High school magnets by the numbers

[Anonymous]

Can anyone point me to a site or pdf whereby MCPS breaks down the number of applicants and acceptances to the lottery and criteria-based high school magnets? Any chance they’re also transparent on the feeder middle schools as well? Looking for tangible data. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I'm not aware of anything recent. There was the Metis report several years ago which had some information about the magnets and choice programs, but I don't know how relevant it would be today.

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks, that's a good start. Appreciate it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not aware of anything recent. There was the Metis report several years ago which had some information about the magnets and choice programs, but I don't know how relevant it would be today.

+1

There are recommendations that were implemented that have changed the process since then. Also, the pandemic forced dropping the screening tests, which haven’t come back.

[Anonymous]

OP again. Thanks for the additional points. I knew the process became more nebulous around screenings as well, so I appreciate you mentioning that. I wish there was some transparency about the data side of it even if the admissions side is too holistic to pin down. I'm talking numbers applying, numbers admitted, numbers on/off waitlist, distance travelled, FARMS rates, etc. Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, no transparency in mcps.

[Anonymous]

Parent groups including the county PTA have requested data but MCPS has somehow held them off. It's shocking that they would waste attorney time trying to hide basic information from the public.

Other school districts make this information public.

The culture of secrecy at MCPS is what has allowed things like cover ups of sexual harassment to occur. Over the years have also heard talk about ethical issues related to finance with admins at schools and the central office. Have heard very specific things regarding kickbacks for after care contracts, central office staff acting as paid coaches through their private business and using their MCPS influence to threaten and steal money. There are lots of things lots of people know about but any attempts at formal investigations have gotten shut down in the past. I hope MCPS culture changes with the new superintendent and he makes things more open and there is more accountability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone point me to a site or pdf whereby MCPS breaks down the number of applicants and acceptances to the lottery and criteria-based high school magnets? Any chance they’re also transparent on the feeder middle schools as well? Looking for tangible data. Thanks.

For criteria-based HS magnets, they determine selections heavily by GPA and MAP scores, and try to find a reasonable balance in numbers between the feeders. So, a low FARMS MS will have a lower cut-off for consideration than a W HS feeder, where you have a good number of straight A 99%ers. When you have a large pool of the latter kinds of students, the application essays help differentiate. It's basically a nebulous process by definition, so difficult to quantify. Lottery is just that, a lottery. Presumably you can look up the number of seats; the number of applications will vary in a given year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone point me to a site or pdf whereby MCPS breaks down the number of applicants and acceptances to the lottery and criteria-based high school magnets? Any chance they’re also transparent on the feeder middle schools as well? Looking for tangible data. Thanks.

For criteria-based HS magnets, they determine selections heavily by GPA and MAP scores, and try to find a reasonable balance in numbers between the feeders. So, a low FARMS MS will have a lower cut-off for consideration than a W HS feeder, where you have a good number of straight A 99%ers. When you have a large pool of the latter kinds of students, the application essays help differentiate. It's basically a nebulous process by definition, so difficult to quantify. Lottery is just that, a lottery. Presumably you can look up the number of seats; the number of applications will vary in a given year.

Yes, they don't want to release data because some parents of high-stats kids who don't get in will freak out whey they see kids admitted with lower scores. Many of us understand there are significant differences in opportunity depending on zip code, and in prepping and tutoring. But those more nuanced considerations wouldn't be clear in the numbers. There will be lots of screaming about "merit," as if that's a totally objective and quantifiable thing.

[Anonymous]

We have the right to know. We are not idiots and understand "differences in opportunity".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone point me to a site or pdf whereby MCPS breaks down the number of applicants and acceptances to the lottery and criteria-based high school magnets? Any chance they’re also transparent on the feeder middle schools as well? Looking for tangible data. Thanks.

For criteria-based HS magnets, they determine selections heavily by GPA and MAP scores, and try to find a reasonable balance in numbers between the feeders. So, a low FARMS MS will have a lower cut-off for consideration than a W HS feeder, where you have a good number of straight A 99%ers. When you have a large pool of the latter kinds of students, the application essays help differentiate. It's basically a nebulous process by definition, so difficult to quantify. Lottery is just that, a lottery. Presumably you can look up the number of seats; the number of applications will vary in a given year.

It will vary but not by much. What are we talking about: 3, 5, 10, 20, 50 applications per seat? I bet the ballpark ratio is pretty stable.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

OP here again. 12:58 you've put it in great perspective for me in that it's somewhat similar to concepts of college applications, wherein your competition is supposed to be school specific and not county specific. It's *your child's* middle school that you're being compared against, not those of a radically different MCPS MS. Thanks again all for a civilized conversation and food for thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. 12:58 you've put it in great perspective for me in that it's somewhat similar to concepts of college applications, wherein your competition is supposed to be school specific and not county specific. It's *your child's* middle school that you're being compared against, not those of a radically different MCPS MS. Thanks again all for a civilized conversation and food for thought.

+1 (not PP)

Another aspect to the magnets that is often overlooked is that if there are enough high achieving students at their home ES/MS, then those schools can cohort them together and adapt programming to meet their academic needs. That’s why MS now offer some of the advanced courses being taught in the MS magnet (and yes, there are various implementation problems with this.) For schools without enough advanced students to offer certain advanced classes, sending them to a magnet program creates the critical mass to form a class.

[Anonymous]

Just accept that it is a lottery. Trust me-- you'll save yourself and your child a lot of stress in the long run.