Eastern Middle School or Takoma Park Middle School
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Anonymous
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I would love input from any parents or kids who are contemplating more than one magnet program. Home school is Tilden. And, child was accepted at both Eastern Middle School Magnet and Takoma Park Middle School Manget. While an individual choice, it is helpful to have info and input from people who are at one place or the other. Beyond what the MCPS site provides...... Child attended elementary highly gifted center and thrived, especially socially. Child's interests and skill are about equal with regard to each school's content areas (humanities and math science) - though computers are a pretty big interest. Child would want to continue orchestra. Local Middle School (Tilden) is also high quality and everyone seems to love it. Thank you. Any advice/input for TPMS, EMS or Tilden: quality of magnet curriculum quality of non-magnet curriculum teacher engagement challenge/support of students social environment non-magnet aspects other important factors Thanks! |
Anonymous
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May I suggest you search through previous posts? There's a lot about both, especially Eastern, although be forewarned -- some people have preconceived ideas about what it means to attend a diverse school.
My child is an 8th grader at Eastern and it's been a great experience. He doesn't feel unsafe and has both magnet and nonmagnet friends. People are going to post about the social environment but I have another child at a Bethesda MS and honestly, there's plenty of rude and inappropriate middle school stuff that goes on there too. Don't believe me? Check a Tilden MS kid's instagram account and you will see 
Most of the magnet teachers are very engaged and some are really extraordinary. Quality of the nonmagnet teaching has been very good for math and so-so for science. All that said, be sure to inquire about music classes. My understanding is that magnet kids, at least in 6th grade, must take an extra period after school to do band or orchestra. And there's not much of an opportunity for computer in the sense of programming, but DC has done a lot of work on the Mac using Final Cut Pro and other tools to create videos. This year, 8th grade, is really heavy on video production and DS has become a pretty skilled videographer and editor. All kids do a long research paper in 7th grade which involves lots of research at the library at UMCP, many drafts, peer reviews, etc. At the end your child will, ideally, have a paper that could be handed in to a freshman-level college course for a good grade. It's quite an achievement. I am impressed by the technical and creative writing skills that DC has acquired and I think he will do really well in high school and beyond because of it. Good luck with your decision! Both are great programs. |
Anonymous
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PP here -- I can also tell you that DC was also in an HCG prior to Eastern, and knowing what I know now and having seen the coursework for a west-county MS as well -- I don't believe he would have been happy in a program that was not a magnet.
My other DC's work -- even in the Lake Woebegone-like environment where most kids are very bright and motivated -- has not approached the magnet in terms of being engaging and challenging. If your child thrives in the HCG, I wouldn't count on the local MS for appropriate challenge. |
Anonymous
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We're at TPMS and I agree with the PP that both programs are very good, as is your home school, I'm sure.
Really I think you just need to sit down with your child and decide what s/he wants to do. Eastern and Takoma are two very different programs. Surely your child will have a preference. It's nice to have options. |
Anonymous
| At Eastern, there are only 7 periods. Due to the required Media course all 3 years, your child will not be able to take both Orchestra and Foreign Language all three years. As a result my DC chose to drop playing an instrument and instead took FL for 3years. When DC made the choice to do this in 6th, there was an option to take FL after school. Not sure if that is the case for all three years or just 6th. There also was some kind of before/after school orchestra, but it was not attracting a lot of students. You should definitely call or email the school's magnet coordinator (Mr. Kerwin) and ask what the options are for this. Or maybe ask at admitted students Open House? |
Anonymous
| My child is an 8th grader at TPMS (who was also accepted at Eastern). He just got into both Blair's Magnet and RM's IB Program. Mine had friends go to both (but said they'd choose TPMS over Eastern even if no one they knew went.) Everyone at TPMS loves everything about it, where what I hear about Eastern is they Love the program but not the school. TPMS's block schedule is awesome and you don't need to stay after to take a language in 6th grade like at Eastern. |
Anonymous
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My child fit this profile exactly. Equally talented in math and humanities; attended elementary highly gifted center and thrived, especially socially; interests and skill are about equal with regard to each school's content areas (humanities and math science)(and loves computers); plays in the orchestra. Accepted at both magnets.
