Gifted & talented programs and magnet school opportunities in the public schools?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t move here OP. Try HCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To OP: do you believe your kid(s) is truly gifted, talented, and self-determined? If yes, choose FCPS, and try to push them to TJ. If they can't get in, several FCPS HSs are still pretty good and competitive, but TJ is a a whole new level.

If you believe your kids are somewhat gifted but not one of a kind, choose Howard county. Marriotts Ridge, Centennial or Clarksville are all very descent.

If you believe your kids are probably just high-achiever, and hard to tell the long-term trend, and you want them to enjoy a happy easygoing life and you are satisfied with UMD, you can try Bethesda or Potomac.

We moved to MoCo for the true jewelry on the top: the magnet/RMIB. Our elder one is lucky enough to ride through it with maximizing their education experience. We observed the consistent decline of education over the past 15 years or so under the name of so many popular words. Now these only jewels are going to be removed soon. Don't come for a good education for gifted kids. Period.

The very top, talented, gifted kids in the area are in MoCo.

I said, those very top talented and gifted kids in MCPS were identified and very well served by the magnet pathway in the past, but less and less since the lottery. I know quite some families moved to MoCo intentionally for these GT opportunities. Now the entire new regional model is going to kill the HS merit-based magnet program completely. Families with gifted kids will fleet away. FCPS serves these kids well, and HCPS does an overall good job. MCPS is a sinking ship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To OP: do you believe your kid(s) is truly gifted, talented, and self-determined? If yes, choose FCPS, and try to push them to TJ. If they can't get in, several FCPS HSs are still pretty good and competitive, but TJ is a a whole new level.

If you believe your kids are somewhat gifted but not one of a kind, choose Howard county. Marriotts Ridge, Centennial or Clarksville are all very descent.

If you believe your kids are probably just high-achiever, and hard to tell the long-term trend, and you want them to enjoy a happy easygoing life and you are satisfied with UMD, you can try Bethesda or Potomac.

We moved to MoCo for the true jewelry on the top: the magnet/RMIB. Our elder one is lucky enough to ride through it with maximizing their education experience. We observed the consistent decline of education over the past 15 years or so under the name of so many popular words. Now these only jewels are going to be removed soon. Don't come for a good education for gifted kids. Period.

The very top, talented, gifted kids in the area are in MoCo.

I said, those very top talented and gifted kids in MCPS were identified and very well served by the magnet pathway in the past, but less and less since the lottery. I know quite some families moved to MoCo intentionally for these GT opportunities. Now the entire new regional model is going to kill the HS merit-based magnet program completely. Families with gifted kids will fleet away. FCPS serves these kids well, and HCPS does an overall good job. MCPS is a sinking ship.

I have to agree with this post. My three kids are all doctors came out of MCPS magnet HSs. My youngest graduated in 2015 from RMIB. MCPS used to recognize kids at the top end of spectrum need special support as much as kids at the bottom end of the spectrum. Last 10 years or so, MCPS has definitely moved away from addressing the needs of truly gifted kids to finding more "equity" between all kids. We are truly lucky that our kids graduated before this madness but it's very sad to see the decline if you have truly gifted kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To OP: do you believe your kid(s) is truly gifted, talented, and self-determined? If yes, choose FCPS, and try to push them to TJ. If they can't get in, several FCPS HSs are still pretty good and competitive, but TJ is a a whole new level.

If you believe your kids are somewhat gifted but not one of a kind, choose Howard county. Marriotts Ridge, Centennial or Clarksville are all very descent.

If you believe your kids are probably just high-achiever, and hard to tell the long-term trend, and you want them to enjoy a happy easygoing life and you are satisfied with UMD, you can try Bethesda or Potomac.

We moved to MoCo for the true jewelry on the top: the magnet/RMIB. Our elder one is lucky enough to ride through it with maximizing their education experience. We observed the consistent decline of education over the past 15 years or so under the name of so many popular words. Now these only jewels are going to be removed soon. Don't come for a good education for gifted kids. Period.

