Apaas program in Irvine

Hi, I have a son of the third grade in Irvine.
His teacher asked if we are thinking about the next year. She thinks my son applies to Appas program. But I had no idea...
So I started researching in the IUSD site then I knew now only Brywood, Deerfield, Eastshore, Santiago Hills, Turtle Rock, and Westpark have Apaas program.
But I really want to know the characteristic of each school/teacher/program.
Which Apaas is more difficult, which one has lots of homework, which one has a good teacher, which one is less stressful....
I'm so happy if someone share some real information about Apaas program of these 6 schools! Thank you.

It depends on the kid.  If your kid can handle an increased workload and likes the challenge, then I say go for it.  Sort of a big fish in medium pond versus medium fish in bigger pond discussion. 

Personally, we decided not to have our daughter go because we did not want her to have to deal with the workload in 4th-6th grade and the logistics of sending her to a school not in our neighborhood.  Daughter is in GATE program now and we want her to do things outside of school.  Academics can wait until Junior high.  My daughter was most upset about many of her friends leaving but there is no guarantee that she would have ended in the same schools as her friends. 

I have spoken to parents of kids who went to APAAS and they do not think it is significantly better. 

There is a part of me that thinks that the APAAS program is a way for IUSD to keep the older schools full and spread out the test score/high performing kids.