Eastern Middle, trying to decide

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I sent my kid to Eastern and I wouldn’t do it again although you don’t have as terrible a commute as we did. The students are intense. If your kid is low-key and not on board I would hesitate. But attend the open house and see what they think. You can always try it for a bit and switch back. You can’t do the reverse.
The science is particularly horrible at Eastern unless it’s changed in the couple years since my kid was there.

FWIW, Science is pretty bad at almost all MCPS middle schools, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Friend had a kid who just did Eastern for middle and they had an ok experience. I think staying with friends and walking distance from school would be better.

[Anonymous]

My older kid went to Eastern and would definitely choose to do it again, although there were pros and cons.
Pros: She made really good friends and enjoyed the cohort of Humanities kids there; she learned and grew a ton; she had some truly outstanding teachers (and some not-so-great ones); she made some incredibly impressive projects; she learned time-management and how to takcle big projects -- skills that are now making high school pretty easy; and the 8th grade field trip was really memorable (even though it was three day-trips to DC and not the weeklong NYC tradition because of the pandemic).
Cons: the commute was bad (about an hour each way), and it was a burden on the whole family because of needing to be driven to/from the bus stop every day; she took after-school band in order to continue with her instrument because of the other required classes -- this was great, but meant she was out of the house from 6:45 to 5:15 at least 3 days a week, which is very long; homework was intense; the non-magnet classes weren't that challenging and had some behavior issues; and her friends split up between many high schools, so she started high school without any close friends there.

Older kid ended up choosing our home school for high school (turned down a spot at CAP at Blair) and is happy with that choice too, with good academic choices and a much, much better commute.

My younger kid was in both magnet lotteries but didn't get a spot, so is at our home middle school (which is not a highly rated school). She's happy there, although still wishes the magnet selection process hadn't changed and she'd been chosen for a magnet spot. Also pros and cons there:
Pros: commute - she can get herself to and from school, and has a reasonably short commute; she has friends there who will likely continue to high school with her; almost no homework (this is a pro for her, not sure about me); there's at least a small cohort at her academic level
Cons: academics are not challenging at all, especially in comparison to what Eastern provided; no exciting or in-depth projects; I think the transition to high school will be a lot harder

Bottom line -- go to the open house and let your kid understand all that is involved, both good and bad. There are trade-offs either way, and your family needs to evaluate them and decide what to do. But likely either option will be fine, just different. For me, the fact that both my kids were/are happy in middle school was the important bottom line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that for the non-magnet subjects, your student will be in the regular classrooms with the in-boundary kids for Eastern. That could work out just fine, but just know that the magnet program doesn't include every subject.

Turn out they are mostly with magnet students for all classes other than PE since there are different levels of math, science and foreign languages and most non magnet students won’t be in those classes

There are not different levels of science and foreign languages, just math.

I meant Non magnet kids don’t usually choose the more accelerated Foreign languages path

[Anonymous]

Things to also remember, if you’re out of bounds but your kid goes to Takoma or Eastern or the parkland etc… programs- you have MORE choices for HS programs like Blair’s CAP & the Wheaton Biomedical or Engineering programs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op--our home school is TPMS, which is a great school even without the magnet, so yeah the choice isn't easy.

DD in magnet did experience discipline issues in TPMS non magnet classes like social science/history

[Anonymous]

I have a current 8th grader and it's been a pretty amazing experience, even with 6th grade mostly remote.

Academics: The academic lift is definitely intense, and time consuming. In some ways, 6th grade feels the hardest. Maybe because it's an adjustment, or maybe there's a little bit of "trial by fire" in the mix. The magnet courses are incredible, of course, but my child also had pretty good experiences with non-magnet. Math instruction was good (AIM, Algebra, and now Geomety) and while the science curriculum is standard MCPS, the teachers have been uniformly very good.

Projects: This is where the program really shines. The project-based learning, culminating in the NHD project and multiple documentaries over the course of the three years, is a really great way to reach this age group. They get to pursue something they have passion about, by using specific new skills and tools.

Administration: I was a big fan of the previous principal, who was old enough and experienced enough to navigate the MCPS system. The new principal seems much more likely to toe the Central Office line, and long-term I worry that will erode some of the things that make the school special. I don't really blame her - she's youngish and probably gunning for a HS job eventually, but my experience is that those "gunners" are much less willing to protect their schools/teachers/students from bureaucratic nonsense, since they think they will be gone in a few years anyway.

Extracurriculars: As a PP said, some of the band and orchestra options are offered after school as well as during the school day to allow magnet kids (or just kids who want an extra elective) to participate. There are a lot of lunchtime clubs and opportunities to get involved, and after-school sports seem to bring a lot of kids together across the school. For theater, Eastern puts on two shows per year - a winter musical and a spring Shakespeare production. Both are unusually well-done for middle school productions. The musical will perform this coming weekend, so you could bring your child if they wanted to see the overall "vibe" of the school.

Happy to answer any other questions, as someone closing out this journey.

[Anonymous]

Eastern isn’t the best environment, there are lots kids there who don’t care about school. Maybe they leave your kid alone maybe they won’t. It is really dependent on how your kid is at enforcing boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just found out my child got into the Eastern magnet. They're a good student, bright and kind of low key. They're totally tweaked about missing their friends and not being able to walk to our home school as they envisioned. Am I overthinking this? I should make them go, right? FWIW their home school would not be a bad choice, but they wouldn't be in a magnet.

