Is there a 1st grade magnet program

[Anonymous]

Our home school is a focus school. DD is in 1st and a friend of hers who she was in K with is now at Takoma Park. His Mom said he took the test for the magnet program and got in so thats why he goes there. I never heard of this test for kids going into 1st.
Anyone else?

[Anonymous]

It's not very well known but Takoma Park ES has this program that one has to apply very early - perhaps in the beginning of K itself. My kids have been in the magnet path since ES (when it was known as HGC and kids had to take a long exam to get in). I have yet to meet someone who went to TPES elementary magnet. IMHO, it is not worth it for parents to drive their very young kids all the way to TPES for magnet. If you are living close to the area, by all means go for it.

What can a magnet from 1 -3 grades teach a child more than what the parents can teach him/her at home?

[Anonymous]

I've heard of it. My child's school sent a flier home to kindergarten parents last year. From what I remember, it was a math focused program and you were asked to apply if interested.

[Anonymous]

I think it used to be a true magnet and now it is more like a program at that school that opens a few seats to other kids.

[Anonymous]

We were out of boundary and our kid went to this program. It was fantastic. And the added advantage was eligibility to qualify for the local CES at PBES.

[Anonymous]

I have a high schooler who attended the TPES magnet way back when. At the time there were about 25 slots for out of boundary kids. Was a good choice for us b/c his home school didn't have a peer group and we live close to Takoma.

It's not a magnet in the same sense as the CES, middle or high school programs. But it does feed into PBES.

[Anonymous]

Both my kids were at TPES magnet. We were back in the days when it was transitioning from an actual program to really more of a peer group with teachers who were able to teach kids at a higher level. Both my kids were able to take part in Jr. Great Books pullouts & W&M writing, but they just missed the group projects that had been a part before then. THe pullouts were ended while my 2nd was there -- they made the dedicated T teacher teach a general science course, but they let me continue the pullouts b/c I had worked with the kids for a few years as a volunteer. The math classes were good & challenging, but other than that and the peer group, there wasn't really much left of a magnet "program" when my 2nd kid finished 2nd grade. Not sure it would be worth a long commute but maybe worth a short-ish one? (also, my experience was 5+ years ago, so things may have changed).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it used to be a true magnet and now it is more like a program at that school that opens a few seats to other kids.

If you are in boundary and your kid gets into the magnet, you'll soon realize these days it's a meaningless distinction. Not sure why they even bother. The only thing that distinguishes it from other schools is kids are admitted based on Inview scores in K. Everyone gets the exact same STEM class regardless if they're in the magnet or not.

[Anonymous]

My kid went to the TPES magnet...but we live in the TPES boundary. There are something like 220 kids per grade at TPES (and for 3rd - 5th at PBES) but as far as I understand they only take about 20 kids out of the boundary for the magnet.

At TPES for Math the kids switch teachers like they do in Compacted Math in later grades: some of these classes are "enriched." All the magnet kids do this, and many of the in-boundary kids do this (because they are offered the magnet also). There is some pull-out for reading enrichment, which we were told our child received, but it was nothing that we noticed as being "extra." Our child is now in the Local CES at PBES and I have observed that all of the kids I was aware of having been out-of-bounds magnet kids from TPES are also in CES now.

[Anonymous]

Immediate PP here. The avantage is that if you are out-of-bounds and end up attending TPES for the magnet you can stay at PBES through 5th, which means when it comes time for the CES process you're looking at Local Center odds as opposed to Center odds and Local is much more likely as far as #s go. The PBES CES is huge this year, which has been interesting. Not sure if they'll continue to have such a large contingent of kids in the future.

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised I've never heard of this program. Is it listed as one of the special programs in ES on the MCPS website?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm surprised I've never heard of this program. Is it listed as one of the special programs in ES on the MCPS website?

It is indeed:
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/elementary/

[Anonymous]

I've always thought of it as yet another program that seems to be created especially for those living in Takoma Park (since they seem to get to benefit the most from it). Why is it not a focus of racial balancing like the other magnets?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not very well known but Takoma Park ES has this program that one has to apply very early - perhaps in the beginning of K itself. My kids have been in the magnet path since ES (when it was known as HGC and kids had to take a long exam to get in). I have yet to meet someone who went to TPES elementary magnet. IMHO, it is not worth it for parents to drive their very young kids all the way to TPES for magnet. If you are living close to the area, by all means go for it.

What can a magnet from 1 -3 grades teach a child more than what the parents can teach him/her at home?

those kids aren't even wiping their own asses yet but the middle class parents are quick to call them gifted? It is a keep the middle class kids away from the poor kids program. Hell the later years are basically that, the early years are only that. It is at Takoma because of the shear number of poor kids freak the middle class parents out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it used to be a true magnet and now it is more like a program at that school that opens a few seats to other kids.

If you are in boundary and your kid gets into the magnet, you'll soon realize these days it's a meaningless distinction. Not sure why they even bother. The only thing that distinguishes it from other schools is kids are admitted based on Inview scores in K. Everyone gets the exact same STEM class regardless if they're in the magnet or not.

yes but there are less poor colored kids in the "magnet" classes