Is MCPS positioning to shut down the GT/magnet programs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What percentage of MoCo students attends magnets?

Here is a report for you to read: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/ChoiceStudyReport-Version2-20160307.pdf

Thanks! So we're talking about 442 students per grade on average who are admitted to what used to be known as a highly gifted centers. And there are about 13,000 kids per grade. So the top 3% or so goes to magnets, and everyone else makes do with standard MCPS. Yup, I prefer the Fairfax model.

Top 3% are very special kids with unique needs.

I have a CES kid and I think she's special, but she's not some supergenius who couldn't possible have functioned in anything but a self-contained classroom. Just bright, hard-working, and creative. Ditto the vast majority of her peers in that class. Of the kids I know well in that class (about 15), only one appears to be highly gifted in the "clinical" sense. The rest are like my daughter. More creative than other kids, but not doing high-level physics in 4th grade or anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What percentage of MoCo students attends magnets?

Here is a report for you to read: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/ChoiceStudyReport-Version2-20160307.pdf

Thanks! So we're talking about 442 students per grade on average who are admitted to what used to be known as a highly gifted centers. And there are about 13,000 kids per grade. So the top 3% or so goes to magnets, and everyone else makes do with standard MCPS. Yup, I prefer the Fairfax model.

Top 3% are very special kids with unique needs.

So are the 3% at the bottom due to circumstances beyond their control. Who advocates for them to get more resources?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What percentage of MoCo students attends magnets?

Here is a report for you to read: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/ChoiceStudyReport-Version2-20160307.pdf

Thanks! So we're talking about 442 students per grade on average who are admitted to what used to be known as a highly gifted centers. And there are about 13,000 kids per grade. So the top 3% or so goes to magnets, and everyone else makes do with standard MCPS. Yup, I prefer the Fairfax model.

Top 3% are very special kids with unique needs.

I have a CES kid and I think she's special, but she's not some supergenius who couldn't possible have functioned in anything but a self-contained classroom. Just bright, hard-working, and creative. Ditto the vast majority of her peers in that class. Of the kids I know well in that class (about 15), only one appears to be highly gifted in the "clinical" sense. The rest are like my daughter. More creative than other kids, but not doing high-level physics in 4th grade or anything.

+1 There has to be an arbitrary cutoff point. But reasonable people could conclude that 3% is less inclusive than it needs to be and that 10% could function just fine without a substantial dumbing down of the curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What percentage of MoCo students attends magnets?

Here is a report for you to read: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/ChoiceStudyReport-Version2-20160307.pdf

Thanks! So we're talking about 442 students per grade on average who are admitted to what used to be known as a highly gifted centers. And there are about 13,000 kids per grade. So the top 3% or so goes to magnets, and everyone else makes do with standard MCPS. Yup, I prefer the Fairfax model.

Top 3% are very special kids with unique needs.

I have a CES kid and I think she's special, but she's not some supergenius who couldn't possible have functioned in anything but a self-contained classroom. Just bright, hard-working, and creative. Ditto the vast majority of her peers in that class. Of the kids I know well in that class (about 15), only one appears to be highly gifted in the "clinical" sense. The rest are like my daughter. More creative than other kids, but not doing high-level physics in 4th grade or anything.

+1 There has to be an arbitrary cutoff point. But reasonable people could conclude that 3% is less inclusive than it needs to be and that 10% could function just fine without a substantial dumbing down of the curriculum.

How about differentiated classes across the board? Shouldn't every kid work at their level?
A lot of this has to do with school rating isn't based on high achievers but eliminating low achievers.
Most kids in early elementary near the top get ignored because they're not at risk and won't negatively impact the school's rating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What percentage of MoCo students attends magnets?

Here is a report for you to read: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/ChoiceStudyReport-Version2-20160307.pdf

Thanks! So we're talking about 442 students per grade on average who are admitted to what used to be known as a highly gifted centers. And there are about 13,000 kids per grade. So the top 3% or so goes to magnets, and everyone else makes do with standard MCPS. Yup, I prefer the Fairfax model.

Top 3% are very special kids with unique needs.

So are the 3% at the bottom due to circumstances beyond their control. Who advocates for them to get more resources?

There are a lot of resources available for struggling students especially in elementary school. Students regularly get pulled out to work with reading specialists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What percentage of MoCo students attends magnets?

Here is a report for you to read: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/ChoiceStudyReport-Version2-20160307.pdf

Thanks! So we're talking about 442 students per grade on average who are admitted to what used to be known as a highly gifted centers. And there are about 13,000 kids per grade. So the top 3% or so goes to magnets, and everyone else makes do with standard MCPS. Yup, I prefer the Fairfax model.

Top 3% are very special kids with unique needs.

So are the 3% at the bottom due to circumstances beyond their control. Who advocates for them to get more resources?

There are a lot of resources available for struggling students especially in elementary school. Students regularly get pulled out to work with reading specialists.

The current MS programs in the county make up are limited to the top 1%. This is probably the most competitive admission and probably should be expanded.

The county has grown a great deal since these began.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What percentage of MoCo students attends magnets?

