Best HS Math Magnet Program

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a 4 year old thread.

Noting for the record that FOUR YEARS AGO folks were claiming that changes were coming to high school admissions, based on rumours, and that change never arrived.

Luckily it was not, because magnet MS programs have been destroyed significantly (checking back next year for math/national history/short documentary/science bowl competition results because next year the entire MS magnet program will be consists of lottery kids). CES stays less harmed because of the relative homogeneity of the catchment area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a 4 year old thread.

Noting for the record that FOUR YEARS AGO folks were claiming that changes were coming to high school admissions, based on rumours, and that change never arrived.

Luckily it was not, because magnet MS programs have been destroyed significantly (checking back next year for math/national history/short documentary/science bowl competition results because next year the entire MS magnet program will be consists of lottery kids). CES stays less harmed because of the relative homogeneity of the catchment area.

For what it is worth, people claimed universal screening and localized norming was going to destroy the magnets as well. TPMS did very well this year in math competitions, while Eastern MS had the highest number of C-SPAN winners in years. https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/easternms/news-index/easterns-2023-c-span-studentcam-winners/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a 4 year old thread.

Noting for the record that FOUR YEARS AGO folks were claiming that changes were coming to high school admissions, based on rumours, and that change never arrived.

Luckily it was not, because magnet MS programs have been destroyed significantly (checking back next year for math/national history/short documentary/science bowl competition results because next year the entire MS magnet program will be consists of lottery kids). CES stays less harmed because of the relative homogeneity of the catchment area.

For what it is worth, people claimed universal screening and localized norming was going to destroy the magnets as well. TPMS did very well this year in math competitions, while Eastern MS had the highest number of C-SPAN winners in years. https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/easternms/news-index/easterns-2023-c-span-studentcam-winners/

I don't think that's the impression to me. The universal screening still uses CoGAT on top of MAP, and it's still merit based. The current 8th graders experienced universal screening and still have CoGAT as the criteria. So it doesn't change too much of the quality of the student body. The lottery is the tipping point. Check back this thread next year around this time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a 4 year old thread.

Noting for the record that FOUR YEARS AGO folks were claiming that changes were coming to high school admissions, based on rumours, and that change never arrived.

Luckily it was not, because magnet MS programs have been destroyed significantly (checking back next year for math/national history/short documentary/science bowl competition results because next year the entire MS magnet program will be consists of lottery kids). CES stays less harmed because of the relative homogeneity of the catchment area.

For what it is worth, people claimed universal screening and localized norming was going to destroy the magnets as well. TPMS did very well this year in math competitions, while Eastern MS had the highest number of C-SPAN winners in years. https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/easternms/news-index/easterns-2023-c-span-studentcam-winners/

I don't think that's the impression to me. The universal screening still uses CoGAT on top of MAP, and it's still merit based. The current 8th graders experienced universal screening and still have CoGAT as the criteria. So it doesn't change too much of the quality of the student body. The lottery is the tipping point. Check back this thread next year around this time.

My point is, as long as it's merit-based, the evaluation metrics (CoGAT or no-CoGAT) and the pool (application vs. universal screening) do not impact the results very much. Once it's not merit-based anymore, the pool matters a lot because now it's a pure random process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a 4 year old thread.

Noting for the record that FOUR YEARS AGO folks were claiming that changes were coming to high school admissions, based on rumours, and that change never arrived.

Luckily it was not, because magnet MS programs have been destroyed significantly (checking back next year for math/national history/short documentary/science bowl competition results because next year the entire MS magnet program will be consists of lottery kids). CES stays less harmed because of the relative homogeneity of the catchment area.

For what it is worth, people claimed universal screening and localized norming was going to destroy the magnets as well. TPMS did very well this year in math competitions, while Eastern MS had the highest number of C-SPAN winners in years. https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/easternms/news-index/easterns-2023-c-span-studentcam-winners/

I don't think that's the impression to me. The universal screening still uses CoGAT on top of MAP, and it's still merit based. The current 8th graders experienced universal screening and still have CoGAT as the criteria. So it doesn't change too much of the quality of the student body. The lottery is the tipping point. Check back this thread next year around this time.

