Is it good or bad that MCPS placed Magnet schools in the lowest performing schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the major complaint here? That you got magnet programming in your home middle school because there were so many prepared kids for it? How is it possible that you are upset by this? The county has basically told you that, yeah, there are a ton of bright kids in your school who can do the magnet curriculum so we are bringing it to you. They have expanded the magnet program to accommodate large cohorts! And all this wailing is that oooh, it isn’t the same because we wanted to bus our kids to a special school to access this programming?

Seriously, this is how the rest of us read this. Would that we all had this problem.

No, they are not bringing the whole curriculum to the other schools, one maybe two classes, and I doubt the curriculum will be the exact same.

So demand more classes to fill the need. But don’t wring your hands about it being end of days because everyone just got more but you didn’t get the most.

bit of a hyperbole. Those parents whose kids didn't get in aren't jumping the MCPS ship. But why is it fine that other kids who are able get "more" of those classes but the rest who are equally able don't? Unless of course MCPS is trying social engineer education.

Because now more eligible kids overall have access to magnet programming. And that elevates the entire MCPS ship. No doubt, it is not perfect. But the cohort schools have a lot of talented kids studying together, which is something I would LOVE for my kids. If you have not lived without that, don’t dismiss how important it is, no matter what the curriculum. But keeping pressure on MCPS to give all eligible kids great programming and curriculum is perfectly understandable. Threats of lawsuits and accusations devious racism because they are trying to spread the wealth of this programming for more kids creates an us vs. them mentality that is simply destructive instead of making anything better. As is the ugly assumption that “other” kids cannot possibly be as generally qualified or successful.

Agree PP.

More access = fine. But, without MCPS releasing the median test scores of accepted kids (like they used to do), it's hard to believe that all of a sudden so many kids on the western side scored lower than those on the eastern side.

Acceptance to this program is based on a broader range of criteria not a single test. The new methodology seems far more comprehensive and inclusive. It will better identify qualified candidates.

I agree. Basing admission on one test means that the kids who get in are the best test takers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the major complaint here? That you got magnet programming in your home middle school because there were so many prepared kids for it? How is it possible that you are upset by this? The county has basically told you that, yeah, there are a ton of bright kids in your school who can do the magnet curriculum so we are bringing it to you. They have expanded the magnet program to accommodate large cohorts! And all this wailing is that oooh, it isn’t the same because we wanted to bus our kids to a special school to access this programming?

Seriously, this is how the rest of us read this. Would that we all had this problem.

No, they are not bringing the whole curriculum to the other schools, one maybe two classes, and I doubt the curriculum will be the exact same.

So demand more classes to fill the need. But don’t wring your hands about it being end of days because everyone just got more but you didn’t get the most.

bit of a hyperbole. Those parents whose kids didn't get in aren't jumping the MCPS ship. But why is it fine that other kids who are able get "more" of those classes but the rest who are equally able don't? Unless of course MCPS is trying social engineer education.

But this same statement could have been made by a parent of one of the kids in a school in the eastern part of the county. Bottom line -- there are not enough spots for every kid who is able. So should all the able kids come from the western part of the county? How is that fair? Frankly this is no win for MCPS no matter what they do.

? If a student in the eastern side met the cutoff, why wouldn't that child get into magnet before this change was made? Not all of the kids came from western part of the county. Just more. Why? Because they scored higher.

I wasn't aware there was a cutoff.

There used to be.

so admissions was based solely on a test score?

oh my god, people. read the FAQs on this on the MCPS website. they explain the process.

the new admissions process is based on a number of factors, including scores on the magnet admission test, grades, whether you're considered to have a peer cohort at your school (aka how many kids at your school have similarly above-grade-level qualifications), etc.

the reason people are saying people used to be able to work the system is because the criteria used to hinge heavily on parents/teacher recommendations, so parents could push for their kid to be considered and take the test. there was an audit done of the program, which revealed that a huge percentage of the magnet kids were Asian and white. the county responded to that audit by screening many more kids, in an effort to identify all the kids who were qualified to do magnet-level work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our ES went from 40 admits a year typically to 2 admits, and everyone was told, "We have a new selection process that includes Peer Cohort. See you next fall, bring your Chromebook!"

was it fair that 40 kids from one school got in???

