MoCo parents - Am I kidding myself?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, I know a family who pulled their kid out of a private school and sent them to a Title 1 school in Silver Spring --- primarily as a means to lay the foundation to get him into a MCPS magnet program for MS (ie: the kid wouldn't have been eligible for program had he stayed in the private school, so he had to enroll in the local neighborhood school for a couple years to improve his odds of getting in). FWIW, this title 1 school is actually in a decent part of SS where homes are $550k+ --- it just also happens to encompass neighborhoods with tons of apartment complexes and rental homes. The parents met with the principal at the public school prior to enrolling their kid there to make sure his needs would be met and explained the impetus behind their decision to send their kid there. The school was very responsive, and the kid did very well there (and got into the magnet program). I think a good principal at a title 1 school (or an underperforming school) would do anything to increase enrollment by more affluent families in the neighborhood who had previously given up on the school and went the private route.

I don't know what this means. Anyone who resides in MCounty is eligible to apply to magnet programs.

I don't know whether being in the MCPS system improves a student's odds of being admitted, but in any case, I know several HGC and magnet program middle school students who were admitted from private schools.

[Anonymous]

Apparently attending a MCPS elem boosts your odds of getting into certain magnet programs --- that's what this family discovered, and that's what prompted the switch to a title 1 school. Had their kid had a shot at getting into the program by staying in his private school, they would not have switched.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apparently attending a MCPS elem boosts your odds of getting into certain magnet programs --- that's what this family discovered, and that's what prompted the switch to a title 1 school. Had their kid had a shot at getting into the program by staying in his private school, they would not have switched.

What is the source for this "apparent" information? If this family "discovered" that, presumably it was via some reputable source.

Anecdotally, I don't believe it.

[Anonymous]

Was it really a Title I school? There has been confusion on these forums lately about which schools are.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it's a title 1 school (or at least it was when the kid went there a couple years ago -- I'm not 100% sure now, but I believe so). FWIW, the school is Georgian Forest.

[Anonymous]

This is completely wrong, 14:14.

Any resident of MoCo is eligible to get in to the magnet program. They were telling you a fib or were misinformed.

[Anonymous]

I think they had financial difficulties and told a story to hide it.

BTW, did the kid in question get into the middle school magnet?

[Anonymous]

Many of the magnets have extra spots for children already in that cluster. Richard Montomgery students have a (slightly) higher change of getting into the IB prgram there because some spots are reserved for them. I assume other magnets have similar systems.

[Anonymous]

Of course any kid in the county is eligible -- it would be discriminatory otherwise. I misspoke when I used the word ineligible. It had more to do with the odds of being able to get into a highly competitive magnet program (which he did) by going to his neighborhood Title 1 school (like a pp mentioned, it had something to do with available slots for each cluster). The family did not and does not have financial problems. They kept their other kids in private school and moved this one b/c of the opportunities the magnet program would offer. Obviously some of the top programs offered by the county are highly sought after and competitive --- many have lotteries (like the spanish immersion programs). They aren't going to send all the kids from the affluent areas to one magnet program --- they have to spread the wealth/access so to speak, so a bright kid in a title 1 school has a bit of a leg up as opposed to being a bright kid among tons of super smarties in a more affluent area. Sorry to have hijacked the thread. I merely mentioned this so the OP would hear about one family that actually yanked their kid from a private school and sent him to a Title 1 and they were thrilled with the attention he received from the principal and teachers. 'Nuf said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apparently attending a MCPS elem boosts your odds of getting into certain magnet programs --- that's what this family discovered, and that's what prompted the switch to a title 1 school. Had their kid had a shot at getting into the program by staying in his private school, they would not have switched.

As a family that made a switch from private to moco magnet - we heard that a strong letter of recommendation from a teacher they know carries a bit more weight than the same letter from a teacher they've never heard of. Also, sometimes MoCo principals or VPs will push for a kid - a friend said a MoCo principal offered to push for her kid.

If this all sounds very subjective, that's probably because it is. But it does make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is completely wrong, 14:14.

Any resident of MoCo is eligible to get in to the magnet program. They were telling you a fib or were misinformed.

Please bring the toys back to the sandbox and start sharing them! Accusing somebody's friends of lying just isn't cricket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or the reverse can happen, in a high achieving school, the accelerated math group is filled to rafters, but your high acheiver is a different school might find themselves with their own reading group (my child did!) or a math group with only a few children...

This is absolutely true. Some PPs have said same curriculum = same education, but the same curriculum can be implemented at many different levels. If the curriculum says kids learn about the informational text genre in reading in 1st grade, and more than 50% of your schools kids are English language learners, than the level of reading text assigned in class is going to be far lower than the level of reading text that will be assigned in a school district where most kids are not ELL and come into K already knowing letters and letter sounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or the reverse can happen, in a high achieving school, the accelerated math group is filled to rafters, but your high acheiver is a different school might find themselves with their own reading group (my child did!) or a math group with only a few children...

This is absolutely true. Some PPs have said same curriculum = same education, but the same curriculum can be implemented at many different levels. If the curriculum says kids learn about the informational text genre in reading in 1st grade, and more than 50% of your schools kids are English language learners, than the level of reading text assigned in class is going to be far lower than the level of reading text that will be assigned in a school district where most kids are not ELL and come into K already knowing letters and letter sounds.

These schools are supposed to be able to differentiate. I'm not saying they all handle it well or consistently, but they are not supposed to dump your kid in with children who've just come to the US and don't speak English yet. And in my experience, they do not do that. Perhaps not so much out of concern for your child, who shouldn't be a problem with making AYP, but more out of concern for the ESOL kids. If your child's reading text is really at too low a level, I'd raise the issue with the teacher and/or administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or the reverse can happen, in a high achieving school, the accelerated math group is filled to rafters, but your high acheiver is a different school might find themselves with their own reading group (my child did!) or a math group with only a few children...

This is absolutely true. Some PPs have said same curriculum = same education, but the same curriculum can be implemented at many different levels. If the curriculum says kids learn about the informational text genre in reading in 1st grade, and more than 50% of your schools kids are English language learners, than the level of reading text assigned in class is going to be far lower than the level of reading text that will be assigned in a school district where most kids are not ELL and come into K already knowing letters and letter sounds.

Does your child actually attend a school with a significant ELL population? I ask because this post sounds like the fears people have that prevent them from moving to neighborhoods where the schools have high ELL populations. It doesn't sound like our actual experience in a school like that. Many schools with high ELL populations also have small class sizes. When the ELL students are broken out, native english speaking students have even fewer kids in the class, and more personalized attention from the teacher. The reading groups are smaller and can be more accelerated.

[Anonymous]

I agree that some of these posts sound like they are coming from fear instead of experience. Our experience in a downcounty elementary school has been great.