Any insight regarding Eastern Middle school Magnet Program ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you. That’s what we are trying to tell DC too. But is it like if you accept Eastern then you are automatically scratched off from Takoma Park wait list . Thanks

No and sorry if I implied that — I just think that at this point you are unlikely to get into the other, given how few spots are left unfilled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all. It’s not about not wanting my DC to be mixing with the mainstream students. I just wanted to know the idea of overall school and the program. It’s the decision to be made in the last minute and it’s taking a toll on us. I know it’s an excellent program but given the commute and like the PP said time for extra curricular activities I’m just concerned and turning to opinions and suggestions from DCUM. Ofcourse ultimately we have to make the decision based on what would be right for us. Thanks every one .

You will have a higher performing overall cohort at Cabin John especially for math.
It sounds like there is disagreement about the math instruction but some of those posts sound like they are parents from at least 3 years ago. Our recent experience has been really poor.
The writing and reading instruction will be better at Eastern. This is certain.
Based on your posts I don't think you'll find the overall school experience what you want.

How resilient is your child to a more rough environment? We know kids who handled any issues that came up but others who were miserable. DC told us there was a boy who cried almost every day after something happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all. It’s not about not wanting my DC to be mixing with the mainstream students. I just wanted to know the idea of overall school and the program. It’s the decision to be made in the last minute and it’s taking a toll on us. I know it’s an excellent program but given the commute and like the PP said time for extra curricular activities I’m just concerned and turning to opinions and suggestions from DCUM. Ofcourse ultimately we have to make the decision based on what would be right for us. Thanks every one .

Thank you. This is exactly same thing I’m worried about as it would be harder on my Dc if it’s too much of a rough environment. Do you currently have your child there in the program ? Thank you
You will have a higher performing overall cohort at Cabin John especially for math.
It sounds like there is disagreement about the math instruction but some of those posts sound like they are parents from at least 3 years ago. Our recent experience has been really poor.
The writing and reading instruction will be better at Eastern. This is certain.
Based on your posts I don't think you'll find the overall school experience what you want.

How resilient is your child to a more rough environment? We know kids who handled any issues that came up but others who were miserable. DC told us there was a boy who cried almost every day after something happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure about that? I think in the past you could accept one magnet and remain on the waitlist for the other.

Correct, you can. My kid got accepted at TPMS immediately and got off the waitlist for Eastern in May. TBH, everyone (and I mean everyone) that I know who had a kid in the Eastern pool has been offered a place at this point.

And we know plenty of kids in the wait pool who didn't get a spot (including quite a few kids in DC's CES class, of whom most were in the pool). And some kids were lucky enough to get both spots at the same time, so choosing one meant you were out of the running for the other.

That said, it is true that EMS increased the size of their program this year. I think there are about 120 total spots (?). Not sure how this compares to TMPS. I think TPMS was already that size so maybe now they are roughly equal?

Our kid was offered and accepted a slot at EMS. Our feeling was that the math would be the same as in the home MS (kid would have AIM either way), but the humanities would be MUCH better. But we are only a short distance from the school. If we were looking at a 30 min bus ride or more, we might feel differently.

Not exactly sure about science - anyone know if magnet kids take science together? It might be same crappy curriculum as in the home MS, but at least they'd be in a class with other (presumably) smart kids who want to learn....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure about that? I think in the past you could accept one magnet and remain on the waitlist for the other.

Correct, you can. My kid got accepted at TPMS immediately and got off the waitlist for Eastern in May. TBH, everyone (and I mean everyone) that I know who had a kid in the Eastern pool has been offered a place at this point.

And we know plenty of kids in the wait pool who didn't get a spot (including quite a few kids in DC's CES class, of whom most were in the pool). And some kids were lucky enough to get both spots at the same time, so choosing one meant you were out of the running for the other.

That said, it is true that EMS increased the size of their program this year. I think there are about 120 total spots (?). Not sure how this compares to TMPS. I think TPMS was already that size so maybe now they are roughly equal?

Our kid was offered and accepted a slot at EMS. Our feeling was that the math would be the same as in the home MS (kid would have AIM either way), but the humanities would be MUCH better. But we are only a short distance from the school. If we were looking at a 30 min bus ride or more, we might feel differently.