They knew how to work the system and this made it clear it was broken.

no one worked the system. have you met these kids? you should see what the teachers are recommending for next steps given their aptitude, talents and scores. many will not be showing up at mcps again. the system is losing top talent.

have you met any kids from lower SES schools? some of them are just as talented.

great, so run a transparent selection process with lots of data points + teacher recs, not a secretive one at MCPS discretion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the major complaint here? That you got magnet programming in your home middle school because there were so many prepared kids for it? How is it possible that you are upset by this? The county has basically told you that, yeah, there are a ton of bright kids in your school who can do the magnet curriculum so we are bringing it to you. They have expanded the magnet program to accommodate large cohorts! And all this wailing is that oooh, it isn’t the same because we wanted to bus our kids to a special school to access this programming?

Seriously, this is how the rest of us read this. Would that we all had this problem.

No, they are not bringing the whole curriculum to the other schools, one maybe two classes, and I doubt the curriculum will be the exact same.

So demand more classes to fill the need. But don’t wring your hands about it being end of days because everyone just got more but you didn’t get the most.

bit of a hyperbole. Those parents whose kids didn't get in aren't jumping the MCPS ship. But why is it fine that other kids who are able get "more" of those classes but the rest who are equally able don't? Unless of course MCPS is trying social engineer education.

But this same statement could have been made by a parent of one of the kids in a school in the eastern part of the county. Bottom line -- there are not enough spots for every kid who is able. So should all the able kids come from the western part of the county? How is that fair? Frankly this is no win for MCPS no matter what they do.

? If a student in the eastern side met the cutoff, why wouldn't that child get into magnet before this change was made? Not all of the kids came from western part of the county. Just more. Why? Because they scored higher.

I wasn't aware there was a cutoff.

There used to be.

so every kid who made the cutoff got in?? I find that hard to believe with the limited number of seats.

what's hard to believe? You have a pool of applicants with x number of seats in the center. For that center, the cutoff would be at the level of however many seats there were. The median test scores of Cold Spring is a lot higher than at Clear Spring. We've seen this in prior years on this forum. People would post the median test scores of each center. You could clearly see where your child was in the pecking order based on the median test scores in the three categories (this is for HGC).

so admissions was based on one test score? that's it?

More or less.., but the new system seems more equitable and comprehensive. It relies on multiple tests for example. There are numerous threads already about this that go into excruciating detail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the major complaint here? That you got magnet programming in your home middle school because there were so many prepared kids for it? How is it possible that you are upset by this? The county has basically told you that, yeah, there are a ton of bright kids in your school who can do the magnet curriculum so we are bringing it to you. They have expanded the magnet program to accommodate large cohorts! And all this wailing is that oooh, it isn’t the same because we wanted to bus our kids to a special school to access this programming?

Seriously, this is how the rest of us read this. Would that we all had this problem.

No, they are not bringing the whole curriculum to the other schools, one maybe two classes, and I doubt the curriculum will be the exact same.

So demand more classes to fill the need. But don’t wring your hands about it being end of days because everyone just got more but you didn’t get the most.

bit of a hyperbole. Those parents whose kids didn't get in aren't jumping the MCPS ship. But why is it fine that other kids who are able get "more" of those classes but the rest who are equally able don't? Unless of course MCPS is trying social engineer education.

Because now more eligible kids overall have access to magnet programming. And that elevates the entire MCPS ship. No doubt, it is not perfect. But the cohort schools have a lot of talented kids studying together, which is something I would LOVE for my kids. If you have not lived without that, don’t dismiss how important it is, no matter what the curriculum. But keeping pressure on MCPS to give all eligible kids great programming and curriculum is perfectly understandable. Threats of lawsuits and accusations devious racism because they are trying to spread the wealth of this programming for more kids creates an us vs. them mentality that is simply destructive instead of making anything better. As is the ugly assumption that “other” kids cannot possibly be as generally qualified or successful.

