Why w school students not preferred in Blair magnet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I teach in a MS that feeds into WJ. Every year at BTSN or on Open House Day, 15-20 parents tell me their child is going to Blair. I smile and nod, knowing there's little to no chance their child will get in. I feel sorry for the kids, who then feel like failures or that they have deeply disappointed their parents. Oddly, these same parents assume that all non-magnet students at Blair are inferior academically to their own children.

I don't understand. How could you possibly know this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I teach in a MS that feeds into WJ. Every year at BTSN or on Open House Day, 15-20 parents tell me their child is going to Blair. I smile and nod, knowing there's little to no chance their child will get in. I feel sorry for the kids, who then feel like failures or that they have deeply disappointed their parents. Oddly, these same parents assume that all non-magnet students at Blair are inferior academically to their own children.

The data says 17 WJ kids went to magnets so at least some of these parents could be right. Why would WJ parents care about Blair non magnet students. They aren't zoned for Blair so it's really not relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to MCPS, the W high schools are Watkins Mill, Wheaton, Whitman (Walt), and Wootton (Thomas S.).

Churchill (Winston) is a C high school, along with Clarksburg.

Blair (Montgomery) is actually a B high school, not an M school. The other B schools are Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Blake (James Hubert). The M high schools are Magruder (Col. Zadok) and Montgomery (Richard).

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/globalContent/documents/List-Of-Schools.pdf

You are like my dog when she gets a bone or a stick. She holds on to it for dear life and growls if you try to take it away from her.

The W reference is a commonly understood shorthand to describe a set of 4 schools. It is not a formal designation. Think of it like the Big Ten, which has 14 schools in it, or the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) which now includes Notre Dame despite the fact that Indiana is nowhere near the Atlantic Coast.

Yeah, those are silly too. If people would stop insisting that Churchill is too a W school because of WINSTON!!!!, this would be much less entertaining.

Or if everybody acknowledged that W stands for Wealthy and White.

[Anonymous]

So, have we effectively dismantled OP's assertion that her son was discriminated against for being white and wealthy yet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, have we effectively dismantled OP's assertion that her son was discriminated against for being white and wealthy yet?

The OP has not mentioned how his/her child did on the entrance test yet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, have we effectively dismantled OP's assertion that her son was discriminated against for being white and wealthy yet?

Yes the data show that more kids from W schools go to Blair than kids from non-W schools, so she was incorrect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, have we effectively dismantled OP's assertion that her son was discriminated against for being white and wealthy yet?

Yes the data show that more kids from W schools go to Blair than kids from non-W schools, so she was incorrect.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, have we effectively dismantled OP's assertion that her son was discriminated against for being white and wealthy yet?

Yes the data show that more kids from W schools go to Blair than kids from non-W schools, so she was incorrect.

And while Whitman is underrepresented we believe (but can't prove) that it has to do with fewer applications, not a lower selection rate. We don't know which cluster op is in though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, have we effectively dismantled OP's assertion that her son was discriminated against for being white and wealthy yet?

Yup, sometimes a reject is just a reject. No conspiracy behind it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your theory doesn't hold up, OP.

Take a look at the data. Wooton and Walter Johnson are among the top high schools for # of kids sent to magnet programs.
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/Appendix-B-Program-data-tables.pdf

Churchill also, although not technically a "W" school.

The only one that doesn't send a lot of kids to the magnets is Whitman and from what I've heard from talking to parents it's because Whitman is so good that why bother applying elsewhere. The commute is also terrible to Blair from that part of Bethesda.

There was a book about top Whitman students a few years ago and one kid went to Blair for a year and then his parents pulled him out because they thought Whitman would be better. He ended up going to Harvard so it sounds like it worked out for them.

