CES Decision Letters

[Anonymous]

Is there a new in school CES at Bethesda Elementary this year? I’ve heard 2 people say their child was accepted to the CES at BE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a new in school CES at Bethesda Elementary this year? I’ve heard 2 people say their child was accepted to the CES at BE

They probably meant the CES that feeds into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a new in school CES at Bethesda Elementary this year? I’ve heard 2 people say their child was accepted to the CES at BE

No, I meant my child goes to BE now.

[Anonymous]

My DS got rejected - we are in Darnestown so it would be for Fox Chapel.

His scores were
MCPS 71%
National 95 %

DH thinks he had a horrible test day - wasn't prepared - didn't understand the questions got confused - and wants to appeal - is that worth it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My DS got rejected - we are in Darnestown so it would be for Fox Chapel.

His scores were
MCPS 71%
National 95 %

DH thinks he had a horrible test day - wasn't prepared - didn't understand the questions got confused - and wants to appeal - is that worth it?

Honestly, he won't get in, but you can appeal just as a matter of principle. Please check what additional information they allow - it's been restricted compared to previous years. Many years ago, I submitted a WISC-V test (to no avail), but I think even that's not allowed now.
Appeals usually work better when the child is already wait-listed (with 99th percentile scores), and you're trying to get them off the wait-list without chancing the lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My DS got rejected - we are in Darnestown so it would be for Fox Chapel.

His scores were
MCPS 71%
National 95 %

DH thinks he had a horrible test day - wasn't prepared - didn't understand the questions got confused - and wants to appeal - is that worth it?

Honestly, he won't get in, but you can appeal just as a matter of principle. Please check what additional information they allow - it's been restricted compared to previous years. Many years ago, I submitted a WISC-V test (to no avail), but I think even that's not allowed now.
Appeals usually work better when the child is already wait-listed (with 99th percentile scores), and you're trying to get them off the wait-list without chancing the lottery.

Not understanding the questions is certainly not a good ground for appeal. He clearly did understand, as he did better than all but 5% of the national test-taking population. Darnestown must be in the SES category for the MCPS percentiles. It appears that the rich screened kids do pretty well on this test - 29% score in the top 5%.

[Anonymous]

68% Cogat 87% national for my mixed race daughter to Mill Creek CES. waitlisted

We did absolutely no prep and barely spoke about it with her, since we didn't want to put any pressure on her. We weren't too interested in CES to begin with for a variety of reasons.

I have a feeling that CES is less competitive since it is mostly Gaithersburg ES's feeding into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:68% Cogat 87% national for my mixed race daughter to Mill Creek CES. waitlisted

We did absolutely no prep and barely spoke about it with her, since we didn't want to put any pressure on her. We weren't too interested in CES to begin with for a variety of reasons.

I have a feeling that CES is less competitive since it is mostly Gaithersburg ES's feeding into it.

Wow. Yep, much less competitive. Some kids were rejected from other CESs with scores that were much higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:68% Cogat 87% national for my mixed race daughter to Mill Creek CES. waitlisted

We did absolutely no prep and barely spoke about it with her, since we didn't want to put any pressure on her. We weren't too interested in CES to begin with for a variety of reasons.

I have a feeling that CES is less competitive since it is mostly Gaithersburg ES's feeding into it.

Wow. Yep, much less competitive. Some kids were rejected from other CESs with scores that were much higher.

They look at many things, not just Cogat. They include only Cogat in the letter because we have already received the other things the committee reviews - Map scores, PARCC scores, and grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:68% Cogat 87% national for my mixed race daughter to Mill Creek CES. waitlisted

We did absolutely no prep and barely spoke about it with her, since we didn't want to put any pressure on her. We weren't too interested in CES to begin with for a variety of reasons.

I have a feeling that CES is less competitive since it is mostly Gaithersburg ES's feeding into it.

