MS Magnet letters are starting to arrive

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this is the case, explain why on application there is Home High School, and gender.
They definitely use both. Otherwise most kids will be only from W cluster, or only from HGCs. That is not the case.

Can you explain this assumption of yours, please?

I am not PP, if you're talking about this assumption as "otherwise most kids will be only from W cluster or only from HGCs," I think the assumption rests on three things.

First, that admission depends almost entirely on test results. I'm not sure that's true given what I've seen over the years about the tests scores and various decisions to admit or deny students.

Second, is that in these types of standardized group-administered ability tests, the same kind of income/performance level correlations are at work that we see, for example, in the SAT. It doesn't mean that wealthy kids are smarter than poor kids, but that there is some kind of advantage they enjoy in the process that helps them score higher on average as a group -- home tutoring, test prep, exposure to enriching activities, more exposure to books, confidence, less stress and anxiety in life, etc. There are a zillion possibilities.

Third, I also think it's clear that those kids who have enjoyed advanced instruction -- in the HGC, for example -- are likely to score better. My DD, who was in the HGC and a MS magnet, mentioned that at some point (I forget whether she said HGC or MS) they actually received explicit instruction and practice in how to solve Raven-type puzzles. I know her math instruction was more advanced, and so she would likely score better on the math portion of the MS exam, which definitely requires math skills/knowledge that can be taught. I have no idea why the school or teachers teach Ravens, as it's not part of curriculum, but I believe her. I've also watched my son's MAP-M percentiles plummet since he's been taken off the accelerated curriculum track after the introduction of C2.0 -- the lack of accelerated instruction is clearly the cause. It would have the same effect on MS SCAT scores. There's no way he could get the questions that depend on understanding averages if he wasn't exposed to them, but another kid was taking compacted 4/5/6 was or getting the instruction at home

+1 You nailed it!

You and Pp are conflating the W clusters and affluence/education/privilege.

NP: I see the point here, and I can't really stand all of the assumptions about W vs. Downcounty schools, but the truth is that W cluster attendance and affluence/privilege are correlated. That does not mean that there aren't affluent parents in Silver Spring. But it does mean when we look at overall trends of who is advantaged, it tends to correlate with cluster. And research clearly shows that SES affords opportunity in terms of these tests. So I think that that is the point.

It's not a conflation. It's actually true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was probably revived by one of the non-magnet student bullies at one of the ms magnets.

The only bullies at our magnet school are the ones being bussed in for the magnet. The locals are just fine. My kids are both locals and attend the magnets. This is Pine Crest and Eastern. Kids from further east and north are problems. Just an fyi.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If this is the case, explain why on application there is Home High School, and gender.
They definitely use both. Otherwise most kids will be only from W cluster, or only from HGCs. That is not the case.

Can you explain this assumption of yours, please?

I am not PP, if you're talking about this assumption as "otherwise most kids will be only from W cluster or only from HGCs," I think the assumption rests on three things.

First, that admission depends almost entirely on test results. I'm not sure that's true given what I've seen over the years about the tests scores and various decisions to admit or deny students.

Second, is that in these types of standardized group-administered ability tests, the same kind of income/performance level correlations are at work that we see, for example, in the SAT. It doesn't mean that wealthy kids are smarter than poor kids, but that there is some kind of advantage they enjoy in the process that helps them score higher on average as a group -- home tutoring, test prep, exposure to enriching activities, more exposure to books, confidence, less stress and anxiety in life, etc. There are a zillion possibilities.

Third, I also think it's clear that those kids who have enjoyed advanced instruction -- in the HGC, for example -- are likely to score better. My DD, who was in the HGC and a MS magnet, mentioned that at some point (I forget whether she said HGC or MS) they actually received explicit instruction and practice in how to solve Raven-type puzzles. I know her math instruction was more advanced, and so she would likely score better on the math portion of the MS exam, which definitely requires math skills/knowledge that can be taught. I have no idea why the school or teachers teach Ravens, as it's not part of curriculum, but I believe her. I've also watched my son's MAP-M percentiles plummet since he's been taken off the accelerated curriculum track after the introduction of C2.0 -- the lack of accelerated instruction is clearly the cause. It would have the same effect on MS SCAT scores. There's no way he could get the questions that depend on understanding averages if he wasn't exposed to them, but another kid was taking compacted 4/5/6 was or getting the instruction at home

+1 You nailed it!