The very top, talented, gifted kids in the area are in MoCo.

I said, those very top talented and gifted kids in MCPS were identified and very well served by the magnet pathway in the past, but less and less since the lottery. I know quite some families moved to MoCo intentionally for these GT opportunities. Now the entire new regional model is going to kill the HS merit-based magnet program completely. Families with gifted kids will fleet away. FCPS serves these kids well, and HCPS does an overall good job. MCPS is a sinking ship.

I have to agree with this post. My three kids are all doctors came out of MCPS magnet HSs. My youngest graduated in 2015 from RMIB. MCPS used to recognize kids at the top end of spectrum need special support as much as kids at the bottom end of the spectrum. Last 10 years or so, MCPS has definitely moved away from addressing the needs of truly gifted kids to finding more "equity" between all kids. We are truly lucky that our kids graduated before this madness but it's very sad to see the decline if you have truly gifted kids.

It is human nature to believe that everything is worse now than it was before but can you cite objective measures?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To OP: do you believe your kid(s) is truly gifted, talented, and self-determined? If yes, choose FCPS, and try to push them to TJ. If they can't get in, several FCPS HSs are still pretty good and competitive, but TJ is a a whole new level.

If you believe your kids are somewhat gifted but not one of a kind, choose Howard county. Marriotts Ridge, Centennial or Clarksville are all very descent.

If you believe your kids are probably just high-achiever, and hard to tell the long-term trend, and you want them to enjoy a happy easygoing life and you are satisfied with UMD, you can try Bethesda or Potomac.

We moved to MoCo for the true jewelry on the top: the magnet/RMIB. Our elder one is lucky enough to ride through it with maximizing their education experience. We observed the consistent decline of education over the past 15 years or so under the name of so many popular words. Now these only jewels are going to be removed soon. Don't come for a good education for gifted kids. Period.

The very top, talented, gifted kids in the area are in MoCo.

I said, those very top talented and gifted kids in MCPS were identified and very well served by the magnet pathway in the past, but less and less since the lottery. I know quite some families moved to MoCo intentionally for these GT opportunities. Now the entire new regional model is going to kill the HS merit-based magnet program completely. Families with gifted kids will fleet away. FCPS serves these kids well, and HCPS does an overall good job. MCPS is a sinking ship.

I have to agree with this post. My three kids are all doctors came out of MCPS magnet HSs. My youngest graduated in 2015 from RMIB. MCPS used to recognize kids at the top end of spectrum need special support as much as kids at the bottom end of the spectrum. Last 10 years or so, MCPS has definitely moved away from addressing the needs of truly gifted kids to finding more "equity" between all kids. We are truly lucky that our kids graduated before this madness but it's very sad to see the decline if you have truly gifted kids.

It is human nature to believe that everything is worse now than it was before but can you cite objective measures?

Yes, maybe. DCUM is an opinion board and that was my opinion. Whether you believe it or not, is irrelevant to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GT identification (SIPPI) is state-mandated, but matching local programming often is insufficient and certainly is inconsistent (funding, training, diverse needs, local school administration priorities).
-> Communities with active familiy involvement sometimes see cohorted treatment, and better in-class differentiation is more available where there are larger cohorts of high-ability (and/or highly prepped) students; this persists to availability of higher-level HS courses (and availability of grade-skipping class placement at a few ESs & MSs, along with certain path-favoring electives at a few MSs) due to an MCPS policy of allowing community pull/local-school administration decision to determine availability of such.

There are not enough magnet seats, generally, to match the population in need (or with interest).
-> A lottery is utilized for ES & MS magnets, and for some interest-based HS magnet programs.

