ISO recent experience with Eastern MS communications magnet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all really disheartening to hear as the parent of an incoming 6th grader who thrived in ELC but didn't draw a spot at Eastern despite being in the pool. He's assigned to HIGH for 6th grade, which I've heard is decent. He reads independently for fun and at a high level, but there's no real substitution for being taught to analyze text.

Are there better ELA options in high school? I'm a bit concerned that not getting a magnet spot now means my kid will be at a big disadvantage then, because peers who did attend Eastern will be miles ahead.

At least your kid got CES. My kid was stuck in a school that didn’t even have ELC and just did Benchmark for the last 2 years. Sat in the CES waitlist for both heads, and now is on the Eastern/Takoma waitlists and at this point I am sure spots will not pop up.

This is an example of why MCOS needs to change the model for GT education. They should be creating classes within each school to address needs rather than sending kids away to a center/magnet.

Easter probably will. They are having trouble filling spots.

Even if that’s the case, it’s still very unlikely to get a spot given the number of people in the pool.

Everyone I know in the pool has already been offered a spot. That’s dozens of people who have told me they got an offer. My kid got offered in May. His best friend was offered a couple of weeks after the original offers went out. It seems they must have almost gone through the entire pool at this point.

My kid has not been offered a spot and we know many, many other people in the same boat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all really disheartening to hear as the parent of an incoming 6th grader who thrived in ELC but didn't draw a spot at Eastern despite being in the pool. He's assigned to HIGH for 6th grade, which I've heard is decent. He reads independently for fun and at a high level, but there's no real substitution for being taught to analyze text.

Are there better ELA options in high school? I'm a bit concerned that not getting a magnet spot now means my kid will be at a big disadvantage then, because peers who did attend Eastern will be miles ahead.

At least your kid got CES. My kid was stuck in a school that didn’t even have ELC and just did Benchmark for the last 2 years. Sat in the CES waitlist for both heads, and now is on the Eastern/Takoma waitlists and at this point I am sure spots will not pop up.

This is an example of why MCOS needs to change the model for GT education. They should be creating classes within each school to address needs rather than sending kids away to a center/magnet.

Easter probably will. They are having trouble filling spots.

Even if that’s the case, it’s still very unlikely to get a spot given the number of people in the pool.

Everyone I know in the pool has already been offered a spot. That’s dozens of people who have told me they got an offer. My kid got offered in May. His best friend was offered a couple of weeks after the original offers went out. It seems they must have almost gone through the entire pool at this point.

My kid has not been offered a spot and we know many, many other people in the same boat.

I am really skeptical that "dozens" of people have told you they got an offer or if they did they might not have been telling the truth. A lot of kids were telling others they got into the magnets but when the open house came they weren't on the list at the open house and did not attend.

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure the decline rate is much higher after the lottery because the pool is so huge so it's a wide range of abilities and many people would never have applied due to commute in the first place.

[Anonymous]

For the posters here how many of your children able to do extra curricular activities with the commute / traffic to Eastern and with home work ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all really disheartening to hear as the parent of an incoming 6th grader who thrived in ELC but didn't draw a spot at Eastern despite being in the pool. He's assigned to HIGH for 6th grade, which I've heard is decent. He reads independently for fun and at a high level, but there's no real substitution for being taught to analyze text.

Are there better ELA options in high school? I'm a bit concerned that not getting a magnet spot now means my kid will be at a big disadvantage then, because peers who did attend Eastern will be miles ahead.

At least your kid got CES. My kid was stuck in a school that didn’t even have ELC and just did Benchmark for the last 2 years. Sat in the CES waitlist for both heads, and now is on the Eastern/Takoma waitlists and at this point I am sure spots will not pop up.

This is an example of why MCOS needs to change the model for GT education. They should be creating classes within each school to address needs rather than sending kids away to a center/magnet.

Easter probably will. They are having trouble filling spots.

Even if that’s the case, it’s still very unlikely to get a spot given the number of people in the pool.