Agree PP.

More access = fine. But, without MCPS releasing the median test scores of accepted kids (like they used to do), it's hard to believe that all of a sudden so many kids on the western side scored lower than those on the eastern side.

Acceptance to this program is based on a broader range of criteria not a single test. The new methodology seems far more comprehensive and inclusive. It will better identify qualified candidates.

I dont have a problem with them looking at writing samples and teacher recs, but why change the testing if not because they found that URM weren't testing as well? Why not get rid of testing all together and just use grades and MAP scores? Actually, if they used MAP scores, that wouldn't help most of the URM. Any kind of quantitative measure wouldn't help URM because statistically, they don't score as high. Same for PARCC scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the major complaint here? That you got magnet programming in your home middle school because there were so many prepared kids for it? How is it possible that you are upset by this? The county has basically told you that, yeah, there are a ton of bright kids in your school who can do the magnet curriculum so we are bringing it to you. They have expanded the magnet program to accommodate large cohorts! And all this wailing is that oooh, it isn’t the same because we wanted to bus our kids to a special school to access this programming?

Seriously, this is how the rest of us read this. Would that we all had this problem.

No, they are not bringing the whole curriculum to the other schools, one maybe two classes, and I doubt the curriculum will be the exact same.

So demand more classes to fill the need. But don’t wring your hands about it being end of days because everyone just got more but you didn’t get the most.

bit of a hyperbole. Those parents whose kids didn't get in aren't jumping the MCPS ship. But why is it fine that other kids who are able get "more" of those classes but the rest who are equally able don't? Unless of course MCPS is trying social engineer education.

But this same statement could have been made by a parent of one of the kids in a school in the eastern part of the county. Bottom line -- there are not enough spots for every kid who is able. So should all the able kids come from the western part of the county? How is that fair? Frankly this is no win for MCPS no matter what they do.

? If a student in the eastern side met the cutoff, why wouldn't that child get into magnet before this change was made? Not all of the kids came from western part of the county. Just more. Why? Because they scored higher.

I wasn't aware there was a cutoff.

There used to be.

so admissions was based solely on a test score?

oh my god, people. read the FAQs on this on the MCPS website. they explain the process.

the new admissions process is based on a number of factors, including scores on the magnet admission test, grades, whether you're considered to have a peer cohort at your school (aka how many kids at your school have similarly above-grade-level qualifications), etc.

the reason people are saying people used to be able to work the system is because the criteria used to hinge heavily on parents/teacher recommendations, so parents could push for their kid to be considered and take the test. there was an audit done of the program, which revealed that a huge percentage of the magnet kids were Asian and white. the county responded to that audit by screening many more kids, in an effort to identify all the kids who were qualified to do magnet-level work.

And then how do they rank the kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the major complaint here? That you got magnet programming in your home middle school because there were so many prepared kids for it? How is it possible that you are upset by this? The county has basically told you that, yeah, there are a ton of bright kids in your school who can do the magnet curriculum so we are bringing it to you. They have expanded the magnet program to accommodate large cohorts! And all this wailing is that oooh, it isn’t the same because we wanted to bus our kids to a special school to access this programming?

Seriously, this is how the rest of us read this. Would that we all had this problem.

No, they are not bringing the whole curriculum to the other schools, one maybe two classes, and I doubt the curriculum will be the exact same.

So demand more classes to fill the need. But don’t wring your hands about it being end of days because everyone just got more but you didn’t get the most.

bit of a hyperbole. Those parents whose kids didn't get in aren't jumping the MCPS ship. But why is it fine that other kids who are able get "more" of those classes but the rest who are equally able don't? Unless of course MCPS is trying social engineer education.

