Why w school students not preferred in Blair magnet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

They do think that.

I have one kid at Whitman and another in the Blair magnet and I can assure you that the Whitman experience is not comparableat all. But my neighbors are sure that it is the best in the county, bar none.

Whatever.

It's very common to read on DCUM, "My kid is at a W school, and things are bad, so they must be even worse in the rest of the county!" In fact, I remember a BofE candidate a few years ago saying basically exactly that. I did not vote for that candidate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

This - this is WHY you bought a house in a W Cluster so you WOULDN'T depend on getting into a magnet for a good education. Don't bitch when your kid is going to get a better education than 98% of the kids in U.S. public schools. It's unseemly and ungracious.

Do families in W cluster really believe W-cluster education is equal to the magnet program (Blair or RM/IB)? With equal rigor, equal results, and whatever?

My kid was at Whitman and we didn't consider magnet programs. DC is not a stem kid, so no point in Blair. And RM is great but the IB program is not different enough in the long run to make it worth commuting a longer distance to school. DC went to private school for many years and we were really over the commute. Being 2 miles from school and having school friends in the neighborhood was really a plus, particularly given DCs sports and EC commitments. DC was plenty challenged at Whitman, took 10 APs, and ended up at a top college so it all worked out.

So even if they are objectively better it doesn't mean they are better for every smart kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC will be in 9th grade in a W high school. Did not make it to Blair SMAC magnet. Talking to others I get a feeling that very few (2 or 3) students from MS made it to Blair though MS is one of the very good schools, with so many bright kids. Why is it that the screening committee would prefer to select a student from non w school area over the one from w school with former having equal or lesser scores? Why is this assumption made that a student from silver spring would benefit more from Blair magnet than the one who would go to Churchill or Walter Johnson or Wooten.

OP, you are basically saying this:

1. My child, in one of the middle schools in Bethesda or Potomac, was not accepted to the Blair SMAC magnet.
2. Only a few children in that middle school were accepted.
3. There are a lot of smart children in that middle school.
4. Therefore the Blair magnet admissions are biased against children from middle schools in Bethesda or Potomac.

+1

Plus, many or most Whitman parents think Whitman is so good that it doesn't make sense to send their kid to Blair.

+2 Here's the thing folks may not know about Silver Spring, Kensington, Takoma Park, and other places on the eastern side of the county - there are A TON of college professors, NIH and other government scientists, public and private school teachers, etc. We care about our children's education as much as you do. We help our kids achieve their potential as much as you do.

Your kids are not smarter or more motivated by virtue of attending a "W" school. You just need to accept that your child, like many other kids, was beaten fair and square. There's no conspiracy. Very few kids make the cut, and yours didn't. Be glad you have a good program to fall back on.

This - this is WHY you bought a house in a W Cluster so you WOULDN'T depend on getting into a magnet for a good education. Don't bitch when your kid is going to get a better education than 98% of the kids in U.S. public schools. It's unseemly and ungracious.

OP here. Exactly that us my point. When a student from so called 'W' has performed way and beyond all through the seventh plus first sem eighth grade, very good recommendations not only from home school but from others too, has shown excellence not online in academics, and did not make in the first 100, but is still under consideration, the factors that weigh in are - is this student going to be ok in home school which is consider done of the very good high schools in mont county or another student with an equally good record or even a little less but from a home school which does not have a good rating in the county should be considered if there are any slots that might open up. This is first hand experience of parents who are NIH / govt/ DC officials with high education and from the neighborhood boundaries of Kensington/ Silver spring/ north Bethesda regions of this county. My point is that why there is a regional/high school bias on selection of kids to STEM program of magnet schools. Why the merit can not be determined based only on the magnet test score and /or the combined report card of sixth and seventh grade. Why to bring in race/ region/ gender/extra curricular activities/ other certifications and even the recommendations to determine the top 100. Why the county doesn't assign some slots for sports/ race/ school boundary based categories apart from the top 100 to bring diversity. How magnet is a magnet if so many other factors that the academic merit decides who gets in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

OP here. Exactly that us my point. When a student from so called 'W' has performed way and beyond all through the seventh plus first sem eighth grade, very good recommendations not only from home school but from others too, has shown excellence not online in academics, and did not make in the first 100, but is still under consideration, the factors that weigh in are - is this student going to be ok in home school which is consider done of the very good high schools in mont county or another student with an equally good record or even a little less but from a home school which does not have a good rating in the county should be considered if there are any slots that might open up. This is first hand experience of parents who are NIH / govt/ DC officials with high education and from the neighborhood boundaries of Kensington/ Silver spring/ north Bethesda regions of this county. My point is that why there is a regional/high school bias on selection of kids to STEM program of magnet schools. Why the merit can not be determined based only on the magnet test score and /or the combined report card of sixth and seventh grade. Why to bring in race/ region/ gender/extra curricular activities/ other certifications and even the recommendations to determine the top 100. Why the county doesn't assign some slots for sports/ race/ school boundary based categories apart from the top 100 to bring diversity. How magnet is a magnet if so many other factors that the academic merit decides who gets in.

