CES admissions - 3rd grade
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Anonymous
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I just moved into the area so please forgive me if this sounds ignorant. I am very confused by all the information on the different threads. Could someone please explain the criteria for CES admissions for elementary school in MCPS? I understand that this is centralized now and are not requesting parent nomination/input. But what are the objective measures used?
1> MAP Scores? Is this an average over past year? 2 years? 2> Is there a COGAT test that will be administered? Or has this already passed by? 3> Other criteria? Thanks! |
Anonymous
| There are 9 million threads on this. |
Anonymous
| Information will be forthcoming from MCPS to all 3rd Grade students later in the year. You haven't missed anything, don't worry. |
Anonymous
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There is a test that will be administered. You haven't missed it. MCPS will make individual recommendations of whether they think your child should take the test. You can go with their recommendation or override their recommendation (you can decide to have your child tested though they were not recommended or you can decide not to have your child tested even though they were recommended).
What exactly they look at in addition to the test is mostly a black box. They look at MAP and grades but whether they look at MAP scores or just MAP percentages, which years they look at or prioritize is not clear. I had assumed they have access to all MAP data, which for kids who've been in MCPS the whole time dates back to K. But I don't know that to be true. |
Anonymous
| You will receive a letter from MCPS describing the process. They will have a couple of information sessions that you can attend. |
Anonymous
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Cogat (screener was used last year - awful)
Map-m (3rd grade, not sure whether they look at fall + winter or just one of those) Map-r Grades |
Anonymous
| You will quickly learn that none of this transparent. There are not enough spots for qualified students. |
Anonymous
Plus one bajillion. Do not get your hopes too high, OP. |
Anonymous
| Not to pile on to the negativity, but you might want to search on these forums for "peer cohort" so that you have more of an understanding of MCPS's official position. |
Anonymous
But doesn't that apply more to middle school and high school magnets? If a CES draws from all wealthy areas, peer cohort doesn't come into play that much, does it? Thinking of Chevy Chase CES. |
Anonymous
If your students are in grades lower than 3rd, they will be given an InView test in 2nd grade, which is a prequalifier to take the cogat screener. Except after everyone has taken the inview, they will open the cogat up to everyone, so the inview is essentially meaningless. Except the inview will give your child a gifted and talented designation. Except they can be rescreened for the inview if you request it. If your students are in 3rd grade or above, they should be given an inview test to see if they are gifted and talented. Map scores, count on being in the 99% to gain admission to CES. Except if your home school hosts a local CES, in which case the range is a bit lower but still highly competitive. |
Anonymous
| Where is it documented kids need to be in 99th percentile on MAP? I read it here all the time. Are there any publicly available documents on this? Also, any info on CogAT score needed? Thanks! |
Anonymous
Not documented - anecdotal data gathered from many, many admitted students. However, you can work out the numbers pretty easily. Those MAP percentiles are national and MCPS students perform way above the national norm. There are ~12,000 students per grade level, just 99% of MCPS would be 1200 students and let's guess twice that number are 99% nationally giving 2400 possible students at 99%ile. That's way more seats than there are (I've lost track - estimating 2 classes of 25 at 10 schools is 500 seats). The one consistent thing said by MCPS for the CES programs (formerly HGCs) has been that they are for students whose academic and social needs cannot be met at their home school. In other words - they are outliers. If the home school has "enough" students (5? 10? 20?) then the home school should be able to program for them. This happened with a cohort for one of my kids. There were about 10 really strong kids of the caliber that usually ended up at one of the HGCs and parents speculated that the whole group would go. Nope. Just 2 kids instead of the usual 5 or 6. Why? The remaining 8 were all in class together and the teacher developed extended lessons for them. |
Anonymous
It does, and how. My child didn't get into Chevy Chase CES despite having 99% pretty much across the board. There were multiple kids like DD in her grade, and that's exactly where the 'peer cohort' concept came into play. Now they are all in the same class together, at their home school. |
Anonymous
The top 1% out of 12,000 students/grade isn't 1,200. Even if kids in the county tested at the 99% at quintuple the rate nationally, that's not many more kids at 99% than there are seats at the regional CES programs, assuming 500 seats. So maybe the parents of kids who scored in the 99% but didn't get selected have even more reason to be upset, which is the miracle of the new selection criteria - its ability to cause even more people to be upset with the process. |