Another article about the magnet programs in Washington Post

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This quote is from the article:
“It is outrageous,” said Diego Uriburu, co-chair of the Montgomery County Latino Advocacy Coalition. “There are great inequities in terms of access. The majority of our families don’t even know these programs exist.”

Sorry, I don't buy this. I have a second grader in MCPS. I received TWO phone calls about the Parent Questionnaire and BOTH were translated completely in Spanish.

The questionnaire itself was also translated in Spanish.

If your phone number is in the directory, then you also received this message. We're at a Title 1 School, so I completely understand that some people have more barriers than others, but the above quote is just ridiculous.

I don't understand why this man, who is a leader in the MC Latino Advocacy Coalition, isn't making it his job to spread the word about these programs instead of whining that there are Latinos who are unaware of these programs.

Good point. Isn't that his job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

We are probably going to end up suggesting ds take this path from magnet MS - UMD for undergrad to save money for grad school. How has it worked out for your kids and their peers?

it is working out well for our two kids - both received full ride scholarships from umd. DC1 is getting his engineering phd (fully funded) @ "top 5" engineering school and DC2 wants to go to med school so we are saving 529 money for that purpose. DC2 will be able to come out of med school without debt/loan. i am 100% sure they couldn't do it without mcps magnet programs.

so, yeah, it's fine. kids always have to deal with "you worked that hard for umd?" or "you settled with umd?" comments but other than that it's all good. coming out of umd with high gpa is much harder than people think.

Thanks - this is really heartening. Congrats to your kids - they have worked really hard for their success and they sound very pragmatic.
I know the Engineering program has an excellent rep. How are the pre-med majors? Has dc2 been able to do the research or internships that would help him/her apply to med school?

Not the PP, but wanted to chime in because I took a similar path. Came from a very middle class family and got a free ride (merit based) to a good state university (not MD), due to a magnet like HS program. Was able to save that money and had parents help pay for med school. Came out of med school with WAY less loans than fellow med students. Honestly, it was pretty life changing in my case.

PPs kids are doing a smart thing and it will totally pay off, IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't understand why this man, who is a leader in the MC Latino Advocacy Coalition, isn't making it his job to spread the word about these programs instead of whining that there are Latinos who are unaware of these programs.

Good point. Isn't that his job?

No, it isn't. It's the job of MCPS to get information about MCPS to MCPS parents. Right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't understand why this man, who is a leader in the MC Latino Advocacy Coalition, isn't making it his job to spread the word about these programs instead of whining that there are Latinos who are unaware of these programs.

Good point. Isn't that his job?

No, it isn't. It's the job of MCPS to get information about MCPS to MCPS parents. Right?

MCPS puts a ton of information out there, in many different languages, on paper, on their website, by telephone. It is not possible for MCPS officials to go door to door and have conversations. If this guy wants to advocate for the Latino community, he needs to get on it and stop feeling free to sit back and let everyone else do the work of informing his community.

[Anonymous]

I see Jeff went thru here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see Jeff went thru here.

How do you know that? Is there a Jeff-cam on this forum somewhere?

[Anonymous]

These "advocates" are all the same complain complain complain get more funding complain somemore blame blame blame etc because guess what if they actually solve what they are "Advocating" for they are out of a job lol. I put people like this in the same category as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. They don't want to actually solve anything that would dry up their attention/funding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This quote is from the article:
“It is outrageous,” said Diego Uriburu, co-chair of the Montgomery County Latino Advocacy Coalition. “There are great inequities in terms of access. The majority of our families don’t even know these programs exist.”

Sorry, I don't buy this. I have a second grader in MCPS. I received TWO phone calls about the Parent Questionnaire and BOTH were translated completely in Spanish.

The questionnaire itself was also translated in Spanish.

If your phone number is in the directory, then you also received this message. We're at a Title 1 School, so I completely understand that some people have more barriers than others, but the above quote is just ridiculous.

I don't understand why this man, who is a leader in the MC Latino Advocacy Coalition, isn't making it his job to spread the word about these programs instead of whining that there are Latinos who are unaware of these programs.

Good point. Isn't that his job?

No different than the corrupt Casa De Maryland

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the achievement gap is strongly linked to the deficiencies in MCPS's curriculum. I think it is especially weak in elementary, failing to give kids the foundation they need. (My kids are now in high school, so they were pre 2.0. I would like to think things have changed for the better, but that is not my impression). I think well-educated parents recognize that a student isn't where they need to be and fills in the gaps, either through tutoring or helping out at home. When I was teaching my kids how to hold a pencil, or use a dictionary, or do 3rd grade math without a calculator, I wasn't considering it test prep. I think my kids would have had a problem succeeding in the magnet program without these skills (and others), however.

Originally, I had expected the schools to educate my child and I would only need to help with the occasional homework problem, but that's not what I found. I suspect that other parents may also rely on MCPS to educate their children. Certainly parents who can't speak English, or who are busy working two jobs to put food on the table, or who don't have a solid academic background themselves, may not realize there are gaps they need to supplement, or may be unable to fill the gaps even if they do.

Strengthen elementary education. Get a content-rich curriculum (with textbooks) that has been proven to work. Grade student work for correctness, not just completion. Give students grades that mean something rather than the current I, P, E system that nobody seems to know how to interpret. I think this would be your best shot at decreasing the racial/SES gap.