No, you should not. Go to the open house, both of you with an open mind, then let your child decide. Whatever your home school, there are advantages and disadvantages to both the home school and the Eastern magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a current 8th grader and it's been a pretty amazing experience, even with 6th grade mostly remote.

Academics: The academic lift is definitely intense, and time consuming. In some ways, 6th grade feels the hardest. Maybe because it's an adjustment, or maybe there's a little bit of "trial by fire" in the mix. The magnet courses are incredible, of course, but my child also had pretty good experiences with non-magnet. Math instruction was good (AIM, Algebra, and now Geomety) and while the science curriculum is standard MCPS, the teachers have been uniformly very good.

Projects: This is where the program really shines. The project-based learning, culminating in the NHD project and multiple documentaries over the course of the three years, is a really great way to reach this age group. They get to pursue something they have passion about, by using specific new skills and tools.

Administration: I was a big fan of the previous principal, who was old enough and experienced enough to navigate the MCPS system. The new principal seems much more likely to toe the Central Office line, and long-term I worry that will erode some of the things that make the school special. I don't really blame her - she's youngish and probably gunning for a HS job eventually, but my experience is that those "gunners" are much less willing to protect their schools/teachers/students from bureaucratic nonsense, since they think they will be gone in a few years anyway.

Extracurriculars: As a PP said, some of the band and orchestra options are offered after school as well as during the school day to allow magnet kids (or just kids who want an extra elective) to participate. There are a lot of lunchtime clubs and opportunities to get involved, and after-school sports seem to bring a lot of kids together across the school. For theater, Eastern puts on two shows per year - a winter musical and a spring Shakespeare production. Both are unusually well-done for middle school productions. The musical will perform this coming weekend, so you could bring your child if they wanted to see the overall "vibe" of the school.

Happy to answer any other questions, as someone closing out this journey.

I have a current 7th grader in the program and agree with all of this 100%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sent my kid to Eastern and I wouldn’t do it again although you don’t have as terrible a commute as we did. The students are intense. If your kid is low-key and not on board I would hesitate. But attend the open house and see what they think. You can always try it for a bit and switch back. You can’t do the reverse.
The science is particularly horrible at Eastern unless it’s changed in the couple years since my kid was there.

FWIW, Science is pretty bad at almost all MCPS middle schools, unfortunately.

Fair point. I had older kids who went to our local middle school and the science at Eastern was far worse than our home school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd make sure your kid is really interested and not just trying to make you happy. There are smart kids everywhere, all over mcps, and you will definitely find them at your home school too. Even more so now that it's lottery driven.

(I am an Eastern grad and disliked it - the program and the kids. It was a mistake - though it made me realize what I didn't like which is equally valuable. This was awhile ago, so maybe the cohort of kids are just nicer these days.)

My kid went to Eastern and did not like the cohort of kids either. She never found her people, although others say this (the cohort) made the program for them. She just found them overly competitive and intense, and always looking out for themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Friend had a kid who just did Eastern for middle and they had an ok experience. I think staying with friends and walking distance from school would be better.

I have a DC in a middle school magnet and we are pretty reserved about how much DC loves the experience when we are with neighborhood families because while they probably don’t care, it doesn’t really feel nice to go on and on about how amazing and fantastic the magnet program is. So if asked, we might say something like, “it’s great, but DC does miss friends from elementary.” We aren’t at Eastern, so can’t speak to that, but do make sure you are listening to PP’s who went and not what people think they heard from people who went.

Also, the normal curriculum for English in MCPS middle school is pretty awful. So if your child is likely to get really frustrated with that, you might want to seriously consider at least trying it out for a term.

I know the friends thing seems like a huge deal facing the unknown, especially for your DC, but it is probably the smallest issue in reality. Your DC will likely make wonderful new friends and if you put in a little time, be able to keep up with old friends, too. Sometimes, especially in middle school, it is quite nice to have different groups of friends in case the drama gets out of hand in one area. There’s often a lot of friend reshuffling when kids get to middle school no matter where they are.

And finally, I hate to be so cynical, but there have been some posters in past years who say really negative things in an attempt to get people to turn down magnet spots and open up more wait list. I don’t yet see any posts in this thread that make me think that is clearly happening, but maybe keep that motivation in mind as you take advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op--our home school is TPMS, which is a great school even without the magnet, so yeah the choice isn't easy.

DD in magnet did experience discipline issues in TPMS non magnet classes like social science/history

And my child in magnet at TPMS has not. Zero, which seems hard to believe but it is a very well run school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd make sure your kid is really interested and not just trying to make you happy. There are smart kids everywhere, all over mcps, and you will definitely find them at your home school too. Even more so now that it's lottery driven.

(I am an Eastern grad and disliked it - the program and the kids. It was a mistake - though it made me realize what I didn't like which is equally valuable. This was awhile ago, so maybe the cohort of kids are just nicer these days.)

My kid went to Eastern and did not like the cohort of kids either. She never found her people, although others say this (the cohort) made the program for them. She just found them overly competitive and intense, and always looking out for themselves.

My kid who went to Eastern did great socially and found her quirky group. The workload was intense, and some teachers better than others, but overall enjoyed Eastern. She did not think the other kids were competitive for the most part. Some of them yes, but most were just kids who loved the humanities. She had a science teacher who she loved. PE was awful, but most of the other classes were good even outside the magnet.