You and Pp are conflating the W clusters and affluence/education/privilege.

NP: I see the point here, and I can't really stand all of the assumptions about W vs. Downcounty schools, but the truth is that W cluster attendance and affluence/privilege are correlated. That does not mean that there aren't affluent parents in Silver Spring. But it does mean when we look at overall trends of who is advantaged, it tends to correlate with cluster. And research clearly shows that SES affords opportunity in terms of these tests. So I think that that is the point.

It's not a conflation. It's actually true.

I think we all agree that it is true - affluence and privilege go with W school. That doesn't mean intelligence. I think that's the difference.

I agree with the previous poster that listed out the reasons why magnet MS give people an advantage in the test for HS. But privilege !=intelligence. Particularly around DC where some of the most interesting jobs that require the most advanced degrees from the best schools are for the government. Academics also fall into this bucket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was probably revived by one of the non-magnet student bullies at one of the ms magnets.

The only bullies at our magnet school are the ones being bussed in for the magnet. The locals are just fine. My kids are both locals and attend the magnets. This is Pine Crest and Eastern. Kids from further east and north are problems. Just an fyi.

I've had kids those same schools and the one at Eastern has expericed bullying all from local non magnet students. (Not an isolated incident either- but different kids in different years). My kids have never experienced bullying from within the magnet. The bullies target the magnet kids so if your kids are not in magnets then you might not realize that this is happening.

This is not a slam on Eastern though. The administration has handled the bullying extremely well. I've been impressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was probably revived by one of the non-magnet student bullies at one of the ms magnets.

The only bullies at our magnet school are the ones being bussed in for the magnet. The locals are just fine. My kids are both locals and attend the magnets. This is Pine Crest and Eastern. Kids from further east and north are problems. Just an fyi.

I've had kids those same schools and the one at Eastern has expericed bullying all from local non magnet students. (Not an isolated incident either- but different kids in different years). My kids have never experienced bullying from within the magnet. The bullies target the magnet kids so if your kids are not in magnets then you might not realize that this is happening.

This is not a slam on Eastern though. The administration has handled the bullying extremely well. I've been impressed.

This is the PP. My kids were/are in the magnet and only had trouble with those kids bussed in. They were local as well so road the bus with everyone from the neighborhood. We had the same issue with Pine Crest (everyone local was fine - mean girls were those bussed in for the magnet).

I would say that middle school is terrible no matter where you are and it might be random who is your problem. Problem kids and mean bullies come from everywhere. We filed two different reports for two different kids (who were bussed in).

It's definitely not only the local people, however.

[Anonymous]

Most of the affluent/privileged in the W schools dont send their kids to public schools. I remember years ago when we first moved to one of the W clusters and went to trick-o-trade with my next door new neighbor. My neighbor told me that most kids in the neighborhood go to private schools. Most of students in W schools are from working families, some of them having two working parents to support families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the affluent/privileged in the W schools dont send their kids to public schools. I remember years ago when we first moved to one of the W clusters and went to trick-o-trade with my next door new neighbor. My neighbor told me that most kids in the neighborhood go to private schools. Most of students in W schools are from working families, some of them having two working parents to support families.

Wow, two working parents, that's so sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the affluent/privileged in the W schools dont send their kids to public schools. I remember years ago when we first moved to one of the W clusters and went to trick-o-trade with my next door new neighbor. My neighbor told me that most kids in the neighborhood go to private schools. Most of students in W schools are from working families, some of them having two working parents to support families.

Wow, two working parents, that's so sad.

Why it is so sad? We are a family with two working parents to support our family, and we both enjoy our working life as well as family life. DC is in magnet. We are in W school distracts but not affluent/privileged. Why everyone has to be soo negative about W schools? By the way, we pay tax, a lot of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was probably revived by one of the non-magnet student bullies at one of the ms magnets.

