High school magnet test

[Anonymous]

I think for the elementary CESes no there's not enough data to compare and different schools have different standards for grades. Ours had no grade inflation but I know another school where everyone had straight As.

For MS I think it's a toss up. There's some data but not a ton, and in elementary some parents help their kids so much that their scores and grade are not necessarily representative of their ability.

For HS I think they absolutely have enough information not to have to go to a lottery so I think their approach makes sense. For some of these kids they'll have a MS Cogat too and since Cogat should be relatively consistent they can use that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Where did you get this from?


Anonymous wrote:
OP here , not at all trying to have fun here. We all should get an official email from MCPS by the day end today. MCPS Magnet (Criteria-based) Admission Process: Pandemic Plan Overview
Key Changes/Pandemic Plan: MCPS will maintain a multiple measures approach for identifying students for magnet (criteria-based) programs, and some changes are necessary as a result of conditions associated with the pandemic and virtual processes. These changes include:
External measures are included but will not utilize the Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) as a criteria to select students for the 2021-2022 school year because of limits to in-person testing and concerns with remote testing;
Addition of a lottery approach along with an expert review panel for elementary and middle school programs; and
Removal of teacher recommendations as part of the high school process, given the conditions of virtual learning.
The Impact of covid-19
Our choice work has affirmed that we have highly-able students in all schools, zip codes and neighborhoods.
Serving our students is critically important and we do this in a variety of ways. Enriched programming to students is provided at their local school, through regional (magnet) programs and thematic based (interest-based) programs .
Although the pandemic has impacted school systems across the nation, it is important to continue identifying and providing access to students who need and/or are interested in enriched and accelerated programming.
Identifying students for enriched and accelerated programming begins with using multiple measures. In response to the pandemic, we are making adjustments to the admission process for elementary and secondary regional (magnet) programs this year.
Admission Process
This year, as in all years prior, using multiple measures is important to seeing a student’s academic profile. It will include student data collected pre-Covid and in 2020. This set of data will provide a holistic view of students and their academic needs.
Multiple measures have always been used in the admission process for MCPS’ magnet programs at the elementary and secondary levels. To ensure equitable access to programming, like many other large school systems, MCPS will not administer the CogAT, a reasoning ability assessment, this year.
The elementary and middle school admission process will begin with a universal review and program placement will use both an expert panel committee and a lottery. The lottery pool will be comprised of students who demonstrate a need for enriched and accelerated instruction.
All students who are in the lottery pool will either be placed in regional or local enriched programming. .
The high school programs will continue with professional review committees to evaluate the students’ academic profiles for each program they applied.
Key Dates:
High School Magnet (Criteria-based) Programs
Nov 30 Parent/Guardian Communication to only students who applied to one or more
programs
Jan 2021 Review committees evaluate student applicants
Feb 2021 Parent/guardian and school results, notification, acceptances, and appeals
Middle School Magnet (Criteria-based) Programs
Dec 4 Parent/Guardian Communication to Grade 5 parents about admission process and
parent/guardian information meeting
Dec 21 Downcounty presentation (virtual) English 6 p.m., Spanish 7 p.m.
Dec 22 Upcounty presentation (virtual) English 6 p.m., Spanish 7 p.m.
Feb 2021 Universal Review, Parent/guardian/school results, notification
March 2021 Parent/guardian/students acceptances and appeals
Centers for Enriched

Original Poster
DC school sent an attachment in their weekly newsletter on 28th Nov.My guess is it was sent by mistake and it took me some time yo wrap my head around it. I had to save it in PDF form and then it was posted here by me.

[Anonymous]

[Post New]12/02/2020 11:19 Subject: High school magnet test [Up]
Anonymous



I think for the elementary CESes no there's not enough data to compare and different schools have different standards for grades. Ours had no grade inflation but I know another school where everyone had straight As.

For MS I think it's a toss up. There's some data but not a ton, and in elementary some parents help their kids so much that their scores and grade are not necessarily representative of their ability.

For HS I think they absolutely have enough information not to have to go to a lottery so I think their approach makes sense. For some of these kids they'll have a MS Cogat too and since Cogat should be relatively consistent they can use that.