Local norming of test scores are used for criteria-based ES & MS magnet lottery pool inclusion.
-> A higher-flying student at a higher-FARMS school may have a better chance of being included in the pool as an edge case if they have managed to be exposed (via outside enrichment or otherwise) to higher-level content despite the presumed more difficult cohort.

SIPPI/GT identification is a separate process from lottery qualification.
-> There is overlap, but no assurance of magnet lottery pool inclusion from GT identification.

Criteria-based HS programs can select students.
-> With the above-noted scarcity, the resulting competition favors those receiving outside enrichment, those having received better instruction with the above-noted locally dependent cohorting and/or those lucky enough to have been selected by lottery for earlier magnet programming.

There are local-only ES 4th/5th CES magnets (previously mentioned).
-> This confers a higher chance of being selected by lottery.

There are (some) local set-asides for ES/MS magnets.
-> This also confers a higher chance of being selected by lottery.

The current HS/MS program analysis aims to increase seats and distribute programs across the county, but commute times/transportation cost & related impacts (e.g., time for alternate activities, encumbered social interaction) will remain a consideration for many; in parallel, there is a boundary study for HS & MS that could impact the majority of the county; programs/boundaries/set-asides/selection paradigms are subject to change, but often jealously guarded by local/attending communities.
-> Location may matter, but pending or future changes may confound education-related domicile planning.

There are not local set-asides for CES -- at least there are not for CCES.

The four local-only CESs effectively are local set-asides, though these were mentioned in the list ahead of the call-out of local set-asides. Not all ES magnet programs are Centers for Enriched Studies, however.

Language immersion can be seen as desirable, allowing a student to stretch even if the level of content taught is supposed to be equivalent to that provided in the standard English curriculum. Not all immersion magnets have local set-asides, but Potomac ES's Chinese (Mandarin) Immersion program only has allowed consideration of out-of-bounds students if not all slots are filled locally -- the most generous local set-aside remaining in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To OP: do you believe your kid(s) is truly gifted, talented, and self-determined? If yes, choose FCPS, and try to push them to TJ. If they can't get in, several FCPS HSs are still pretty good and competitive, but TJ is a a whole new level.

If you believe your kids are somewhat gifted but not one of a kind, choose Howard county. Marriotts Ridge, Centennial or Clarksville are all very descent.

If you believe your kids are probably just high-achiever, and hard to tell the long-term trend, and you want them to enjoy a happy easygoing life and you are satisfied with UMD, you can try Bethesda or Potomac.

We moved to MoCo for the true jewelry on the top: the magnet/RMIB. Our elder one is lucky enough to ride through it with maximizing their education experience. We observed the consistent decline of education over the past 15 years or so under the name of so many popular words. Now these only jewels are going to be removed soon. Don't come for a good education for gifted kids. Period.

lol. You advice is to move to FCPS and try to push for one of the most competitive schools in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To OP: do you believe your kid(s) is truly gifted, talented, and self-determined? If yes, choose FCPS, and try to push them to TJ. If they can't get in, several FCPS HSs are still pretty good and competitive, but TJ is a a whole new level.

If you believe your kids are somewhat gifted but not one of a kind, choose Howard county. Marriotts Ridge, Centennial or Clarksville are all very descent.

If you believe your kids are probably just high-achiever, and hard to tell the long-term trend, and you want them to enjoy a happy easygoing life and you are satisfied with UMD, you can try Bethesda or Potomac.

We moved to MoCo for the true jewelry on the top: the magnet/RMIB. Our elder one is lucky enough to ride through it with maximizing their education experience. We observed the consistent decline of education over the past 15 years or so under the name of so many popular words. Now these only jewels are going to be removed soon. Don't come for a good education for gifted kids. Period.

The very top, talented, gifted kids in the area are in MoCo.

I said, those very top talented and gifted kids in MCPS were identified and very well served by the magnet pathway in the past, but less and less since the lottery. I know quite some families moved to MoCo intentionally for these GT opportunities. Now the entire new regional model is going to kill the HS merit-based magnet program completely. Families with gifted kids will fleet away. FCPS serves these kids well, and HCPS does an overall good job. MCPS is a sinking ship.

