If your child qualified for CES but was not selected in the lottery (elementary school)

[Anonymous]

What kind of enrichment is your child receiving at their local school? It feels like other than being placed in compacted math, there is no other enrichment being offered? It feels very separate but not equal to me.

[Anonymous]

Some schools offer the enriched literacy curriculum, which is the closest MCPS offers to CES. ELC places kids in an all-enriched classroom, so they do not receive any Benchmark materials. Unfortunately, our school does not have this, and the Enriched Benchmark Curriculum (which all schools offer) is not nearly as good. Kids who need enriched content are supposed to receive it through their reading groups, meaning that most of their time is spent on Benchmark. The enriched content is optional and requires schools to opt-into purchasing expensive materials for used by the enriched reading group.

My child was in the lottery last year but did not get a spot at the CES and has been supposedly receiving enrichment in ELA, but he reports that class is just as easy as last year and that he is bored.

MCPS should be offering ELC at all schools, but it does not sound like there is any commitment to doing so, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Zero enrichment beyond compacted math.

[Anonymous]

I know 3 kids that got into the Drew CES and have returned to their home schools. The enrichment they’re getting is equal to the work they got at Drew. Home schools have better PTA,s after school activities etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kind of enrichment is your child receiving at their local school? It feels like other than being placed in compacted math, there is no other enrichment being offered? It feels very separate but not equal to me.

that's a good way to describe it yes and welcome to mcps

[Anonymous]

When DC was in CES they read one book a month that had a Lexile level of over 1000. THey often wrote papers which were 500-1000. I doubt anything like that is going on at any homeschool.

[Anonymous]

Some enriched literacy, but most of the teachers’ attention is focused on the kids’ mental health, since apparently third grade was a terrible year to skip. I don’t blame them at all, and I don’t think CES would have been the best fit for DD socially, but yeah. “Kids are resilient!!!!!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some schools offer the enriched literacy curriculum, which is the closest MCPS offers to CES. ELC places kids in an all-enriched classroom, so they do not receive any Benchmark materials. Unfortunately, our school does not have this, and the Enriched Benchmark Curriculum (which all schools offer) is not nearly as good. Kids who need enriched content are supposed to receive it through their reading groups, meaning that most of their time is spent on Benchmark. The enriched content is optional and requires schools to opt-into purchasing expensive materials for used by the enriched reading group.

My child was in the lottery last year but did not get a spot at the CES and has been supposedly receiving enrichment in ELA, but he reports that class is just as easy as last year and that he is bored.

MCPS should be offering ELC at all schools, but it does not sound like there is any commitment to doing so, unfortunately.

I don't understand why some schools get ELC and some don't. All schools should have ELC!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Zero enrichment beyond compacted math.

Yup. Can confirm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some schools offer the enriched literacy curriculum, which is the closest MCPS offers to CES. ELC places kids in an all-enriched classroom, so they do not receive any Benchmark materials. Unfortunately, our school does not have this, and the Enriched Benchmark Curriculum (which all schools offer) is not nearly as good. Kids who need enriched content are supposed to receive it through their reading groups, meaning that most of their time is spent on Benchmark. The enriched content is optional and requires schools to opt-into purchasing expensive materials for used by the enriched reading group.

My child was in the lottery last year but did not get a spot at the CES and has been supposedly receiving enrichment in ELA, but he reports that class is just as easy as last year and that he is bored.

MCPS should be offering ELC at all schools, but it does not sound like there is any commitment to doing so, unfortunately.

I don't understand why some schools get ELC and some don't. All schools should have ELC!

Cannot do that. It’s tracking which is apparently inequitable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When DC was in CES they read one book a month that had a Lexile level of over 1000. THey often wrote papers which were 500-1000. I doubt anything like that is going on at any homeschool.

I have a kid in the CES and he’s reading one book every three weeks for school and they are all 6th-8th grade reading level. He’s written several assignments that are around 3000 words long. It’s his first year so 4th grade. My 7th grade Magnet kid hasn’t done anything that in depth in 7th grade or at any point in MCPS. So I’d be interested in whether this is happening elsewhere outside of the CES. It’s intense and probably too intense for that age. Not a lot of fun, though the books are great choices and some of the longer projects are very engaging.

[Anonymous]

Compacted math has nothing to do with CES placement, math scores are not considered for CES placement. My kid was placed in the lottery for the CES and did not get a spot. They are getting zero enrichment at their home school, and in fact my kid’s 20 year old brand new teacher professed ignorance that there was even an option for enrichment. Good times.

[Anonymous]

This was a few years ago so it wasn't a lottery situation but there were a large children including DC who were on the wait list for the CES. We did not have the ELC but the parents got together and spoke to the principal.

Those students and a few others who were at a similar level had a separate English class where they read many of the same books as the CES and had similar assignments. There were 2-3 kids who got in to the CES but turned it down who were in the class too. Best class DC had all of elementary.

[Anonymous]

There "was a large number of children including DC who were on the waitlist..." Sorry for typos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Compacted math has nothing to do with CES placement, math scores are not considered for CES placement. My kid was placed in the lottery for the CES and did not get a spot. They are getting zero enrichment at their home school, and in fact my kid’s 20 year old brand new teacher professed ignorance that there was even an option for enrichment. Good times.

Many years from now when your kid is getting B & C s their 3rd year of community college, I want you to remember back when you thought they were brilliant