Don't agree.

Its actually been proven that the achievement gap is primarily due to summer brain drain. Want to close the gap? Extend the school day and school year for lower performing kids. This would require the death of teacher's unions.

If something doesn't work, giving more of it probably won't fix things. I'll grant you there may be a small improvement, but I also think you're going to burn out any enthusiasm the kids might have for school. A review at the beginning of the year should be plenty if they were taught well to begin with.

I actively discouraged my kids from doing summer homework packets in elementary. Unfortunately, by middle school they were factored into the grade, leaving little choice.

I think year round school would be a disaster and I can tell you my (magnet kids) are encouraged to enjoy their summers. I understand the argument that families like mine provide enrichment that low SES choldren don't get. If you want to arrange for school libraries to have summer lending programs, or coordinate book-mobiles to go into underprivileged neighborhoods, I would fully support you. If ypu want to set up a reward system for watching documentaries we could ecplore that. For that matter, if you wanted to set up a summer camp with field trips or science experiments or outdoor skills I could see some merit in that. It would be expensive, but maybe we could cut Promethean boards or astroturf, or a curriculum department that gives us a bad curriculum. Kids need the chance to be kids and they need experiences besides school. I think they even need the chance to waste time.

Here's an aricle written by a high school teacher in Vermont that talks about why summer vacations are important:

http://www.nhregister.com/opinion/20150727/poor-elijahs-almanack-time-for-fireflies

[Anonymous]

I think summer vacation is important too, I just don't think it needs to be 12 weeks long. 4-6 weeks would be good, and then maybe an extra week of Spring break, and a week in October when the weather is actually nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't understand why this man, who is a leader in the MC Latino Advocacy Coalition, isn't making it his job to spread the word about these programs instead of whining that there are Latinos who are unaware of these programs.

Good point. Isn't that his job?

No, it isn't. It's the job of MCPS to get information about MCPS to MCPS parents. Right?

MCPS puts a ton of information out there, in many different languages, on paper, on their website, by telephone. It is not possible for MCPS officials to go door to door and have conversations. If this guy wants to advocate for the Latino community, he needs to get on it and stop feeling free to sit back and let everyone else do the work of informing his community.

Nobody is saying that MCPS should go door-to-door. But if you're supposed to get the information out to people, but the people aren't getting it, then you're not doing your job properly.

[Anonymous]

Read this thread. What more do you want MCPS to do. You can't force a horse to drink water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read this thread. What more do you want MCPS to do. You can't force a horse to drink water.

That's the question, isn't it? Whatever MCPS is doing, it's not working. So MCPS has two choices:

1. Look for something that does work.
2. Say, "Obviously nothing will work, so we won't bother."

I vote for #1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't understand why this man, who is a leader in the MC Latino Advocacy Coalition, isn't making it his job to spread the word about these programs instead of whining that there are Latinos who are unaware of these programs.

Good point. Isn't that his job?

No, it isn't. It's the job of MCPS to get information about MCPS to MCPS parents. Right?

MCPS puts a ton of information out there, in many different languages, on paper, on their website, by telephone. It is not possible for MCPS officials to go door to door and have conversations. If this guy wants to advocate for the Latino community, he needs to get on it and stop feeling free to sit back and let everyone else do the work of informing his community.

Nobody is saying that MCPS should go door-to-door. But if you're supposed to get the information out to people, but the people aren't getting it, then you're not doing your job properly.

So paper mail, phone calls and email + website info in multiple languages are not sufficient. I wish the study had come down with recommendations about what type of communication would be effective..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I don't understand why this man, who is a leader in the MC Latino Advocacy Coalition, isn't making it his job to spread the word about these programs instead of whining that there are Latinos who are unaware of these programs.

Good point. Isn't that his job?

No, it isn't. It's the job of MCPS to get information about MCPS to MCPS parents. Right?

MCPS puts a ton of information out there, in many different languages, on paper, on their website, by telephone. It is not possible for MCPS officials to go door to door and have conversations. If this guy wants to advocate for the Latino community, he needs to get on it and stop feeling free to sit back and let everyone else do the work of informing his community.

Nobody is saying that MCPS should go door-to-door. But if you're supposed to get the information out to people, but the people aren't getting it, then you're not doing your job properly.

Clearly everyone receives the info and there's not much more MCPS can do on that front. The issue is people receive so much info from MCPS and they don't realize which is important to them, which programs are worth pursuing. I feel I had a leg up in this process because of neighbors and friends who'd had kids in the magnets. My DC attended an HGC and is now in Blair CAP. Similarly, when my DC entered private preschool I immediately ran into endless talk about immersion which I knew nothing about (and we didn't pursue). This is exactly the role a community advocate could try to fill since communities that are under-represented can't possibly have this word of mouth and direct experience to guide them. Conversely, I don't know anyone who uses the Saturday school tutoring or who attends Thomas Edison School of Technology and I hang up on those robo calls, may be our loss. Or there's the early elementary program at Takoma ES, whatever it's called, that doesn't really exist--t was helpful to be told pursuing that is a waist of time. It is a complicated system and most people navigate it successfully use help from their community not MCPS literature.