Folks need to stop all the fearful conjecture. There is no indication at this point that the magnets will not continue to be successful in the new proposed regional model. In fact it has consistently been said there will continue to be criteria based and interest based options. Further while folks are trying to fawn over FCPS and HCPS, guess what there are families in those districts that complain about them just like folks complain about MCPS. The grass isn’t always greener somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To OP: do you believe your kid(s) is truly gifted, talented, and self-determined? If yes, choose FCPS, and try to push them to TJ. If they can't get in, several FCPS HSs are still pretty good and competitive, but TJ is a a whole new level.

If you believe your kids are somewhat gifted but not one of a kind, choose Howard county. Marriotts Ridge, Centennial or Clarksville are all very descent.

If you believe your kids are probably just high-achiever, and hard to tell the long-term trend, and you want them to enjoy a happy easygoing life and you are satisfied with UMD, you can try Bethesda or Potomac.

We moved to MoCo for the true jewelry on the top: the magnet/RMIB. Our elder one is lucky enough to ride through it with maximizing their education experience. We observed the consistent decline of education over the past 15 years or so under the name of so many popular words. Now these only jewels are going to be removed soon. Don't come for a good education for gifted kids. Period.

The very top, talented, gifted kids in the area are in MoCo.

I said, those very top talented and gifted kids in MCPS were identified and very well served by the magnet pathway in the past, but less and less since the lottery. I know quite some families moved to MoCo intentionally for these GT opportunities. Now the entire new regional model is going to kill the HS merit-based magnet program completely. Families with gifted kids will fleet away. FCPS serves these kids well, and HCPS does an overall good job. MCPS is a sinking ship.

I have to agree with this post. My three kids are all doctors came out of MCPS magnet HSs. My youngest graduated in 2015 from RMIB. MCPS used to recognize kids at the top end of spectrum need special support as much as kids at the bottom end of the spectrum. Last 10 years or so, MCPS has definitely moved away from addressing the needs of truly gifted kids to finding more "equity" between all kids. We are truly lucky that our kids graduated before this madness but it's very sad to see the decline if you have truly gifted kids.

It is human nature to believe that everything is worse now than it was before but can you cite objective measures?

Exactly. MCPS realized that there were more kids in the top end of the spectrum not being served who should also have access and as such has tried to make more things available(hence compacted math and ELC). Is everything perfect, No, but newsflash the magnets weren’t perfect when they started, left a lot of kids out, and much has changed in 20yrs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To OP: do you believe your kid(s) is truly gifted, talented, and self-determined? If yes, choose FCPS, and try to push them to TJ. If they can't get in, several FCPS HSs are still pretty good and competitive, but TJ is a a whole new level.

If you believe your kids are somewhat gifted but not one of a kind, choose Howard county. Marriotts Ridge, Centennial or Clarksville are all very descent.

If you believe your kids are probably just high-achiever, and hard to tell the long-term trend, and you want them to enjoy a happy easygoing life and you are satisfied with UMD, you can try Bethesda or Potomac.

We moved to MoCo for the true jewelry on the top: the magnet/RMIB. Our elder one is lucky enough to ride through it with maximizing their education experience. We observed the consistent decline of education over the past 15 years or so under the name of so many popular words. Now these only jewels are going to be removed soon. Don't come for a good education for gifted kids. Period.

+1. Not a bad approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most school districts conflate gifted with high achieving. That said there is a large amount of high achieving students in MoCo, a smaller group of high achieving and amazingly driven(or pushed) students, and some gifted.

ES has Compacted Math available in 4th and 5th grade(complete 4th-6th grade math), the is also an Enriched Literacy Curriculum(how this is modeled is changing this school year by school. More to come).