Wow. Yep, much less competitive. Some kids were rejected from other CESs with scores that were much higher.

They look at many things, not just Cogat. They include only Cogat in the letter because we have already received the other things the committee reviews - Map scores, PARCC scores, and grades.

Generally Cogat scores and MAPs follow the same trends, and of course, it's easy to get all As on report cards these days. I don't think they've taken a PARCC yet at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:68% Cogat 87% national for my mixed race daughter to Mill Creek CES. waitlisted

We did absolutely no prep and barely spoke about it with her, since we didn't want to put any pressure on her. We weren't too interested in CES to begin with for a variety of reasons.

I have a feeling that CES is less competitive since it is mostly Gaithersburg ES's feeding into it.

Wow. Yep, much less competitive. Some kids were rejected from other CESs with scores that were much higher.

They look at many things, not just Cogat. They include only Cogat in the letter because we have already received the other things the committee reviews - Map scores, PARCC scores, and grades.

Generally Cogat scores and MAPs follow the same trends, and of course, it's easy to get all As on report cards these days. I don't think they've taken a PARCC yet at this point.

Isn't PARCC that test the state got rid of because it's basically worthless?

[Anonymous]

Yes, which makes it really strange that they use the scores for selection to these programs and for enrichment.

[Anonymous]

Again, 3rd graders do not have PARCC testing and CES decisions are not based on PARCC results.

They do include MAP testing, which is a wonderful test and here to stay. The reason it's wonderful is because the test adapts to the child and it is not timed. This allows outliers to really shine, as the questions get progressively harder if the child answers them correctly and you can take all the time you want. So a student who functions several grades ahead can get the same score that a middle or high schooler would on the same test, which is what happened to my children.

There was a discussion some months ago on DCUM about how certain schools illegally limited the time students had on MAP, so if this is happening at your school, you should speak up. If it is administered in a timed manner, this completely defeats the purpose of the test, which is to find out to what point each student can stretch themselves to answer more difficult questions.

And yes, PARCC is being phased out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Again, 3rd graders do not have PARCC testing and CES decisions are not based on PARCC results.

They do include MAP testing, which is a wonderful test and here to stay. The reason it's wonderful is because the test adapts to the child and it is not timed. This allows outliers to really shine, as the questions get progressively harder if the child answers them correctly and you can take all the time you want. So a student who functions several grades ahead can get the same score that a middle or high schooler would on the same test, which is what happened to my children.

There was a discussion some months ago on DCUM about how certain schools illegally limited the time students had on MAP, so if this is happening at your school, you should speak up. If it is administered in a timed manner, this completely defeats the purpose of the test, which is to find out to what point each student can stretch themselves to answer more difficult questions.

And yes, PARCC is being phased out.

Actually, getting the "same score" as a middle or high schooler does not mean much. NWEA says MAP scores are not meant to be compared across grade levels. Please take a look at

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/473845.page#13652820

and the two links to NWEA in that post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Again, 3rd graders do not have PARCC testing and CES decisions are not based on PARCC results.

They do include MAP testing, which is a wonderful test and here to stay. The reason it's wonderful is because the test adapts to the child and it is not timed. This allows outliers to really shine, as the questions get progressively harder if the child answers them correctly and you can take all the time you want. So a student who functions several grades ahead can get the same score that a middle or high schooler would on the same test, which is what happened to my children.

There was a discussion some months ago on DCUM about how certain schools illegally limited the time students had on MAP, so if this is happening at your school, you should speak up. If it is administered in a timed manner, this completely defeats the purpose of the test, which is to find out to what point each student can stretch themselves to answer more difficult questions.

And yes, PARCC is being phased out.

Actually, getting the "same score" as a middle or high schooler does not mean much. NWEA says MAP scores are not meant to be compared across grade levels. Please take a look at

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/30/473845.page#13652820

and the two links to NWEA in that post.

You are technically correct. However, it gives you a pretty good idea of what they're capable of.