Is MCPS positioning to shut down the GT/magnet programs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It all depends on the outreach attempts play out. If they see no changes or only minor changes, MCPS will eventually shut it down. It is not going to spend money to provide special education to mostly middle class Asian and white kids.

Hyperbole much?

No. Do you?

I guess I’m just waiting for any supporting evidence for your large leaps in logic. Without that, what you’re saying is hyperbole.

You must be new to MCPS or an idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Median scores for one of several criteria wouldn’t be helpful. This would only Telll us things we already know like which schools have the highest concentration of wealth or least poverty. It wouldn’t give any insight into outliers or the existence of a strong peer cohort.

So how did MCPS gain this "insight" that enabled them to identify the outliers when they screened so many kids. They have shared test scores of accepted students for past years

Yes they have, which leads anybody with an ounce of common sense to believe that they're not doing it now because they don't like what the data will show.

Or, that it won't show anything useful about outliers.
Knowing the median score of students accepted into a program from a large catchment area is not going to show if the students are outliers at their local schools.
You identify outliers by looking at a variety of data points for students in a specific local program... not the program they are being selected for. I'm not sure how well MCPS did this, but it's my understanding the that's what they tried to do. Seems like maybe they need to refine the process a bit, but are on the right track. It's not the top percentage of kids overall, but the top kids who would be in a school/class with very few other top kids that need to be grouped to a separate school. When there is a large group of top kids at one school they can be grouped together and have a "special" course for them.

[Anonymous]

I'd say that getting rid of the director position and redistributing the staff into local schools is a pretty clear hint that the magnets do not have long to survive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd say that getting rid of the director position and redistributing the staff into local schools is a pretty clear hint that the magnets do not have long to survive.

I get the feeling that there's a meaningful contingent of people on DCUM who are hoping that MCPS gets rid of the application magnet programs so that they can say, HA! I TOLD YOU SO! MCPS IS THE WORST. SYSTEM. EVER!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say that getting rid of the director position and redistributing the staff into local schools is a pretty clear hint that the magnets do not have long to survive.

I get the feeling that there's a meaningful contingent of people on DCUM who are hoping that MCPS gets rid of the application magnet programs so that they can say, HA! I TOLD YOU SO! MCPS IS THE WORST. SYSTEM. EVER!

It is certainly going that direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I'd say that getting rid of the director position and redistributing the staff into local schools is a pretty clear hint that the magnets do not have long to survive.

I get the feeling that there's a meaningful contingent of people on DCUM who are hoping that MCPS gets rid of the application magnet programs so that they can say, HA! I TOLD YOU SO! MCPS IS THE WORST. SYSTEM. EVER!

..or there is a meaningful contingent of people on DCUM who can recognize the obvious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say that getting rid of the director position and redistributing the staff into local schools is a pretty clear hint that the magnets do not have long to survive.

I get the feeling that there's a meaningful contingent of people on DCUM who are hoping that MCPS gets rid of the application magnet programs so that they can say, HA! I TOLD YOU SO! MCPS IS THE WORST. SYSTEM. EVER!

+1

However, it’s not going to happen anytime in the foreseeable future. As a result, in the next few years, these posters will move on to some new conspiracy theory.

[Anonymous]

Remember that a contingent of DCUMers also promised us a MASSIVE LAWSUIT by June.

*crickets*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say that getting rid of the director position and redistributing the staff into local schools is a pretty clear hint that the magnets do not have long to survive.

I get the feeling that there's a meaningful contingent of people on DCUM who are hoping that MCPS gets rid of the application magnet programs so that they can say, HA! I TOLD YOU SO! MCPS IS THE WORST. SYSTEM. EVER!

+1

However, it’s not going to happen anytime in the foreseeable future. As a result, in the next few years, these posters will move on to some new conspiracy theory.

I wish they'd hurry up about it. This one is getting boring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say that getting rid of the director position and redistributing the staff into local schools is a pretty clear hint that the magnets do not have long to survive.

I get the feeling that there's a meaningful contingent of people on DCUM who are hoping that MCPS gets rid of the application magnet programs so that they can say, HA! I TOLD YOU SO! MCPS IS THE WORST. SYSTEM. EVER!

+1

However, it’s not going to happen anytime in the foreseeable future. As a result, in the next few years, these posters will move on to some new conspiracy theory.

I wish they'd hurry up about it. This one is getting boring.

Ignorance is bliss...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd say that getting rid of the director position and redistributing the staff into local schools is a pretty clear hint that the magnets do not have long to survive.

