"Enrichment" in local MS after 6th grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school is doing: Nada. Bupkis. Given the joke that 6th grade "enrichment" for the highly able group was, did we expect any differently? This was pure lip service. They know parents invested in their highly able kids' education will continue to enrich, which of course we will. But screw MCPS. I am sorry I paid a premium to be in a so-called "great" school system. Enormous classes, virtually no homework, little to no challenge. What a disappointment.

I kinda feel sorry for you. But I also kinda don’t. If you are enriching at home it doesn’t seem fair to fault the school for your child being unchallenged. This isn’t a problem unique to MCPS. The vast majority of kids across the country are not challenged at school when they receive extra curricular enrichment. MCPS is still one of the stronger public school districts. But it is still a public school. Paying a premium was your mistake. The truth is a great public school experience is teacher dependent and has very little to do with “a great school system”. Your odd of receiving appropriate challenge go up when you enter the private system. This whole magnet and AAP hoopla has always been lip service. So nothing much has actually changed. The only difference is your dd wasn’t invited.

Not PP, but that's kinda unfair, as there are a few families that made the decision to not go to magnet based, in part, on the promise to enrich at home school.

It's also unfair that the very highest scoring kids, and ones who earned straight As at the most competitive CESs in the county, were not invited because "peer cohort." The promises to support those kids the home MS proved altogether hollow, didn't they?

I would hesitate to call CES programs competitive.

Um, test score averages at a few are well higher than some others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It's also unfair that the very highest scoring kids, and ones who earned straight As at the most competitive CESs in the county, were not invited because "peer cohort." The promises to support those kids the home MS proved altogether hollow, didn't they?

It's Cold Spring CES, not Harvard College. Are you the same person who posted this week about "a top CES"?

And actually over half of Harvard graduates have an A- GPA or higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school is doing: Nada. Bupkis. Given the joke that 6th grade "enrichment" for the highly able group was, did we expect any differently? This was pure lip service. They know parents invested in their highly able kids' education will continue to enrich, which of course we will. But screw MCPS. I am sorry I paid a premium to be in a so-called "great" school system. Enormous classes, virtually no homework, little to no challenge. What a disappointment.

I kinda feel sorry for you. But I also kinda don’t. If you are enriching at home it doesn’t seem fair to fault the school for your child being unchallenged. This isn’t a problem unique to MCPS. The vast majority of kids across the country are not challenged at school when they receive extra curricular enrichment. MCPS is still one of the stronger public school districts. But it is still a public school. Paying a premium was your mistake. The truth is a great public school experience is teacher dependent and has very little to do with “a great school system”. Your odd of receiving appropriate challenge go up when you enter the private system. This whole magnet and AAP hoopla has always been lip service. So nothing much has actually changed. The only difference is your dd wasn’t invited.

You seem to have reversed cause and effect.

How many families do you know, where the kids get into the magnet program but the parents still complain about kids being unchallenged and needing enrichment outside school?

When my kids got into the magnet programs, they were really happy in the programs, and they never had any time for extra enrichment at home. It was the same with their friends too. The point is, if the kids are being challenged appropriately in school, it removes the need to enrich academically at home.

(Also, I feel sorry for your kid - I hope your kid never tells you she is bored in school, etc. According to your logic, you can not provide extra enrichment as that would cause her to be even less challenged in school, right?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school is doing: Nada. Bupkis. Given the joke that 6th grade "enrichment" for the highly able group was, did we expect any differently? This was pure lip service. They know parents invested in their highly able kids' education will continue to enrich, which of course we will. But screw MCPS. I am sorry I paid a premium to be in a so-called "great" school system. Enormous classes, virtually no homework, little to no challenge. What a disappointment.

