Anonymous wrote:Forgive my ignorance, but what is considered prepping? Is it classes, buying a booking off Amazon, outside tutoring? If you don't prep does that mean sending your child in blind?

Yes. Yes to all of your questions

Forgive my ignorance, but what is considered prepping? Is it classes, buying a booking off Amazon, outside tutoring? If you don't prep does that mean sending your child in blind?

Anonymous wrote:My kids have collectively had about 12 different teachers. Very few of them seemed overly bright. Also, the argument earlier is that Fairfax is so gifted that 20% of the kids are in the national top 2%. I easily buy that teachers themselves as well as their kids would be in typical gifted programs, taking 85th percentile and above. It’s a completely different situation than programs taking top 2% gifted kids.

Yeah. Aap is not top 2%. It’s top ~20% nationally. There is not some unusually large percentage of gifted kids in FCPS. There is only a bloated gifted-now-called-aap-because-it’s-not-a-gifted-program.

Anyone thinking there are 10x the number of intellectually gifted kids (as in IQs in top two percentiles) in FCPS is delusional.

Former teacher and GT student. Fairfax County, and this region in general, attract the best teachers. I imagine that poorer districts have more trouble hiring highly qualified individuals.

^ Is your view that almost all AAP kids as well as most elementary teachers are top 2%? I don’t think any professions have a median IQ above 130. You can be very successful in any career with about a 110 IQ and motivation.

AAP seems to be targeting the same top 10%-15% that most school gifted programs across the country have targeted.

My kids have collectively had about 12 different teachers. Very few of them seemed overly bright. Also, the argument earlier is that Fairfax is so gifted that 20% of the kids are in the national top 2%. I easily buy that teachers themselves as well as their kids would be in typical gifted programs, taking 85th percentile and above. It’s a completely different situation than programs taking top 2% gifted kids.

It's okay- I understand. It can be hard to change your view. Good luck to your kids in AAP and after!

My kids have collectively had about 12 different teachers. Very few of them seemed overly bright. Also, the argument earlier is that Fairfax is so gifted that 20% of the kids are in the national top 2%. I easily buy that teachers themselves as well as their kids would be in typical gifted programs, taking 85th percentile and above. It’s a completely different situation than programs taking top 2% gifted kids.

My point, Dear Posters, is that you are making extremely classist assumptions about professions/earning power and intelligence. In this case, you are assuming teachers in our area aren't "smart", or that even a subsection of teachers aren't smart. You are then extrapolating that these teachers are "gaming the system" and saying that their children aren't smart enough to be in the top 20% of learners in Fairfax. Your classist views are hurting your children by perpetuating the stereotype that intelligent people are "above" teaching. You should be able to dig deeper and realize that you harbor some damaging world views.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like every elementary school teacher has kids in AAP. Since elementary school teachers are likely not gifted themselves and not a profession that typically attracts high IQ people, it just shows how easily prepped the process is.

Easily 1/3rd of my child's AAP classroom last year had at least one parent who worked for FCPS. I assumed that the file reviewers gave extra points to teachers' kids as professional courtesy.

Same teacher as above. I have reviewed files over the past several years and no where do the files indicate that the parents work for the school system. So the idea of professional courtesy is untrue. Screeners really do look at the scores holistically.

Oops - should have said "nowhere" and "screeners look at the FILES holistically."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like every elementary school teacher has kids in AAP. Since elementary school teachers are likely not gifted themselves and not a profession that typically attracts high IQ people, it just shows how easily prepped the process is.

Easily 1/3rd of my child's AAP classroom last year had at least one parent who worked for FCPS. I assumed that the file reviewers gave extra points to teachers' kids as professional courtesy.

Same teacher as above. I have reviewed files over the past several years and no where do the files indicate that the parents work for the school system. So the idea of professional courtesy is untrue. Screeners really do look at the scores holistically.

Anonymous wrote:I'm an elementary teacher and I am (or was) gifted. Full scholarship to college, enough AP's to enter as a sophomore, identified as gifted in elementary, high SAT's. I was going to be a doctor, but I'm gifted enough to understand that earning 100,000 after a few years with no debt and summers off is better than earning the same as a GP with 300,000+ in med school debt. I take offense to your comment and it brings my profession down.

I'm also an elementary teacher and I was in the gifted program as a kid. My kids are in it, too. We did zero prep. A lot of teachers at my school have their own kids at the same school, and most (not all, but most) of their kids are in gen ed, not AAP. They are not pushing their kids to get in AAP.

Anonymous wrote:I'm an elementary teacher and I am (or was) gifted. Full scholarship to college, enough AP's to enter as a sophomore, identified as gifted in elementary, high SAT's. I was going to be a doctor, but I'm gifted enough to understand that earning 100,000 after a few years with no debt and summers off is better than earning the same as a GP with 300,000+ in med school debt. I take offense to your comment and it brings my profession down.

You’re the exception to the rule. There’s no reason at all to expect many es teachers or their kids to be aap material

Anonymous wrote:It seems like every elementary school teacher has kids in AAP. Since elementary school teachers are likely not gifted themselves and not a profession that typically attracts high IQ people, it just shows how easily prepped the process is.

Easily 1/3rd of my child's AAP classroom last year had at least one parent who worked for FCPS. I assumed that the file reviewers gave extra points to teachers' kids as professional courtesy.

I'm an elementary teacher and I am (or was) gifted. Full scholarship to college, enough AP's to enter as a sophomore, identified as gifted in elementary, high SAT's. I was going to be a doctor, but I'm gifted enough to understand that earning 100,000 after a few years with no debt and summers off is better than earning the same as a GP with 300,000+ in med school debt. I take offense to your comment and it brings my profession down.

It seems like every elementary school teacher has kids in AAP. Since elementary school teachers are likely not gifted themselves and not a profession that typically attracts high IQ people, it just shows how easily prepped the process is.