Differentiation in MCPS elementary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here— she would be going to Somerset...

Oh, OP, she definitely will not be the only kindergarten student with those skills at Somerset ES.

Yeah. Seriously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here— she would be going to Somerset...

Oh, OP, she definitely will not be the only kindergarten student with those skills at Somerset ES.

Yeah. Seriously.

True. DC is at a school right next to Somerset, and at least half the class came in reading higher than grade level with 3-4 reading thick chapter books. About 5 kids got pulled out for math but it wasn't very exciting stuff, just word problems up to 100.

[Anonymous]

Those are pretty normal skills for a child who is smart or preschool/parents worked with them.

[Anonymous]

I like the Montessori idea. I know some advanced kids who went to Montessori until 1st, 2nd or 3rd and then switched to public. Their parents seemed really happy with how things worked out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:W school cluster, bright kids, large class sizes, no differentiation for high flyers in primary grades. All the attention goes to those struggling with learning and those with behavior issues. When you get to 4th grade, you have CES, MS and HS you have magnets.

And we wouldn't do it any differently. Kids have great friends in the neighborhood, are healthy and well adjusted. Just don't kid yourself about differentiation in a large class when your child is doing just fine.

Same here but I know we're lucky.

What's your child's personality like OP?

DD does very well - got in to CES - but is not like you describe yourself. She got all the pull outs in younger years but it was limited but she would have been happy whether she got them or not. DD does not independently teach herself math. She has a good friend who is more self-motivated. She's always doing science projects and has a lot of fun learning math with her parents. She did not like our neighborhood public school and switched in 2nd to a private which is similar to NYSmith where she is much happier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, my suggestion is to keep your DD in private until 3rd grade, when she can apply to CES (formerly HGC) and if she is accepted, you can transfer back to public system. It's super boring in the first 4 years (K-3rd) for kids advanced in math. If you are financially capable, try to wait until 5th grade before apply to magnet MS is another option. If you get in, you go because the program is excellent and your DD will not be bored ever since (CES is still heavily humanity oriented, but math-wise is also good. Once accepted by STEM magnet MS, your DD will be assured to enjoy the curriculum).

I'd be interested to hear how often this strategy works out. In my child's CES, there were no kids of which I'm aware who came from private. In their cohort at the TPMS magnet, I'm aware of one.

That doesn't mean they don't exist, but there is not a critical mass of parents paying for private until 3rd and then accessing the magnets. Now, I don't know if that's because they decide they love the private school enough to stay, or their financial situation is so good the costs no longer matter, or if the lack of a testing history makes it harder for private school kids. At any rate, it is not a done deal.

There was a kid who did this in my child's CES. According to DC they were pretty average. It doesn't appear to be a recipe for success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, my suggestion is to keep your DD in private until 3rd grade, when she can apply to CES (formerly HGC) and if she is accepted, you can transfer back to public system. It's super boring in the first 4 years (K-3rd) for kids advanced in math. If you are financially capable, try to wait until 5th grade before apply to magnet MS is another option. If you get in, you go because the program is excellent and your DD will not be bored ever since (CES is still heavily humanity oriented, but math-wise is also good. Once accepted by STEM magnet MS, your DD will be assured to enjoy the curriculum).

Before embarking on such a strategy, it'd be worthwhile reading the MS magnet acceptance threads (TPMS, EMS), which are recent, and then the CES acceptance threads, which will pop up in April or whenever they are announcing the invitations. Take everything with a grain (many grains) of salt. And understand as best possible how the selection process works, particularly for kids coming out of private schools, maybe even call MCPS to confirm. Planning on acceptances at a CES and especially the MS magnets seems like a risky strategy no matter how smart your child is, and you'd be well served to have a back-up plan, even if you never need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, my suggestion is to keep your DD in private until 3rd grade, when she can apply to CES (formerly HGC) and if she is accepted, you can transfer back to public system. It's super boring in the first 4 years (K-3rd) for kids advanced in math. If you are financially capable, try to wait until 5th grade before apply to magnet MS is another option. If you get in, you go because the program is excellent and your DD will not be bored ever since (CES is still heavily humanity oriented, but math-wise is also good. Once accepted by STEM magnet MS, your DD will be assured to enjoy the curriculum).

