MCPS - National Merit Seminfinalists pretty unevenly distributed, don't you think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But WHY do people in Bethesda go nuts? Instead of thinking, for example, "Other kids in Montgomery County public schools are also doing well, yay!"?

I don't know, maybe it's that the same home near Blair is about half the price of that home near Whitman? Or people think that every kid who goes to Whitman (except the kids they bus in) must be superior to every kid who goes to Blair? I don't get the hate either, but it's a blood sport on these boards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But WHY do people in Bethesda go nuts? Instead of thinking, for example, "Other kids in Montgomery County public schools are also doing well, yay!"?

I don't know, maybe it's that the same home near Blair is about half the price of that home near Whitman? Or people think that every kid who goes to Whitman (except the kids they bus in) must be superior to every kid who goes to Blair? I don't get the hate either, but it's a blood sport on these boards.

Why do you feel the need to blast the Bethesda peeps. Nobody on this thread has even said they are from the W district except the ones that bus them to Blair.

The rest of the county knows magnet schools are busing programs. This is news to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Nobody is invested in Blair kids NOT doing well. They need to post the results differently, the information is misleading.

How is the information misleading? Blair had this many, this other high school had that many, etc -- right? Why do you want the numbers divided into Magnet Blair and Non-Magnet Blair?

Why DON'T you want the numbers divided? I personally don't want the kids names associated with a school. What is the point?

If they are going to attibute the success of a child to the school they attend they need be truthful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But WHY do people in Bethesda go nuts? Instead of thinking, for example, "Other kids in Montgomery County public schools are also doing well, yay!"?

I don't know, maybe it's that the same home near Blair is about half the price of that home near Whitman? Or people think that every kid who goes to Whitman (except the kids they bus in) must be superior to every kid who goes to Blair? I don't get the hate either, but it's a blood sport on these boards.

Why do you feel the need to blast the Bethesda peeps. Nobody on this thread has even said they are from the W district except the ones that bus them to Blair.

The rest of the county knows magnet schools are busing programs. This is news to you?

And this is relevant ... how?

My son is a Blair CAP student. We live in the DCC and Einstein HS, which is 5.2 miles from home, is our home school. Blair, on the other hand, is is 1.1 miles away from our house. (For what it's worth, Northwood is about 2.5 miles away.)

Our home school is part of a busing program. Otherwise, what would be the point of assigning us to a home school significantly farther from our house than these two high schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Nobody is invested in Blair kids NOT doing well. They need to post the results differently, the information is misleading.

How is the information misleading? Blair had this many, this other high school had that many, etc -- right? Why do you want the numbers divided into Magnet Blair and Non-Magnet Blair?

Why DON'T you want the numbers divided? I personally don't want the kids names associated with a school. What is the point?

If they are going to attibute the success of a child to the school they attend they need be truthful.

None of the charts state that they attribute the success of the child to the school they attend.

Even if you assume that the charts intend to attribute the child's success to the school, how are the charts not truthful? Magnet and special program students do, in fact, attend Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The charts posted previously don't lie. In the universe of public education, SES is destiny. In light of that reality, all public schools perform more or less the same.

On the other hand, taking your children out of the public-school matrix can make a difference. My children are enrolled in a Catholic parochial school in PG County that is majority-minority and moderate income (low by Washington standards). The kids there average around the 70th percentile on national standardized tests. If you put the same population in any MCPS school, they'd be at about the 50th percentile. From what I've heard from school administrators, these are typical results for the Archdiocesan schools in lower-income, minority communities.

This is why the most highly educated demographic in America, if you cross-tabulate by race and religion, is black Catholics, and why in the Washington metro area, black Catholics, who make up 10% of the African American population, are 50% of the affluent African American population.

Different curriculum, different culture, different results.

+1

Also kudos to the Catholic schools in DC who serve the children in their community. (Mostly with a free education)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Nobody is invested in Blair kids NOT doing well. They need to post the results differently, the information is misleading.

How is the information misleading? Blair had this many, this other high school had that many, etc -- right? Why do you want the numbers divided into Magnet Blair and Non-Magnet Blair?

Why DON'T you want the numbers divided? I personally don't want the kids names associated with a school. What is the point?

If they are going to attibute the success of a child to the school they attend they need be truthful.

Huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If they are going to attibute the success of a child to the school they attend they need be truthful.

So the kids in the Blair magnet are not actually attending Blair?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If they are going to attibute the success of a child to the school they attend they need be truthful.

So the kids in the Blair magnet are not actually attending Blair?

No actually they are not. That is a whole other thread. It's been a big complaint of their segregation since magnet schools are for the sole purpose of fixing segregation problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If they are going to attibute the success of a child to the school they attend they need be truthful.

So the kids in the Blair magnet are not actually attending Blair?

No actually they are not. That is a whole other thread. It's been a big complaint of their segregation since magnet schools are for the sole purpose of fixing segregation problems.

So where are they attending high school, then?

[Anonymous]

So all these kids who attend high school every day at Blair are not attending high school at Blair. How about that.

(Who's complaining, exactly?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If they are going to attibute the success of a child to the school they attend they need be truthful.

So the kids in the Blair magnet are not actually attending Blair?

No actually they are not. That is a whole other thread. It's been a big complaint of their segregation since magnet schools are for the sole purpose of fixing segregation problems.

So where are they attending high school, then?

They attend Blair, but are in special classes (between 25-100% depending on program.) But the magnet classes are open to non-magnet kids as well under the right circumstances, so while there is a separate program, there is also significant intermingling of the population. And they are in the same building. Not sure why anyone would suggest that the magnet programs are not housed within the same school, but everyone is in the same building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If they are going to attibute the success of a child to the school they attend they need be truthful.

So the kids in the Blair magnet are not actually attending Blair?

No actually they are not. That is a whole other thread. It's been a big complaint of their segregation since magnet schools are for the sole purpose of fixing segregation problems.

Another distortion of the facts. For CAP there are 3 magnet classes in an eight period day. The rest of the classes are with the general student body. It's hardly segregated. I am sure the same is true for math/science kids -- they still have to take English, history, PE/electives, etc. They may take a lot of AP classes but that's not segregation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If they are going to attibute the success of a child to the school they attend they need be truthful.

So the kids in the Blair magnet are not actually attending Blair?

No actually they are not. That is a whole other thread. It's been a big complaint of their segregation since magnet schools are for the sole purpose of fixing segregation problems.

So where are they attending high school, then?

They attend Blair, but are in special classes (between 25-100% depending on program.) But the magnet classes are open to non-magnet kids as well under the right circumstances, so while there is a separate program, there is also significant intermingling of the population. And they are in the same building. Not sure why anyone would suggest that the magnet programs are not housed within the same school, but everyone is in the same building.

No Blair magnet program is 100% special classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If they are going to attibute the success of a child to the school they attend they need be truthful.

So the kids in the Blair magnet are not actually attending Blair?

No actually they are not. That is a whole other thread. It's been a big complaint of their segregation since magnet schools are for the sole purpose of fixing segregation problems.

This is metaphysical, maybe?

Is there some alternate high school reality of which they partake to get their diplomas?