My guess is for HS winter MAP might play a role along with 1st semester report from grade 8th and GPA as well. MCPS will be making the decision in Jan for all the kids who have applied to special programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think for the elementary CESes no there's not enough data to compare and different schools have different standards for grades. Ours had no grade inflation but I know another school where everyone had straight As.

For MS I think it's a toss up. There's some data but not a ton, and in elementary some parents help their kids so much that their scores and grade are not necessarily representative of their ability.

For HS I think they absolutely have enough information not to have to go to a lottery so I think their approach makes sense. For some of these kids they'll have a MS Cogat too and since Cogat should be relatively consistent they can use that.

For MS magnet, 3rd grade Cogat scores can be useful to shed light to kids' abilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[Post New]12/02/2020 11:19 Subject: High school magnet test [Up]
Anonymous



I think for the elementary CESes no there's not enough data to compare and different schools have different standards for grades. Ours had no grade inflation but I know another school where everyone had straight As.

For MS I think it's a toss up. There's some data but not a ton, and in elementary some parents help their kids so much that their scores and grade are not necessarily representative of their ability.

For HS I think they absolutely have enough information not to have to go to a lottery so I think their approach makes sense. For some of these kids they'll have a MS Cogat too and since Cogat should be relatively consistent they can use that.


My guess is for HS winter MAP might play a role along with 1st semester report from grade 8th and GPA as well. MCPS will be making the decision in Jan for all the kids who have applied to special programs.

I doubt they'll look at the winter MAP, will probably begin their review before then. It took our MS weeks to administer MAP will all the technology problems, makeups etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think for the elementary CESes no there's not enough data to compare and different schools have different standards for grades. Ours had no grade inflation but I know another school where everyone had straight As.

For MS I think it's a toss up. There's some data but not a ton, and in elementary some parents help their kids so much that their scores and grade are not necessarily representative of their ability.

For HS I think they absolutely have enough information not to have to go to a lottery so I think their approach makes sense. For some of these kids they'll have a MS Cogat too and since Cogat should be relatively consistent they can use that.

For MS magnet, 3rd grade Cogat scores can be useful to shed light to kids' abilities.

yes but it was a screener so not very accurate and not easy to differentiate between kids so there will be a lot of kids with similar scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[Post New]12/02/2020 11:19 Subject: High school magnet test [Up]
Anonymous



I think for the elementary CESes no there's not enough data to compare and different schools have different standards for grades. Ours had no grade inflation but I know another school where everyone had straight As.

For MS I think it's a toss up. There's some data but not a ton, and in elementary some parents help their kids so much that their scores and grade are not necessarily representative of their ability.

For HS I think they absolutely have enough information not to have to go to a lottery so I think their approach makes sense. For some of these kids they'll have a MS Cogat too and since Cogat should be relatively consistent they can use that.


My guess is for HS winter MAP might play a role along with 1st semester report from grade 8th and GPA as well. MCPS will be making the decision in Jan for all the kids who have applied to special programs.

In some cases they will have to look at 7th grade Fall MAP scores. I know my son's school has limited data for Winter MAP. My son only has Fall MAP scores for 7th grade. Also, they will only look at 1st Quarter of 8th grade, not the semester if they plan to make decisions in January. The 2nd Quarter/1st Semester is over on January 28th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think for the elementary CESes no there's not enough data to compare and different schools have different standards for grades. Ours had no grade inflation but I know another school where everyone had straight As.

For MS I think it's a toss up. There's some data but not a ton, and in elementary some parents help their kids so much that their scores and grade are not necessarily representative of their ability.

For HS I think they absolutely have enough information not to have to go to a lottery so I think their approach makes sense. For some of these kids they'll have a MS Cogat too and since Cogat should be relatively consistent they can use that.

For MS magnet, 3rd grade Cogat scores can be useful to shed light to kids' abilities.

yes but it was a screener so not very accurate and not easy to differentiate between kids so there will be a lot of kids with similar scores.

