New middle school enriched and accelerated classes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Grade 5 students whose parents had opted them out of testing for the middle school magnet programs also are being considered for the enriched and accelerated courses. Middle school principals are reviewing their incoming Grade 6 student data and notification of individual student placements will be sent to parents in early April.

For questions about programming, parents may contact Accelerated and Enriched Instruction, 240.740.3110. After individual placement notifications occur in April, questions about course(s) availability, sections, and scheduling may be directed to your middle school principal.

I cringe that I'm actually asking this but will there be an appeals process if your child does not get in but you think your child should have gotten in?

Similar to compacted math, I'm sure some parents will advocate for their child, which would be directed at the principal/school counselors. However, because of space and scheduling constraints, they will have to say no to quite a few parents.

[Anonymous]

School counselors can’t override, only admin can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How will schools determine which of these courses to implement (or whether to implement both)?

OP here. I know nothing beyond what was in the newsletter: "Decisions regarding the number of courses offered at each school will be monitored and finalized based on student enrollment and performance data. "

Newsletter is from Drew Elementary.

So judging from that statement, it's possible they'll look at how kids did in the magnet testing and provide classes based on those scores. So if enough kids did really well in math, they'll provide a math class, and the same for the humanities class. Hopefully that means they'll evaluate the course offerings each year, and adjust accordingly, given fluctuations in student performance year on year.

Well not everyone took the magnet test, so I wonder how they will be evaluating those students....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How will schools determine which of these courses to implement (or whether to implement both)?

OP here. I know nothing beyond what was in the newsletter: "Decisions regarding the number of courses offered at each school will be monitored and finalized based on student enrollment and performance data. "

Newsletter is from Drew Elementary.

So judging from that statement, it's possible they'll look at how kids did in the magnet testing and provide classes based on those scores. So if enough kids did really well in math, they'll provide a math class, and the same for the humanities class. Hopefully that means they'll evaluate the course offerings each year, and adjust accordingly, given fluctuations in student performance year on year.

Well not everyone took the magnet test, so I wonder how they will be evaluating those students....

It's pretty clear the real point of the universal screening was to launch this program (magnet selection being a much smaller initiative). Of course there were parents who opted out, but given the numbers tested there should still be pretty clear patterns MCPS can use to allot classes. It's still in the pilot phase, there may be more need for appeals his year, but in the future parents will understand the test has impact beyond the magnets. There will be quirks but current MS students (and the other half of the county) have nothing, so complaints are the only certainty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How will schools determine which of these courses to implement (or whether to implement both)?

OP here. I know nothing beyond what was in the newsletter: "Decisions regarding the number of courses offered at each school will be monitored and finalized based on student enrollment and performance data. "

Newsletter is from Drew Elementary.

So judging from that statement, it's possible they'll look at how kids did in the magnet testing and provide classes based on those scores. So if enough kids did really well in math, they'll provide a math class, and the same for the humanities class. Hopefully that means they'll evaluate the course offerings each year, and adjust accordingly, given fluctuations in student performance year on year.

Well not everyone took the magnet test, so I wonder how they will be evaluating those students....

It's pretty clear the real point of the universal screening was to launch this program (magnet selection being a much smaller initiative). Of course there were parents who opted out, but given the numbers tested there should still be pretty clear patterns MCPS can use to allot classes. It's still in the pilot phase, there may be more need for appeals his year, but in the future parents will understand the test has impact beyond the magnets. There will be quirks but current MS students (and the other half of the county) have nothing, so complaints are the only certainty.

PP here, yeah I agree most took it so they should have a pretty good idea for the majority of students. We opted out for a couple of legitimate reasons but if we had known about this option we would not have. DC can compete at the level of most high achieving students on these assessments (based on MAP, PAARC and previous HGC assessment). I just don't want DC to fall through the crack when this option is on the table.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Grade 5 students whose parents had opted them out of testing for the middle school magnet programs also are being considered for the enriched and accelerated courses. Middle school principals are reviewing their incoming Grade 6 student data and notification of individual student placements will be sent to parents in early April.

For questions about programming, parents may contact Accelerated and Enriched Instruction, 240.740.3110. After individual placement notifications occur in April, questions about course(s) availability, sections, and scheduling may be directed to your middle school principal.

I cringe that I'm actually asking this but will there be an appeals process if your child does not get in but you think your child should have gotten in?

Similar to compacted math, I'm sure some parents will advocate for their child, which would be directed at the principal/school counselors. However, because of space and scheduling constraints, they will have to say no to quite a few parents.

But now compacted math is very widely available ...100% at some schools.

[Anonymous]

Exactly—Id guess that will be the outcome, except we’re also getting a new overall curriculum in the next few years, so much is in flux. Who knows. Plus, our middle school principal and teachers didn’t even know this was happening until parents started asking questions. Central didn’t prepare principals in advance at all. I think central just had a knee jerk reaction when the lawsuit threats started coming in, and cobbled together a makeshift solution without thinking through any of the fallout. One only has to look at the thread on MCPS and technology to know how teachers feel about this type of thing. I have some big questions about who is steering the MCPS ship. One of the GT center teachers is telling parents to depend on nothing because clearly even if one plan is in place for next year, they may change their mind again...and then again. She recommended planning accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How will schools determine which of these courses to implement (or whether to implement both)?

