CES to Criteria-Based Middle School Magnet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our child was in CES last year (5th). After multiple rounds of acceptances, about seven of his friends from his CES school are going to TPMS and Eastern.

The year before, however, there were about 7 kids that got into TPMS and about the same that got into Eastern, in one 27-student class. I don't know why, maybe they changed how they do it this year?

That said, we received a spot at Eastern the first week of school but turned it down. At that point, it sounded like several spots were still open and they were having trouble filling the spots. More people tend to turn Eastern down than TPMS. There was not much movement on the TPMS front after the first round was chosen.

I will say, while they bill the merit-based lottery as totally random, I don't really believe it. Of the four siblings we knew who currently were in the TPMS magnet, all four of their younger siblings got in this year. It's very statistically improbable. And frustrating, as having a sibling currently in the program should not matter in the slightest but the merit of each individual child.

DP - just chiming in to say I agree completely with you on the bolded. I know a few too many kids who got in who are the true outliers in terms of goodness of fit. As you said, PP, it's very statistically improbable that these half dozen or whatever kids were *all* selected in a given year. I suspect they might do a partial lottery for other kids, but some of them seem hand-picked. That they're taking sibling preference into account is disappointing, if unsurprising.

Well, you're wrong. The lottery is just a lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since it's a lottery, completely random.

it's random but every school gets a handful of kids selected for each program. It's not like 5 schools will get 30 kids and one school won't have any selected in the lottery (if assuming 5 per school).

The very top 99% at our school were not selected whereas many who got in the pool with much lower scores (75%) were. Based on this I have to conclude it's random.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since it's a lottery, completely random.

it's random but every school gets a handful of kids selected for each program. It's not like 5 schools will get 30 kids and one school won't have any selected in the lottery (if assuming 5 per school).

The very top 99% at our school were not selected whereas many who got in the pool with much lower scores (75%) were. Based on this I have to conclude it's random.

+ 1. I know a family with a legit profoundly gifted child who got into CES but not the middle school magnet. It really is a lottery. Unless you know someone who can pull strings, anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child was in CES last year (5th). After multiple rounds of acceptances, about seven of his friends from his CES school are going to TPMS and Eastern.

The year before, however, there were about 7 kids that got into TPMS and about the same that got into Eastern, in one 27-student class. I don't know why, maybe they changed how they do it this year?

That said, we received a spot at Eastern the first week of school but turned it down. At that point, it sounded like several spots were still open and they were having trouble filling the spots. More people tend to turn Eastern down than TPMS. There was not much movement on the TPMS front after the first round was chosen.

I will say, while they bill the merit-based lottery as totally random, I don't really believe it. Of the four siblings we knew who currently were in the TPMS magnet, all four of their younger siblings got in this year. It's very statistically improbable. And frustrating, as having a sibling currently in the program should not matter in the slightest but the merit of each individual child.

I believe it is a random lottery based on the evidence we've seen. Tons of families turning down offers for MS now until they hit the ones who actually want it and believe their child can succeed. If you're a 75th percentile kid you might not want to do that long of a commute only to feel behind. In the last 2 years we've known a couple dozen kids turning down MS offers. That is a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since it's a lottery, completely random.

it's random but every school gets a handful of kids selected for each program. It's not like 5 schools will get 30 kids and one school won't have any selected in the lottery (if assuming 5 per school).

The very top 99% at our school were not selected whereas many who got in the pool with much lower scores (75%) were. Based on this I have to conclude it's random.

+ 1. I know a family with a legit profoundly gifted child who got into CES but not the middle school magnet. It really is a lottery. Unless you know someone who can pull strings, anyway.

Yep, just some conspiracy theory nuts looking for things that don't exist. At our ES too a couple 3rd graders with MAP-R in the 230s were passed over for kids with 210s. It's a lottery just like they said.

[Anonymous]

I will say this: I was pretty irritated that my former CES child was in both lotteries and didn’t get any offers. Child would have taken the spot in either program and under the paradigm prior to the lottery, probably would have been offered a spot.

Anyway, child is now in 8th grade at neighborhood middle school. I’m honestly really glad we ended up here in the end. As we think about high school, we have the great gift to be able to choose to matriculate at our zoned school with friends and neighbors, OR consider high school programs. I think if DC were at a magnet, knowing that everyone will be scattered yet again (like post CES) would be a big bummer. The commute would have been do-able but the convenience of these last several years has been amazing. I also think while my child would have definitely preferred a challenge, DC is not going to be heading into the slog of high school burned out.

All I can say is that I hope advocacy continues for enriched English and Science options at home schools. That would probably serve all students best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will say this: I was pretty irritated that my former CES child was in both lotteries and didn’t get any offers. Child would have taken the spot in either program and under the paradigm prior to the lottery, probably would have been offered a spot.

Anyway, child is now in 8th grade at neighborhood middle school. I’m honestly really glad we ended up here in the end. As we think about high school, we have the great gift to be able to choose to matriculate at our zoned school with friends and neighbors, OR consider high school programs. I think if DC were at a magnet, knowing that everyone will be scattered yet again (like post CES) would be a big bummer. The commute would have been do-able but the convenience of these last several years has been amazing. I also think while my child would have definitely preferred a challenge, DC is not going to be heading into the slog of high school burned out.

All I can say is that I hope advocacy continues for enriched English and Science options at home schools. That would probably serve all students best.

Very much agree with this. If students could meet their needs at the home school, there would not be so much pressure to get into the magnet programs and frustration with the lottery process among those whose children really need more challenge.

[Anonymous]

My third is just finishing MS so I’m basically done but it would be so wonderful if they could actually figure out enrichment at the local schools. ME is a truly terrible time to pull kids out of their neighborhood and send them across the county …. It’s right when you want to be keeping more an eye on them and trying to build community with their friends. I think a lot of kids then burn out and don’t want to do the magnet HS after that. I have one that went to CES and one that went to RMIb, but none that went to the middle school magnets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will say this: I was pretty irritated that my former CES child was in both lotteries and didn’t get any offers. Child would have taken the spot in either program and under the paradigm prior to the lottery, probably would have been offered a spot.

Anyway, child is now in 8th grade at neighborhood middle school. I’m honestly really glad we ended up here in the end. As we think about high school, we have the great gift to be able to choose to matriculate at our zoned school with friends and neighbors, OR consider high school programs. I think if DC were at a magnet, knowing that everyone will be scattered yet again (like post CES) would be a big bummer. The commute would have been do-able but the convenience of these last several years has been amazing. I also think while my child would have definitely preferred a challenge, DC is not going to be heading into the slog of high school burned out.

All I can say is that I hope advocacy continues for enriched English and Science options at home schools. That would probably serve all students best.

I agree with this sentiment. Oldest DC was at TPMS and had several friends opt out of magnets for HS even though they got in. They were burned out from the commute and work and many of their friends weren't going to a magnet anyway so it made sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since it's a lottery, completely random.

it's random but every school gets a handful of kids selected for each program. It's not like 5 schools will get 30 kids and one school won't have any selected in the lottery (if assuming 5 per school).

The very top 99% at our school were not selected whereas many who got in the pool with much lower scores (75%) were. Based on this I have to conclude it's random.

+ 1. I know a family with a legit profoundly gifted child who got into CES but not the middle school magnet. It really is a lottery. Unless you know someone who can pull strings, anyway.

Yep, just some conspiracy theory nuts looking for things that don't exist. At our ES too a couple 3rd graders with MAP-R in the 230s were passed over for kids with 210s. It's a lottery just like they said.

I heard all Will Jawando's got into CES programs.