But this same statement could have been made by a parent of one of the kids in a school in the eastern part of the county. Bottom line -- there are not enough spots for every kid who is able. So should all the able kids come from the western part of the county? How is that fair? Frankly this is no win for MCPS no matter what they do.

? If a student in the eastern side met the cutoff, why wouldn't that child get into magnet before this change was made? Not all of the kids came from western part of the county. Just more. Why? Because they scored higher.

I wasn't aware there was a cutoff.

There used to be.

so admissions was based solely on a test score?

oh my god, people. read the FAQs on this on the MCPS website. they explain the process.

the new admissions process is based on a number of factors, including scores on the magnet admission test, grades, whether you're considered to have a peer cohort at your school (aka how many kids at your school have similarly above-grade-level qualifications), etc.

the reason people are saying people used to be able to work the system is because the criteria used to hinge heavily on parents/teacher recommendations, so parents could push for their kid to be considered and take the test. there was an audit done of the program, which revealed that a huge percentage of the magnet kids were Asian and white. the county responded to that audit by screening many more kids, in an effort to identify all the kids who were qualified to do magnet-level work.

Thanks for clearing that up. The new system sounds like a step in the right direciton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the major complaint here? That you got magnet programming in your home middle school because there were so many prepared kids for it? How is it possible that you are upset by this? The county has basically told you that, yeah, there are a ton of bright kids in your school who can do the magnet curriculum so we are bringing it to you. They have expanded the magnet program to accommodate large cohorts! And all this wailing is that oooh, it isn’t the same because we wanted to bus our kids to a special school to access this programming?

Seriously, this is how the rest of us read this. Would that we all had this problem.

No, they are not bringing the whole curriculum to the other schools, one maybe two classes, and I doubt the curriculum will be the exact same.

So demand more classes to fill the need. But don’t wring your hands about it being end of days because everyone just got more but you didn’t get the most.

bit of a hyperbole. Those parents whose kids didn't get in aren't jumping the MCPS ship. But why is it fine that other kids who are able get "more" of those classes but the rest who are equally able don't? Unless of course MCPS is trying social engineer education.

But this same statement could have been made by a parent of one of the kids in a school in the eastern part of the county. Bottom line -- there are not enough spots for every kid who is able. So should all the able kids come from the western part of the county? How is that fair? Frankly this is no win for MCPS no matter what they do.

? If a student in the eastern side met the cutoff, why wouldn't that child get into magnet before this change was made? Not all of the kids came from western part of the county. Just more. Why? Because they scored higher.

I wasn't aware there was a cutoff.

There used to be.

so every kid who made the cutoff got in?? I find that hard to believe with the limited number of seats.

what's hard to believe? You have a pool of applicants with x number of seats in the center. For that center, the cutoff would be at the level of however many seats there were. The median test scores of Cold Spring is a lot higher than at Clear Spring. We've seen this in prior years on this forum. People would post the median test scores of each center. You could clearly see where your child was in the pecking order based on the median test scores in the three categories (this is for HGC).

so admissions was based on one test score? that's it?

More or less.., but the new system seems more equitable and comprehensive. It relies on multiple tests for example. There are numerous threads already about this that go into excruciating detail.

To my knowledge, they take one test. What other test do they look at? MAP, PARCC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the major complaint here? That you got magnet programming in your home middle school because there were so many prepared kids for it? How is it possible that you are upset by this? The county has basically told you that, yeah, there are a ton of bright kids in your school who can do the magnet curriculum so we are bringing it to you. They have expanded the magnet program to accommodate large cohorts! And all this wailing is that oooh, it isn’t the same because we wanted to bus our kids to a special school to access this programming?

Seriously, this is how the rest of us read this. Would that we all had this problem.

No, they are not bringing the whole curriculum to the other schools, one maybe two classes, and I doubt the curriculum will be the exact same.