I kinda feel sorry for you. But I also kinda don’t. If you are enriching at home it doesn’t seem fair to fault the school for your child being unchallenged. This isn’t a problem unique to MCPS. The vast majority of kids across the country are not challenged at school when they receive extra curricular enrichment. MCPS is still one of the stronger public school districts. But it is still a public school. Paying a premium was your mistake. The truth is a great public school experience is teacher dependent and has very little to do with “a great school system”. Your odd of receiving appropriate challenge go up when you enter the private system. This whole magnet and AAP hoopla has always been lip service. So nothing much has actually changed. The only difference is your dd wasn’t invited.

Not PP, but that's kinda unfair, as there are a few families that made the decision to not go to magnet based, in part, on the promise to enrich at home school.

It's also unfair that the very highest scoring kids, and ones who earned straight As at the most competitive CESs in the county, were not invited because "peer cohort." The promises to support those kids the home MS proved altogether hollow, didn't they?

You are talking about 4th and 5th graders? Where does this mindset come from? Seriously?

The difference between academic instruction at the magnets and the home school magnet classes is very little. For years it’s only been a hundred or so kids tested for the magnet school. It was a strong program. But it wasn’t amazing. It’s great for kids without a peer cohort. But it’s not much different from your home school enriched classes. It’s a weird thing to gripe about. CES wasn’t much more advanced than your home school either. You just stopped complaining because you perceived your child receiving the most she could get. Now you feel like she’s missing out unfairly.

You really don't know what you're talking about. When my current Eastern 8th grader tested for magnet MS, around 600 students applied. And her educational experience has been head and shoulders above that my older kid had at our home W-feeder MS. It's not just about peer cohort -- although it is great for her to be with very smart and hard-working fellow students -- it's that the curriculum and teachers are far better than those at the home MS. I've also had two kids go through CES, and the difference in curriculum between CES and the home ES is also night and day. My kids came from a well-regarded ES that we actually really like, had great teachers, and were still bored out of their minds by 3rd grade because the materials were too easy and because the teachers had to spend all their time with the kids who needed more help. Even if they'd been in fully tracked classrooms, though, the curriculum is still bad.

Peer cohorts don't teach smart kids -- smart kids need, and deserve, to have their needs met with excellent curricular materials, well-trained teachers, and enough tracking that they aren't just getting on with it because the teacher has to devote his/her time to the kids who aren't getting it.

So it is a sham and a travesty that MCPS has not truly expanded the magnet programs to meet the needs of all the students who are capable of succeeding and thriving, whether they are "outliers" or whether they have a "peer cohort." And the fact that they don't have a plan for meeting the needs of these students at the home MS beyond 7th grade demonstrates that their promise was and is hollow.

They are “truly” expanding to magnet program. The problem isn’t with the students (who are the same) or the curriculum (which is the same) or the teachers (who are just as capable). The problem is there is no problem, but the parents, who won’t accept anything but TPMS, and who blithely believe that CES and TPMS are where education reaches nirvana. And nothing will ever compare.

It wasn’t that great, people. It was a public school magnet program. There are thousands of these around the country. And what is was in years past wasn’t Ben a true magnet program since the students were self selected and not representative of the whole district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school is doing: Nada. Bupkis. Given the joke that 6th grade "enrichment" for the highly able group was, did we expect any differently? This was pure lip service. They know parents invested in their highly able kids' education will continue to enrich, which of course we will. But screw MCPS. I am sorry I paid a premium to be in a so-called "great" school system. Enormous classes, virtually no homework, little to no challenge. What a disappointment.

I kinda feel sorry for you. But I also kinda don’t. If you are enriching at home it doesn’t seem fair to fault the school for your child being unchallenged. This isn’t a problem unique to MCPS. The vast majority of kids across the country are not challenged at school when they receive extra curricular enrichment. MCPS is still one of the stronger public school districts. But it is still a public school. Paying a premium was your mistake. The truth is a great public school experience is teacher dependent and has very little to do with “a great school system”. Your odd of receiving appropriate challenge go up when you enter the private system. This whole magnet and AAP hoopla has always been lip service. So nothing much has actually changed. The only difference is your dd wasn’t invited.

