Why w school students not preferred in Blair magnet

[Anonymous]

Takoma and Blair have math teams, science bowl teams its academic teams, teams for computer competition, teams for a lot of other competitions in stem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a number of white / Asian gifted kids at the W schools who choose to not apply because of the time it takes to travel back and forth from the magnet schools. Our schools could be better regarding challenging programs, but staying at our home schools provide other opportunities for after school activities. Kids need to be well rounded and academics is just one part of the equation. Why waste 2 hours of everyday on a bus?

Perhaps but there are also lots of kids from the W schools who don't think it is a "waste" of time to get to the magnet programs.
Here are the stats again. Look at exhibit B4 which gives the number of students from each high school that opt to enroll in a magnet program. There are 44 kids from Wooton, 23 from Winston Churchill, 17 from Walter Johnson. Only 11 from BCC perhaps because they also offer an IB program. Your argument might apply to Whitman (only 9) which is quite far away. The best represented high school at Blair SMAC is Wooton- these kids are willing to commute past RMIB (which is closer to the Wooton neighborhood) to attend SMAC in Silver Spring because the program matches their interests. The average Whitman SAT score in 2015 was 1872/2400, for Wooton it was 1830/2400. Not a huge difference there but a big difference in magnet enrollment.
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/Appendix-B-Program-data-tables.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a number of white / Asian gifted kids at the W schools who choose to not apply because of the time it takes to travel back and forth from the magnet schools. Our schools could be better regarding challenging programs, but staying at our home schools provide other opportunities for after school activities. Kids need to be well rounded and academics is just one part of the equation. Why waste 2 hours of everyday on a bus?

Perhaps but there are also lots of kids from the W schools who don't think it is a "waste" of time to get to the magnet programs.
Here are the stats again. Look at exhibit B4 which gives the number of students from each high school that opt to enroll in a magnet program. There are 44 kids from Wooton, 23 from Winston Churchill, 17 from Walter Johnson. Only 11 from BCC perhaps because they also offer an IB program. Your argument might apply to Whitman (only 9) which is quite far away. The best represented high school at Blair SMAC is Wooton- these kids are willing to commute past RMIB (which is closer to the Wooton neighborhood) to attend SMAC in Silver Spring because the program matches their interests. The average Whitman SAT score in 2015 was 1872/2400, for Wooton it was 1830/2400. Not a huge difference there but a big difference in magnet enrollment.
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/Appendix-B-Program-data-tables.pdf

I bet the difference between Wootton and Whitman student's interests in magnet schools can be explained entirely by Asain students. Asian students and their parents will take the bus to go to magnet schools as long as they think they are getting a better education.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry...late to the dance...but what's a W school?

[Anonymous]

Magnet programs are difficult to get into - especially those that are application and exam based. Lottery based magnets are luck of the draw.

The first step in Blair Magnet admission is for the student to take the exam and score very well on it to be even considered. Being in a highly ranked school (called W schools - Whitman, Wootton, Walter Johnson, Winston Churchill, BCC) does not mean that the students will score better than students of lesser ranked schools. The magnet exam measures performance not your zip-code.

As an Asian American parent of kids who go to these magnet programs, I have to say that I have many Asian American friends and relatives whose children are lucky to go to W schools but they are among the lowest performing students that I have seem. It is easy for them to hide behind the fact that there is some discrimination against Asian Americans. But knowing These individuals and their students abilities, I know that these people are playing the race card too. For every real case of discrimination, there are many others who will abuse that and blame their failures and race, religion or something else.

School, zipcode, race does not mean that a student belongs to a magnet program. It is still mainly merit and performance of the student that gets them in the program and the same merit and performance determines if they will thrive in the magnet program or crash and burn.

Everything else is a case of sour grapes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry...late to the dance...but what's a W school?

A W school is a school that is

a. in Bethesda or Potomac
b. has high proportions of wealthy people and white people (by MCPS standards)

Thus B-CC HS is not a W school, although it is in Bethesda, because the proportions of wealthy people and white people are not quite high enough. And Damascus HS is not a W school, although the proportion of white students is high, because it is not wealthy enough, and it's not in Bethesda or Potomac.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry...late to the dance...but what's a W school?