Everyone I know in the pool has already been offered a spot. That’s dozens of people who have told me they got an offer. My kid got offered in May. His best friend was offered a couple of weeks after the original offers went out. It seems they must have almost gone through the entire pool at this point.

My kid has not been offered a spot and we know many, many other people in the same boat.

I am really skeptical that "dozens" of people have told you they got an offer or if they did they might not have been telling the truth. A lot of kids were telling others they got into the magnets but when the open house came they weren't on the list at the open house and did not attend.

I teach in that program. We didn’t show any parents a list at open house.

[Anonymous]

There are sometimes check in lists for the open house and you can scan them when you check yourself off. A few also have folders they give out with students' names on them and they can be laid out by last name allowing everyone to see the list of admitted students. I wouldn't be so literal, teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all really disheartening to hear as the parent of an incoming 6th grader who thrived in ELC but didn't draw a spot at Eastern despite being in the pool. He's assigned to HIGH for 6th grade, which I've heard is decent. He reads independently for fun and at a high level, but there's no real substitution for being taught to analyze text.

Are there better ELA options in high school? I'm a bit concerned that not getting a magnet spot now means my kid will be at a big disadvantage then, because peers who did attend Eastern will be miles ahead.

At least your kid got CES. My kid was stuck in a school that didn’t even have ELC and just did Benchmark for the last 2 years. Sat in the CES waitlist for both heads, and now is on the Eastern/Takoma waitlists and at this point I am sure spots will not pop up.

This is an example of why MCOS needs to change the model for GT education. They should be creating classes within each school to address needs rather than sending kids away to a center/magnet.

Easter probably will. They are having trouble filling spots.

Even if that’s the case, it’s still very unlikely to get a spot given the number of people in the pool.

Everyone I know in the pool has already been offered a spot. That’s dozens of people who have told me they got an offer. My kid got offered in May. His best friend was offered a couple of weeks after the original offers went out. It seems they must have almost gone through the entire pool at this point.

My kid has not been offered a spot and we know many, many other people in the same boat.

I am really skeptical that "dozens" of people have told you they got an offer or if they did they might not have been telling the truth. A lot of kids were telling others they got into the magnets but when the open house came they weren't on the list at the open house and did not attend.

It’s not the kids but the parents. Several of whom are close friends I’ve known for a decade or more and each has mentioned at different times that they’ve been offered from the waitlist and are trying to decide what to do. As did we. I’d guess that the people you know “in the same boat” haven’t been offered because they lied about being in the pool.

[Anonymous]

"Several" is very different from "dozens."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are sometimes check in lists for the open house and you can scan them when you check yourself off. A few also have folders they give out with students' names on them and they can be laid out by last name allowing everyone to see the list of admitted students. I wouldn't be so literal, teach.

Hundreds of students attend open house. Who has time during check in to look over an entire list or check all of the folders to spy on who was admitted?

Eastern didn’t use either of those systems, FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Several" is very different from "dozens."

Read the message again. Several (of the dozens) I’ve known for more than a decade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all really disheartening to hear as the parent of an incoming 6th grader who thrived in ELC but didn't draw a spot at Eastern despite being in the pool. He's assigned to HIGH for 6th grade, which I've heard is decent. He reads independently for fun and at a high level, but there's no real substitution for being taught to analyze text.

Are there better ELA options in high school? I'm a bit concerned that not getting a magnet spot now means my kid will be at a big disadvantage then, because peers who did attend Eastern will be miles ahead.

At least your kid got CES. My kid was stuck in a school that didn’t even have ELC and just did Benchmark for the last 2 years. Sat in the CES waitlist for both heads, and now is on the Eastern/Takoma waitlists and at this point I am sure spots will not pop up.

This is an example of why MCOS needs to change the model for GT education. They should be creating classes within each school to address needs rather than sending kids away to a center/magnet.

Easter probably will. They are having trouble filling spots.

Even if that’s the case, it’s still very unlikely to get a spot given the number of people in the pool.