Not PP, but that's kinda unfair, as there are a few families that made the decision to not go to magnet based, in part, on the promise to enrich at home school.

It's also unfair that the very highest scoring kids, and ones who earned straight As at the most competitive CESs in the county, were not invited because "peer cohort." The promises to support those kids the home MS proved altogether hollow, didn't they?

You are talking about 4th and 5th graders? Where does this mindset come from? Seriously?

The difference between academic instruction at the magnets and the home school magnet classes is very little. For years it’s only been a hundred or so kids tested for the magnet school. It was a strong program. But it wasn’t amazing. It’s great for kids without a peer cohort. But it’s not much different from your home school enriched classes. It’s a weird thing to gripe about. CES wasn’t much more advanced than your home school either. You just stopped complaining because you perceived your child receiving the most she could get. Now you feel like she’s missing out unfairly.

You really don't know what you're talking about. When my current Eastern 8th grader tested for magnet MS, around 600 students applied. And her educational experience has been head and shoulders above that my older kid had at our home W-feeder MS. It's not just about peer cohort -- although it is great for her to be with very smart and hard-working fellow students -- it's that the curriculum and teachers are far better than those at the home MS. I've also had two kids go through CES, and the difference in curriculum between CES and the home ES is also night and day. My kids came from a well-regarded ES that we actually really like, had great teachers, and were still bored out of their minds by 3rd grade because the materials were too easy and because the teachers had to spend all their time with the kids who needed more help. Even if they'd been in fully tracked classrooms, though, the curriculum is still bad.

Peer cohorts don't teach smart kids -- smart kids need, and deserve, to have their needs met with excellent curricular materials, well-trained teachers, and enough tracking that they aren't just getting on with it because the teacher has to devote his/her time to the kids who aren't getting it.

So it is a sham and a travesty that MCPS has not truly expanded the magnet programs to meet the needs of all the students who are capable of succeeding and thriving, whether they are "outliers" or whether they have a "peer cohort." And the fact that they don't have a plan for meeting the needs of these students at the home MS beyond 7th grade demonstrates that their promise was and is hollow.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school is doing: Nada. Bupkis. Given the joke that 6th grade "enrichment" for the highly able group was, did we expect any differently? This was pure lip service. They know parents invested in their highly able kids' education will continue to enrich, which of course we will. But screw MCPS. I am sorry I paid a premium to be in a so-called "great" school system. Enormous classes, virtually no homework, little to no challenge. What a disappointment.

I kinda feel sorry for you. But I also kinda don’t. If you are enriching at home it doesn’t seem fair to fault the school for your child being unchallenged. This isn’t a problem unique to MCPS. The vast majority of kids across the country are not challenged at school when they receive extra curricular enrichment. MCPS is still one of the stronger public school districts. But it is still a public school. Paying a premium was your mistake. The truth is a great public school experience is teacher dependent and has very little to do with “a great school system”. Your odd of receiving appropriate challenge go up when you enter the private system. This whole magnet and AAP hoopla has always been lip service. So nothing much has actually changed. The only difference is your dd wasn’t invited.

Not PP, but that's kinda unfair, as there are a few families that made the decision to not go to magnet based, in part, on the promise to enrich at home school.

+1 especially about the teachers being top notched at the ces and magnet middle school compared to regular middle schools
It's also unfair that the very highest scoring kids, and ones who earned straight As at the most competitive CESs in the county, were not invited because "peer cohort." The promises to support those kids the home MS proved altogether hollow, didn't they?

You are talking about 4th and 5th graders? Where does this mindset come from? Seriously?

