Magnet MS results - Takoma Park & Eastern - anyone heard today?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The curriculum at the home middle schools is very different than at the magnets. I have a child currently in 8th at a magnet and one in 6th at our home middle school and the differences I see have little to do with the peer group and much to do with the expectations and curriculum in the magnet subjects.

Of course it is, and why?, because for years now, anyone who knew anything did whatever was necessary to ensure their kid had the magnets as an escape hatch from the MCPS curriculum. Well, guess what that means there has been no one fighting for better curriculum, fighting for ability grouping or enrichment in the home schools there is only fighting for magnet slots. There are 36,000 middle school students and only 1200 magnet slots. No matter what the selection criteria, there will always be highly able students screwed by this system. The only real solution is to fix the home schools by working with those principals, this is the way forward and a lot of good can come of sending these angry parents back to their home schools, that's solid advice.

And no, it doesn't matter, if MCPS science bowl performance drops. A magnet isn't a pro sports team, they aren't supposed to recruit fully formed competitors by whatever means. The purpose is to find students anywhere in the county who will benefit from three years of acceleration. Interest and performance in academic teams develops from there.

Yes, I'm sad my DC won't be at a magnet, but I've been here before, I've been both a magnet and non-magnet parent. Fixing the home schools is much more important than my kid skirting by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about HGC students from CCES and Barnsley? Are they doing better than Cold Spring kids?

Page 20, 17:09, so far only bad news for Barnsley. No news report from CCES as far as I can remember.

No news report from anywhere. This is DCUM. DCUM is not a news outlet. DCUM is an Internet message board. On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog.

The year my smart kid didn't get into a MS magnet, I didn't post on DCUM to say: my kid didn't get into the MS magnet; this proves that the admissions process is flawed and that MCPS hates smart kids.

And did your DC get 4 99s, have straight As at an HGC vs. admitted kids having maybe one 98 or 99 and lower scores in the other three categories?

I haven’t seen any real evidence - even counting postings here - that a significant number of kids with lower scores (not 99 across the board) got in.

This is exactly my thought. There's a lot of speculation going on here.

[Anonymous]

Daughter got in to both and we have decided not to send her. She wasn't very interested in attending either program. She would miss her friends, commuting times would conflict with some of her sporting activities and we are in the "Ws" cluster so there are plenty of educational opportunities. We don't see it as a missed opportunity and it will allow a child who is more interested in the magnet program to attend.

As for my daughter's scores, I do not know them off the top of my head. She does very well on the testing. My spouse has a PhD in applied mathematics so there are some genetics in play.

[Anonymous]

Daughter got in to both and we have decided not to send her. She wasn't very interested in attending either program. She would miss her friends, commuting times would conflict with some of her sporting activities and we are in the "Ws" cluster so there are plenty of educational opportunities. We don't see it as a missed opportunity and it will allow a child who is more interested in the magnet program to attend.

As for my daughter's scores, I do not know them off the top of my head. She does very well on the testing. My spouse has a PhD in applied mathematics so there are some genetics in play.

[Anonymous]

So, MCPS changed from selecting 200 magnet students out of 800 self-selected applicants to picking 200 magnet students from a pool of 4000 county IDed kids and the DCUM penut gallery is surprised that the results of selection are very different? Hmm ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Daughter got in to both and we have decided not to send her. She wasn't very interested in attending either program. She would miss her friends, commuting times would conflict with some of her sporting activities and we are in the "Ws" cluster so there are plenty of educational opportunities. We don't see it as a missed opportunity and it will allow a child who is more interested in the magnet program to attend.

As for my daughter's scores, I do not know them off the top of my head. She does very well on the testing. My spouse has a PhD in applied mathematics so there are some genetics in play.

I am a W parent with a kid at Whitman and another who went to TPMS and is now at Blair SMCS, and I can assure you that they do not compare. It is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a missed opportunity.

But you keep telling yourself that a W school is the same thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Daughter got in to both and we have decided not to send her. She wasn't very interested in attending either program. She would miss her friends, commuting times would conflict with some of her sporting activities and we are in the "Ws" cluster so there are plenty of educational opportunities. We don't see it as a missed opportunity and it will allow a child who is more interested in the magnet program to attend.

As for my daughter's scores, I do not know them off the top of my head. She does very well on the testing. My spouse has a PhD in applied mathematics so there are some genetics in play.

I am a W parent with a kid at Whitman and another who went to TPMS and is now at Blair SMCS, and I can assure you that they do not compare. It is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a missed opportunity.

But you keep telling yourself that a W school is the same thing.

DP. Every time you choose A instead of B, you're missing an opportunity. Not going to TPMS would be a missed opportunity. Not going to Eastern would be a missed opportunity. Not going to the home school would be a missed opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid did not have an essay question about why they'd like to go to a magnet school.

I think I already had this confirmed on a different thread - that not ALL the ES kids tested had the essay element.