This thread is from 2019. Go read the earlier messages. They absolutely prove PPs point, that people here thought the world was going to end with universal selection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a 4 year old thread.

Noting for the record that FOUR YEARS AGO folks were claiming that changes were coming to high school admissions, based on rumours, and that change never arrived.

Luckily it was not, because magnet MS programs have been destroyed significantly (checking back next year for math/national history/short documentary/science bowl competition results because next year the entire MS magnet program will be consists of lottery kids). CES stays less harmed because of the relative homogeneity of the catchment area.

For what it is worth, people claimed universal screening and localized norming was going to destroy the magnets as well. TPMS did very well this year in math competitions, while Eastern MS had the highest number of C-SPAN winners in years. https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/easternms/news-index/easterns-2023-c-span-studentcam-winners/

I don't think that's the impression to me. The universal screening still uses CoGAT on top of MAP, and it's still merit based. The current 8th graders experienced universal screening and still have CoGAT as the criteria. So it doesn't change too much of the quality of the student body. The lottery is the tipping point. Check back this thread next year around this time.

This thread is from 2019. Go read the earlier messages. They absolutely prove PPs point, that people here thought the world was going to end with universal selection.

I forgot where I saw the stats, but the first year that universal screening was used, Asian students were significantly reduced and that caused a big rebounce from the Asian community. Then the stats went back a bit. For the current 8th grader, the race make-up is very similar to pre-universal screening. I also recall seeing the stats for students when lottery began. It's basically quite proportional to the race ratio of the MCPS student body.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a 4 year old thread.

Noting for the record that FOUR YEARS AGO folks were claiming that changes were coming to high school admissions, based on rumours, and that change never arrived.

Luckily it was not, because magnet MS programs have been destroyed significantly (checking back next year for math/national history/short documentary/science bowl competition results because next year the entire MS magnet program will be consists of lottery kids). CES stays less harmed because of the relative homogeneity of the catchment area.

For what it is worth, people claimed universal screening and localized norming was going to destroy the magnets as well. TPMS did very well this year in math competitions, while Eastern MS had the highest number of C-SPAN winners in years. https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/easternms/news-index/easterns-2023-c-span-studentcam-winners/

I don't think that's the impression to me. The universal screening still uses CoGAT on top of MAP, and it's still merit based. The current 8th graders experienced universal screening and still have CoGAT as the criteria. So it doesn't change too much of the quality of the student body. The lottery is the tipping point. Check back this thread next year around this time.

This thread is from 2019. Go read the earlier messages. They absolutely prove PPs point, that people here thought the world was going to end with universal selection.

+1 This thread is pre-lottery, when the only change was universal screening and local norming. You can read with your own eyes the perception that the world was ending.

[Anonymous]

Blair is a great school. Stellar administration and staff. I have had 2 kids go through the magnet and we think the English and Social studies is top notch too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair accelerates the math by combining classes to speed it up. That may not be great for all kids.

I suspect that in practice it is a tacit acknowledgement that some kids, who didn't go to WPES or Frost MS, ended up learning Algebra 2 on their own, and so can handle the 1-Yr Algebra 2 + Precalculus "Functions" class.
Similarly for kids who didn't take Geometry in MS, but succeeded with double math in 9th because they actually learned Geometry at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a 4 year old thread.

Noting for the record that FOUR YEARS AGO folks were claiming that changes were coming to high school admissions, based on rumours, and that change never arrived.

some things never change. At MCPS or on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a 4 year old thread.

Noting for the record that FOUR YEARS AGO folks were claiming that changes were coming to high school admissions, based on rumours, and that change never arrived.