The difference between academic instruction at the magnets and the home school magnet classes is very little. For years it’s only been a hundred or so kids tested for the magnet school. It was a strong program. But it wasn’t amazing. It’s great for kids without a peer cohort. But it’s not much different from your home school enriched classes. It’s a weird thing to gripe about. CES wasn’t much more advanced than your home school either. You just stopped complaining because you perceived your child receiving the most she could get. Now you feel like she’s missing out unfairly.

You really don't know what you're talking about. When my current Eastern 8th grader tested for magnet MS, around 600 students applied. And her educational experience has been head and shoulders above that my older kid had at our home W-feeder MS. It's not just about peer cohort -- although it is great for her to be with very smart and hard-working fellow students -- it's that the curriculum and teachers are far better than those at the home MS. I've also had two kids go through CES, and the difference in curriculum between CES and the home ES is also night and day. My kids came from a well-regarded ES that we actually really like, had great teachers, and were still bored out of their minds by 3rd grade because the materials were too easy and because the teachers had to spend all their time with the kids who needed more help. Even if they'd been in fully tracked classrooms, though, the curriculum is still bad.

Peer cohorts don't teach smart kids -- smart kids need, and deserve, to have their needs met with excellent curricular materials, well-trained teachers, and enough tracking that they aren't just getting on with it because the teacher has to devote his/her time to the kids who aren't getting it.

So it is a sham and a travesty that MCPS has not truly expanded the magnet programs to meet the needs of all the students who are capable of succeeding and thriving, whether they are "outliers" or whether they have a "peer cohort." And the fact that they don't have a plan for meeting the needs of these students at the home MS beyond 7th grade demonstrates that their promise was and is hollow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
You really don't know what you're talking about. When my current Eastern 8th grader tested for magnet MS, around 600 students applied. And her educational experience has been head and shoulders above that my older kid had at our home W-feeder MS. It's not just about peer cohort -- although it is great for her to be with very smart and hard-working fellow students -- it's that the curriculum and teachers are far better than those at the home MS. I've also had two kids go through CES, and the difference in curriculum between CES and the home ES is also night and day. My kids came from a well-regarded ES that we actually really like, had great teachers, and were still bored out of their minds by 3rd grade because the materials were too easy and because the teachers had to spend all their time with the kids who needed more help. Even if they'd been in fully tracked classrooms, though, the curriculum is still bad.

Peer cohorts don't teach smart kids -- smart kids need, and deserve, to have their needs met with excellent curricular materials, well-trained teachers, and enough tracking that they aren't just getting on with it because the teacher has to devote his/her time to the kids who aren't getting it.

So it is a sham and a travesty that MCPS has not truly expanded the magnet programs to meet the needs of all the students who are capable of succeeding and thriving, whether they are "outliers" or whether they have a "peer cohort." And the fact that they don't have a plan for meeting the needs of these students at the home MS beyond 7th grade demonstrates that their promise was and is hollow.

I don't remember much concern on DCUM about the needs of highly-able students left to languish in the home middle school, before MCPS changed the middle-school admissions process. (In fact I don't remember any, but maybe there was some and I just don't remember.) But now that it's different highly-able students left to languish in the home middle school, we never hear the end of it on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school is doing: Nada. Bupkis. Given the joke that 6th grade "enrichment" for the highly able group was, did we expect any differently? This was pure lip service. They know parents invested in their highly able kids' education will continue to enrich, which of course we will. But screw MCPS. I am sorry I paid a premium to be in a so-called "great" school system. Enormous classes, virtually no homework, little to no challenge. What a disappointment.

I kinda feel sorry for you. But I also kinda don’t. If you are enriching at home it doesn’t seem fair to fault the school for your child being unchallenged. This isn’t a problem unique to MCPS. The vast majority of kids across the country are not challenged at school when they receive extra curricular enrichment. MCPS is still one of the stronger public school districts. But it is still a public school. Paying a premium was your mistake. The truth is a great public school experience is teacher dependent and has very little to do with “a great school system”. Your odd of receiving appropriate challenge go up when you enter the private system. This whole magnet and AAP hoopla has always been lip service. So nothing much has actually changed. The only difference is your dd wasn’t invited.