Ultimately our child chose TPMS. What really drove the decision were the following factors: *TPMS music program (unparalleled in the county, esp for instrumental music) - Eastern doesn't compare and I think music takes place after school *Fewer electives at Eastern *Foreign language would have to be taken after school (and DC is now in the MCYO, which would have made for a crazy schedule) *No computer science at Eastern While those were the major factors, we were also negatively influenced by the physical facility at Eastern, which we found very depressing. (It is a disgrace that MCPS does nothing about that IMO.) We were also somewhat concerned about reports of bullying. Still, the bulleted points above were the major drivers for choosing TPMS. DC is very happy, no regrets at all here. I do wish, however, that DC could have attended both! |
Anonymous
Other PP here and I completely agree. My other DC's middle school experience did not compare to the magnet his sibling attends in terms of content, engagement, and peer group. Not at all. |
Anonymous
This is not true for everyone. Why oh why does this always have to get down to this? Eastern's a great school with some really dedicated faculty and admin. Pick it, don't pick it, but speak from your own experience please. |
Anonymous
Seriously? It's like fairyland!! |
Anonymous
I agree with this poster. DS was in a similar situation - accepted to both TPMS and Eastern and our home school in Bethesda has a good rep. So three good choices but he ultimately picked Eastern and we have been happier than we could have imagined. I was so apprehensive about the social environment but ds is happy and thriving. The teaching staff is great - very caring. DS does not feel unsafe at all and loves going to school. The facility is really rundown and I think it is shame that MCPS does not allocate some funds to refurbish it. We did look at both academic programs and felt that Eastern's was more cohesive and better structured than Takoma's. Takoma is a better facility and yes they do get to take an elective. However, ds loves the media class and is learning a lot of cool stuff so he does not really miss an elective. My child takes instrument lessons privately so that was not an issue for us. I don't think your child can go wrong in either program. We allowed our child to make the decision based on which program he was more excited/passionate about and he picked Eastern. I will say, there is a huge difference in the curriculum and pace of instruction and level of expectations in the magnet programs and the advanced level courses in a regular middle school so that was a clearer choice for us. |
Anonymous
Not the PP to whom you were responding, but PP's description of "what I hear" describes our Eastern Magnet experience pretty well -- love the program but not the school. You're right; our experience is not true for everyone. But, IMO, Eastern is not "a great school". The magnet program concept is great; the execution leaves a LOT to be desired. Yes, Eastern does have some good teachers some of whom are in the magnet and some of whom are not. It also has some pretty terrible teachers both inside and outside the magnet. We didn't meet any administrators I would consider "dedicated" (or any other positive adjective). But, that's just me, speaking from my own experience. |
Anonymous
That makes me sad to hear. I have had the chance to volunteer in different capacities throughtou the school, and I met a lot of really great nonmagnet kids and some amazingly dedicated non-magnet teachers. I was so impressed at the way they knew the kids and thought about their situations, and spent so much extra time at the school. And the kids I met were just awesome -- funny and smart. There's a group of boys at the school called the Distinguished Gentlemen and it just makes me want to cry thinking about them. This is a group run by a super dedicated teacher to give the boys positive male role models and experience being a leader in the school. These were some great kids, very helpful and proud of themselves. And then I come on DCUM and I see everyone dismiss Eastern, and I know a lot of that is because it is a crappy looking school and many of those kids are poor and non-white. But if you look at the stats and talk to people, you will learn that there's bullying and rough behavior everywhere. It might take different forms, but I can tell you that the girls in my other kid's middle school, over in much-vaunted Bethesda, can be just as mean and aggressive as the few mean girls I've known of at Eastern. But because their parents are lawyers instead of recent immigrants, that school gets a hugh pass. That same Bethesda school had a couple of big fights in the last month or so, but it doesn't get the same amount of clucking and disapproval that less serious incidents at Eastern get. I also hate it when people have an individul bad experience -- something that can happen in any school -- and extrapolate it out to say, that school is bad, and everyone just stands around nodding. I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience. I can say with just as much force that my kid had a great experience. He had a couple of teachers that were kind of meh, but he had some great teachers outside the magnet too -- thinking particularly of a language teacher and two math teachers that really inspired him. People are going to choose EMS or TPMS based on what kind of program their kid wants. And yes, they are going to go over there and see that the school is old and falling apart (a scandal that MCPS should rectify before it builds another fancy addition onto a Chevy Chase school) and that a lot of the kids are black and hispanic. I just hope they make keep an open mind and don't feel the need to tear down one school to justify their choice. I have a friend whose son, a magnet 7th grader, was waylaid outside TPMS at the tennis courts and beaten up by some nonmagnet kids. So TPMS isn't perfect either -- no school is. |
Anonymous
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OP here.... thanks for all the feedback.
Those details about the structure of the day and what happens within the school day and outside of it are helpful. Looking at previous posts yielded some info, but I was hoping for info beyond what I'd seen....mainly the items I listed. Still curious if anyone has further thoughts on teacher engagement and peer aspect of the magnets. |
Anonymous
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http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/
Looking at the MCPS teaching/learning data and scores alone makes it seem your local middle school is best (Tilden, ...or North Bethesda - all the school data is on this link). Looking at the numbers, the scores from the local MS are generally higher than the TPMS or Eastern....so it is hard to get a sense of the actual performance of teaching/learning is for the magnet students. Math = 95+ and Reading = 95+ Tilden MS Math = 95+ and Reading = 95+ North Bethesda Math = 79 and Reading = 86 Eastern Math = 93 and Reading = 95 Takoma Algebra completion with C or higher 71 Tilden MS 80 North Bethesda 48 Eastern 76 Takoma But I think you can't compare magnet to magnet to local MS because all the data is combined.... |