Not exactly sure about science - anyone know if magnet kids take science together? It might be same crappy curriculum as in the home MS, but at least they'd be in a class with other (presumably) smart kids who want to learn....

Science and math are both with the gen ed students mixed in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all. It’s not about not wanting my DC to be mixing with the mainstream students. I just wanted to know the idea of overall school and the program. It’s the decision to be made in the last minute and it’s taking a toll on us. I know it’s an excellent program but given the commute and like the PP said time for extra curricular activities I’m just concerned and turning to opinions and suggestions from DCUM. Ofcourse ultimately we have to make the decision based on what would be right for us. Thanks every one .

Thank you. This is exactly same thing I’m worried about as it would be harder on my Dc if it’s too much of a rough environment. Do you currently have your child there in the program ? Thank you
You will have a higher performing overall cohort at Cabin John especially for math.
It sounds like there is disagreement about the math instruction but some of those posts sound like they are parents from at least 3 years ago. Our recent experience has been really poor.
The writing and reading instruction will be better at Eastern. This is certain.
Based on your posts I don't think you'll find the overall school experience what you want.

How resilient is your child to a more rough environment? We know kids who handled any issues that came up but others who were miserable. DC told us there was a boy who cried almost every day after something happening.

We have a current student there. A lot of the boys experience something, but it's not like it's fights breaking out every day that you are involved in. I don't want to overstate but I don't want to understate either. It won't be like Cabin John if that's the environment you want. TPMS is more like that.

[Anonymous]

I was the poster who said the math instruction was better at eastern than the home W feeder school. Our DC attended eastern post pandemic. I have my PhD in math and the quality difference between Eastern and our home middle school was noticeable at least for the teachers DC had, although I think we’d all agree that teacher consistency can vary at any school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all. It’s not about not wanting my DC to be mixing with the mainstream students. I just wanted to know the idea of overall school and the program. It’s the decision to be made in the last minute and it’s taking a toll on us. I know it’s an excellent program but given the commute and like the PP said time for extra curricular activities I’m just concerned and turning to opinions and suggestions from DCUM. Ofcourse ultimately we have to make the decision based on what would be right for us. Thanks every one .

Thank you. This is exactly same thing I’m worried about as it would be harder on my Dc if it’s too much of a rough environment. Do you currently have your child there in the program ? Thank you
You will have a higher performing overall cohort at Cabin John especially for math.
It sounds like there is disagreement about the math instruction but some of those posts sound like they are parents from at least 3 years ago. Our recent experience has been really poor.
The writing and reading instruction will be better at Eastern. This is certain.
Based on your posts I don't think you'll find the overall school experience what you want.

How resilient is your child to a more rough environment? We know kids who handled any issues that came up but others who were miserable. DC told us there was a boy who cried almost every day after something happening.

We have a current student there. A lot of the boys experience something, but it's not like it's fights breaking out every day that you are involved in. I don't want to overstate but I don't want to understate either. It won't be like Cabin John if that's the environment you want. TPMS is more like that.

Thank you. It’s a hard choice . I wish MCPS gives Atleast offer 50% of what they offer in the magnet program so lot of kids can benefit . If they could kind of do that with Elementary level by offering ELC which is almost similar to CES classes… they could do something to improve literacy classes for middle school too . Has any one from here ever reached out to their school or MCPS board about it ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all. It’s not about not wanting my DC to be mixing with the mainstream students. I just wanted to know the idea of overall school and the program. It’s the decision to be made in the last minute and it’s taking a toll on us. I know it’s an excellent program but given the commute and like the PP said time for extra curricular activities I’m just concerned and turning to opinions and suggestions from DCUM. Ofcourse ultimately we have to make the decision based on what would be right for us. Thanks every one .

Thank you. This is exactly same thing I’m worried about as it would be harder on my Dc if it’s too much of a rough environment. Do you currently have your child there in the program ? Thank you
You will have a higher performing overall cohort at Cabin John especially for math.
It sounds like there is disagreement about the math instruction but some of those posts sound like they are parents from at least 3 years ago. Our recent experience has been really poor.
The writing and reading instruction will be better at Eastern. This is certain.
Based on your posts I don't think you'll find the overall school experience what you want.