Luckily it was not, because magnet MS programs have been destroyed significantly (checking back next year for math/national history/short documentary/science bowl competition results because next year the entire MS magnet program will be consists of lottery kids). CES stays less harmed because of the relative homogeneity of the catchment area.

For what it is worth, people claimed universal screening and localized norming was going to destroy the magnets as well. TPMS did very well this year in math competitions, while Eastern MS had the highest number of C-SPAN winners in years. https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/easternms/news-index/easterns-2023-c-span-studentcam-winners/

Weren't the current TPMS and Eastern 8th graders pre-lottery and universally screened? Doesn't this make the opposite argument that this is the most competitive year ever?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a 4 year old thread.

Noting for the record that FOUR YEARS AGO folks were claiming that changes were coming to high school admissions, based on rumours, and that change never arrived.

Luckily it was not, because magnet MS programs have been destroyed significantly (checking back next year for math/national history/short documentary/science bowl competition results because next year the entire MS magnet program will be consists of lottery kids). CES stays less harmed because of the relative homogeneity of the catchment area.

For what it is worth, people claimed universal screening and localized norming was going to destroy the magnets as well. TPMS did very well this year in math competitions, while Eastern MS had the highest number of C-SPAN winners in years. https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/easternms/news-index/easterns-2023-c-span-studentcam-winners/

Weren't the current TPMS and Eastern 8th graders pre-lottery and universally screened? Doesn't this make the opposite argument that this is the most competitive year ever?

Yes, the current 8th graders were pre-lottery and universally screened. This vindicates the universal screening changes.

I doubt the lottery will fare as well. There are plenty of smart lottery kids, just not as great a concentration as before. Who knew that randomness wasn't good at selecting the best students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair accelerates the math by combining classes to speed it up. That may not be great for all kids.

I suspect that in practice it is a tacit acknowledgement that some kids, who didn't go to WPES or Frost MS, ended up learning Algebra 2 on their own, and so can handle the 1-Yr Algebra 2 + Precalculus "Functions" class.
Similarly for kids who didn't take Geometry in MS, but succeeded with double math in 9th because they actually learned Geometry at home.

What is WPES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blair accelerates the math by combining classes to speed it up. That may not be great for all kids.

I suspect that in practice it is a tacit acknowledgement that some kids, who didn't go to WPES or Frost MS, ended up learning Algebra 2 on their own, and so can handle the 1-Yr Algebra 2 + Precalculus "Functions" class.
Similarly for kids who didn't take Geometry in MS, but succeeded with double math in 9th because they actually learned Geometry at home.

What is WPES

Wealthy Potomac Elementary School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a 4 year old thread.

Noting for the record that FOUR YEARS AGO folks were claiming that changes were coming to high school admissions, based on rumours, and that change never arrived.

Luckily it was not, because magnet MS programs have been destroyed significantly (checking back next year for math/national history/short documentary/science bowl competition results because next year the entire MS magnet program will be consists of lottery kids). CES stays less harmed because of the relative homogeneity of the catchment area.

For what it is worth, people claimed universal screening and localized norming was going to destroy the magnets as well. TPMS did very well this year in math competitions, while Eastern MS had the highest number of C-SPAN winners in years. https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/easternms/news-index/easterns-2023-c-span-studentcam-winners/

Weren't the current TPMS and Eastern 8th graders pre-lottery and universally screened? Doesn't this make the opposite argument that this is the most competitive year ever?

Here is someone on page 2 of this very thread talking about how the kids accepted through universal screening were ruining the magnets: "it's only a matter of time before the lower magnets are filled with lesser students and the higher level’s pool of applicants is watered down and the shinny gone"

That's the tenor of discussion back in 2019 about the very kids who are now doing very well in all the metrics DCUM seems to care about (national competitions, high school admissions).

If the current crop of kids is better than the "sky is falling" crowd claimed it would be, maybe we shouldn't listen to them about the lottery either.