So demand more classes to fill the need. But don’t wring your hands about it being end of days because everyone just got more but you didn’t get the most.

bit of a hyperbole. Those parents whose kids didn't get in aren't jumping the MCPS ship. But why is it fine that other kids who are able get "more" of those classes but the rest who are equally able don't? Unless of course MCPS is trying social engineer education.

But this same statement could have been made by a parent of one of the kids in a school in the eastern part of the county. Bottom line -- there are not enough spots for every kid who is able. So should all the able kids come from the western part of the county? How is that fair? Frankly this is no win for MCPS no matter what they do.

? If a student in the eastern side met the cutoff, why wouldn't that child get into magnet before this change was made? Not all of the kids came from western part of the county. Just more. Why? Because they scored higher.

I wasn't aware there was a cutoff.

There used to be.

so admissions was based solely on a test score?

oh my god, people. read the FAQs on this on the MCPS website. they explain the process.

the new admissions process is based on a number of factors, including scores on the magnet admission test, grades, whether you're considered to have a peer cohort at your school (aka how many kids at your school have similarly above-grade-level qualifications), etc.

the reason people are saying people used to be able to work the system is because the criteria used to hinge heavily on parents/teacher recommendations, so parents could push for their kid to be considered and take the test. there was an audit done of the program, which revealed that a huge percentage of the magnet kids were Asian and white. the county responded to that audit by screening many more kids, in an effort to identify all the kids who were qualified to do magnet-level work.

Yes we are all aware of the new criteria but I was challenging someone who indicated that the kids in the lower SES schools were somehow not as talented because they hadn't made the "cut off" before this change in admissions criteria. I was trying to point out that basing the decision on ONE SCORE is ludicrous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the major complaint here? That you got magnet programming in your home middle school because there were so many prepared kids for it? How is it possible that you are upset by this? The county has basically told you that, yeah, there are a ton of bright kids in your school who can do the magnet curriculum so we are bringing it to you. They have expanded the magnet program to accommodate large cohorts! And all this wailing is that oooh, it isn’t the same because we wanted to bus our kids to a special school to access this programming?

Seriously, this is how the rest of us read this. Would that we all had this problem.

No, they are not bringing the whole curriculum to the other schools, one maybe two classes, and I doubt the curriculum will be the exact same.

So demand more classes to fill the need. But don’t wring your hands about it being end of days because everyone just got more but you didn’t get the most.

bit of a hyperbole. Those parents whose kids didn't get in aren't jumping the MCPS ship. But why is it fine that other kids who are able get "more" of those classes but the rest who are equally able don't? Unless of course MCPS is trying social engineer education.

But this same statement could have been made by a parent of one of the kids in a school in the eastern part of the county. Bottom line -- there are not enough spots for every kid who is able. So should all the able kids come from the western part of the county? How is that fair? Frankly this is no win for MCPS no matter what they do.

? If a student in the eastern side met the cutoff, why wouldn't that child get into magnet before this change was made? Not all of the kids came from western part of the county. Just more. Why? Because they scored higher.

I wasn't aware there was a cutoff.

There used to be.

so admissions was based solely on a test score?

oh my god, people. read the FAQs on this on the MCPS website. they explain the process.

the new admissions process is based on a number of factors, including scores on the magnet admission test, grades, whether you're considered to have a peer cohort at your school (aka how many kids at your school have similarly above-grade-level qualifications), etc.

the reason people are saying people used to be able to work the system is because the criteria used to hinge heavily on parents/teacher recommendations, so parents could push for their kid to be considered and take the test. there was an audit done of the program, which revealed that a huge percentage of the magnet kids were Asian and white. the county responded to that audit by screening many more kids, in an effort to identify all the kids who were qualified to do magnet-level work.

This is false. ANYONE could take the test, and it wasn't heavily reliant on teacher/parent rec.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the major complaint here? That you got magnet programming in your home middle school because there were so many prepared kids for it? How is it possible that you are upset by this? The county has basically told you that, yeah, there are a ton of bright kids in your school who can do the magnet curriculum so we are bringing it to you. They have expanded the magnet program to accommodate large cohorts! And all this wailing is that oooh, it isn’t the same because we wanted to bus our kids to a special school to access this programming?