The only bullies at our magnet school are the ones being bussed in for the magnet. The locals are just fine. My kids are both locals and attend the magnets. This is Pine Crest and Eastern. Kids from further east and north are problems. Just an fyi.

I've had kids those same schools and the one at Eastern has expericed bullying all from local non magnet students. (Not an isolated incident either- but different kids in different years). My kids have never experienced bullying from within the magnet. The bullies target the magnet kids so if your kids are not in magnets then you might not realize that this is happening.

This is not a slam on Eastern though. The administration has handled the bullying extremely well. I've been impressed.

This is the PP. My kids were/are in the magnet and only had trouble with those kids bussed in. They were local as well so road the bus with everyone from the neighborhood. We had the same issue with Pine Crest (everyone local was fine - mean girls were those bussed in for the magnet).

I would say that middle school is terrible no matter where you are and it might be random who is your problem. Problem kids and mean bullies come from everywhere. We filed two different reports for two different kids (who were bussed in).

It's definitely not only the local people, however.

PP here. My objection was that you said that there were no bullies who were not in the magnet. That is not our experience. And the bullying has been targeted at magnet kids. My child has been bullied just last week by someone in the comprehensive program. I don't doubt that there are also bullies in the magnet but that hasn't been our experience.

Our child at Pine Crest has not had any issues with bullies but there was an incident this year where a non magnet kid beat up a few kids in the magnet (because they were in the magnet).

[Anonymous]

My kids spent 15 years in MS/HS magnets (all combined). We never had an issue with bullies. Not even once.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like that attending a GT program is a dagngenours journey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've had 3 kids in HGC, MS magnet & HS Magnet- it's Always acceptances one day, rejections 1 or 2 days after

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've had 3 kids in HGC, MS magnet & HS Magnet- it's Always acceptances one day, rejections 1 or 2 days after

+1

This has not been our experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was probably revived by one of the non-magnet student bullies at one of the ms magnets.

The only bullies at our magnet school are the ones being bussed in for the magnet. The locals are just fine. My kids are both locals and attend the magnets. This is Pine Crest and Eastern. Kids from further east and north are problems. Just an fyi.

I've had kids those same schools and the one at Eastern has expericed bullying all from local non magnet students. (Not an isolated incident either- but different kids in different years). My kids have never experienced bullying from within the magnet. The bullies target the magnet kids so if your kids are not in magnets then you might not realize that this is happening.

This is not a slam on Eastern though. The administration has handled the bullying extremely well. I've been impressed.

This is the PP. My kids were/are in the magnet and only had trouble with those kids bussed in. They were local as well so road the bus with everyone from the neighborhood. We had the same issue with Pine Crest (everyone local was fine - mean girls were those bussed in for the magnet).

I would say that middle school is terrible no matter where you are and it might be random who is your problem. Problem kids and mean bullies come from everywhere. We filed two different reports for two different kids (who were bussed in).

It's definitely not only the local people, however.

PP here. My objection was that you said that there were no bullies who were not in the magnet. That is not our experience. And the bullying has been targeted at magnet kids. My child has been bullied just last week by someone in the comprehensive program. I don't doubt that there are also bullies in the magnet but that hasn't been our experience.

Our child at Pine Crest has not had any issues with bullies but there was an incident this year where a non magnet kid beat up a few kids in the magnet (because they were in the magnet).

Sounds like you are spreading hearsay/rumors to me. I have kids at Pine Crest and have not heard anything about this "incident" and I regularly attend PTA meetings-- do you? What do you mean by "beat up" and how many kids? And how do you KNOW that the "non magnet" kid beat them up because they were in the magnet? Maybe you should get your facts clear before you start disparaging local kids. Kids fight for a lot of reasons that may have nothing to do with how brilliant magnet kids are.

[Anonymous]

If your kid's school contacted you in October and told you to apply, do you think it would have added weight in the process (non-W school)?