Everyone I know in the pool has already been offered a spot. That’s dozens of people who have told me they got an offer. My kid got offered in May. His best friend was offered a couple of weeks after the original offers went out. It seems they must have almost gone through the entire pool at this point.

My kid has not been offered a spot and we know many, many other people in the same boat.

I am really skeptical that "dozens" of people have told you they got an offer or if they did they might not have been telling the truth. A lot of kids were telling others they got into the magnets but when the open house came they weren't on the list at the open house and did not attend.

It’s not the kids but the parents. Several of whom are close friends I’ve known for a decade or more and each has mentioned at different times that they’ve been offered from the waitlist and are trying to decide what to do. As did we. I’d guess that the people you know “in the same boat” haven’t been offered because they lied about being in the pool.

This is laughable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are sometimes check in lists for the open house and you can scan them when you check yourself off. A few also have folders they give out with students' names on them and they can be laid out by last name allowing everyone to see the list of admitted students. I wouldn't be so literal, teach.

Hundreds of students attend open house. Who has time during check in to look over an entire list or check all of the folders to spy on who was admitted?

Eastern didn’t use either of those systems, FWIW.

We have 3 kids who have gone through multiple levels of magnet open houses. I assure you no one is checking the list and memorizing who got in and who did not but it's sometimes really easy to see who is missing.

When one DC was in elementary DC and a friend were looking for other friends in the faces of the kids who attended. They did not see them and on their way out they looked at the leftover name tags that had names printed on them and sure enough there was one child from their school whose nametag was there who did not attend. The other 3-4 kids who told them they got in were not in attendance and they did not have a nametag. It could be they declined quickly or their name tags were misplaced but kids who are not trying to "spy" can still get a sense of who got an offer.

Sometimes the school or a teacher will talk about how many kids got into magnets that year. It does not take a nosy person or a genius to realize that if only 7 kids got in and 7 of them were at the open house that maybe the other kids who said they got in in the first round maybe did not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Several" is very different from "dozens."

Read the message again. Several (of the dozens) I’ve known for more than a decade.

The person wrote, "Everyone I know in the pool has already been offered a spot. That’s dozens of people who have told me they got an offer."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Several" is very different from "dozens."

Read the message again. Several (of the dozens) I’ve known for more than a decade.

The person wrote, "Everyone I know in the pool has already been offered a spot. That’s dozens of people who have told me they got an offer."

Yes, and later wrote that several of the dozens they had known for more than a decade. Pretty easy to understand. The others they had not known as long. If he suited I’d anyone had known dozens of parents for more than a decade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are sometimes check in lists for the open house and you can scan them when you check yourself off. A few also have folders they give out with students' names on them and they can be laid out by last name allowing everyone to see the list of admitted students. I wouldn't be so literal, teach.

Hundreds of students attend open house. Who has time during check in to look over an entire list or check all of the folders to spy on who was admitted?

Eastern didn’t use either of those systems, FWIW.

We have 3 kids who have gone through multiple levels of magnet open houses. I assure you no one is checking the list and memorizing who got in and who did not but it's sometimes really easy to see who is missing.

When one DC was in elementary DC and a friend were looking for other friends in the faces of the kids who attended. They did not see them and on their way out they looked at the leftover name tags that had names printed on them and sure enough there was one child from their school whose nametag was there who did not attend. The other 3-4 kids who told them they got in were not in attendance and they did not have a nametag. It could be they declined quickly or their name tags were misplaced but kids who are not trying to "spy" can still get a sense of who got an offer.

Sometimes the school or a teacher will talk about how many kids got into magnets that year. It does not take a nosy person or a genius to realize that if only 7 kids got in and 7 of them were at the open house that maybe the other kids who said they got in in the first round maybe did not.

I’ve been to multiple admitted magnet open houses, at both middle and high school level. Not one them had name tags. Once they had folders but there was no way to peruse the folders that were left at the end of the event. Also my kids experience (both of them) at the middle school level was that no one in class said whether they had got in or not and they didn’t know until they got to the open house or started school.