You seem to have reversed cause and effect.

How many families do you know, where the kids get into the magnet program but the parents still complain about kids being unchallenged and needing enrichment outside school?

When my kids got into the magnet programs, they were really happy in the programs, and they never had any time for extra enrichment at home. It was the same with their friends too. The point is, if the kids are being challenged appropriately in school, it removes the need to enrich academically at home.

(Also, I feel sorry for your kid - I hope your kid never tells you she is bored in school, etc. According to your logic, you can not provide extra enrichment as that would cause her to be even less challenged in school, right?)

My child gets enrichment and I do not complain when she’s years ahead of school. Because she’s in public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school is doing: Nada. Bupkis. Given the joke that 6th grade "enrichment" for the highly able group was, did we expect any differently? This was pure lip service. They know parents invested in their highly able kids' education will continue to enrich, which of course we will. But screw MCPS. I am sorry I paid a premium to be in a so-called "great" school system. Enormous classes, virtually no homework, little to no challenge. What a disappointment.

I kinda feel sorry for you. But I also kinda don’t. If you are enriching at home it doesn’t seem fair to fault the school for your child being unchallenged. This isn’t a problem unique to MCPS. The vast majority of kids across the country are not challenged at school when they receive extra curricular enrichment. MCPS is still one of the stronger public school districts. But it is still a public school. Paying a premium was your mistake. The truth is a great public school experience is teacher dependent and has very little to do with “a great school system”. Your odd of receiving appropriate challenge go up when you enter the private system. This whole magnet and AAP hoopla has always been lip service. So nothing much has actually changed. The only difference is your dd wasn’t invited.

Not PP, but that's kinda unfair, as there are a few families that made the decision to not go to magnet based, in part, on the promise to enrich at home school.

It's also unfair that the very highest scoring kids, and ones who earned straight As at the most competitive CESs in the county, were not invited because "peer cohort." The promises to support those kids the home MS proved altogether hollow, didn't they?

You are talking about 4th and 5th graders? Where does this mindset come from? Seriously?

The difference between academic instruction at the magnets and the home school magnet classes is very little. For years it’s only been a hundred or so kids tested for the magnet school. It was a strong program. But it wasn’t amazing. It’s great for kids without a peer cohort. But it’s not much different from your home school enriched classes. It’s a weird thing to gripe about. CES wasn’t much more advanced than your home school either. You just stopped complaining because you perceived your child receiving the most she could get. Now you feel like she’s missing out unfairly.

You really don't know what you're talking about. When my current Eastern 8th grader tested for magnet MS, around 600 students applied. And her educational experience has been head and shoulders above that my older kid had at our home W-feeder MS. It's not just about peer cohort -- although it is great for her to be with very smart and hard-working fellow students -- it's that the curriculum and teachers are far better than those at the home MS. I've also had two kids go through CES, and the difference in curriculum between CES and the home ES is also night and day. My kids came from a well-regarded ES that we actually really like, had great teachers, and were still bored out of their minds by 3rd grade because the materials were too easy and because the teachers had to spend all their time with the kids who needed more help. Even if they'd been in fully tracked classrooms, though, the curriculum is still bad.

Peer cohorts don't teach smart kids -- smart kids need, and deserve, to have their needs met with excellent curricular materials, well-trained teachers, and enough tracking that they aren't just getting on with it because the teacher has to devote his/her time to the kids who aren't getting it.

So it is a sham and a travesty that MCPS has not truly expanded the magnet programs to meet the needs of all the students who are capable of succeeding and thriving, whether they are "outliers" or whether they have a "peer cohort." And the fact that they don't have a plan for meeting the needs of these students at the home MS beyond 7th grade demonstrates that their promise was and is hollow.

