MoCo vs Nova?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo in general and MCPS in particular peaked decades ago. I’d go with one of the strong pyramids in FCPS, of which there are more and at different price points than can be said of MCPS: for example, Langley, McLean, Oakton, Chantilly, Madison, Woodson, Marshall, Lake Braddock, Robinson, or West Springfield.

I went to MCPS decades ago. My kids are there today. They are getting a much better education than I ever got at W's. This is because many programs are available to kids interested in learning if you want to take advantage of them. Yes, the world has changed. The demographics of Montgomery County are different than 30 years ago; however, you can get as good or even better education today if you care about that.

Do you mean magnet programs? I agree those are strong, but there aren't enough spots for everyone. I judge MCPS on what they offer to the general education population, and that is really lacking. My kids are in ES/MS, but my understanding is that the same is true for HS until you get to AP/IB classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh MCPS has absolutely declined. Don’t move here for the schools.

And it is still the big dog in the area. No one can compete with MCPS in the area.

Laughable. Maryland ranks below Florida on NAEP. MCPS is the largest district in Maryland. The state ranks MCPS 5th in the state. Q.E.D. This is just an overpaid MCPS employee hoping the con lasts until they get their pension. Don’t blame them.

dp.. laughable. The NAEP for MD numbers were from Baltimore, not MCPS. This is an MCPS forum, and OP asked about MCPS, not Baltimore.

Not an MCPS employee. I've got my fair share of MCPS gripe, but the NAEP score for MD is not one of them since it didn't include MCPS.

Wait, they are ranking the whole state based on a sample from an inner city school district? What is evidence for this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh MCPS has absolutely declined. Don’t move here for the schools.

And it is still the big dog in the area. No one can compete with MCPS in the area.

Laughable. Maryland ranks below Florida on NAEP. MCPS is the largest district in Maryland. The state ranks MCPS 5th in the state. Q.E.D. This is just an overpaid MCPS employee hoping the con lasts until they get their pension. Don’t blame them.

dp.. laughable. The NAEP for MD numbers were from Baltimore, not MCPS. This is an MCPS forum, and OP asked about MCPS, not Baltimore.

Not an MCPS employee. I've got my fair share of MCPS gripe, but the NAEP score for MD is not one of them since it didn't include MCPS.

Not sure why you believe this. NAEP gets a representative sample from across the school systems in the state. It’s not just from Baltimore.

PP here, if you’re really interested this is an article talking about the state scores relative to the scores in Baltimore. The Baltimore scores are drastically lower than the state scores.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/education/bs-md-naep-score-release-20191030-vyfuhrsfq5egviee35g42e2fxq-story.html

1. That article is from 2019
2. MD is made up of more than MoCo. Do you have the numbers for MCPS?
3. Additionally, NAEP is optional except for Title 1 schools in order to get federal funding.
4. 2022 numbers for DC, MD, VA. All abysmal.

https://wtop.com/dc/2022/10/sobering-data-naep-scores-in-dc-depict-widening-achievement-gap/

No doubt, there was heavy learning loss, but per the article, URM test scores fell drastically due to the pandemic; whites only a little, and Asian test scores held steady.

Not all are that concerned with the achievement gap. People have different values and priorities, but I'm confident everyone is achieving great at what they value. The notion that everyone values the same achievement seems poorly aligned with reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo in general and MCPS in particular peaked decades ago. I’d go with one of the strong pyramids in FCPS, of which there are more and at different price points than can be said of MCPS: for example, Langley, McLean, Oakton, Chantilly, Madison, Woodson, Marshall, Lake Braddock, Robinson, or West Springfield.

I went to MCPS decades ago. My kids are there today. They are getting a much better education than I ever got at W's. This is because many programs are available to kids interested in learning if you want to take advantage of them. Yes, the world has changed. The demographics of Montgomery County are different than 30 years ago; however, you can get as good or even better education today if you care about that.

the only really good thing about MCPS IMO is that they have some really good programs at the HS level, from magnet STEM to IB, aviation to automotive training, etc..

