Middle school magnets - criteria-based

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got an email from TPMS that my kid is in!! Notification letters are also on ParentVue, which is great because our mail had not arrived.

Kid was in the pool for both lotteries, accepted at TPMS which is his home school.

I think a certain percentage of spots at TPMS are reserved for home school students. I am not sure if it's the same for Eastern.

25 are set aside for those in the TPMS catchment, so there is something of a separate lottery for them (same criteria, different pool). I think the ratio of seats to total MS population ends up being about 3 times greater.

That sounds really wrong. The odds of getting in have to be significantly higher.
TPMS has roughly 380 kids in each grade each year. If the top 15 percent are in the pool that's 57 kids. If there are 25 inbound set-aside seats that's a 44 percent chance of getting in!

[Anonymous]

Makes me want to buy a house there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Makes me want to buy a house there

Pretty sure that was the original intent of the set-asides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got an email from TPMS that my kid is in!! Notification letters are also on ParentVue, which is great because our mail had not arrived.

Kid was in the pool for both lotteries, accepted at TPMS which is his home school.

I think a certain percentage of spots at TPMS are reserved for home school students. I am not sure if it's the same for Eastern.

25 are set aside for those in the TPMS catchment, so there is something of a separate lottery for them (same criteria, different pool). I think the ratio of seats to total MS population ends up being about 3 times greater.

That sounds really wrong. The odds of getting in have to be significantly higher.
TPMS has roughly 380 kids in each grade each year. If the top 15 percent are in the pool that's 57 kids. If there are 25 inbound set-aside seats that's a 44 percent chance of getting in!

It's curious, right ? I wonder why the Math/Sci magnet in UC doesn't have the set asides. Just strong local groups in Takoma Park?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got an email from TPMS that my kid is in!! Notification letters are also on ParentVue, which is great because our mail had not arrived.

Kid was in the pool for both lotteries, accepted at TPMS which is his home school.

I think a certain percentage of spots at TPMS are reserved for home school students. I am not sure if it's the same for Eastern.

25 are set aside for those in the TPMS catchment, so there is something of a separate lottery for them (same criteria, different pool). I think the ratio of seats to total MS population ends up being about 3 times greater.

That sounds really wrong. The odds of getting in have to be significantly higher.
TPMS has roughly 380 kids in each grade each year. If the top 15 percent are in the pool that's 57 kids. If there are 25 inbound set-aside seats that's a 44 percent chance of getting in!

It's curious, right ? I wonder why the Math/Sci magnet in UC doesn't have the set asides. Just strong local groups in Takoma Park?

It’s pretty stunning that MCPS sets aside one-quarter of the spots for a single school.

[Anonymous]

TPMS sets aside 25 seats for in-bounds kids. That's kids coming from PBES and ESS, which have about 225 and 60 kids in 5th (that's this year...I know my kid's cohort was sightly larger because most were conceived right before the recession). So say there are between 275 and 310 kids each year headed to TPMS in the general population. It's a good chance your kid will be selected if they are at the top of their class at PBES or ESS. Mine was. But plenty were not who deserved it. Anyone can move here if you want to: plenty of housing stock at all rental and owner levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TPMS sets aside 25 seats for in-bounds kids. That's kids coming from PBES and ESS, which have about 225 and 60 kids in 5th (that's this year...I know my kid's cohort was sightly larger because most were conceived right before the recession). So say there are between 275 and 310 kids each year headed to TPMS in the general population. It's a good chance your kid will be selected if they are at the top of their class at PBES or ESS. Mine was. But plenty were not who deserved it. Anyone can move here if you want to: plenty of housing stock at all rental and owner levels.

But that's not fair. It's a county level program, and people throughout the county don't have the same chance. It's not how it's done upcounty either, so they aren't even being consistent.

[Anonymous]

The set asides aren't as significant as people think they are. They DO provide an advantage, but TPMS's catchment area is so much larger than other schools, that it's not exponentially more represented. Just more represented. And when you take into account that many from Ws and far away schools turn it down due to commute and logistics, I think this is what the composition would end up being anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TPMS sets aside 25 seats for in-bounds kids. That's kids coming from PBES and ESS, which have about 225 and 60 kids in 5th (that's this year...I know my kid's cohort was sightly larger because most were conceived right before the recession). So say there are between 275 and 310 kids each year headed to TPMS in the general population. It's a good chance your kid will be selected if they are at the top of their class at PBES or ESS. Mine was. But plenty were not who deserved it. Anyone can move here if you want to: plenty of housing stock at all rental and owner levels.

But that's not fair. It's a county level program, and people throughout the county don't have the same chance. It's not how it's done upcounty either, so they aren't even being consistent.

It would be unfair if you were banned from moving in-bounds. But we all have access to the same info, and as was said earlier, there are plenty of very affordable apartments in the boundary. So move. It is totally fair. It's just not the trade-off you want, or it's not where you want to live, or it's not where you chose to live.

[Anonymous]

I think MCPS has about 12,000 kids per grade so if you take 15% of that you get 1800. 100 spots for 1800 kids is 5.6 percent of those IN THE POOL. Very low odds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The set asides aren't as significant as people think they are. They DO provide an advantage, but TPMS's catchment area is so much larger than other schools, that it's not exponentially more represented. Just more represented. And when you take into account that many from Ws and far away schools turn it down due to commute and logistics, I think this is what the composition would end up being anyway.

You don't seem to understand basic numbers. The set asides are significant. IMO they are fine and I support them but people complaining they are not "fair" have a point too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just got an email from TPMS that my kid is in!! Notification letters are also on ParentVue, which is great because our mail had not arrived.

Kid was in the pool for both lotteries, accepted at TPMS which is his home school.

I think a certain percentage of spots at TPMS are reserved for home school students. I am not sure if it's the same for Eastern.

25 are set aside for those in the TPMS catchment, so there is something of a separate lottery for them (same criteria, different pool). I think the ratio of seats to total MS population ends up being about 3 times greater.

That sounds really wrong. The odds of getting in have to be significantly higher.
TPMS has roughly 380 kids in each grade each year. If the top 15 percent are in the pool that's 57 kids. If there are 25 inbound set-aside seats that's a 44 percent chance of getting in!

It's curious, right ? I wonder why the Math/Sci magnet in UC doesn't have the set asides. Just strong local groups in Takoma Park?

It’s pretty stunning that MCPS sets aside one-quarter of the spots for a single school.

It is one fifth, in one of the most economically and racially diverse schools in the county. It also removes those kids from the broader pool, opening up starts for the rest of the county.

[Anonymous]

I thought it was 25 ON TOP OF the 100?

[Anonymous]

How is setting aside an additional 25 spots on top of existing spots for in bounds kids to partake in special programming ANY different than the way Walter Johnson lets only their own kids do APEX? Or the way only RMIB kids can take IB courses in 11th and 12th? Or the way only Blair kids can take magnet electives in 11th and 12th?

Hey WJ parents: let my kid into APEX!!!!!!!!!! IT'S NOT FAIRRRRRRRRRRRR!

[Anonymous]

Yes, 25 on top of the 100. That's what PP said. One fifth.