Montgomery County language immersion and Takoma Park ES Magnet

[Anonymous]

Hello:

I was wondering if anyone has children in any of the Montgomery County language immersion programs, or at Takoma Park Elementary for the magnet program? can you post your experiences, i.e. how the programs are, teacher to student ratio, how is your child interacting with non-magnet students, would you recommend the program, etc.?

Thanks so much!

[Anonymous]

One DC went through TPES magnet and the other to language immersion, so I feel pretty qualified to comment on this.

For the magnet: the TPES part of it (grades k-2) was great, the PBES part (grades 3-5) not so much (apart from the math at PBES). In both schools the kids get separated out for math, which made that part fine and challenging for DC. But for english at both schools the distinction is just what table they sit at, in a given room with kids of all reading levels. What happens then depends on how energetic the teacher is and/or whether the schools is throwing 99% of resources at passing NCLB, which was our experience at PBES a few years ago (although they may have solved the NCLB problem). The teacher at TPES managed to challenge my magnet kid, but at PBES the magnet kids sat at a separate table and read by themselves, usually something else as they all finished the 90-page book during class in a day or so.

After this experience, we put another kid in language immersion. You still get the advanced math options (this time in the immersion language). I still am not very impressed with the literature/reading side, but at least DD is fluent in the language, which is important to us.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much, I am the original poster of the question. I have had a tough time gathering information about these programs, with respect to how parents feel about the schools and the programs. If anyone else out there can post their and their children's experiences, that would be so helpful for us parents who are trying to make these decisions. the information is invaluable. Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

So to clarify, 11:37, your first child went through the magnet programs but you put your second in a language immersion program, and you did that primarily due to your first child's experience? We too are trying to evaluate the TPES and PBES magnet programs and so far we hear good things about TPES, but not about PBES. Do you know if your friends and neighbors generally had good or mediocre experiences? Thanks for clarifying, and for any other information you can add.

[Anonymous]

The experience at PBES does depend on what teacher you get. Most people I know with kids there had a mixed experience, although I do know one or two families who insist that PBES was great for them. The PTO is very organized and does supplementary activities for the kids, like sponsoring a geography bee when we were there (and geography is not something you'll get anywhere in MoCo, it's just not in the standard curriculum).

However, PBES does struggle to make NCLB standards, and it means that resources are diverted to help kids pass the test. Not that this is bad, I just wish there were resources enough to go around.... DC's teacher spent a lot of time working with the struggling kids, which is good, but at DC's "magnet" table the kids were pretty much left on their own for much of the time. I hear that wasn't the case in every classroom.

At TPES the experience was great. The homeroom teacher was great, the math was challenging, and there was a special class for the magnet kids that delved into issues like simplified economics.

But yes, you've basically summed up our experience. We were there a couple of years ago, so bear that in mind, too.

[Anonymous]

14:20 again. Thanks so much. I truly appreciate you sharing your perspective. Are you at TPMS now?

[Anonymous]

One more suggestion: apply to both programs, which I believe you can do. The language immersion programs are hard to get into -- they're done by lottery but with tons of applicants. Plus one of my kids, whose recent IQ test puts him at genius, failed to pass the TPES magnet test in kindergarten (probably because he used to view every test as a race to see who finishes first). So whatever you lean towards, you still want a back-up plan.

[Anonymous]

When do parents get the results of the TPES and Foreign language immersion lotteries? Is it sometime in April or May?

[Anonymous]

immersion comes in May. But isn't it staggered-- meaning you have to decide on immersion entering K and on magnet entering 1st?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:immersion comes in May. But isn't it staggered-- meaning you have to decide on immersion entering K and on magnet entering 1st?

Yes, I think this is the case. One must apply to immersion for K, but apply to TPES for 1st grade if interested in TPES magnet. If in boundary for TPES, then decision would be between immersion and TPES for K.