There are MS and HS magnet and Special Programs. As others said these are under review and will be changing beginning Fall 2026. If you move here soon this would be worth paying attention on and being involved in.

Other than this, determine where you want to live in the county and then you can get more info. DO NOT rely on DCUM as your main source of info.

I think they’re trying to fix that. At least two board members correctly pointed out that giftedness should not be dependent on how much English you know. Yet CogAT and IQ tests are reliant on how much English you know, which is silly.

While this is true, in this country, classes, books, assignments, tests are in English. So, no matter how smart you are, if you don't have good command of the English language, you won't be able to keep up with most of the classes. Math is different, since it's a universal "language", and this is partly why so many Asian immigrants gravitate towards math-y type subjects.

I say this as someone who has a "gifted" child and whose parents (mine) are immigrants who cannot speak English.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at Howard County schools instead if possible. Much better school system than MCPS these days.

yes, but they don't have gifted/magnet programs, do they? They have accelerated enrichment within the school.

We moved from a tiny but wealthy school district, and it was the same. No actual program outside the class for gifted students because there weren't enough highly gifted kids to warrant a whole program. They just had pull out programs that involved pulling the child out every six weeks to go over "research".

We moved. While I have a lot of criticism for MCPS, I will say that the magnet programs have served DC well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To OP: do you believe your kid(s) is truly gifted, talented, and self-determined? If yes, choose FCPS, and try to push them to TJ. If they can't get in, several FCPS HSs are still pretty good and competitive, but TJ is a a whole new level.

If you believe your kids are somewhat gifted but not one of a kind, choose Howard county. Marriotts Ridge, Centennial or Clarksville are all very descent.

If you believe your kids are probably just high-achiever, and hard to tell the long-term trend, and you want them to enjoy a happy easygoing life and you are satisfied with UMD, you can try Bethesda or Potomac.

We moved to MoCo for the true jewelry on the top: the magnet/RMIB. Our elder one is lucky enough to ride through it with maximizing their education experience. We observed the consistent decline of education over the past 15 years or so under the name of so many popular words. Now these only jewels are going to be removed soon. Don't come for a good education for gifted kids. Period.

I don't believe HCPS has more gifted kids than MCPS. They have a lower FARMs rate than MCPS, for sure, and that impacts test scores.

I would say it's the other way.

If your kids are high achievers and UMD is fine, go to HCPS -- it's a lot easier to get into UMD from HCPS than MCPS. Read the college forum here about students with high stats from the wealthy schools in MCPS getting rejected to UMD. As a UMD AO stated - this is not the University of Montgomery County. If you look at the student body of UMD and where they come from, the vast majority are from MCPS, so it's much more competitive to get into UMD from MCPS than HCPS.

If you think your kid is really gifted, MCPS or FCPS is your best bet. But, FCPS TJ magnet which is a STEM magnet also changed the way they do admissions, so it's not like, as someone stated, grass is greener over at FCPS.

I'm not a fan of getting rid of the county wide magnets in place of the regional magnets, but at the least, MCPS does have a lot of programs to choose from for the high achievers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To OP: do you believe your kid(s) is truly gifted, talented, and self-determined? If yes, choose FCPS, and try to push them to TJ. If they can't get in, several FCPS HSs are still pretty good and competitive, but TJ is a a whole new level.

If you believe your kids are somewhat gifted but not one of a kind, choose Howard county. Marriotts Ridge, Centennial or Clarksville are all very descent.

If you believe your kids are probably just high-achiever, and hard to tell the long-term trend, and you want them to enjoy a happy easygoing life and you are satisfied with UMD, you can try Bethesda or Potomac.

We moved to MoCo for the true jewelry on the top: the magnet/RMIB. Our elder one is lucky enough to ride through it with maximizing their education experience. We observed the consistent decline of education over the past 15 years or so under the name of so many popular words. Now these only jewels are going to be removed soon. Don't come for a good education for gifted kids. Period.