A W school is a school that is

a. in Bethesda or Potomac
b. has high proportions of wealthy people and white people (by MCPS standards)

Thus B-CC HS is not a W school, although it is in Bethesda, because the proportions of wealthy people and white people are not quite high enough. And Damascus HS is not a W school, although the proportion of white students is high, because it is not wealthy enough, and it's not in Bethesda or Potomac.

And Damascus doesn't start with W.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Magnet programs are difficult to get into - especially those that are application and exam based. Lottery based magnets are luck of the draw.

The first step in Blair Magnet admission is for the student to take the exam and score very well on it to be even considered. Being in a highly ranked school (called W schools - Whitman, Wootton, Walter Johnson, Winston Churchill, BCC) does not mean that the students will score better than students of lesser ranked schools. The magnet exam measures performance not your zip-code.

As an Asian American parent of kids who go to these magnet programs, I have to say that I have many Asian American friends and relatives whose children are lucky to go to W schools but they are among the lowest performing students that I have seem. It is easy for them to hide behind the fact that there is some discrimination against Asian Americans. But knowing These individuals and their students abilities, I know that these people are playing the race card too. For every real case of discrimination, there are many others who will abuse that and blame their failures and race, religion or something else.

School, zipcode, race does not mean that a student belongs to a magnet program. It is still mainly merit and performance of the student that gets them in the program and the same merit and performance determines if they will thrive in the magnet program or crash and burn.

Everything else is a case of sour grapes.

Asian American parent like you who resonates with the thread opener. Perhaps you should have read the whole thread and the arguments. That's what the OP tried to emphasize that magnet selection should not be based on the zip code but unfortunately the selection system is biased and does bring in the zip code and other factors during the selection of the main list and the wait list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry...late to the dance...but what's a W school?

A W school is a school that is

a. in Bethesda or Potomac
b. has high proportions of wealthy people and white people (by MCPS standards)

Thus B-CC HS is not a W school, although it is in Bethesda, because the proportions of wealthy people and white people are not quite high enough. And Damascus HS is not a W school, although the proportion of white students is high, because it is not wealthy enough, and it's not in Bethesda or Potomac.

And Damascus doesn't start with W.

Neither does Churchill. The W relates to wealthy/white, not to the name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry...late to the dance...but what's a W school?

A W school is a school that is

a. in Bethesda or Potomac
b. has high proportions of wealthy people and white people (by MCPS standards)

Thus B-CC HS is not a W school, although it is in Bethesda, because the proportions of wealthy people and white people are not quite high enough. And Damascus HS is not a W school, although the proportion of white students is high, because it is not wealthy enough, and it's not in Bethesda or Potomac.

And Damascus doesn't start with W.

Neither does Churchill. The W relates to wealthy/white, not to the name.

Winston Churchill is official name dummy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC will be in 9th grade in a W high school. Did not make it to Blair SMAC magnet. Talking to others I get a feeling that very few (2 or 3) students from MS made it to Blair though MS is one of the very good schools, with so many bright kids. Why is it that the screening committee would prefer to select a student from non w school area over the one from w school with former having equal or lesser scores? Why is this assumption made that a student from silver spring would benefit more from Blair magnet than the one who would go to Churchill or Walter Johnson or Wooten.

I don't understand the whiny attitude.

You all spend $1m for a shack to get your kids into the "best" schools in MCPS and then you complain b/c Beau and Buffy weren't selected for a magnet.

Pay for private if you're so entitled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry...late to the dance...but what's a W school?

A W school is a school that is

a. in Bethesda or Potomac
b. has high proportions of wealthy people and white people (by MCPS standards)

Thus B-CC HS is not a W school, although it is in Bethesda, because the proportions of wealthy people and white people are not quite high enough. And Damascus HS is not a W school, although the proportion of white students is high, because it is not wealthy enough, and it's not in Bethesda or Potomac.