I am the poster about the non scoring section with questions, it is interesting that you confirm that not all students had that section, because the acceptance letter we got clearly says that the non scoring section was accounted for while making the selection.

I am trying to wrap my head around this: a "non-scored" section was "accounted for while making the selection." (This FAQ seems to confirm your point:
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/specialprograms/middle/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions%20Eastern%20and%20Takoma%20Park%20Magnet%20ProgramsFINAL.pdf)

It sounds to me like an oxymoron. What am I missing here? I thought non-scored implies optional. How can something optional be used for making the in/out decision?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I am trying to wrap my head around this: a "non-scored" section was "accounted for while making the selection." (This FAQ seems to confirm your point:
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/specialprograms/middle/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions%20Eastern%20and%20Takoma%20Park%20Magnet%20ProgramsFINAL.pdf)

It sounds to me like an oxymoron. What am I missing here? I thought non-scored implies optional. How can something optional be used for making the in/out decision?

Optional implies optional. Non-scored implies that they didn't score it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, MCPS changed from selecting 200 magnet students out of 800 self-selected applicants to picking 200 magnet students from a pool of 4000 county IDed kids and the DCUM penut gallery is surprised that the results of selection are very different? Hmm ...

+1

[Anonymous]

Oh man this is going from what was a helpful thread to a back and forth. Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The curriculum at the home middle schools is very different than at the magnets. I have a child currently in 8th at a magnet and one in 6th at our home middle school and the differences I see have little to do with the peer group and much to do with the expectations and curriculum in the magnet subjects.

Of course it is, and why?, because for years now, anyone who knew anything did whatever was necessary to ensure their kid had the magnets as an escape hatch from the MCPS curriculum. Well, guess what that means there has been no one fighting for better curriculum, fighting for ability grouping or enrichment in the home schools there is only fighting for magnet slots. There are 36,000 middle school students and only 1200 magnet slots. No matter what the selection criteria, there will always be highly able students screwed by this system. The only real solution is to fix the home schools by working with those principals, this is the way forward and a lot of good can come of sending these angry parents back to their home schools, that's solid advice.

And no, it doesn't matter, if MCPS science bowl performance drops. A magnet isn't a pro sports team, they aren't supposed to recruit fully formed competitors by whatever means. The purpose is to find students anywhere in the county who will benefit from three years of acceleration. Interest and performance in academic teams develops from there.

Yes, I'm sad my DC won't be at a magnet, but I've been here before, I've been both a magnet and non-magnet parent. Fixing the home schools is much more important than my kid skirting by.

This is sage advice. We've had a kid at a non-magnet too, and I did fight hard for "grouping practices" and even had some success, but that success pretty quickly deteriorated and is already gone now at that school. I did feel like I was fighting pretty much alone though, even though a large number of parents agreed with the sentiment. I hope that other people take up the cause. Personally, I'm feeling defeated and like I am just going to sign up my kid for CTY courses, but maybe I will get a second win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Daughter got in to both and we have decided not to send her. She wasn't very interested in attending either program. She would miss her friends, commuting times would conflict with some of her sporting activities and we are in the "Ws" cluster so there are plenty of educational opportunities. We don't see it as a missed opportunity and it will allow a child who is more interested in the magnet program to attend.

As for my daughter's scores, I do not know them off the top of my head. She does very well on the testing. My spouse has a PhD in applied mathematics so there are some genetics in play.

I am a W parent with a kid at Whitman and another who went to TPMS and is now at Blair SMCS, and I can assure you that they do not compare. It is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a missed opportunity.

But you keep telling yourself that a W school is the same thing.

I am from W cluster w/ kids who went to Eastern and TPMS, and I agree that nothing that Pyle, Westland, N. Bethesda, Tilden or any of the W school MS offerings compare in any way. At Eastern you are writing IDRP and getting very high level of reading and writing (many of same readings/analysis done in AP Lang). and in TPMS math you are getting more math than just 1 year above grade level - some Alg II concepts in Alg 1 and much more math reasoning and derivation overall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am trying to wrap my head around this: a "non-scored" section was "accounted for while making the selection." (This FAQ seems to confirm your point:
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/curriculum/specialprograms/middle/Frequently%20Asked%20Questions%20Eastern%20and%20Takoma%20Park%20Magnet%20ProgramsFINAL.pdf)

It sounds to me like an oxymoron. What am I missing here? I thought non-scored implies optional. How can something optional be used for making the in/out decision?

Optional implies optional. Non-scored implies that they didn't score it.

Well, when a section is used to make a decision, an evaluation is made as to which answer is better - it is implicitly being scored.

Something that is non-scored is usually done for statistical purposes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Well, when a section is used to make a decision, an evaluation is made as to which answer is better - it is implicitly being scored.

Something that is non-scored is usually done for statistical purposes.

That's not necessarily true.