Fox Chapel and Drew HGC pilot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IN the past, there was no test to get in the pool either. It required parental application. The burden now is on the school to identify any kids potentially eligible. This is a good move. I am all for it.

Now, the question is for the kids who do participate in the test, what is this online assessment? Is the current test online? How much is the other things going to matter?

So only a school can recommend a student to be considered? Parents aren't able to do that? Just curious

Nobody can answer that yet, because the process hasn't rolled out. Parents of 3rd graders at the Drew- and Fox Chapel-feeding schools were sent the same application as everybody else, so presumably parents will still be applying this year (we sent in an application for our kid), in addition to the new pilot process. There is no information about how the two processes will coexist this year, or what will happen in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IN the past, there was no test to get in the pool either. It required parental application. The burden now is on the school to identify any kids potentially eligible. This is a good move. I am all for it.

Now, the question is for the kids who do participate in the test, what is this online assessment? Is the current test online? How much is the other things going to matter?

So only a school can recommend a student to be considered? Parents aren't able to do that? Just curious

Nobody can answer that yet, because the process hasn't rolled out. Parents of 3rd graders at the Drew- and Fox Chapel-feeding schools were sent the same application as everybody else, so presumably parents will still be applying this year (we sent in an application for our kid), in addition to the new pilot process. There is no information about how the two processes will coexist this year, or what will happen in the future.

Actually parents can still recommend their child even if the school doesn't. This was specifically stated at the board meeting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:IN the past, there was no test to get in the pool either. It required parental application. The burden now is on the school to identify any kids potentially eligible. This is a good move. I am all for it.

Now, the question is for the kids who do participate in the test, what is this online assessment? Is the current test online? How much is the other things going to matter?

So only a school can recommend a student to be considered? Parents aren't able to do that? Just curious

Nobody can answer that yet, because the process hasn't rolled out. Parents of 3rd graders at the Drew- and Fox Chapel-feeding schools were sent the same application as everybody else, so presumably parents will still be applying this year (we sent in an application for our kid), in addition to the new pilot process. There is no information about how the two processes will coexist this year, or what will happen in the future.

Actually parents can still recommend their child even if the school doesn't. This was specifically stated at the board meeting

Oh, thanks for that extra information! (This is the PP above -- I didn't see that spelled out in the board document).

[Anonymous]

I think having extra kids take the test is a fine idea. All the kids should be given the same test however. The "usual" test is a paper test. The document implies the kids not nominated by parents will be given an online test. How are they going to rank kids when not given same test. Or are they changing test for everyone?

I'm suspicious of what criteria they will use for admitting kids for this "pilot"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think having extra kids take the test is a fine idea. All the kids should be given the same test however. The "usual" test is a paper test. The document implies the kids not nominated by parents will be given an online test. How are they going to rank kids when not given same test. Or are they changing test for everyone?

I'm suspicious of what criteria they will use for admitting kids for this "pilot"

Nope comprehension skills low..... Everyone gets the same test

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope comprehension skills low..... Everyone gets the same test

Oh rude one... Where does it say that? So test is being switched?

[Anonymous]

I think the rude one is just being rude for the sake of being rude because the letter presented at the BOE meeting was very unclear. They mentioned some kind of online test but didn't say what. I think the rude one was saying all kids in the elementary schools feeding into those two HGCs will get the same test. I don't think they addressed whether kids applying to the OTHER HGCs not in the pilot will get that test and seemed to imply that for this year they would just get the regular one they have been using for years now.

[Anonymous]

I have a third grader and we are in the Fox Chapel HGC feeing area. We got the same letter home to apply as everyone else. So are they saying that if we were to apply he would take this same online test that kids that are school-nominated kids will? This was not clear to me either.

Sure hope this test is not some dumbed down version so they can magically change up the racial/SES mixup and then declare a big "success". Would be easy to do since they don't measure any outcomes for HGC kids.

[Anonymous]

Is the online test kind of like a take home test? Does this means a lot of parents will be taking it for their kids?

[Anonymous]

I have more faith in objective testing than I do in the school's ability to identify anything. This system will result in children being admitted of the parents who volunteer the most or brown nose teachers the most.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have more faith in objective testing than I do in the school's ability to identify anything. This system will result in children being admitted of the parents who volunteer the most or brown nose teachers the most.

Me too. I have a kid with ADD that's never does that great in class. You should have seen how surprised everyone was with his inview test results. Objective tests don't lie.

Also there is never much of an opportunity for quiet kids to shine. This won't be good at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have more faith in objective testing than I do in the school's ability to identify anything. This system will result in children being admitted of the parents who volunteer the most or brown nose teachers the most.

Me too. I have a kid with ADD that's never does that great in class. You should have seen how surprised everyone was with his inview test results. Objective tests don't lie.

Also there is never much of an opportunity for quiet kids to shine. This won't be good at all.

Well sadly that is a problem right now... My ADD kid certainly didn't get a good teacher recommendation even though scored well on the entrance test. But I think part of the problem is class performance does in fact matter for the HGC. If you can't keep up in the homeschool how can you keep up at the HGC? I think what they are doing at Matsunaga and Stone mill is great for ADD kids.

[Anonymous]

Right cuz as long as you are in the top 1/3 at Stonegate you qualify! And my guess is that based on parent pressure that will be the largest of the classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have more faith in objective testing than I do in the school's ability to identify anything. This system will result in children being admitted of the parents who volunteer the most or brown nose teachers the most.

Me too. I have a kid with ADD that's never does that great in class. You should have seen how surprised everyone was with his inview test results. Objective tests don't lie.

Also there is never much of an opportunity for quiet kids to shine. This won't be good at all.

The HGCs were designed with a somewhat different goal in mind than the MS and HS magnets in that they are (were?) supposed to be for kids who are very bright but not necessarily doing wonderfully in class. This is why the tests were weighted so heavily. They were supposed to give these kids the opportunity to be with their peers to see whether that would make a difference and they could be motivated to do their best. Some kids, especially in elementary when the stakes are low, are so ahead that they are bored and they act out or don't take the work seriously. I am a substitute and see this every day. I think the tests were supposed to level the playing field so that kids who might be URMs would not be subject to teacher biases in recommendations.

I think MCPS's strategy now is to explicitly encourage teachers to "identify" URMs. I think this would not be illegal because they are not taking race into account in the actual admissions process but simply biasing the teacher recommendations in a different direction. I think they have found a clever way around the law.

[Anonymous]

It's possible that is how the HGC program started (I don't know one way or another) but that is not the focus of admissions now.