I get the feeling that there's a meaningful contingent of people on DCUM who are hoping that MCPS gets rid of the application magnet programs so that they can say, HA! I TOLD YOU SO! MCPS IS THE WORST. SYSTEM. EVER!

I doubt it. I’ve been on this forum for years now and I don’t remember many complaints at all about the Magnet programs from families with children who have attended/are attending them. There are grumbles at times about the logistics or the workload but most families I know personally and have heard from on this anonymous forum are extremely grateful for the education their children have received from teachers who meet them where they are and challenge them with rigorous and exciting assignments. The alarm bells you are hearing are from parents who are concerned that the lowering standards we have observed in MCPS with C2.0, the algebra grade inflation scandal and the jettisoning of high school exams is starting to seep into the Magnet programs. This has started to happen in the CES programs (parents who’ve had multiple kids go through them have commented on this). The lack of transparency and a new dubiously implemented peer cohort criteria wrt the middle school Magnet application process is also troubling. We have also heard from one teacher who said that the Magnet humanities classes may no longer be linked, MCPS has decimated AEI, the removal of the director of RMIB etc., etc.,
In the plus column we have universal screening for middle school magnets and a couple of new enriched middle school classes. I applaud these two moves but I am very troubled by everything else. My child will graduate from high school soon but I feel very sorry for the kids who won’t have the same experience. There are a lot of very high achieving kids in a high performing school district like MCPS. Many/most of the kids who are in the top 3 -5% in MCPS would be in the 99th percentile for the nation as a whole. The middle school and high school Magnet programs are a Godsend for many of these kids.

[Anonymous]

RMIB still has a Magnet Coordinator and added a IB Diploma Programme Coordinator. That magnet isn't going away.

[Anonymous]

The only thing shutting down are the hyper competitive parents who can’t handle the fact that their child cant help differentiate their family from others.

For the parents who are calling for the program to shut down or get sued out of existence...it was never about the needs of their child. Rather, it was about falling short in comparing their family to others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But isn’t it beneficial for all to provide enriched classes in all schools? I agree with the County that we need to reduce the amount of busing in any way possible and if we can meet the needs of the kids in their home schools, then we should!

I agree. While I don’t think the instruction provided in the home schools is sufficient, it’s the right model. Ultimately a kid should be able to find what they need in a home school, especially at the K-8 level.

+1. My kids aren’t of magnet age yet, but the whole McPS model of choosing the top 1% as determined by standardized testing seems bizarre to me when you’re talking about 2nd graders. I would have no objection to the junking of the whole busing/magnet model in favor of well-designed enrichment classes that benefit the top 10-20% at each school. Probably would be cheaper anyway without the busing.

For larger schools, perhaps. For smaller schools, with only one or two classes per grade, you might have only a handful of kids who are several grades ahead of the rest of their class in ability. Would those kids get a specialist for just a few hours a week? Would that be enough to support them?

How many small schools like this actually exist in MiCo? Seems like one solution for those schools is to combine the enrichment class with a neighboring school to achieve critical mass. It will be interesting to see if/how MCPS rolls this out but I like the idea of having enriched classes at all schools and serving more kids. I was in something similar in ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But isn’t it beneficial for all to provide enriched classes in all schools? I agree with the County that we need to reduce the amount of busing in any way possible and if we can meet the needs of the kids in their home schools, then we should!

I agree. While I don’t think the instruction provided in the home schools is sufficient, it’s the right model. Ultimately a kid should be able to find what they need in a home school, especially at the K-8 level.

+1. My kids aren’t of magnet age yet, but the whole McPS model of choosing the top 1% as determined by standardized testing seems bizarre to me when you’re talking about 2nd graders. I would have no objection to the junking of the whole busing/magnet model in favor of well-designed enrichment classes that benefit the top 10-20% at each school. Probably would be cheaper anyway without the busing.

For larger schools, perhaps. For smaller schools, with only one or two classes per grade, you might have only a handful of kids who are several grades ahead of the rest of their class in ability. Would those kids get a specialist for just a few hours a week? Would that be enough to support them?

How many small schools like this actually exist in MiCo? Seems like one solution for those schools is to combine the enrichment class with a neighboring school to achieve critical mass. It will be interesting to see if/how MCPS rolls this out but I like the idea of having enriched classes at all schools and serving more kids. I was in something similar in ES.

It's fine. It is similar to Fairfax but it is not going to be the same program you have now because the top 25% does not work at the same level as the top 5%. Maybe it is better to ignore the very top to provide for more kids where they are but if you read the AAP threads there are often complaining that it is not a very advanced curriculum..which is probably appropriate given how many kids are involved.