They are “truly” expanding to magnet program. The problem isn’t with the students (who are the same) or the curriculum (which is the same) or the teachers (who are just as capable). The problem is there is no problem, but the parents, who won’t accept anything but TPMS, and who blithely believe that CES and TPMS are where education reaches nirvana. And nothing will ever compare.

It wasn’t that great, people. It was a public school magnet program. There are thousands of these around the country. And what is was in years past wasn’t Ben a true magnet program since the students were self selected and not representative of the whole district.

I do not know anyone, that has had experience with both the local school as well as the magnets, that feels the same way as you do. When it comes to ES and MS, I agree completely with the poster above that talks about how different her kids' experience was at Eastern compared to the local school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I do not know anyone, that has had experience with both the local school as well as the magnets, that feels the same way as you do. When it comes to ES and MS, I agree completely with the poster above that talks about how different her kids' experience was at Eastern compared to the local school.

I have experience with the home school as well as a magnet. The magnet is better in some ways and worse in others. The home school is better in some ways and worse in others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I do not know anyone, that has had experience with both the local school as well as the magnets, that feels the same way as you do. When it comes to ES and MS, I agree completely with the poster above that talks about how different her kids' experience was at Eastern compared to the local school.

I have experience with the home school as well as a magnet. The magnet is better in some ways and worse in others. The home school is better in some ways and worse in others.

Can you elaborate - specifically regarding enrichment/academics ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You really don't know what you're talking about. When my current Eastern 8th grader tested for magnet MS, around 600 students applied. And her educational experience has been head and shoulders above that my older kid had at our home W-feeder MS. It's not just about peer cohort -- although it is great for her to be with very smart and hard-working fellow students -- it's that the curriculum and teachers are far better than those at the home MS. I've also had two kids go through CES, and the difference in curriculum between CES and the home ES is also night and day. My kids came from a well-regarded ES that we actually really like, had great teachers, and were still bored out of their minds by 3rd grade because the materials were too easy and because the teachers had to spend all their time with the kids who needed more help. Even if they'd been in fully tracked classrooms, though, the curriculum is still bad.

Peer cohorts don't teach smart kids -- smart kids need, and deserve, to have their needs met with excellent curricular materials, well-trained teachers, and enough tracking that they aren't just getting on with it because the teacher has to devote his/her time to the kids who aren't getting it.

So it is a sham and a travesty that MCPS has not truly expanded the magnet programs to meet the needs of all the students who are capable of succeeding and thriving, whether they are "outliers" or whether they have a "peer cohort." And the fact that they don't have a plan for meeting the needs of these students at the home MS beyond 7th grade demonstrates that their promise was and is hollow.

I don't remember much concern on DCUM about the needs of highly-able students left to languish in the home middle school, before MCPS changed the middle-school admissions process. (In fact I don't remember any, but maybe there was some and I just don't remember.) But now that it's different highly-able students left to languish in the home middle school, we never hear the end of it on DCUM.

I do not know about DCUM, but I do remember the MCCPTA - GT committee / GTAMC (I am not sure if I am getting the acronyms right) meetings (I think Ms. Gluck (sp?) was one of the organizers) years ago where one pet peeve seemed to be local schools not having enough opportunities for enrichment for advanced students. The complaint was always that the magnet programming needed to be available more widely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I do not know anyone, that has had experience with both the local school as well as the magnets, that feels the same way as you do. When it comes to ES and MS, I agree completely with the poster above that talks about how different her kids' experience was at Eastern compared to the local school.

I have experience with the home school as well as a magnet. The magnet is better in some ways and worse in others. The home school is better in some ways and worse in others.

Can you elaborate - specifically regarding enrichment/academics ?

PP you're responding to. Middle school is not only about enrichment/academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school is doing: Nada. Bupkis. Given the joke that 6th grade "enrichment" for the highly able group was, did we expect any differently? This was pure lip service. They know parents invested in their highly able kids' education will continue to enrich, which of course we will. But screw MCPS. I am sorry I paid a premium to be in a so-called "great" school system. Enormous classes, virtually no homework, little to no challenge. What a disappointment.

