, "then why the separation"? She didn't really give us an answer, because this is a "polarizing" issue.

At this late in the AAP game (7th grade), what REALLY is a crucial difference between AAP and Honors? Is it worth appealing? I'm Asian and husband is South American...if race really matters in the selective process, wouldn't they want a "Latino" in AAP? But my being Asian cancels that out? and what is GBRS?

The more I learn about the whole system, the more pointless the whole things seems...like shouldn't FCPS be spending more $$ making ALL schools good and solid?? If a kid is truly GIFTED, wouldn't that be really obvious to teachers? Like if there is Mozart in the school orchestra, wouldn't someone notice??

I've now had the benefit of seeing 4FO commentary and 4CO commentary for the same child. FO commentary were all very positive - creative, think outside of the box, understands new concepts quickly etc. What I noticed about the CO was that there was more emphasis on learning significantly above grade level, direct reference to school work on creativity, innovative thinking, always showing work. In addition, there were several areas in which DC's leadership among peers was mentioned prominently - leads discussion with peers and arrives at positive outcome, encourages peers and constructive feedback during small groups etc.

My other child had 4CO the first time and it also highlighted leadership skills. Natural leader, etc.

The comments always look positive even when they are in the OO and FO categories. Compare the FO and OO responses, you should be able to see the subtle difference in language. DS had 3 CO and one FO, it was easy for us to see the differences in the FO comments from the CO comments. But the FO comments were not negative, they were just less positive and a bit more critical then the CO comments.

You are not going to find specific statements "DC does not demonstrate this quality because...", the wording is softer.

I will say that our Teachers comments did not strike us as subtle, the FO category had a few areas that said that DS was not strong at writing his arguments or answers but exceptionally strong at verbally explaining how he got to an answer or his argument. Our friends who parent referred said that the comments made then think their kid wasn't more then average so I suspect that the comments were closer to my sons FO comments.

Other people in this forum have reported that they didn't understand the rankings because the comments were all excellent.

Your Teacher helps with writing the comments but they are suppose to be agreed on by the Teachers, AART, and Principal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm appealing.

Coat 122
Nnat 132
Low GRBS - but we do not kiss the AARTs a**

Do we really have to? I did not know that.

We didn't kiss anyone's ass and DS had solid GBRSs. His Teachers were very complimentary at the parent Teacher conferences. When we asked what he might need some help with at home they thought we were crazy. I doubt the AART or the Principal has any idea who we are.

So it’s AART person, who decides and finalizes the GBRS report? My DC got very remarkable comments from the teacher. Too good for not being rejected. but had 2 OO and 4 FO. I feel the score is given by AART. She messed it up. Do I really had to please her?