PP - thank you for posting it. it's really interesting data. this also proves "w cluster kids don't apply to magnets because w schools are SOOOO good" rumor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC will be in 9th grade in a W high school. Did not make it to Blair SMAC magnet. Talking to others I get a feeling that very few (2 or 3) students from MS made it to Blair though MS is one of the very good schools, with so many bright kids. Why is it that the screening committee would prefer to select a student from non w school area over the one from w school with former having equal or lesser scores? Why is this assumption made that a student from silver spring would benefit more from Blair magnet than the one who would go to Churchill or Walter Johnson or Wooten.

OP, you are basically saying this:

1. My child, in one of the middle schools in Bethesda or Potomac, was not accepted to the Blair SMAC magnet.
2. Only a few children in that middle school were accepted.
3. There are a lot of smart children in that middle school.
4. Therefore the Blair magnet admissions are biased against children from middle schools in Bethesda or Potomac.

+1

Plus, many or most Whitman parents think Whitman is so good that it doesn't make sense to send their kid to Blair.

+2 Here's the thing folks may not know about Silver Spring, Kensington, Takoma Park, and other places on the eastern side of the county - there are A TON of college professors, NIH and other government scientists, public and private school teachers, etc. We care about our children's education as much as you do. We help our kids achieve their potential as much as you do.

Your kids are not smarter or more motivated by virtue of attending a "W" school. You just need to accept that your child, like many other kids, was beaten fair and square. There's no conspiracy. Very few kids make the cut, and yours didn't. Be glad you have a good program to fall back on.

I agree completely. And I am a parent of kids at Whitman. I'd even say that it may be a tad easier to gain admission via W feeder schools be ause not as many kids apply to Blair due to the long commute and/or perceived equivalency of the home high school. But the cadre of student is high in the easterncand western parts of the sending schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, have we effectively dismantled OP's assertion that her son was discriminated against for being white and wealthy yet?

Yes the data show that more kids from W schools go to Blair than kids from non-W schools, so she was incorrect.

That doesn't necesasry dismantle the assertion, though. It's still possible that there is discrimination against kids from the wealthy/white schools, as a result of which only somewhat more than half of kids at the Blair magnet are from those schools, instead of all of the kids at the Blair magnet.

(Though I doubt it.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, have we effectively dismantled OP's assertion that her son was discriminated against for being white and wealthy yet?

Yes the data show that more kids from W schools go to Blair than kids from non-W schools, so she was incorrect.

That doesn't necesasry dismantle the assertion, though. It's still possible that there is discrimination against kids from the wealthy/white schools, as a result of which only somewhat more than half of kids at the Blair magnet are from those schools, instead of all of the kids at the Blair magnet.

(Though I doubt it.)

I think you are misreading the numbers. It's the number of kids going to magnets, not just the Blair magnet.

[Anonymous]

" OP - I know you are not going to believe this but magnets are HARD to get in. No more, no less. "

This is NOT the complete story. There are two groups of kids that get into the magnets. One group is just so far out on the bell curve that getting into a magnet is simply a matter of not being a discipline problem in MS. The other group is picked from a much larger group of smart but not exceptional students. This picking is VERY competitive. Given the level of MCPS MS classes, the difference between the two groups is almost impossible to observe from grades but their middle school teachers KNOW. This is why the one MS teacher who posted on this thread would smile to themselves when the parents of a smart but not exceptional student would claim their DC was going to Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:" OP - I know you are not going to believe this but magnets are HARD to get in. No more, no less. "

This is NOT the complete story. There are two groups of kids that get into the magnets. One group is just so far out on the bell curve that getting into a magnet is simply a matter of not being a discipline problem in MS. The other group is picked from a much larger group of smart but not exceptional students. This picking is VERY competitive. Given the level of MCPS MS classes, the difference between the two groups is almost impossible to observe from grades but their middle school teachers KNOW. This is why the one MS teacher who posted on this thread would smile to themselves when the parents of a smart but not exceptional student would claim their DC was going to Blair.

It's amazing that the MS teacher would already KNOW who was who by back-to-school night, though, isn't it?