And Damascus doesn't start with W.

Neither does Churchill. The W relates to wealthy/white, not to the name.

Winston Churchill is official name dummy.

Yes, we all know that. We also all know that the only time anybody refers to it as "Winston Churchill" is in the context of 'IT IS A W SCHOOL AND IT DOES TOO HAVE A W IN ITS NAME."

Wheaton and Watkins Mill do too, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why in a public school system do we have programs that are so selective that kids are excluded from participating? All children who wishes to advance their education and do the most challenging programs MCPS has available should have access to those programs. If the desire is so great, why isn't MCPS creating more programs and slots even if that means expanding the programs to more schools? Obviously, these programs are successful in churning out highly educated students so why not have similar pathways at all schools?

b/c once you open up these options you water down the integrity of these programs

Not everyone is an Einstein. That's a fact. My daughter tested into a magnet, and I knew she wouldn't get in. I had her test for the experience only. Those selected are indeed the best and the brightest.

And the teachers in the magnet programs have more say in how they teach b/c rigor is a given.

This isn't the case in the regular programs - and I'm including the "honors" courses. Until parents stop demanding that their kids receive As, until the system stops caving to the state regarding referrals/suspensions/expulsions, until that ridiculous 50% rule is dropped, until principals finally understand what it means to stand up for teachers, and until teachers are ALL given the autonomy to do what's best for kids, we will continue to water down instruction.

My point is this - that ALL courses should be challenging. But those who enter magnets, are truly gifted and need different challenges.

And if a child needs remediation, there should be no shame in that. But God forbid we should have too many minorities in remedial classes. shameful that we pass along kids who can barely read - that the graduate far too many who think they'll earn a college degree, as statistics show that many will drop out freshmen or sophomore year

We need to ramp up the instruction in regular programs while continuing to recognize that magnet kids are truly gifted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Magnet programs are difficult to get into - especially those that are application and exam based. Lottery based magnets are luck of the draw.

The first step in Blair Magnet admission is for the student to take the exam and score very well on it to be even considered. Being in a highly ranked school (called W schools - Whitman, Wootton, Walter Johnson, Winston Churchill, BCC) does not mean that the students will score better than students of lesser ranked schools. The magnet exam measures performance not your zip-code.

As an Asian American parent of kids who go to these magnet programs, I have to say that I have many Asian American friends and relatives whose children are lucky to go to W schools but they are among the lowest performing students that I have seem. It is easy for them to hide behind the fact that there is some discrimination against Asian Americans. But knowing These individuals and their students abilities, I know that these people are playing the race card too. For every real case of discrimination, there are many others who will abuse that and blame their failures and race, religion or something else.

School, zipcode, race does not mean that a student belongs to a magnet program. It is still mainly merit and performance of the student that gets them in the program and the same merit and performance determines if they will thrive in the magnet program or crash and burn.

Everything else is a case of sour grapes.

Asian American parent like you who resonates with the thread opener. Perhaps you should have read the whole thread and the arguments. That's what the OP tried to emphasize that magnet selection should not be based on the zip code but unfortunately the selection system is biased and does bring in the zip code and other factors during the selection of the main list and the wait list.

I'm.....not sure that's been proven. OP's entire premise was "only a handful of kids from my child's middle school got in, therefore the system is rigged."

Notice at no point did OP say "Only a few kids got in from my child's middle school, I wonder what our school could be doing better?"

OP overlooks the fact that there are MANY middle schools with high performing kids, as well as the fact that many of the highest performers are already at magnet middle schools.

But, no, clearly the problem is geographic discrimination against rich people. Because that is truly the scourge of public education and society as a whole.

[Anonymous]

"magnet selection should not be based on the zip code but unfortunately the selection system is biased and does bring in the zip code and other factors during the selection of the main list and the wait list."
Very funny accusation. MCPS has all data in their hand on the test scores from each admitted student. If they have the corage to publish each student's score based on the zip code, race, gender, and feeder school wothout reveal their names., truth will show that the kids from the top feeding zip code have the highest average test score!