MCPS - National Merit Seminfinalists pretty unevenly distributed, don't you think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again -- correction, Poolesville did pretty well. I misread the numbers there. Still there are many MCPS schools with no NM semifinalists. Are people surprised?

No. Because those kids go to magnet schools. I don't thing schools should claim a NM semi finalist if they were educated 90% of there,education at another school. These kids take PSATs in 7th and 8th grade, are admitted based on these scores and then magnet schools are like wow look how great we are. It's smoke and mirrors to get people to buy houses in failing neighborhoods.

Not surprised either that W parents won't bus their smart kids to a failing school.

This is really not factual.

Admissions tests aren't PSATs, first of all. And as a mom whose kid goes to a magnet in one of those "failing" schools (actually not failing, but anyway ...) we have lots of kids whose home neighborhoods are W schools or BCC cluster schools. It's not smoke and mirrors, it's an appropriate education for gifted kids. Sorry if that rankles.

Affluent parents will cross boundaries to send their kids to high-profile magnets like Blair or RM-IB. They won't do so for vague specialty programs like those scattered among the schools in eastern MoCo?

From the chart provided you can see the majority did not.

The chart says no such a thing. The majority cannot go any way because only so many kids can go.

[Anonymous]

What is the make up of the magnet school class. Is it in any way, shape,or form indicative of the neighborhoods it serves.

What is the racial make up? What percent are FARM?

If thisis such an amazing program it should be creating NM Semifinalists. What is the increase in scores from Freshman year to Senior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But it is not indicative of the education ou will receive from that school... Blair or rm. It is very deceiving to rank the school with the magnet kids test scores. It is a marketing tool for real estate in montgomery county for neighborhoods nobody would buy in if they really knew the ranking of the school with out the magnet kids.

I'm another poster here to tell you that test scores =/= quality of education. You need to get off that hobby horse, because it's wrong. Blair has some fantastic teachers in the non-magnet part, too.

How many NM Semifinalists are non-magnet?

[Anonymous]

Go away, anti magnet troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But it is not indicative of the education ou will receive from that school... Blair or rm. It is very deceiving to rank the school with the magnet kids test scores. It is a marketing tool for real estate in montgomery county for neighborhoods nobody would buy in if they really knew the ranking of the school with out the magnet kids.

Nobody would buy in? Nobody?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But it is not indicative of the education ou will receive from that school... Blair or rm. It is very deceiving to rank the school with the magnet kids test scores. It is a marketing tool for real estate in montgomery county for neighborhoods nobody would buy in if they really knew the ranking of the school with out the magnet kids.

I'm another poster here to tell you that test scores =/= quality of education. You need to get off that hobby horse, because it's wrong. Blair has some fantastic teachers in the non-magnet part, too.

How many NM Semifinalists are non-magnet?

I am not anti magnet. I ink it is fine to say look how may kids in the magnet program ate NMS but to say look how ,pmany kids in Blair are NMS is not truthful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The PSAT, like the SAT is a very biased test. You can learn how to take the test well. Children who are in environments that reinforce understanding how to take the test, do better. Results usually line up to SES with magnet schools being an outlier.

Kids who have parents that can afford to do so, get private tutoring for PSAT's/SAT's/ACTs. They therefore have an advantage over kids who don't study or get help in studying strategies for taking those types of tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again -- correction, Poolesville did pretty well. I misread the numbers there. Still there are many MCPS schools with no NM semifinalists. Are people surprised?

No. Because those kids go to magnet schools. I don't thing schools should claim a NM semi finalist if they were educated 90% of there,education at another school. These kids take PSATs in 7th and 8th grade, are admitted based on these scores and then magnet schools are like wow look how great we are. It's smoke and mirrors to get people to buy houses in failing neighborhoods.

Not surprised either that W parents won't bus their smart kids to a failing school.

This is really not factual.

Admissions tests aren't PSATs, first of all. And as a mom whose kid goes to a magnet in one of those "failing" schools (actually not failing, but anyway ...) we have lots of kids whose home neighborhoods are W schools or BCC cluster schools. It's not smoke and mirrors, it's an appropriate education for gifted kids. Sorry if that rankles.

I agree. DC goes to "Magnet HS" and has tons of friends in the program who are from "W" schools. Since DC choose magnet because of a poorly performing HS, DC questioned why anyone in "W" school would move to a magnet school. The truth is that magnet provides a first rate education and the work ethics that will see these kids succeed where ever they go - Ivies or state schools.

[Anonymous]

The truth is that magnet provides a first rate education and the work ethics that will see these kids succeed where ever they go - Ivies or state schools.

But they would have failed in an Ivy and state schools if they did not go to the magnet program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The truth is that magnet provides a first rate education and the work ethics that will see these kids succeed where ever they go - Ivies or state schools.

But they would have failed in an Ivy and state schools if they did not go to the magnet program?

No way to tell, but there are a lot of really smart kids out there who coast through HS never having had to work that have rude awakening when going to a top college.

[Anonymous]

Maybe they just need to say how many of these kids are in the magnet programs...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PSAT, like the SAT is a very biased test. You can learn how to take the test well. Children who are in environments that reinforce understanding how to take the test, do better. Results usually line up to SES with magnet schools being an outlier.

Kids who have parents that can afford to do so, get private tutoring for PSAT's/SAT's/ACTs. They therefore have an advantage over kids who don't study or get help in studying strategies for taking those types of tests.

And smarter people generally make more money and have smarter kids, so there's that as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The truth is that magnet provides a first rate education and the work ethics that will see these kids succeed where ever they go - Ivies or state schools.

But they would have failed in an Ivy and state schools if they did not go to the magnet program?

No way to tell, but there are a lot of really smart kids out there who coast through HS never having had to work that have rude awakening when going to a top college.

Which is why all kids need an appropriate education and stop doing it as a bussing system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The truth is that magnet provides a first rate education and the work ethics that will see these kids succeed where ever they go - Ivies or state schools.

But they would have failed in an Ivy and state schools if they did not go to the magnet program?

That's really not what it's about. I don't want to think of high school as just a grind to get someone into an Ivy or some other college. They should be challenged and engaged and it should be an interesting learning experience. Kids go to the magnets because they aren't getting that at their home school. And if you think an AP class at a W school is all that different from any high school, you are deluding yourself to justify your gigantic morgage and property tax bill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The truth is that magnet provides a first rate education and the work ethics that will see these kids succeed where ever they go - Ivies or state schools.

But they would have failed in an Ivy and state schools if they did not go to the magnet program?

That's really not what it's about. I don't want to think of high school as just a grind to get someone into an Ivy or some other college. They should be challenged and engaged and it should be an interesting learning experience. Kids go to the magnets because they aren't getting that at their home school. And if you think an AP class at a W school is all that different from any high school, you are deluding yourself to justify your gigantic morgage and property tax bill.

Well I hope that is not what it is all about, whih is why I think the original statement is silly, or scary if you are,the child of the poster.

I agree the AP classes are the same, the general population classes though... Not so much.