TPMS MAP-M scores

[Anonymous]

Coming into MCPS from outside, I guess I just don't get why there aren't enough CES classes and MS / HS Magnets for every kid who qualifies. We have buildings, we have teachers, we have a proven curriculum, clearly we have loads of qualified kids who aren't being served, so why not just shift some regular classrooms into gifted classrooms? Add more Magnet schools and distribute them geographically so that kids who are accepted don't decline because of transportation issues? Why choose the number of kids who can participate based on the number of assigned seats, rather than decide the number of seats/classrooms based on the number of qualified kids?

Sorry, but this isn't Harvard. It's public K-12 education. Doesn't MCPS owe every gifted student a free and appropriate education, ethically if not legally?

This is very rational and logical if you think the goal of the magnets is to provide an appropriate education to gifted students. Historically, this has never been the goal for MCPS. The magnets were designed to attract white, wealthy students into low performing schools or save under enrolled schools. MCPS has never taken the position that it has any responsibility to educate gifted students beyond baseline proficiency. BOE members and MCPS have been on record many times stating that the outcomes for high performing students is not different if they do not get a gifted education therefore resources need to be spent on the growing number of students who are failing. They claim that since gifted kids will still go to a 4 year college regardless of being in a gifted education program that it it is not necessary for them.

Now that there are enough white MC students in the low performing schools that needed them, the changes are the first step toward either shutting down the magnets to re-allocate the resources to low performing students or move the magnets into lower performing schools. Anyone who does not see the writing on the wall that MCPS wants to move away from the bus and programmatic expense of magnets that pull from large areas of the county is being naive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[

This is very rational and logical if you think the goal of the magnets is to provide an appropriate education to gifted students. Historically, this has never been the goal for MCPS. The magnets were designed to attract white, wealthy students into low performing schools or save under enrolled schools. MCPS has never taken the position that it has any responsibility to educate gifted students beyond baseline proficiency. BOE members and MCPS have been on record many times stating that the outcomes for high performing students is not different if they do not get a gifted education therefore resources need to be spent on the growing number of students who are failing. They claim that since gifted kids will still go to a 4 year college regardless of being in a gifted education program that it it is not necessary for them.

Now that there are enough white MC students in the low performing schools that needed them, the changes are the first step toward either shutting down the magnets to re-allocate the resources to low performing students or move the magnets into lower performing schools. Anyone who does not see the writing on the wall that MCPS wants to move away from the bus and programmatic expense of magnets that pull from large areas of the county is being naive.

Could you cite two examples of BoE members and MCPS stating this on the record, please?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about all the kids who had MAP-M scores that high and did NOT get in. Did they also not deserve to be there?

This is the heart of the complaint. That MCPS uses murky selection tools to select a certain profile from the pool of qualified students. IE, prioritizing students from lower-income areas in a bid to reduce specific ethnic gaps. Now whether that complaint will hold up as the cohorts are selected year after year, remains to be seen.

Oddly, nobody on DCUM ever asked that question when MCPS used the previous murky selection process. It only became a concern when affluent west-county parents became worried that their children were being passed over for those other children, over there, who must be less deserving.

PP you replied to. I've been following this process closely for many years. The reason no one complained before is because so few families actually KNEW about it, because parents had to apply for their kids, so first they had to be informed enough, and most weren't. Sad, isn't it? I actually prefer the new process, which automatically tests kids without waiting for their parents to send an application. But the new process has this "peer cohort" criteria that was deliberately added to allow MCPS to cherry-pick candidates in an effort to reduce what they perceive to be the achievement gap. I have grave reservations that it can be addressed in that way.

The only way parents didn't know about it is if they went out of their way to avoid knowing about it. Constant papers coming home, phone calls 3 times a week (in english and spanish) talking about the magnet programs. By saying how sad it is that parents weren't informed, you show that you have no idea how much magnet overload info gets blasted out. My experience was from 4 years ago before universal testing. BTW, I'm all for universal testing but against your disseminating false information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about all the kids who had MAP-M scores that high and did NOT get in. Did they also not deserve to be there?

This is the heart of the complaint. That MCPS uses murky selection tools to select a certain profile from the pool of qualified students. IE, prioritizing students from lower-income areas in a bid to reduce specific ethnic gaps. Now whether that complaint will hold up as the cohorts are selected year after year, remains to be seen.

Oddly, nobody on DCUM ever asked that question when MCPS used the previous murky selection process. It only became a concern when affluent west-county parents became worried that their children were being passed over for those other children, over there, who must be less deserving.

PP you replied to. I've been following this process closely for many years. The reason no one complained before is because so few families actually KNEW about it, because parents had to apply for their kids, so first they had to be informed enough, and most weren't. Sad, isn't it? I actually prefer the new process, which automatically tests kids without waiting for their parents to send an application. But the new process has this "peer cohort" criteria that was deliberately added to allow MCPS to cherry-pick candidates in an effort to reduce what they perceive to be the achievement gap. I have grave reservations that it can be addressed in that way.

The only way parents didn't know about it is if they went out of their way to avoid knowing about it. Constant papers coming home, phone calls 3 times a week (in english and spanish) talking about the magnet programs. By saying how sad it is that parents weren't informed, you show that you have no idea how much magnet overload info gets blasted out. My experience was from 4 years ago before universal testing. BTW, I'm all for universal testing but against your disseminating false information.

DP. Knowing the testing date/time/location middle-school application magnets, and being informed, are two different things.