Maybe you should first establish that there is such a bias. You haven't done that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is WINSTON CHURCHILL, that's why it's a W school.

It's odd that I've never, not once, heard anybody call Churchill HS "Winston Churchill".

Well, OPs question didn't reference Montgomery Blair either but if you ever look something up with MCPS there are official names.

But nobody gets upset on DCUM insisting that Blair is an M school.

Ok, but M looks like an upside down W...so, what does that signify?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC will be in 9th grade in a W high school. Did not make it to Blair SMAC magnet. Talking to others I get a feeling that very few (2 or 3) students from MS made it to Blair though MS is one of the very good schools, with so many bright kids. Why is it that the screening committee would prefer to select a student from non w school area over the one from w school with former having equal or lesser scores? Why is this assumption made that a student from silver spring would benefit more from Blair magnet than the one who would go to Churchill or Walter Johnson or Wooten.

OP, you are basically saying this:

1. My child, in one of the middle schools in Bethesda or Potomac, was not accepted to the Blair SMAC magnet.
2. Only a few children in that middle school were accepted.
3. There are a lot of smart children in that middle school.
4. Therefore the Blair magnet admissions are biased against children from middle schools in Bethesda or Potomac.

+1

Plus, many or most Whitman parents think Whitman is so good that it doesn't make sense to send their kid to Blair.

+2 Here's the thing folks may not know about Silver Spring, Kensington, Takoma Park, and other places on the eastern side of the county - there are A TON of college professors, NIH and other government scientists, public and private school teachers, etc. We care about our children's education as much as you do. We help our kids achieve their potential as much as you do.

Your kids are not smarter or more motivated by virtue of attending a "W" school. You just need to accept that your child, like many other kids, was beaten fair and square. There's no conspiracy. Very few kids make the cut, and yours didn't. Be glad you have a good program to fall back on.

This - this is WHY you bought a house in a W Cluster so you WOULDN'T depend on getting into a magnet for a good education. Don't bitch when your kid is going to get a better education than 98% of the kids in U.S. public schools. It's unseemly and ungracious.

OP here. Exactly that us my point. When a student from so called 'W' has performed way and beyond all through the seventh plus first sem eighth grade, very good recommendations not only from home school but from others too, has shown excellence not online in academics, and did not make in the first 100, but is still under consideration, the factors that weigh in are - is this student going to be ok in home school which is consider done of the very good high schools in mont county or another student with an equally good record or even a little less but from a home school which does not have a good rating in the county should be considered if there are any slots that might open up. This is first hand experience of parents who are NIH / govt/ DC officials with high education and from the neighborhood boundaries of Kensington/ Silver spring/ north Bethesda regions of this county. My point is that why there is a regional/high school bias on selection of kids to STEM program of magnet schools. Why the merit can not be determined based only on the magnet test score and /or the combined report card of sixth and seventh grade. Why to bring in race/ region/ gender/extra curricular activities/ other certifications and even the recommendations to determine the top 100. Why the county doesn't assign some slots for sports/ race/ school boundary based categories apart from the top 100 to bring diversity. How magnet is a magnet if so many other factors that the academic merit decides who gets in.

These other factors do not apply. You announce that they do, but that is your conjecture based on your kid not getting in.

Your kid didn't make the cut because others did better than he did. It is that simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC will be in 9th grade in a W high school. Did not make it to Blair SMAC magnet. Talking to others I get a feeling that very few (2 or 3) students from MS made it to Blair though MS is one of the very good schools, with so many bright kids. Why is it that the screening committee would prefer to select a student from non w school area over the one from w school with former having equal or lesser scores? Why is this assumption made that a student from silver spring would benefit more from Blair magnet than the one who would go to Churchill or Walter Johnson or Wooten.

OP, you are basically saying this:

1. My child, in one of the middle schools in Bethesda or Potomac, was not accepted to the Blair SMAC magnet.
2. Only a few children in that middle school were accepted.
3. There are a lot of smart children in that middle school.
4. Therefore the Blair magnet admissions are biased against children from middle schools in Bethesda or Potomac.

+1

Plus, many or most Whitman parents think Whitman is so good that it doesn't make sense to send their kid to Blair.

+2 Here's the thing folks may not know about Silver Spring, Kensington, Takoma Park, and other places on the eastern side of the county - there are A TON of college professors, NIH and other government scientists, public and private school teachers, etc. We care about our children's education as much as you do. We help our kids achieve their potential as much as you do.

Your kids are not smarter or more motivated by virtue of attending a "W" school. You just need to accept that your child, like many other kids, was beaten fair and square. There's no conspiracy. Very few kids make the cut, and yours didn't. Be glad you have a good program to fall back on.

This - this is WHY you bought a house in a W Cluster so you WOULDN'T depend on getting into a magnet for a good education. Don't bitch when your kid is going to get a better education than 98% of the kids in U.S. public schools. It's unseemly and ungracious.