Seriously, this is how the rest of us read this. Would that we all had this problem.

No, they are not bringing the whole curriculum to the other schools, one maybe two classes, and I doubt the curriculum will be the exact same.

So demand more classes to fill the need. But don’t wring your hands about it being end of days because everyone just got more but you didn’t get the most.

bit of a hyperbole. Those parents whose kids didn't get in aren't jumping the MCPS ship. But why is it fine that other kids who are able get "more" of those classes but the rest who are equally able don't? Unless of course MCPS is trying social engineer education.

Because now more eligible kids overall have access to magnet programming. And that elevates the entire MCPS ship. No doubt, it is not perfect. But the cohort schools have a lot of talented kids studying together, which is something I would LOVE for my kids. If you have not lived without that, don’t dismiss how important it is, no matter what the curriculum. But keeping pressure on MCPS to give all eligible kids great programming and curriculum is perfectly understandable. Threats of lawsuits and accusations devious racism because they are trying to spread the wealth of this programming for more kids creates an us vs. them mentality that is simply destructive instead of making anything better. As is the ugly assumption that “other” kids cannot possibly be as generally qualified or successful.

Agree PP.

More access = fine. But, without MCPS releasing the median test scores of accepted kids (like they used to do), it's hard to believe that all of a sudden so many kids on the western side scored lower than those on the eastern side.

You are willfully ignoring that the kids on the western side got their own, in-house programming. No one is saying that they scored lower, are they? They are getting put into a special program. Just that it is a new way to make sure more eligible kids have access to both programming and cohorts. The work now is to assess and then, if necessary, improve your pilot in-house program, which I am sure the families of those kids will ensure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the major complaint here? That you got magnet programming in your home middle school because there were so many prepared kids for it? How is it possible that you are upset by this? The county has basically told you that, yeah, there are a ton of bright kids in your school who can do the magnet curriculum so we are bringing it to you. They have expanded the magnet program to accommodate large cohorts! And all this wailing is that oooh, it isn’t the same because we wanted to bus our kids to a special school to access this programming?

Seriously, this is how the rest of us read this. Would that we all had this problem.

No, they are not bringing the whole curriculum to the other schools, one maybe two classes, and I doubt the curriculum will be the exact same.

So demand more classes to fill the need. But don’t wring your hands about it being end of days because everyone just got more but you didn’t get the most.

bit of a hyperbole. Those parents whose kids didn't get in aren't jumping the MCPS ship. But why is it fine that other kids who are able get "more" of those classes but the rest who are equally able don't? Unless of course MCPS is trying social engineer education.

But this same statement could have been made by a parent of one of the kids in a school in the eastern part of the county. Bottom line -- there are not enough spots for every kid who is able. So should all the able kids come from the western part of the county? How is that fair? Frankly this is no win for MCPS no matter what they do.

? If a student in the eastern side met the cutoff, why wouldn't that child get into magnet before this change was made? Not all of the kids came from western part of the county. Just more. Why? Because they scored higher.

I wasn't aware there was a cutoff.

There used to be.

so admissions was based solely on a test score?

oh my god, people. read the FAQs on this on the MCPS website. they explain the process.

the new admissions process is based on a number of factors, including scores on the magnet admission test, grades, whether you're considered to have a peer cohort at your school (aka how many kids at your school have similarly above-grade-level qualifications), etc.

the reason people are saying people used to be able to work the system is because the criteria used to hinge heavily on parents/teacher recommendations, so parents could push for their kid to be considered and take the test. there was an audit done of the program, which revealed that a huge percentage of the magnet kids were Asian and white. the county responded to that audit by screening many more kids, in an effort to identify all the kids who were qualified to do magnet-level work.

