What happens to the HG kids in middle school?
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Anonymous
| If a child attends the CCE HG program beginning in 4th grade, where do they go in Middle school? To their home school, or is there another magnet type program? |
Anonymous
| The default is the home middle school, but most apply to the magnets. I think (just based on observation; both of my kids were in the HGC) about 50% of them get into the magnets. |
Anonymous
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I don't think it's true that 50% of the HGC get into the magnet. If that were true, then about 25 kids would get into the middle school magnets from one school, and that seems too high given that the incoming class is only 100. That would mean that a quarter of the incoming class came from one HGC. That's way too high.
When you add Takoma and Eastern together, probably somewhere between 10-12 get in from the CCES HGC and fewer decide to go. In our year from CCES HGC, I can think of 6 students who were accepted at Eastern and 5 who chose to go. I think the number who chose to go to Takoma was higher. If you are at CCES, a big unknown if you are in the BCC cluster (and you must be either at BCC or Whitman to attend CCES) is the building of a new middle school. If your kids are rising 4th graders, then this will not be an issue as the new middle school will not be built yet. But, at some point a cohort of kids at the HGC will get caught in the tangle of starting at Westland and then being shifted to the new middle school. For future kids in this position, it is possible to plead hardship and stay at CCES for 6th grade if the new pattern of schools would require a new school jump for only one year. |
Anonymous
No. It would mean about 25 kids get into the magnets from one school, and the incoming classes (for both magnets) = 225 students. (Eastern takes 100, TP takes 125 - 25 of those slots are reserved for in-boundary magnet applicants.) That's a much smaller percentage than a quarter of the incoming classes. I suspect that the HGC students at the eastern end of MoCo are more likely to enroll in magnets than the ones at the western end, because the middle schools at the eastern end are more spotty in terms of quality than those at the western end. In our particular situation (two HGC kids, both went on to magnets), we were extremely invested in sending them to magnets because we would not send them to our home MS - in fact, our backup plan was private school. My brother, on the other hand, has kids in a W cluster and his HGC son didn't even apply to MS magnets because they are happy with their home middle school. |
Anonymous
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My child has a friend who has a sibling who is a 4th grader in an HGC ES this year (got that?). The dad said about 40% of the HGC ES kids are accepted into an HGC for MS. They must go through the application process again for each HGC they hope to attend.
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Anonymous
I think you mean, they must go through the application process again for each MS magnet they hope to attend. The HGC is 4th/5th grades only. |
Anonymous
| What is HGC? I tried googling this but didn't come up with anything. |
Anonymous
"Highly gifted center"-- the gifted and talented program for 4th and 5th graders (applications are done in the fall of 3rd grade) http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/elementary/highly-gifted-centers.aspx |
Anonymous
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/elementary/highly-gifted-centers.aspx |
Anonymous
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New to this, DS in early elementary at this point. Why would a parent choose the HGC if the home E.S. is a good one? Seems disruptive to pull a child for two years (4th and 5th) and then send him/her back to the home middle school (which sounds likely given the magnet middle school stats described above). What is the rationale (again, specifically if the home ES is strong) given that most return to the home middle school?
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Anonymous
Some parents don't apply or don't accept for that reason, but some parents think that having a peer group (and a teacher) all working at a very high level is a gift. |
Anonymous
bragging rights - dropping the HGC acronym in conversation |
Anonymous
By and large, parents apply to and choose the HGC because their child's needs are not able to be met at the home elementary. The likelihood of being admitted to a MS magnet is likely higher for a kid who has been in the HGC, because s/he would have been working at a higher level in that environment. There is no going "back" to the home middle school, since the child would not have been there before, and since the students from the home elementary who go to the home middle (not all do) are in any case surrounded by kids from other elementary schools - so, it's not as if the kid from the HGC is going "back" to a familiar environment. The MS environment is new to all students, HGC or not. IME it has nothing to do with bragging (?) rights. I'm not even sure what that PP means by that. All parents are looking for the best educational fit for our children. |
Anonymous
Oops, sorry, yes. I thought the MS program was also called 'HGC.' |
Anonymous
Exactly this. DD applied and we'll likely take it even though our home school is excellent. HGC's are for kids who don't have their needs met at the home school. At the meeting in the fall at Northwest high school about the HGC's, the admissions people said that the kids of everyone in the room would do well at the HGC's. But the benchmark they look at is kids whose needs aren't met at the homeschool. Some kids are so far above that they spend alot of time waiting for the rest of the class to catch up, and they don't really have a peer group. I would so love for that to change for DD, even if it's just for two years, it would be worth it. I don't think being a gifted kid is anything to be envious of. There's pressure, and it's no gaurantee of success. In fact, being advanced can put a kid on the road to not being successful, if they aren't challenged or learn how to work hard. Gifted kids are at higher risk of suicide, perfectionism, anxiety, Difficulty with social relationships, Refusal to do routine, repetitive assignments, Inappropriate criticism of others, Lack of awareness of impact on others, Lack of sufficient challenge in schoolwork, Depression (often manifested in boredom), High levels of anxiety, Hiding talents to fit with peers, Nonconformity and resistance to authority, Excessive competitiveness, Isolation from peers, Low frustration tolerance, Poor study habits... I'd love for her to be in a place where the teachers understand that. |