OP here. Exactly that us my point. When a student from so called 'W' has performed way and beyond all through the seventh plus first sem eighth grade, very good recommendations not only from home school but from others too, has shown excellence not online in academics, and did not make in the first 100, but is still under consideration, the factors that weigh in are - is this student going to be ok in home school which is consider done of the very good high schools in mont county or another student with an equally good record or even a little less but from a home school which does not have a good rating in the county should be considered if there are any slots that might open up. This is first hand experience of parents who are NIH / govt/ DC officials with high education and from the neighborhood boundaries of Kensington/ Silver spring/ north Bethesda regions of this county. My point is that why there is a regional/high school bias on selection of kids to STEM program of magnet schools. Why the merit can not be determined based only on the magnet test score and /or the combined report card of sixth and seventh grade. Why to bring in race/ region/ gender/extra curricular activities/ other certifications and even the recommendations to determine the top 100. Why the county doesn't assign some slots for sports/ race/ school boundary based categories apart from the top 100 to bring diversity. How magnet is a magnet if so many other factors that the academic merit decides who gets in.

There is no such bias.

Test scores, grades, and recommendations are the basis for the decisions.

Your kid didn't get in, just as many others from other middle schools didn't. Why? Because others tested and performed better than your kid.

It is that simple.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This - this is WHY you bought a house in a W Cluster so you WOULDN'T depend on getting into a magnet for a good education. Don't bitch when your kid is going to get a better education than 98% of the kids in U.S. public schools. It's unseemly and ungracious.

Do families in W cluster really believe W-cluster education is equal to the magnet program (Blair or RM/IB)? With equal rigor, equal results, and whatever?

They do think that.

I have one kid at Whitman and another in the Blair magnet and I can assure you that the Whitman experience is not comparableat all. But my neighbors are sure that it is the best in the county, bar none.

Whatever.

I actually don't think most think that, which is why they get so pissy about not getting into magnet - but by getting pissy they fail to realize that their W school is better than most out there (not magnets but their child does not need a magnet to get a good/excellent education) and oh well, too bad that they can't go to the #1-5 schools in the country - they can go to the numbers 50-100. So be happy, is all I am saying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is WINSTON CHURCHILL, that's why it's a W school.

It's odd that I've never, not once, heard anybody call Churchill HS "Winston Churchill".

Well, OPs question didn't reference Montgomery Blair either but if you ever look something up with MCPS there are official names.

But nobody gets upset on DCUM insisting that Blair is an M school.

Ok, but M looks like an upside down W...so, what does that signify?

I'm going to have to do some serious thinking about the M schools.

[Anonymous]

PP, well that is what I am trying to understand. With the knowledge I have, and based on my discussions with parents of selected, non selected, school councilors, coordinators, I have come to the conclusion that there are some factors other than the academics are considered by the screening committee which leads to not a perfect selection.

Having said this, again I am not upset or unhappy, as DC is one of the finest hard working student and am certain will excel in academics in home school. I wanted to debate my thoughts of how I understand the magnet admissions with other forum members. So thank you all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your theory doesn't hold up, OP.

Take a look at the data. Wooton and Walter Johnson are among the top high schools for # of kids sent to magnet programs.
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/Appendix-B-Program-data-tables.pdf

Churchill also, although not technically a "W" school.

The only one that doesn't send a lot of kids to the magnets is Whitman and from what I've heard from talking to parents it's because Whitman is so good that why bother applying elsewhere. The commute is also terrible to Blair from that part of Bethesda.

There was a book about top Whitman students a few years ago and one kid went to Blair for a year and then his parents pulled him out because they thought Whitman would be better. He ended up going to Harvard so it sounds like it worked out for them.

The W's are Winston (Churchill), Walter (Johnson), Walt Whitman, and (Thomas) Wootton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, well that is what I am trying to understand. With the knowledge I have, and based on my discussions with parents of selected, non selected, school councilors, coordinators, I have come to the conclusion that there are some factors other than the academics are considered by the screening committee which leads to not a perfect selection.

Having said this, again I am not upset or unhappy, as DC is one of the finest hard working student and am certain will excel in academics in home school. I wanted to debate my thoughts of how I understand the magnet admissions with other forum members. So thank you all.

OP, there is no such thing as "a perfect selection". They get lots of applications from kids who are basically equally well-qualified and would do equally well in the program. They can only admit a small fraction of those kids. For whatever reason -- NOT including that your kid goes to a middle school in Bethesda -- your kid wasn't among the admitted. That's how it is. Nonetheless, your kid will excel at the home school; that's great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The W's are Winston (Churchill), Walter (Johnson), Walt Whitman, and (Thomas) Wootton.

I haven't heard of Winston HS or Walter HS. Where are they?

[Anonymous]

There is no racial or gender consideration. Those are illegal. Extracurriculars are not considered, except insofar as they are mentioned in the recommendation process.

Just stop. You are embarrassing yourself here. You want to think the standards are lower for Blacks/Latinos, or that girls have a better shot, but those are not factors under consideration.

Why is it so hard to believe that, in one of the highest educated counties in the country, there were kids who were slightly more impressive than your own child?

[Anonymous]

Blair told us Wooton was typically the second largest contributor (after Takoma) most years...