Agree my kids were in magnets the whole way through. They got an amazing education, and it's really available to anyone who is interested.

Maybe that was once true, but it's not now. For ES/MS, magnets are a lottery among people who are in the top 15 percentile. That means there are many, many fewer spots than kids who qualify, and the chance that kids who really need it (the top 1-3 percent) get in is low. I don't know about HS programs; perhaps they have room for all who qualify -- but ES and MS certainly do not, and the non-magnet programs don't differentiate well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo in general and MCPS in particular peaked decades ago. I’d go with one of the strong pyramids in FCPS, of which there are more and at different price points than can be said of MCPS: for example, Langley, McLean, Oakton, Chantilly, Madison, Woodson, Marshall, Lake Braddock, Robinson, or West Springfield.

I went to MCPS decades ago. My kids are there today. They are getting a much better education than I ever got at W's. This is because many programs are available to kids interested in learning if you want to take advantage of them. Yes, the world has changed. The demographics of Montgomery County are different than 30 years ago; however, you can get as good or even better education today if you care about that.

Do you mean magnet programs? I agree those are strong, but there aren't enough spots for everyone. I judge MCPS on what they offer to the general education population, and that is really lacking. My kids are in ES/MS, but my understanding is that the same is true for HS until you get to AP/IB classes.

I'm actually just interested in opportunities offered to high-achieving. The average student fairs well for average rigor in either place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo in general and MCPS in particular peaked decades ago. I’d go with one of the strong pyramids in FCPS, of which there are more and at different price points than can be said of MCPS: for example, Langley, McLean, Oakton, Chantilly, Madison, Woodson, Marshall, Lake Braddock, Robinson, or West Springfield.

I went to MCPS decades ago. My kids are there today. They are getting a much better education than I ever got at W's. This is because many programs are available to kids interested in learning if you want to take advantage of them. Yes, the world has changed. The demographics of Montgomery County are different than 30 years ago; however, you can get as good or even better education today if you care about that.

Do you mean magnet programs? I agree those are strong, but there aren't enough spots for everyone. I judge MCPS on what they offer to the general education population, and that is really lacking. My kids are in ES/MS, but my understanding is that the same is true for HS until you get to AP/IB classes.

I'm actually just interested in opportunities offered to high-achieving. The average student fairs well for average rigor in either place.

Except for with the changes to magnet-school admission in MCPS, many high-achieving students are not getting into magnet programs. So the quality of the base program really matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh MCPS has absolutely declined. Don’t move here for the schools.

And it is still the big dog in the area. No one can compete with MCPS in the area.

Laughable. Maryland ranks below Florida on NAEP. MCPS is the largest district in Maryland. The state ranks MCPS 5th in the state. Q.E.D. This is just an overpaid MCPS employee hoping the con lasts until they get their pension. Don’t blame them.

dp.. laughable. The NAEP for MD numbers were from Baltimore, not MCPS. This is an MCPS forum, and OP asked about MCPS, not Baltimore.

Not an MCPS employee. I've got my fair share of MCPS gripe, but the NAEP score for MD is not one of them since it didn't include MCPS.

Wait, they are ranking the whole state based on a sample from an inner city school district? What is evidence for this?

If it supports the conclusion that I prefer, who cares if it's accurate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo in general and MCPS in particular peaked decades ago. I’d go with one of the strong pyramids in FCPS, of which there are more and at different price points than can be said of MCPS: for example, Langley, McLean, Oakton, Chantilly, Madison, Woodson, Marshall, Lake Braddock, Robinson, or West Springfield.

I went to MCPS decades ago. My kids are there today. They are getting a much better education than I ever got at W's. This is because many programs are available to kids interested in learning if you want to take advantage of them. Yes, the world has changed. The demographics of Montgomery County are different than 30 years ago; however, you can get as good or even better education today if you care about that.