Yes we are all aware of the new criteria but I was challenging someone who indicated that the kids in the lower SES schools were somehow not as talented because they hadn't made the "cut off" before this change in admissions criteria. I was trying to point out that basing the decision on ONE SCORE is ludicrous.

If the test scores aren't as high as others who didn't get in, including MAP, PARCC, then they wouldn't have met the cutoff.

And if they do score as high, then why doesn't MCPS publish the median test scores of the accepted students? Why hide it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the major complaint here? That you got magnet programming in your home middle school because there were so many prepared kids for it? How is it possible that you are upset by this? The county has basically told you that, yeah, there are a ton of bright kids in your school who can do the magnet curriculum so we are bringing it to you. They have expanded the magnet program to accommodate large cohorts! And all this wailing is that oooh, it isn’t the same because we wanted to bus our kids to a special school to access this programming?

Seriously, this is how the rest of us read this. Would that we all had this problem.

No, they are not bringing the whole curriculum to the other schools, one maybe two classes, and I doubt the curriculum will be the exact same.

So demand more classes to fill the need. But don’t wring your hands about it being end of days because everyone just got more but you didn’t get the most.

bit of a hyperbole. Those parents whose kids didn't get in aren't jumping the MCPS ship. But why is it fine that other kids who are able get "more" of those classes but the rest who are equally able don't? Unless of course MCPS is trying social engineer education.

But this same statement could have been made by a parent of one of the kids in a school in the eastern part of the county. Bottom line -- there are not enough spots for every kid who is able. So should all the able kids come from the western part of the county? How is that fair? Frankly this is no win for MCPS no matter what they do.

? If a student in the eastern side met the cutoff, why wouldn't that child get into magnet before this change was made? Not all of the kids came from western part of the county. Just more. Why? Because they scored higher.

I wasn't aware there was a cutoff.

There used to be.

so admissions was based solely on a test score?

oh my god, people. read the FAQs on this on the MCPS website. they explain the process.

the new admissions process is based on a number of factors, including scores on the magnet admission test, grades, whether you're considered to have a peer cohort at your school (aka how many kids at your school have similarly above-grade-level qualifications), etc.

the reason people are saying people used to be able to work the system is because the criteria used to hinge heavily on parents/teacher recommendations, so parents could push for their kid to be considered and take the test. there was an audit done of the program, which revealed that a huge percentage of the magnet kids were Asian and white. the county responded to that audit by screening many more kids, in an effort to identify all the kids who were qualified to do magnet-level work.

Yes we are all aware of the new criteria but I was challenging someone who indicated that the kids in the lower SES schools were somehow not as talented because they hadn't made the "cut off" before this change in admissions criteria. I was trying to point out that basing the decision on ONE SCORE is ludicrous.

If the test scores aren't as high as others who didn't get in, including MAP, PARCC, then they wouldn't have met the cutoff.

And if they do score as high, then why doesn't MCPS publish the median test scores of the accepted students? Why hide it?

Because admission is based on more than just test score apparently -- which honestly I think it should be. I would assume you disagree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:What is the major complaint here? That you got magnet programming in your home middle school because there were so many prepared kids for it? How is it possible that you are upset by this? The county has basically told you that, yeah, there are a ton of bright kids in your school who can do the magnet curriculum so we are bringing it to you. They have expanded the magnet program to accommodate large cohorts! And all this wailing is that oooh, it isn’t the same because we wanted to bus our kids to a special school to access this programming?

Seriously, this is how the rest of us read this. Would that we all had this problem.

No, they are not bringing the whole curriculum to the other schools, one maybe two classes, and I doubt the curriculum will be the exact same.

So demand more classes to fill the need. But don’t wring your hands about it being end of days because everyone just got more but you didn’t get the most.

bit of a hyperbole. Those parents whose kids didn't get in aren't jumping the MCPS ship. But why is it fine that other kids who are able get "more" of those classes but the rest who are equally able don't? Unless of course MCPS is trying social engineer education.

