MCPS regional program "survey" for grades 4-7

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could survey current seventh graders and ask Which of these programs in your region do you think you might apply for with the locations and info about whether it's criteria or not,

Then ask why they would and wouldn't apply/attend (not interested in topic, school is too far away, program is untested, prefer home school opportunities, don't meet minimum criteria, etc.).

Then you'd have a sense of demand and an idea of what barriers people face.

Ideally, the board would have insisted on some of this information before voting to approve a to be determined regional model. But here we are.

Did anyone notice the claim in the survey that transportation is provided to these regional programs, leaving out the critical detail that you have to get to your home high school on your own in order to access that regional transportation?

Yup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You could survey current seventh graders and ask Which of these programs in your region do you think you might apply for with the locations and info about whether it's criteria or not,

Then ask why they would and wouldn't apply/attend (not interested in topic, school is too far away, program is untested, prefer home school opportunities, don't meet minimum criteria, etc.).

Then you'd have a sense of demand and an idea of what barriers people face.

Ideally, the board would have insisted on some of this information before voting to approve a to be determined regional model. But here we are.

Did anyone notice the claim in the survey that transportation is provided to these regional programs, leaving out the critical detail that you have to get to your home high school on your own in order to access that regional transportation?

MCPS loves to leave the fine print out.

[Anonymous]

This survey pissed me off as well. How does my 10 year old know what electives they might want in 4-8 years?!? I can tell you what she definitely wants:

Teachers that actually want to teach
Courses that match her level versus “honors for all”
Accountability for principals to ensure equity among all high schools

I have a HS kid having a terrible experience with their schooo based program due to the incompetence of the principal and MCPS enabling him to do whatever he wants. I will be angry if we spend $9.5 million more to get the same crappy experience after 2027. It’s like nobody at MCPS read OLO Report 2026-2!

[Anonymous]

The survey also has a link to this AI summary of the programs: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KkEeAkg-QUT7U4o8PIEDY9sFTAibDAMS/edit?slide=id.g3cacffcecf6_2_233#slide=id.g3cacffcecf6_2_233

[Anonymous]

The survey is set up to generate "supporting" data by showing interest in academically rigorous magnets is concentrated in the wealthy areas where they already plan to host those programs so that they don't have to do anything to make them equivalently accessible to those outside of the wealthy areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The survey is set up to generate "supporting" data by showing interest in academically rigorous magnets is concentrated in the wealthy areas where they already plan to host those programs so that they don't have to do anything to make them equivalently accessible to those outside of the wealthy areas.

They should factor in survey participation rate by cluster. Just because parents in a cluster did not fill out the survey does not mean there is no interest in the programs.

[Anonymous]

Do you involve your kids when you fill out the program preferences on survey? I do not mind my kid in stem or medical, but I am not sure if he/she will be interested or good enough to be qualified.

[Anonymous]

Do people even get from this survey that not being in a program is also an option? It seems like most will not understand that and will overstate interest as a result.

[Anonymous]

I would love to know their plans when the survey is inevitably disproportionately completed by west county, white and Asian families.

Will they actually try to do outreach to the zip codes and clusters not represented? Or will they throw their hands up and claim that outreach is hard and they tried their best.

Perhaps they should have actually done a rigorous demand analysis/market analysis before they started this whole process.

[Anonymous]

I am more concerned if there are many interests from a home zoned high school in a specific program (like stem instead of performing art or etc) , will mcps board consider to change the program assignments within the same region?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This survey pissed me off as well. How does my 10 year old know what electives they might want in 4-8 years?!? I can tell you what she definitely wants:

Teachers that actually want to teach
Courses that match her level versus “honors for all”
Accountability for principals to ensure equity among all high schools

I have a HS kid having a terrible experience with their schooo based program due to the incompetence of the principal and MCPS enabling him to do whatever he wants. I will be angry if we spend $9.5 million more to get the same crappy experience after 2027. It’s like nobody at MCPS read OLO Report 2026-2!

+1, us too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would love to know their plans when the survey is inevitably disproportionately completed by west county, white and Asian families.

Will they actually try to do outreach to the zip codes and clusters not represented? Or will they throw their hands up and claim that outreach is hard and they tried their best.

Perhaps they should have actually done a rigorous demand analysis/market analysis before they started this whole process.

It doesn’t impact those families as they often don’t have the transportation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am more concerned if there are many interests from a home zoned high school in a specific program (like stem instead of performing art or etc) , will mcps board consider to change the program assignments within the same region?

Our school shut down programs a few years ago due to lack of interest and they are bringing them back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do people even get from this survey that not being in a program is also an option? It seems like most will not understand that and will overstate interest as a result.

For our schools either limited academics, it’s a challenge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would love to know their plans when the survey is inevitably disproportionately completed by west county, white and Asian families.

Will they actually try to do outreach to the zip codes and clusters not represented? Or will they throw their hands up and claim that outreach is hard and they tried their best.

Perhaps they should have actually done a rigorous demand analysis/market analysis before they started this whole process.

I think you are totally right - what you reference about survey responses is called non-response bias. But that is MCPS for you - homemade outreach for its homemade programs/curricula.