Do you mean magnet programs? I agree those are strong, but there aren't enough spots for everyone. I judge MCPS on what they offer to the general education population, and that is really lacking. My kids are in ES/MS, but my understanding is that the same is true for HS until you get to AP/IB classes.

I'm actually just interested in opportunities offered to high-achieving. The average student fairs well for average rigor in either place.

Except for with the changes to magnet-school admission in MCPS, many high-achieving students are not getting into magnet programs. So the quality of the base program really matters.

Do you mean the temporary changes they enacted to ES/MS selection since they couldn't give the CogAT during the pandemic? Well, the good news is that was a temporary situation that ends this Spring. We don't know what they'll be doing next but it's still far less random than what VA does now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo in general and MCPS in particular peaked decades ago. I’d go with one of the strong pyramids in FCPS, of which there are more and at different price points than can be said of MCPS: for example, Langley, McLean, Oakton, Chantilly, Madison, Woodson, Marshall, Lake Braddock, Robinson, or West Springfield.

I went to MCPS decades ago. My kids are there today. They are getting a much better education than I ever got at W's. This is because many programs are available to kids interested in learning if you want to take advantage of them. Yes, the world has changed. The demographics of Montgomery County are different than 30 years ago; however, you can get as good or even better education today if you care about that.

Do you mean magnet programs? I agree those are strong, but there aren't enough spots for everyone. I judge MCPS on what they offer to the general education population, and that is really lacking. My kids are in ES/MS, but my understanding is that the same is true for HS until you get to AP/IB classes.

I'm actually just interested in opportunities offered to high-achieving. The average student fairs well for average rigor in either place.

Except for with the changes to magnet-school admission in MCPS, many high-achieving students are not getting into magnet programs. So the quality of the base program really matters.

Do you mean the temporary changes they enacted to ES/MS selection since they couldn't give the CogAT during the pandemic? Well, the good news is that was a temporary situation that ends this Spring. We don't know what they'll be doing next but it's still far less random than what VA does now.

I actually like MCPS and my kids are being well served, but none of us know that the lottery is going away. MCPS has not announced the procedure for next school year yet. So, this year's 5th graders will be entered into a lottery. Next year's 5th graders? We have no idea what that process will look like. They may go back to the CogAT and the old system, or they may bring back the CogAT and keep the lottery, or they may never administer the CogAT again and use MAP and grades instead. We don't know, and pretending that you do know is misleading people when they are looking for good information to make an informed decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh MCPS has absolutely declined. Don’t move here for the schools.

And it is still the big dog in the area. No one can compete with MCPS in the area.

Laughable. Maryland ranks below Florida on NAEP. MCPS is the largest district in Maryland. The state ranks MCPS 5th in the state. Q.E.D. This is just an overpaid MCPS employee hoping the con lasts until they get their pension. Don’t blame them.

dp.. laughable. The NAEP for MD numbers were from Baltimore, not MCPS. This is an MCPS forum, and OP asked about MCPS, not Baltimore.

Not an MCPS employee. I've got my fair share of MCPS gripe, but the NAEP score for MD is not one of them since it didn't include MCPS.

Not sure why you believe this. NAEP gets a representative sample from across the school systems in the state. It’s not just from Baltimore.

PP here, if you’re really interested this is an article talking about the state scores relative to the scores in Baltimore. The Baltimore scores are drastically lower than the state scores.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/education/bs-md-naep-score-release-20191030-vyfuhrsfq5egviee35g42e2fxq-story.html

1. That article is from 2019
2. MD is made up of more than MoCo. Do you have the numbers for MCPS?
3. Additionally, NAEP is optional except for Title 1 schools in order to get federal funding.
4. 2022 numbers for DC, MD, VA. All abysmal.

https://wtop.com/dc/2022/10/sobering-data-naep-scores-in-dc-depict-widening-achievement-gap/

No doubt, there was heavy learning loss, but per the article, URM test scores fell drastically due to the pandemic; whites only a little, and Asian test scores held steady.