The very top, talented, gifted kids in the area are in MoCo.

I said, those very top talented and gifted kids in MCPS were identified and very well served by the magnet pathway in the past, but less and less since the lottery. I know quite some families moved to MoCo intentionally for these GT opportunities. Now the entire new regional model is going to kill the HS merit-based magnet program completely. Families with gifted kids will fleet away. FCPS serves these kids well, and HCPS does an overall good job. MCPS is a sinking ship.

Folks need to stop all the fearful conjecture. There is no indication at this point that the magnets will not continue to be successful in the new proposed regional model. In fact it has consistently been said there will continue to be criteria based and interest based options. Further while folks are trying to fawn over FCPS and HCPS, guess what there are families in those districts that complain about them just like folks complain about MCPS. The grass isn’t always greener somewhere else.

If you have ever had a kid who had been able to fill their entire junior and senior years with those higher-level magnet classes, you'll know how naive you are about regional magnet can be comparable. No they can barely meet the mere minimum even the region include one of the "W" school: you simply cannot find those good teachers anywhere else in MCPS.

For TJ, since I've mentored quite a few TJ students during the past decade, I can see at least based on the ones I've supervised for conducting research, that program is not diluted for top students. Blair and TJ students are comparable in capability, self-motivation and aptitudes, but Blair will loose quickly once it becomes regional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To OP: do you believe your kid(s) is truly gifted, talented, and self-determined? If yes, choose FCPS, and try to push them to TJ. If they can't get in, several FCPS HSs are still pretty good and competitive, but TJ is a a whole new level.

If you believe your kids are somewhat gifted but not one of a kind, choose Howard county. Marriotts Ridge, Centennial or Clarksville are all very descent.

If you believe your kids are probably just high-achiever, and hard to tell the long-term trend, and you want them to enjoy a happy easygoing life and you are satisfied with UMD, you can try Bethesda or Potomac.

We moved to MoCo for the true jewelry on the top: the magnet/RMIB. Our elder one is lucky enough to ride through it with maximizing their education experience. We observed the consistent decline of education over the past 15 years or so under the name of so many popular words. Now these only jewels are going to be removed soon. Don't come for a good education for gifted kids. Period.

The very top, talented, gifted kids in the area are in MoCo.

I said, those very top talented and gifted kids in MCPS were identified and very well served by the magnet pathway in the past, but less and less since the lottery. I know quite some families moved to MoCo intentionally for these GT opportunities. Now the entire new regional model is going to kill the HS merit-based magnet program completely. Families with gifted kids will fleet away. FCPS serves these kids well, and HCPS does an overall good job. MCPS is a sinking ship.

Folks need to stop all the fearful conjecture. There is no indication at this point that the magnets will not continue to be successful in the new proposed regional model. In fact it has consistently been said there will continue to be criteria based and interest based options. Further while folks are trying to fawn over FCPS and HCPS, guess what there are families in those districts that complain about them just like folks complain about MCPS. The grass isn’t always greener somewhere else.

If you have ever had a kid who had been able to fill their entire junior and senior years with those higher-level magnet classes, you'll know how naive you are about regional magnet can be comparable. No they can barely meet the mere minimum even the region include one of the "W" school: you simply cannot find those good teachers anywhere else in MCPS.

For TJ, since I've mentored quite a few TJ students during the past decade, I can see at least based on the ones I've supervised for conducting research, that program is not diluted for top students. Blair and TJ students are comparable in capability, self-motivation and aptitudes, but Blair will loose quickly once it becomes regional.

Those who believe regional magnets can match the success of countywide programs are either out of touch or just wishful thinking. Countywide magnets bring together top talent, specialized staff, and diverse peers to create the depth and rigor gifted students need. Regional models may offer access, but they dilute quality and weaken the very structure that makes these programs effective. It’s way better to just expand Blair magnet than splitting to many regions.