Here is a report for you to read: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/ChoiceStudyReport-Version2-20160307.pdf

Thanks! So we're talking about 442 students per grade on average who are admitted to what used to be known as a highly gifted centers. And there are about 13,000 kids per grade. So the top 3% or so goes to magnets, and everyone else makes do with standard MCPS. Yup, I prefer the Fairfax model.

Top 3% are very special kids with unique needs.

So are the 3% at the bottom due to circumstances beyond their control. Who advocates for them to get more resources?

There are a lot of resources available for struggling students especially in elementary school. Students regularly get pulled out to work with reading specialists.

Obviously they need more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What percentage of MoCo students attends magnets?

Here is a report for you to read: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/ChoiceStudyReport-Version2-20160307.pdf

Thanks! So we're talking about 442 students per grade on average who are admitted to what used to be known as a highly gifted centers. And there are about 13,000 kids per grade. So the top 3% or so goes to magnets, and everyone else makes do with standard MCPS. Yup, I prefer the Fairfax model.

Top 3% are very special kids with unique needs.

So are the 3% at the bottom due to circumstances beyond their control. Who advocates for them to get more resources?

There are a lot of resources available for struggling students especially in elementary school. Students regularly get pulled out to work with reading specialists.

Obviously they need more.

No, they need to study!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Top 3% are very special kids with unique needs.

Not in my experience as a magnet parent. Most of them are just regular bright kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Top 3% are very special kids with unique needs.

Not in my experience as a magnet parent. Most of them are just regular bright kids.

Can you elaborate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What percentage of MoCo students attends magnets?

Here is a report for you to read: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/ChoiceStudyReport-Version2-20160307.pdf

Thanks! So we're talking about 442 students per grade on average who are admitted to what used to be known as a highly gifted centers. And there are about 13,000 kids per grade. So the top 3% or so goes to magnets, and everyone else makes do with standard MCPS. Yup, I prefer the Fairfax model.

Top 3% are very special kids with unique needs.

So are the 3% at the bottom due to circumstances beyond their control. Who advocates for them to get more resources?

There are a lot of resources available for struggling students especially in elementary school. Students regularly get pulled out to work with reading specialists.

Obviously they need more.

No, they need to study!!

How do you get a 6 year old to study?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
What percentage of MoCo students attends magnets?

Here is a report for you to read: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/ChoiceStudyReport-Version2-20160307.pdf

Thanks! So we're talking about 442 students per grade on average who are admitted to what used to be known as a highly gifted centers. And there are about 13,000 kids per grade. So the top 3% or so goes to magnets, and everyone else makes do with standard MCPS. Yup, I prefer the Fairfax model.

Top 3% are very special kids with unique needs.

I have a CES kid and I think she's special, but she's not some supergenius who couldn't possible have functioned in anything but a self-contained classroom. Just bright, hard-working, and creative. Ditto the vast majority of her peers in that class. Of the kids I know well in that class (about 15), only one appears to be highly gifted in the "clinical" sense. The rest are like my daughter. More creative than other kids, but not doing high-level physics in 4th grade or anything.

+1 There has to be an arbitrary cutoff point. But reasonable people could conclude that 3% is less inclusive than it needs to be and that 10% could function just fine without a substantial dumbing down of the curriculum.

How about differentiated classes across the board? Shouldn't every kid work at their level?
A lot of this has to do with school rating isn't based on high achievers but eliminating low achievers.
Most kids in early elementary near the top get ignored because they're not at risk and won't negatively impact the school's rating.

If MCPS goes back to Tracking, the progress of the past decade will indeed be gone.

[Anonymous]

I thought tracking would improve things?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Top 3% are very special kids with unique needs.

Not in my experience as a magnet parent. Most of them are just regular bright kids.

Yup. I’m in the top 1%, IQ wise. I’m smart (got into a top prep school and graduated with honors, graduated in the top 10% of a top 25 research university and went to a top 10 PhD program) but I’m not so smart that I couldn’t be served with accelerated classes at my home ES and MS. I think people who say these things haven’t met gifted kids and profoundly gifted kids.

I knew profoundly gifted kids at my high school. They weren’t just excelling in math; they were coming up with new geometric theorems. They are special kids with unique needs. They tested out of BC calc at 14 and spent high school doing things like real analysis.

[Anonymous]

If MCPS goes back to Tracking, the progress of the past decade will indeed be gone.

Unfortunately (and I mean that sincerely) you can not show any improvement over the past decade. There has only been decline. MCPS has gone from being #1 in the state to being #9.

Curriculum 2.0 failed and the audit showed that this failure had a disproportionate impact on lowering performing students. In addition by dumbing down the curriculum and doing such a poor job, MCPS pushed more UMC families toward supplementing outside of school creating an even deeper performance gap.

MCPS was counting on improved Algebra exam scores after 2.0 rolled out. The first year of failures they blamed the old curriculum. When the failure rates rose even higher the following year, they pressured the board to just remove the exams.

Tracking is alive and never went away at least in the DCC. The parents there demand differentiation because there is such a hug gap between students being several years below grade level and students being at or above grade level.