OP here. I know nothing beyond what was in the newsletter: "Decisions regarding the number of courses offered at each school will be monitored and finalized based on student enrollment and performance data. "

Newsletter is from Drew Elementary.

So judging from that statement, it's possible they'll look at how kids did in the magnet testing and provide classes based on those scores. So if enough kids did really well in math, they'll provide a math class, and the same for the humanities class. Hopefully that means they'll evaluate the course offerings each year, and adjust accordingly, given fluctuations in student performance year on year.

Well not everyone took the magnet test, so I wonder how they will be evaluating those students....

It's pretty clear the real point of the universal screening was to launch this program (magnet selection being a much smaller initiative). Of course there were parents who opted out, but given the numbers tested there should still be pretty clear patterns MCPS can use to allot classes. It's still in the pilot phase, there may be more need for appeals his year, but in the future parents will understand the test has impact beyond the magnets. There will be quirks but current MS students (and the other half of the county) have nothing, so complaints are the only certainty.

PP here, yeah I agree most took it so they should have a pretty good idea for the majority of students. We opted out for a couple of legitimate reasons but if we had known about this option we would not have. DC can compete at the level of most high achieving students on these assessments (based on MAP, PAARC and previous HGC assessment). I just don't want DC to fall through the crack when this option is on the table.

We opted out as well, but I called the office of accelerated and enriched instruction and was told that they would be considering the children who were opted out. I would contact your middle school to make sure they evaluate your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Exactly—Id guess that will be the outcome, except we’re also getting a new overall curriculum in the next few years, so much is in flux. Who knows. Plus, our middle school principal and teachers didn’t even know this was happening until parents started asking questions. Central didn’t prepare principals in advance at all. I think central just had a knee jerk reaction when the lawsuit threats started coming in, and cobbled together a makeshift solution without thinking through any of the fallout. One only has to look at the thread on MCPS and technology to know how teachers feel about this type of thing. I have some big questions about who is steering the MCPS ship. One of the GT center teachers is telling parents to depend on nothing because clearly even if one plan is in place for next year, they may change their mind again...and then again. She recommended planning accordingly.

Is this a Cold Spring teacher?

[Anonymous]

I don’t want to out the teacher and there aren’t that many total between the centers.

[Anonymous]

NP - Is there any doubt that the middle schools have the lists at this point, and we just don't have any notification yet?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exactly—Id guess that will be the outcome, except we’re also getting a new overall curriculum in the next few years, so much is in flux. Who knows. Plus, our middle school principal and teachers didn’t even know this was happening until parents started asking questions. Central didn’t prepare principals in advance at all. I think central just had a knee jerk reaction when the lawsuit threats started coming in, and cobbled together a makeshift solution without thinking through any of the fallout. One only has to look at the thread on MCPS and technology to know how teachers feel about this type of thing. I have some big questions about who is steering the MCPS ship. One of the GT center teachers is telling parents to depend on nothing because clearly even if one plan is in place for next year, they may change their mind again...and then again. She recommended planning accordingly.

Is this a Cold Spring teacher?

DP, but we are at a CES that is not Cold Spring.

FWIW, our CES teacher said the same thing to us earlier this year. She said even the CES teachers really don't know what's happening regarding changes.

[Anonymous]

Teachers in MCPS are always the last people to know what’s going on, hence some of these huge blunders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How will schools determine which of these courses to implement (or whether to implement both)?

OP here. I know nothing beyond what was in the newsletter: "Decisions regarding the number of courses offered at each school will be monitored and finalized based on student enrollment and performance data. "

Newsletter is from Drew Elementary.

So judging from that statement, it's possible they'll look at how kids did in the magnet testing and provide classes based on those scores. So if enough kids did really well in math, they'll provide a math class, and the same for the humanities class. Hopefully that means they'll evaluate the course offerings each year, and adjust accordingly, given fluctuations in student performance year on year.

Well not everyone took the magnet test, so I wonder how they will be evaluating those students....

It's pretty clear the real point of the universal screening was to launch this program (magnet selection being a much smaller initiative). Of course there were parents who opted out, but given the numbers tested there should still be pretty clear patterns MCPS can use to allot classes. It's still in the pilot phase, there may be more need for appeals his year, but in the future parents will understand the test has impact beyond the magnets. There will be quirks but current MS students (and the other half of the county) have nothing, so complaints are the only certainty.

PP here, yeah I agree most took it so they should have a pretty good idea for the majority of students. We opted out for a couple of legitimate reasons but if we had known about this option we would not have. DC can compete at the level of most high achieving students on these assessments (based on MAP, PAARC and previous HGC assessment). I just don't want DC to fall through the crack when this option is on the table.

We opted out as well, but I called the office of accelerated and enriched instruction and was told that they would be considering the children who were opted out. I would contact your middle school to make sure they evaluate your child.

Have you already contacted your middle school? Who should I speak with?

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the advanced curriculum will be available to immersion students who also seem to have a critical mass of high achievers albeit in a language other than English. Immersion students take humanities in the foreign language.