I don't think there were a lot of kids with similar top scores. That's against the rules of statistics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think for the elementary CESes no there's not enough data to compare and different schools have different standards for grades. Ours had no grade inflation but I know another school where everyone had straight As.

For MS I think it's a toss up. There's some data but not a ton, and in elementary some parents help their kids so much that their scores and grade are not necessarily representative of their ability.

For HS I think they absolutely have enough information not to have to go to a lottery so I think their approach makes sense. For some of these kids they'll have a MS Cogat too and since Cogat should be relatively consistent they can use that.

For MS magnet, 3rd grade Cogat scores can be useful to shed light to kids' abilities.

PLEASE. This is a HS magnet test thread. There is a MS one do not confuse. Different processes, thank you. Lots of posts have been deleted already for being off topic and MS related.

[Anonymous]

Did the teachers say they couldn’t do the recommendations fairly because of DL? Confused how there can be reliable enough to use grades during DL but not reliable enough to use teacher recommendations.

[Anonymous]

Sorry I am still confused, has high school magnet been officially confirmed if they ARE or ARE NOT using lottery for the criteria based programs (I.e Poolesville, rmib, Blair)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry I am still confused, has high school magnet been officially confirmed if they ARE or ARE NOT using lottery for the criteria based programs (I.e Poolesville, rmib, Blair)?

They are not. Here's the relevant portion of the letter that went out earlier this week:

"This year’s Pandemic Plan for the high school magnet admission process will continue using multiple measures
and professional review committees. Multiple criteria will include pre-COVID and 2020 data such as report card
grades, reading level, external assessments (Measures of Academic Progress-Reading and Measures of
Academic Progress-Mathematics) and student services (students who receive services in ESOL—English for
Speakers of Other Languages, FARMS—Free and Reduced-price Meals System, IEP—Individualized Education
Plan and or 504 plan. Due to limitations with in-person instruction and test security, the Cognitive Abilities
Assessment (CogAT) and scored essay will not be administered. In addition, as a result of conditions associated
with virtual-only instruction, teacher recommendations will not be part of the process this year. Students with
incomplete data and private/home schooled students will be considered in the review.

The next steps will include the central review of the performance measures noted above for your student, along
with the application submissions collected in ParentVUE. In January 2021, review committees will assemble and
evaluate each student’s academic record for each program they have applied. Parents and Grade 8 applicants
will receive results in ParentVUE in early February 2021."

This info is also in the FAQ: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nPi2J_H2cr_AFzyI13xOtoT8FS3EbAFjHdzmSoXyfc0/edit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry I am still confused, has high school magnet been officially confirmed if they ARE or ARE NOT using lottery for the criteria based programs (I.e Poolesville, rmib, Blair)?

NOT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry I am still confused, has high school magnet been officially confirmed if they ARE or ARE NOT using lottery for the criteria based programs (I.e Poolesville, rmib, Blair)?

They are NOT using any sort of lottery for criteria-based HS programs, but the data they’re using to evaluate will be taken from a broader range of sources than usual. Also no COGAT or teacher recs.

This is copied directly from the letter attached to the email sent to families of students who applied to one or more of these criteria-based HS programs:

“This year’s Pandemic Plan for the high school magnet admission process will continue using multiple measures and professional review committees. Multiple criteria will include pre-COVID and 2020 data such as report card grades, reading level, external assessments (Measures of Academic Progress-Reading and Measures of Academic Progress-Mathematics) and student services (students who receive services in ESOL—English for Speakers of Other Languages, FARMS—Free and Reduced-price Meals System, IEP—Individualized Education Plan and or 504 plan. Due to limitations with in-person instruction and test security, the Cognitive Abilities Assessment (CogAT) and scored essay will not be administered. In addition, as a result of conditions associated with virtual-only instruction, teacher recommendations will not be part of the process this year. Students with incomplete data and private/home schooled students will be considered in the review.”

No lottery mentioned, even obliquely.

[Anonymous]

This is key

pre-COVID and 2020 data such as report card grades, reading level, external assessments (Measures of Academic Progress-Reading and Measures of Academic Progress-Mathematics) and student services

GRADES
READING LEVEL
MAP SCORES
STUDENT SERVICES