Middle school magnets - criteria-based

[Anonymous]

Ugh, still no mail. Mail didn’t get delivered yesterday either. Something is up with our route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just received our letter. Made the lottery for math and humanities. But came up empty for magnet placement. Bummer.

Same here. Made both lotteries but no placement in magnet (map m 257). Ah well. We did get into Parkland so now we are thinking about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Got letter that student was placed in both lottery pools and did not get a spot. I presume this mean he will be placed in HIGH and AIM at our local school.

I think that's correct.

[Anonymous]

Placed in humanities lottery only (totally appropriate to DC's strengths and interests: math is not DC's thing). Did not get a seat.

[Anonymous]

Places in math/science lottery only but did not get a spot.

[Anonymous]

Got the letter. Kid was entered into both lotteries but did not get in either. I do wonder about math placement because my DC is not in 5/6 math (although we wanted DC in compacted math and school insisted on grade level math).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Got the letter. Kid was entered into both lotteries but did not get in either. I do wonder about math placement because my DC is not in 5/6 math (although we wanted DC in compacted math and school insisted on grade level math).

Did it say anything in the letter about math placement for next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Got the letter. Kid was entered into both lotteries but did not get in either. I do wonder about math placement because my DC is not in 5/6 math (although we wanted DC in compacted math and school insisted on grade level math).

I think you have the right to AIM if he was placed in the math/science lottery. However, he’r have to get up to speed on his own on 6th grade math, and that would be a lot to cover over the summer. I’d probably be inclined to go with AMP 6+

[Anonymous]

DD made it to the lottery for both, selected for neither. I don’t remember her actual MAP scores but she was 95th/96th percentile for math/reading respectively. Low-moderate FARMS elementary. She’s in compacted math and loves it - straight As across the board.

[Anonymous]

DD made lottery for both TPMS and Eastern but was selected for neither. High 240s for MAP M and R; I don't remember the exact numbers but M was a point or two higher.

Am a little confused because in ParentVue it says her math recommendation is AMP6+ but I think she should be in AIM....but maybe the issue is that the AIM recommendation is done centrally by MCPS and that hasn't happened yet? In ParentVue it says "teacher recommendation" so that's what I'm thinking.

Bummed that DD won't have any advanced science, though....and her middle school hilariously calls English "Advanced English" even though that's the English class for everyone - there is no differentiation.

[Anonymous]

DD with MAP-M and MAP-R in the 99th percentile. Placed in both lotteries, selected for neither. Low-Moderate FARMS school. Straight A's. Asian.

Looks like there are more posts of people who did not get picked than those who got picked. Would love to know profile of kids who got selected to confirm that this was a true lottery.

[Anonymous]

We'll get a high-level picture of the lottery results probably sometime over the summer when MCPS presents them to the BOE. Almost certainly, it won't be detailed enough to allow for community critique, as is the case with almost everything put to the board.

MCPS did do a much better job of posting a proper FAQ, even though that, itself, was after the measures that would be used were already past, and even though there was some detail omitted (specifics on adjustments for those receiving services, current-year school FARMS rate tranches for local norming, etc.).

I sincerely doubt it wasn't a true lottery after the inclusion adjustments, though. The worst I reasonably could see, there, would be that the company contracted to perform it might be asked to run it over in case there was a huge statistical anomaly in magnet selection (e.g., hugely disproportionate gender balance or very lumpy distribution across schools vs. their identified population). Even if they had such a mechanism, I doubt it would be based on MCPS review -- too much that could get them in trouble when they know the community is asking for info.

Of course, shining that light will be resisted, and only a determined BOE champion or a slew of community lawsuits (kt was too easy from a legal/procedural perspective to brush aside the one effort

[Anonymous]

Sorry, that should have said,

"Of course, shining that light will be resisted, and only a determined BOE champion or a slew of community lawsuits (it was too easy from a legal/procedural perspective to brush aside the one effort from MCCPTA) is likely to pierce the veil."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD made lottery for both TPMS and Eastern but was selected for neither. High 240s for MAP M and R; I don't remember the exact numbers but M was a point or two higher.

Am a little confused because in ParentVue it says her math recommendation is AMP6+ but I think she should be in AIM....but maybe the issue is that the AIM recommendation is done centrally by MCPS and that hasn't happened yet? In ParentVue it says "teacher recommendation" so that's what I'm thinking.

Bummed that DD won't have any advanced science, though....and her middle school hilariously calls English "Advanced English" even though that's the English class for everyone - there is no differentiation.

Parentvue recommendations are done by the current 5th grade teacher or her current elementary school. If you want her in AIM or another class just register her for it when the time comes and if there is any issue you can show them the lottery letter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We'll get a high-level picture of the lottery results probably sometime over the summer when MCPS presents them to the BOE. Almost certainly, it won't be detailed enough to allow for community critique, as is the case with almost everything put to the board.

MCPS did do a much better job of posting a proper FAQ, even though that, itself, was after the measures that would be used were already past, and even though there was some detail omitted (specifics on adjustments for those receiving services, current-year school FARMS rate tranches for local norming, etc.).

I sincerely doubt it wasn't a true lottery after the inclusion adjustments, though. The worst I reasonably could see, there, would be that the company contracted to perform it might be asked to run it over in case there was a huge statistical anomaly in magnet selection (e.g., hugely disproportionate gender balance or very lumpy distribution across schools vs. their identified population). Even if they had such a mechanism, I doubt it would be based on MCPS review -- too much that could get them in trouble when they know the community is asking for info.

Of course, shining that light will be resisted, and only a determined BOE champion or a slew of community lawsuits (kt was too easy from a legal/procedural perspective to brush aside the one effort

Why is MCPS so secretive and sneaky? Other school districts including FCPS release a lot more data and try to keep the community involved by valuing transparency.