How is the new pilot offering equivalent to TPMS/Eastern

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03/08/2018 19:09

Subject: How is the new pilot offering equivalent to TPMS/Eastern

quote

Anonymous

MCPS staff has received requests for additional information on the implementation of the middle school magnet program field test and the implications for local middle school programming next school year.

Building upon the magnet curriculum, staff in the Office of Curriculum and Instructional Programs is developing two enriched and accelerated courses for highly able cohorts in the local middle school field study catchment area. The catchment area includes Benjamin Banneker, Briggs Chaney, William H. Farquhar, Robert Frost, Herbert Hoover, Cabin John, Francis Scott Key, Col. E. Brooke Lee, Newport Mill, Rosa M. Parks, North Bethesda, Thomas W. Pyle, Silver Creek, Silver Spring International, Sligo, Tilden, Julius West, Westland, Earle B. Wood, and White Oak middle schools.

Course offerings will begin with the 2018–2019 school year and include mathematics and humanities. All middle schools in the catchment area will implement one or both courses with the exception of the three Middle School Magnet Consortium (MSMC) schools––Argyle, A. Mario Loiederman, and Parkland. MSMC schools are whole-school magnets with enrichment and acceleration opportunities embedded in the programs. School staff in the field test catchment area also will receive professional learning, consultation on master scheduling, and central office support.

Middle school principals will be notified of student cohort course assignments in the next two weeks. For scheduling purposes, students identified in the highly able cohorts will be grouped together in class sections. A majority of the field test schools are slated to offer two courses. Decisions regarding the number of courses offered at each school will be finalized based on student enrollment and performance data.

Given that this is a field test and incoming data and information will be used to refine the implementation of the new courses, it is important that principals and schools have time to review data and plan for implementation before communicating with the parent community. Schools will communicate with their communities regarding the new courses by the end of March. Notification of individual placements will be sent in early April. Parents therefore are asked not to approach school staff about the new courses until after the individual placement information is communicated.. Thank you!

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I know that it's a start that MCPS is trying to bring some elements of enrichment for the high performing kids, a handful who presumably did not get into Eastern or Takoma due to the "cohort" reasoning. However, I feel like parents are just tossed a bone at this point by MCPS. For those with kids who are/were at TPMS or Eastern, can you chime in to comment on how offering one elective in the humanities and another elective in enriched math compare to the curriculum that is being offered at your child's magnet school? I don't expect that MCPS is able to bring a magnet to the middle school in a few months for the incoming 6th grade class, but how is what they are offering even anywhere close to what a child would get if they were at the actual magnet? How do they even expect a teacher to be trained in appropriate time? Can you just throw any teacher a new curriculum, train her/him for a couple of months and expect her/him to teach up to par with the experienced magnet teachers?