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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Right, but it seems as though one side effect of this new evaluation system is that more lower income, URM kids will end up in the magnet program. Not a bad thing, IMO, but it does likely leave a bunch of smart kids underserved at their home schools. Really, the best answer seems to be to expand tracking in classes, so even if a kid doesn't make the cut for the magnet program, he/she will still be able to have accelerated/enriched instruction for most, if not all, of ES and MS.

Under the previous system, there were also evidently a bunch of smart kids underserved at their home schools -- it's just that those home schools weren't in Bethesda or Potomac.

Sure, and that makes it more likely the underserved kids will get what they need. After all, money talks, and the rich Bethesda and Potomac parents aren't going to just sit around while their investment in their $1 million+ home doesn't come with the ROI, education-wise, they were bargaining for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Unfortunately, fact is that MCPS is suffering from billions of budget cut so expanding accelerated/enriched instructions in local schools is technically day-dreaming. Then rich and high-educated people start to think of moving out of the county, house price declines and less property tax, and more deficit of education budget. So on and so forth.

I haven't noticed any house price declines in the areas where rich people live. Or anywhere else in the county.

I also find it preposterous to assume that people would just up and move from Bethesda to Howard County because Larlo didn't get into Eastern. Please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone spell it out for non-gifted me? 3% of all 5th graders in the relevant areas get in? 7%? 10?

It's about 3-4% of all 5th graders (200 spots for downcounty at Eastern and Takoma, some more spots at Clemente/MLK for upcounty). Even if you go buy the other poster's math, 200 slots for 4000 tested is 5%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Right, but it seems as though one side effect of this new evaluation system is that more lower income, URM kids will end up in the magnet program. Not a bad thing, IMO, but it does likely leave a bunch of smart kids underserved at their home schools. Really, the best answer seems to be to expand tracking in classes, so even if a kid doesn't make the cut for the magnet program, he/she will still be able to have accelerated/enriched instruction for most, if not all, of ES and MS.

Under the previous system, there were also evidently a bunch of smart kids underserved at their home schools -- it's just that those home schools weren't in Bethesda or Potomac.

Sure, and that makes it more likely the underserved kids will get what they need. After all, money talks, and the rich Bethesda and Potomac parents aren't going to just sit around while their investment in their $1 million+ home doesn't come with the ROI, education-wise, they were bargaining for.

You're making some assumptions about Bethesda and Potomac parents. The vast majority of Cold Spring parents are not rich, far from it. They are dual income, ESL families who stretched and sacrificed to buy small homes in the "best" school district they could. They are not the stereotype you think, and are pretty devastated about the being discriminated against with the new admissions policy. Unless you feel 54/56 Cold Spring magnet students truly did not deserve to go on to MS magnets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Unfortunately, fact is that MCPS is suffering from billions of budget cut so expanding accelerated/enriched instructions in local schools is technically day-dreaming. Then rich and high-educated people start to think of moving out of the county, house price declines and less property tax, and more deficit of education budget. So on and so forth.

I haven't noticed any house price declines in the areas where rich people live. Or anywhere else in the county.

I also find it preposterous to assume that people would just up and move from Bethesda to Howard County because Larlo didn't get into Eastern. Please.

Of course that wouldn't happen immediately, but if you have coworkers lived in Silver Spring 10 years ago, ask them what it looked like back then. I have noticed more than 10 cases from my DC's schoolmates moved to FCPS and got satisfied with their AAP system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Of course that wouldn't happen immediately, but if you have coworkers lived in Silver Spring 10 years ago, ask them what it looked like back then. I have noticed more than 10 cases from my DC's schoolmates moved to FCPS and got satisfied with their AAP system.

Are you saying that house prices are declining in Silver Spring?

Or are you saying that people will pick up and move from Bethesda to Silver Spring? Why would this be bad for MCPS or Montgomery County's property tax revenues?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Unfortunately, fact is that MCPS is suffering from billions of budget cut so expanding accelerated/enriched instructions in local schools is technically day-dreaming. Then rich and high-educated people start to think of moving out of the county, house price declines and less property tax, and more deficit of education budget. So on and so forth.

I haven't noticed any house price declines in the areas where rich people live. Or anywhere else in the county.

I also find it preposterous to assume that people would just up and move from Bethesda to Howard County because Larlo didn't get into Eastern. Please.

To be frankly, a lot of parents are thinking of that. I don't have a 5th grader now, but I see this as a trend of decline. Moving out of Maryland is definitely something in my mind now.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Wow. This is the longest thread I ever started.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


You're making some assumptions about Bethesda and Potomac parents. The vast majority of Cold Spring parents are not rich, far from it. They are dual income, ESL families who stretched and sacrificed to buy small homes in the "best" school district they could. They are not the stereotype you think, and are pretty devastated about the being discriminated against with the new admissions policy. Unless you feel 54/56 Cold Spring magnet students truly did not deserve to go on to MS magnets.

How far from it? How much does it cost to live where this vast majority of Cold Spring parents live?

(And again, Churchill and Wootton are not school districts.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Unfortunately, fact is that MCPS is suffering from billions of budget cut so expanding accelerated/enriched instructions in local schools is technically day-dreaming. Then rich and high-educated people start to think of moving out of the county, house price declines and less property tax, and more deficit of education budget. So on and so forth.

I haven't noticed any house price declines in the areas where rich people live. Or anywhere else in the county.

I also find it preposterous to assume that people would just up and move from Bethesda to Howard County because Larlo didn't get into Eastern. Please.