Before embarking on such a strategy, it'd be worthwhile reading the MS magnet acceptance threads (TPMS, EMS), which are recent, and then the CES acceptance threads, which will pop up in April or whenever they are announcing the invitations. Take everything with a grain (many grains) of salt. And understand as best possible how the selection process works, particularly for kids coming out of private schools, maybe even call MCPS to confirm. Planning on acceptances at a CES and especially the MS magnets seems like a risky strategy no matter how smart your child is, and you'd be well served to have a back-up plan, even if you never need it.

+1 Also remember that private schools will focus on social-emotional development in the early years (correctly) and the academics won't necessarily move faster than your local public. Also note that CES admission is regional, so OP's child will be "competing" kids other well-resourced, well-supported, UMC kids for the limited number of 4th grade spots. Then, for the MS magnets, OP's child would need to be head and shoulders above the rest of the "cohort," assuming MCPS continues to look for outliers in each cluster rather than taking just the highest scorers.

[Anonymous]

Many families in our MCPS area do enrichment via kumon, Russian Math, Dr. Li, Art of Problem Solving, Khan Academy. No one thinks the MCPS enrichment has any real meaning.

[Anonymous]

Your kid sounds pretty middle of the road for the UmC moco schools. Private schools do better at the social emotional piece but these publics do just fine at meeting the needs of the smart Early elementary kids.

[Anonymous]

OP,

Send your kid to public until 2nd and move them to private from 3-8th. They build neighborhood friends, but when the learning and absorbing really needs to kick in, but doesn’t - get them out. We did it with #2 and 3 and the difference is night and day. The love of learning, field trips, outdoor classes on nice days, only one day of testing all year, a lot of art, science, hands on, etc.... Class sizes were maxed at 15, even in middle school. I am sorry I didn’t do this for my first. It was worth the cost. We did get some financial aid.

High school can go either way. Enough AP and other classes to appease them. #2 went to public, #3 begged to stay private. Even though private was better, the difference wasn’t nearly as substantial as late ES and MS. It is just awful at MCPS and #1 did HGC and it still sucked compared to private.

But all private’s are not equal. Look for secular college prep schools.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

My kid who has never received anything less than 99% on his MAP math tests has never complained of being bored in math. It's ok to go slowly in lower elementary, repeat concepts, feel confident about school, etc...they are little kids! Don't worry, unless they are a true prodigy, there will be PLENTY of time for your child to be challenged in math in MCPS. If your child loves math, then maybe do some fun math-focused activities outside of school (e.g., Bedtime Math).

[Anonymous]

I say try it. See how it goes. You can always decide to go private. K is so much about social things and adjusting to school. My well prepared Ker was fine in public. K was a bit slow but her teacher had her in her own reading group and even let us send in books for her to read since she was not in a real group. In first, she had 29 kids in her class but a fabulous teacher who really gave her a lot of enrichment( and still her own reading group). We found a lot of early projects could be done on many levels. She went to CES in 4th.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks all.

Our struggle is DD has been in a great private for the last 2 years, but at $30K + it’s a stretch for us. We’re going to tour the elementary school this month and make a decision....

The social emotional stuff is worrisome...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid who has never received anything less than 99% on his MAP math tests has never complained of being bored in math. It's ok to go slowly in lower elementary, repeat concepts, feel confident about school, etc...they are little kids! Don't worry, unless they are a true prodigy, there will be PLENTY of time for your child to be challenged in math in MCPS. If your child loves math, then maybe do some fun math-focused activities outside of school (e.g., Bedtime Math).

It's not about how smart your child is. A child can be less "smart" than another kid and be bored. A child can be a prodigy and still be fine in regular school. My DS, who is bright, grumbles a lot about having nothing to do after rushing through work. If we could afford private he may have been happier. He has classmate who is likely a prodigy does not seem to have any complaints and dutifully does the work. I remember in kindergarten this child who was reading thick chapter books contently sitting with other kids as the teacher tried to teach them the sounds each letter makes for hours at a time while my child was making faces.