I kinda feel sorry for you. But I also kinda don’t. If you are enriching at home it doesn’t seem fair to fault the school for your child being unchallenged. This isn’t a problem unique to MCPS. The vast majority of kids across the country are not challenged at school when they receive extra curricular enrichment. MCPS is still one of the stronger public school districts. But it is still a public school. Paying a premium was your mistake. The truth is a great public school experience is teacher dependent and has very little to do with “a great school system”. Your odd of receiving appropriate challenge go up when you enter the private system. This whole magnet and AAP hoopla has always been lip service. So nothing much has actually changed. The only difference is your dd wasn’t invited.

Not PP, but that's kinda unfair, as there are a few families that made the decision to not go to magnet based, in part, on the promise to enrich at home school.

It's also unfair that the very highest scoring kids, and ones who earned straight As at the most competitive CESs in the county, were not invited because "peer cohort." The promises to support those kids the home MS proved altogether hollow, didn't they?

You are talking about 4th and 5th graders? Where does this mindset come from? Seriously?

The difference between academic instruction at the magnets and the home school magnet classes is very little. For years it’s only been a hundred or so kids tested for the magnet school. It was a strong program. But it wasn’t amazing. It’s great for kids without a peer cohort. But it’s not much different from your home school enriched classes. It’s a weird thing to gripe about. CES wasn’t much more advanced than your home school either. You just stopped complaining because you perceived your child receiving the most she could get. Now you feel like she’s missing out unfairly.

At MS, the difference between academic instruction at the magnets and the home school is VASTLY different. If you are saying otherwise, you have no idea what you are talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school is doing: Nada. Bupkis. Given the joke that 6th grade "enrichment" for the highly able group was, did we expect any differently? This was pure lip service. They know parents invested in their highly able kids' education will continue to enrich, which of course we will. But screw MCPS. I am sorry I paid a premium to be in a so-called "great" school system. Enormous classes, virtually no homework, little to no challenge. What a disappointment.

I kinda feel sorry for you. But I also kinda don’t. If you are enriching at home it doesn’t seem fair to fault the school for your child being unchallenged. This isn’t a problem unique to MCPS. The vast majority of kids across the country are not challenged at school when they receive extra curricular enrichment. MCPS is still one of the stronger public school districts. But it is still a public school. Paying a premium was your mistake. The truth is a great public school experience is teacher dependent and has very little to do with “a great school system”. Your odd of receiving appropriate challenge go up when you enter the private system. This whole magnet and AAP hoopla has always been lip service. So nothing much has actually changed. The only difference is your dd wasn’t invited.

Not PP, but that's kinda unfair, as there are a few families that made the decision to not go to magnet based, in part, on the promise to enrich at home school.

It's also unfair that the very highest scoring kids, and ones who earned straight As at the most competitive CESs in the county, were not invited because "peer cohort." The promises to support those kids the home MS proved altogether hollow, didn't they?

You are talking about 4th and 5th graders? Where does this mindset come from? Seriously?

The difference between academic instruction at the magnets and the home school magnet classes is very little. For years it’s only been a hundred or so kids tested for the magnet school. It was a strong program. But it wasn’t amazing. It’s great for kids without a peer cohort. But it’s not much different from your home school enriched classes. It’s a weird thing to gripe about. CES wasn’t much more advanced than your home school either. You just stopped complaining because you perceived your child receiving the most she could get. Now you feel like she’s missing out unfairly.

At MS, the difference between academic instruction at the magnets and the home school is VASTLY different. If you are saying otherwise, you have no idea what you are talking about.

+1 It was such a relief not to have to do any enrichment during the magnet years. DD still earned straight As, but was challenged and had to work for them. Why is it wrong to expect a home school to provide adequate challenge?