How resilient is your child to a more rough environment? We know kids who handled any issues that came up but others who were miserable. DC told us there was a boy who cried almost every day after something happening.

We have a current student there. A lot of the boys experience something, but it's not like it's fights breaking out every day that you are involved in. I don't want to overstate but I don't want to understate either. It won't be like Cabin John if that's the environment you want. TPMS is more like that.

Thank you. It’s a hard choice . I wish MCPS gives Atleast offer 50% of what they offer in the magnet program so lot of kids can benefit . If they could kind of do that with Elementary level by offering ELC which is almost similar to CES classes… they could do something to improve literacy classes for middle school too . Has any one from here ever reached out to their school or MCPS board about it ?

Totally agree with this - they should at a minimum be offered a differentiated English class. "Honors" English is a joke.

[Anonymous]

We have a MS child at a W feeder that is not Cabin John but close by. We have a child who was at Eastern two years ago and is now in high school.

I do not think the curriculum hasn't changed much.

The big difference is that Eastern has a big research paper in 7th grade but other than that it was not that different. The list of books overlaps and some of the assignments were exactly the same. The home middle school had a ton of short papers just like at Eastern. The big difference between Eastern and the home school was some assignments that were more creative like you might put on a play or create a video. If your child loves drama or art this is really fun. If your child does not it's a wash.

It might be really different at a lower performing school but that is not where you are coming from.

[Anonymous]

Typo. I do not think the curriculum has changed much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our daughter attended eastern and was 2+ ahead in math. It is not exclusively magnet kids in those classes, but because many of those kids are extremely bright they tended to be together for math. Her math instruction was head and shoulders above our sons who was in a W feeder middle school in the grade behind our daughter. But there was absolutely no comparison between the quality of our daughters humanities classes and our sons AIM classes at his middle school. Eastern was just far superior, hands down, in part because the expectations are very high and the assignment complexity reflects that which forces the issue.

This must have been a long time ago. There has been a lot of turnover since the pandemic and the instruction is awful.

Not the PP, but the excellent math teachers my kid had a few years ago are still there.

[Anonymous]

OP, DC has a friend who was hoping to get in to TPMS and went to Eastern reluctantly. He also knows another boy in his grade who is the same. Sounds like your child.

His friend had a frustrating start but from what my child has told me he's ok he went. The other one apparently hates it but is being forced to stay. DC says he sits at lunch alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our daughter attended eastern and was 2+ ahead in math. It is not exclusively magnet kids in those classes, but because many of those kids are extremely bright they tended to be together for math. Her math instruction was head and shoulders above our sons who was in a W feeder middle school in the grade behind our daughter. But there was absolutely no comparison between the quality of our daughters humanities classes and our sons AIM classes at his middle school. Eastern was just far superior, hands down, in part because the expectations are very high and the assignment complexity reflects that which forces the issue.

This must have been a long time ago. There has been a lot of turnover since the pandemic and the instruction is awful.

Not the PP, but the excellent math teachers my kid had a few years ago are still there.

You are the "Ph.D." in math and I think your child has no siblings so you don't actually know what it's like at other schools.

[Anonymous]

What DC found is that the teachers depend really heavily on videos and Deltamath. There's a lazy mentality in that they do not print out worksheets and do a lot of paper work which really impacts learning in classes like Geometry where you should be able to do constructions by hand.
The admin doesn't seem to know or care.
At our W area middle school the teachers hand out packets so that kids can preview and review and they seem to be able to pivot to teach subjects different ways when students are stuck. They rarely use videos. If I wanted my kid to watch Khan academy in class why am I sending them all the way to Eastern?
The other issue DC had is that the level of the other students is lower than what DC is used to because they are mostly humanities students and the students are aggressive so they take up a lot of the teacher time asking questions that DC thinks are obvious. There's no time to go in depth and get more challenges as a result. In each class there are usually 1-2 very aggressive humanities students that dominate the teacher's time and the teachers seem happy for the attention and ignore kids who are actually good at the subject.
It has not been a good experience.