CES Decision Letters

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right, so the national norms should theoretically show decently high percentages for everyone tested (50th percentile or above at least.)

Obviously in this high performing pool the MCPS percentile score should range from 1 percentile to 99th percentile but as PP pointed out it's unclear whether they would actually report a 1 percentile score.

So if DC is ranked against his/her low SES MCPS schoolmates his/her 95 national could be a 99 MCPS?

[Anonymous]

This is making me wonder whether they actually made the same mistake as last year and accidentally sent everyone the waitlist letter and didn’t reject anyone. It was shocking for it to happen once — did it happen again?!

[Anonymous]

Guessing they just haven't gone out yet. I remember last year the letters came in two batches (acceptances v. waitlist/rejections) with a day or two in between although I can't remember which came first. Maybe this year they did acceptances/wait list first and then rejections.

[Anonymous]

If they repeated the same mistake as last year someone it would be a colossal misstep and heads should roll. It was really upsetting for a lot of families and kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, so the national norms should theoretically show decently high percentages for everyone tested (50th percentile or above at least.)

Obviously in this high performing pool the MCPS percentile score should range from 1 percentile to 99th percentile but as PP pointed out it's unclear whether they would actually report a 1 percentile score.

So if DC is ranked against his/her low SES MCPS schoolmates his/her 95 national could be a 99 MCPS?

A student can have a higher national / lower MCPS percentile or vice versa. Either scenario is possible.

[Anonymous]

So would higher mcps percentile be indicative of a crappy cohort? Seems like the MCPS percentiles have a built in boost by virute of the fact that roughly only half the kids tested.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but I don't see that happening given that only about half the kids in MCPS were tested. There are only three groupings and it seems like MCPS percentages are always lower that national. The difference is between groups and based on previous research the higher the SES the higher the performance so the lower the MCPS percentile vis a vis national.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guessing they just haven't gone out yet. I remember last year the letters came in two batches (acceptances v. waitlist/rejections) with a day or two in between although I can't remember which came first. Maybe this year they did acceptances/wait list first and then rejections.

It's hard to know based on the small sample size reporting to DCUM, although it seems clear that no rejections have been received yet.

[Anonymous]

70%MCPS and 88% National. Waitlisted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:70%MCPS and 88% National. Waitlisted.

Which center are you zoned for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right, so the national norms should theoretically show decently high percentages for everyone tested (50th percentile or above at least.)

Obviously in this high performing pool the MCPS percentile score should range from 1 percentile to 99th percentile but as PP pointed out it's unclear whether they would actually report a 1 percentile score.

So if DC is ranked against his/her low SES MCPS schoolmates his/her 95 national could be a 99 MCPS?

A student can have a higher national / lower MCPS percentile or vice versa. Either scenario is possible.

I cannot imagine a scenario where the MCPS score is higher than the National score, even for a highly gifted child in a high-poverty home school (which could potentially increase his MCPS score). The entire point is to show that MCPS is stronger than the average school district nationwide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How's this for dicotomy: I live upcounty - didn't even know my kid took the test (thought you had to register like I did with my older kid years ago). Definitely wouldn't let her take a bus to another school. Waitlisted with 56% mcps /89% national.

Anonymous wrote:70%MCPS and 88% National. Waitlisted.

Those two results seem a little low to be on the waitlist, bearing in mind there are many high achieving students in MCPS, and that the wait-lists are supposed to be small.
I hope they didn't make the same mistake as last year, and wait-listed all the rejections by mistake...

[Anonymous]

Also that students will be invited off the wait-list by LOTTERY! Imagine this student:

Anonymous wrote:Waitlisted to Cold Spring, 98% MCPS, 99% National, 20854

being left out in favor of one the first two above...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Also that students will be invited off the wait-list by LOTTERY! Imagine this student:

Anonymous wrote:Waitlisted to Cold Spring, 98% MCPS, 99% National, 20854

being left out in favor of one the first two above...

Get used to it. MCPS discriminates against those in high SES and simply calls it “equalizing the distribution of opportunity” to better society as a whole.

[Anonymous]

You don't have the full picture. These are Cogat scores. You only need a certain minimum IQ to do really well in school, college and life. Maybe those wait listed kids with lower Cogat scores have an incredible work ethic, have straight As and high Map scores, and have both FARMS and ESOL status.