Not all are that concerned with the achievement gap. People have different values and priorities, but I'm confident everyone is achieving great at what they value. The notion that everyone values the same achievement seems poorly aligned with reality.

This is some kumbaya BS. Even educators are concerned with the high achievement gap. What are your priorities for the large number of URM kids who can't read at a basic level? How do you think they will function in society when they become adults? You need a job to buy food, pay rent. That's reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo in general and MCPS in particular peaked decades ago. I’d go with one of the strong pyramids in FCPS, of which there are more and at different price points than can be said of MCPS: for example, Langley, McLean, Oakton, Chantilly, Madison, Woodson, Marshall, Lake Braddock, Robinson, or West Springfield.

I went to MCPS decades ago. My kids are there today. They are getting a much better education than I ever got at W's. This is because many programs are available to kids interested in learning if you want to take advantage of them. Yes, the world has changed. The demographics of Montgomery County are different than 30 years ago; however, you can get as good or even better education today if you care about that.

Do you mean magnet programs? I agree those are strong, but there aren't enough spots for everyone. I judge MCPS on what they offer to the general education population, and that is really lacking. My kids are in ES/MS, but my understanding is that the same is true for HS until you get to AP/IB classes.

I'm actually just interested in opportunities offered to high-achieving. The average student fairs well for average rigor in either place.

Except for with the changes to magnet-school admission in MCPS, many high-achieving students are not getting into magnet programs. So the quality of the base program really matters.

Do you mean the temporary changes they enacted to ES/MS selection since they couldn't give the CogAT during the pandemic? Well, the good news is that was a temporary situation that ends this Spring. We don't know what they'll be doing next but it's still far less random than what VA does now.

It’s not temporary. They had the opportunity to give the CogAT last year and this year and chose not to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh MCPS has absolutely declined. Don’t move here for the schools.

And it is still the big dog in the area. No one can compete with MCPS in the area.

Laughable. Maryland ranks below Florida on NAEP. MCPS is the largest district in Maryland. The state ranks MCPS 5th in the state. Q.E.D. This is just an overpaid MCPS employee hoping the con lasts until they get their pension. Don’t blame them.

dp.. laughable. The NAEP for MD numbers were from Baltimore, not MCPS. This is an MCPS forum, and OP asked about MCPS, not Baltimore.

Not an MCPS employee. I've got my fair share of MCPS gripe, but the NAEP score for MD is not one of them since it didn't include MCPS.

Not sure why you believe this. NAEP gets a representative sample from across the school systems in the state. It’s not just from Baltimore.

And did they test MCPS schools? Which ones? How many?

NAEP is not mandatory, except for Title 1 schools. So, if a lot of the non Title1 schools did not participate, but ALL Title 1 schools did, then you are going to get skewed results.

I have zero doubt that there was a huge learning loss in the past 2 years, worse for URM, but you cannot attribute those numbers from the state to one school district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh MCPS has absolutely declined. Don’t move here for the schools.

And it is still the big dog in the area. No one can compete with MCPS in the area.

Laughable. Maryland ranks below Florida on NAEP. MCPS is the largest district in Maryland. The state ranks MCPS 5th in the state. Q.E.D. This is just an overpaid MCPS employee hoping the con lasts until they get their pension. Don’t blame them.

dp.. laughable. The NAEP for MD numbers were from Baltimore, not MCPS. This is an MCPS forum, and OP asked about MCPS, not Baltimore.

Not an MCPS employee. I've got my fair share of MCPS gripe, but the NAEP score for MD is not one of them since it didn't include MCPS.

Wait, they are ranking the whole state based on a sample from an inner city school district? What is evidence for this?

It is mostly from Baltimore and few other districts. They test around 2,000 students but the very vast majority are in Baltimore because it opted-in to test a wider sample of students.

[Anonymous]

Our MCPS middle school did NAEP testing for 8th graders in February 2022.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our MCPS middle school did NAEP testing for 8th graders in February 2022.

which school? Is there a list of MCPS schools that opted in?