It's not crazy. we are zoned for a GS5 middle school and after driving it out in a GS6 elementary school, we would prefer our kid to be in a different peer group. Her friends are nice kids but completely unmotivated and this has rubbed off on her. they have other habits as a result of their upbringing and I don't want my kid to start thinking it is normal. As it is. she does not fit in with her classmates. we can get a nice house zoned for a good school in Howard county and we decided that if she doesn't get in the magnet program, which she didn't. we will move. So we are moving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody ever said COGAT scores, or even grades, were the primary criteria for admission. They gave a whole list of factors they were considering, and explicitly said that no one factor weighed more strongly than the others.

It sounds like they're assuming that kids who already show consistently high scores and perfect grades in all areas will be OK in a traditional academic environment. That these kids will always be at the top of their class, one way or another—whether it's a challenge for them to get there or not.

It sounds like they were looking for kids with super-high scores in one area, and more "garden-variety gifted" in the others. Or kids whose test scores were much higher than their home-school environment might predict. In other words, kids whose talents might otherwise get lost in the shuffle in a more traditional type of program, or in their particular home school.

Sure, the 99%-and-perfect-grades kids would benefit, too, no doubt about that. But with only 200 spots, they chose a different focus this year. I'm not saying that's right or wrong, good or bad, so don't yell at me; but that's what it seems they've done.

But the point is, it was *never* stated that the highest test scores across the board would get in. Maybe that was the case in the past, and everyone assumed it would still be the case; and maybe that's the way it should really be. But that doesn't mean they cheated anyone this year, or that it's "fishy," as one poster put it. It's just...different.

It actually wasn't the case in the past. That's why I don't understand all the complaining. It has never been just about test scores.

Then tell what you think causes the difference from last year to this year: Cold Spring HGC admission 25 last year to 2 this year. And very similar thing happened to at least Oakview and Barney HGC as well as reported in this thread. Not offensive but just try to see what peoples' opinion on interpreting such a huge difference.

It's hard to make an apples to apples comparison of results in the HGC/CES cohort. Last year, there were many kids at Barnsley who did not apply for a magnet slot. This year, every kid was selected by the County to test. So, if last year a higher percentage of applicants got admitted, it was already a higher percentage of a self-selected pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Are you saying that in the past decade, the magnet programs have been wrongfully left out the best and the smartest students. All those students that have brought MCPS glory wouldn't have been selected if not because of the laid-back parents of those real top students? My! MCPS's incompetence is beyond me.

We know that they've left out good, smart students who would have been good candidates for the magnet programs. There's no need to be sarcastic about it. Yes, they shouldn't have done that. But now they've identified the problem and are trying to address it. That's a good thing.

Cold Spring HGC has 20+ students went to either of the magnets in the past years. It's 0 this year. Are you saying that they were all wrongfully identified for HGC as well, none of them is good enough for middle magnet?

It's not 0, for crying out loud!! but definitely fewer than before.

2 were admitted. That is a far cry from 20+.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Okay, it's not 0, it's 2. 3% of the kids who got into the most competitive magnet ES in the county versus up to 50% in previous years. Cold Spring is known for its very high-achieving program. Only 2 of those kids deserved MS magnet admission, really?

According to anonymous posts on DCUM.

I am the parent of a CS kid. So far, we are only aware of two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


You're making some assumptions about Bethesda and Potomac parents. The vast majority of Cold Spring parents are not rich, far from it. They are dual income, ESL families who stretched and sacrificed to buy small homes in the "best" school district they could. They are not the stereotype you think, and are pretty devastated about the being discriminated against with the new admissions policy. Unless you feel 54/56 Cold Spring magnet students truly did not deserve to go on to MS magnets.

How far from it? How much does it cost to live where this vast majority of Cold Spring parents live?

(And again, Churchill and Wootton are not school districts.)

I don't know ... My husband and I are in our early 30s. We were both in grad school until 5 years ago, and started out making about $110k in 2012. Our income has steadily increased (this year we will make close to $400k, including vested stock), but since we only recently started making more money, we don't have much in savings. As a result, we are in Gaithersburg, where home prices are lower.

My point is that I'd be hard pressed to believe that most people with young children (so mostly around our age) have the money to put a competitive offer together for the vast majority of houses districted to Bethesda and Potomac schools. I've looked on Redfin enough to know that it's very tough to find a place for under $800k; they exist, but they're few and far between. You could eek out an apt in downtown Bethesda, but most of the houses in that area are simply much more expensive.

Maybe you've got people with MSers in that area who have saved well from working more typical white collar jobs for 15+ years (and are likely more in their 40s), but the elementary school crowd would have to mostly be making some pretty serious money to afford real estate in that area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Of course that wouldn't happen immediately, but if you have coworkers lived in Silver Spring 10 years ago, ask them what it looked like back then. I have noticed more than 10 cases from my DC's schoolmates moved to FCPS and got satisfied with their AAP system.

Are you saying that house prices are declining in Silver Spring?

Or are you saying that people will pick up and move from Bethesda to Silver Spring? Why would this be bad for MCPS or Montgomery County's property tax revenues?

Just do simple math. If the house price overall is not declining, and giving the fact that property tax rate keeps on increasing for the past couple of years, why MC is experiencing such a big hole in budget? Where did the money go?

I have a coworker living in Silver Spring for more than 20 years. She saw the retreat of the "dividing boundary" from 97, to 355, now to 270. And I saw the boundary moving from up north to North Potomac in the past 5 years or so. Let's wait and see how long the "old money" in Bethesda and Potomac would disappear.