But this same statement could have been made by a parent of one of the kids in a school in the eastern part of the county. Bottom line -- there are not enough spots for every kid who is able. So should all the able kids come from the western part of the county? How is that fair? Frankly this is no win for MCPS no matter what they do.

? If a student in the eastern side met the cutoff, why wouldn't that child get into magnet before this change was made? Not all of the kids came from western part of the county. Just more. Why? Because they scored higher.

I wasn't aware there was a cutoff.

There used to be.

so admissions was based solely on a test score?

oh my god, people. read the FAQs on this on the MCPS website. they explain the process.

the new admissions process is based on a number of factors, including scores on the magnet admission test, grades, whether you're considered to have a peer cohort at your school (aka how many kids at your school have similarly above-grade-level qualifications), etc.

the reason people are saying people used to be able to work the system is because the criteria used to hinge heavily on parents/teacher recommendations, so parents could push for their kid to be considered and take the test. there was an audit done of the program, which revealed that a huge percentage of the magnet kids were Asian and white. the county responded to that audit by screening many more kids, in an effort to identify all the kids who were qualified to do magnet-level work.

This is false. ANYONE could take the test, and it wasn't heavily reliant on teacher/parent rec.

Fine so we agree that admission was mainly based on one test. I think that is flawed methodology and I am glad they are changing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the major complaint here? That you got magnet programming in your home middle school because there were so many prepared kids for it? How is it possible that you are upset by this? The county has basically told you that, yeah, there are a ton of bright kids in your school who can do the magnet curriculum so we are bringing it to you. They have expanded the magnet program to accommodate large cohorts! And all this wailing is that oooh, it isn’t the same because we wanted to bus our kids to a special school to access this programming?

Seriously, this is how the rest of us read this. Would that we all had this problem.

No, they are not bringing the whole curriculum to the other schools, one maybe two classes, and I doubt the curriculum will be the exact same.

So demand more classes to fill the need. But don’t wring your hands about it being end of days because everyone just got more but you didn’t get the most.

bit of a hyperbole. Those parents whose kids didn't get in aren't jumping the MCPS ship. But why is it fine that other kids who are able get "more" of those classes but the rest who are equally able don't? Unless of course MCPS is trying social engineer education.

But this same statement could have been made by a parent of one of the kids in a school in the eastern part of the county. Bottom line -- there are not enough spots for every kid who is able. So should all the able kids come from the western part of the county? How is that fair? Frankly this is no win for MCPS no matter what they do.

? If a student in the eastern side met the cutoff, why wouldn't that child get into magnet before this change was made? Not all of the kids came from western part of the county. Just more. Why? Because they scored higher.

I wasn't aware there was a cutoff.

There used to be.

so admissions was based solely on a test score?

oh my god, people. read the FAQs on this on the MCPS website. they explain the process.

the new admissions process is based on a number of factors, including scores on the magnet admission test, grades, whether you're considered to have a peer cohort at your school (aka how many kids at your school have similarly above-grade-level qualifications), etc.

the reason people are saying people used to be able to work the system is because the criteria used to hinge heavily on parents/teacher recommendations, so parents could push for their kid to be considered and take the test. there was an audit done of the program, which revealed that a huge percentage of the magnet kids were Asian and white. the county responded to that audit by screening many more kids, in an effort to identify all the kids who were qualified to do magnet-level work.

Yes we are all aware of the new criteria but I was challenging someone who indicated that the kids in the lower SES schools were somehow not as talented because they hadn't made the "cut off" before this change in admissions criteria. I was trying to point out that basing the decision on ONE SCORE is ludicrous.

If the test scores aren't as high as others who didn't get in, including MAP, PARCC, then they wouldn't have met the cutoff.

And if they do score as high, then why doesn't MCPS publish the median test scores of the accepted students? Why hide it?

Because admission is based on more than just test score apparently -- which honestly I think it should be. I would assume you disagree.

Not necessarily, but why hide it? The fact that they no longer publish this information makes it appear like they are hiding something.