HS magnets and programs testing

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know whether MCPS is starting universal screening for the HS programs this year? Also, what test is used? Did it switch to COGAT?

[Anonymous]

Yes, all 8th graders will take the test, which I believe is Cogat. You still have to apply to individual programs, but the application process will be streamlined.

[Anonymous]

This will make admission really difficult for Asian kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This will make admission really difficult for Asian kids.

Save your crocodile tears.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This will make admission really difficult for Asian kids.

Why?

They have their superior intelligence; a culture of hard work, love of learning and being law abiding; their involved and educated parents;; their prioritization of education and achievement; their intact and functional families; their community support structure and majority of them are not FARMS or ESOL

Are they going to be targeted because they are actually good, able, functional, meritorious, deserving and intelligent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This will make admission really difficult for Asian kids.

Serious question: why would you think that? All that is mentioned here is universal screening and the specific test that they'll be taking.

I fail to see how including more kids in the testing process could discriminate against a particular ethnic group. If they're good test takers, they'll still score well in spite of a few hundred additional kids taking the test. And if they do end up not scoring as well as some of the kids who might not have otherwise taken the test, what does that have to do with them being Asian?


If there's a real case for this, please enlighten us, because I fail to see what it could possibly be. I know the cohort thing has thrown a bit of a wrench into the process for middle school, but really, the knee-jerk reaction seems inflammatory and uncalled for here

Unless you're just a troll, in which case it's business as usual, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will make admission really difficult for Asian kids.

Why?

They have their superior intelligence; a culture of hard work, love of learning and being law abiding; their involved and educated parents;; their prioritization of education and achievement; their intact and functional families; their community support structure and majority of them are not FARMS or ESOL

Are they going to be targeted because they are actually good, able, functional, meritorious, deserving and intelligent?

Any other adjectives you'd like to share with us, Tiger Mom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will make admission really difficult for Asian kids.

Serious question: why would you think that? All that is mentioned here is universal screening and the specific test that they'll be taking.
[b]
I fail to see how including more kids in the testing process could discriminate against a particular ethnic group. If they're good test takers, they'll still score well in spite of a few hundred additional kids taking the test. And if they do end up not scoring as well as some of the kids who might not have otherwise taken the test, what does that have to do with them being Asian?


If there's a real case for this, please enlighten us, because I fail to see what it could possibly be. I know the cohort thing has thrown a bit of a wrench into the process for middle school, but really, the knee-jerk reaction seems inflammatory and uncalled for here

Unless you're just a troll, in which case it's business as usual, I guess.

DP. She's afraid all that money she spent on 8 years of Dr. Li's afterschool/weekend/summer prep will be wasted if DaShawn and Juan from the wrong side of the tracks will take Vivian's and David's spots at Montgomery Blair math magnet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will make admission really difficult for Asian kids.

Serious question: why would you think that? All that is mentioned here is universal screening and the specific test that they'll be taking.

I fail to see how including more kids in the testing process could discriminate against a particular ethnic group. If they're good test takers, they'll still score well in spite of a few hundred additional kids taking the test. And if they do end up not scoring as well as some of the kids who might not have otherwise taken the test, what does that have to do with them being Asian?


If there's a real case for this, please enlighten us, because I fail to see what it could possibly be. I know the cohort thing has thrown a bit of a wrench into the process for middle school, but really, the knee-jerk reaction seems inflammatory and uncalled for here

Unless you're just a troll, in which case it's business as usual, I guess.

DP. She's afraid all that money she spent on 8 years of Dr. Li's afterschool/weekend/summer prep will be wasted if DaShawn and Juan from the wrong side of the tracks will take Vivian's and David's spots at Montgomery Blair math magnet.

+1000000
This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This will make admission really difficult for Asian kids.

No worries, as intelligent hard working kids don’t become dumb even if the new universal test plays against asian kids. They will shine where they go to high school. They will still end up being NMSFs, stem geeks and get in to good colleges/ universities.
Another mom

[Anonymous]

Meh - asians are overwhelmingly in support of universal testing, it plays into their belief that a meritocracy exists. They objected to MCPS adding new criteria that blocked areas with high concentrations of asians to reduce asian admissions. Voila more whites that performed lower than the asians got in. If I was asian, I would be pissed about this too. White privilege at its best.

If MCPS does universal testing, it is going to get the same data that it did in the MS process. Asians will still be at the top from concentrated areas. More whites will make the cut just below the asians but the higher scoring ones will be concentrated in the west. There is no non-idiscrimmintaory way to deal with this other than setting aside a number of spots for URM students. Race would not be the criteria but the student would need to be on or have been on FARMS to qualify for one of these spots.

At the high school level, going to a magnet really need to not be a defect school assignment based on your race because MCPS wants good optics. ES level CES is fine as any kid close to the range can do it. It doesn't take unique talent or even that much work of the teachers are willing to give some kids a pass which happens at some schools. Even the MS magnets have been softened to accommodate for some of the less than top of the bar students (white and URM) in the program now.

High school is an entirely different situation though. Students need to want to go to a magnet. It means getting up ridiculously early to travel far away. The workload for some (not all) of the magnets is extreme. The level is not watered down yet. The difference in rigor and expectations between RM IB and many of the regional IB programs is a good example of this. Blair SMACs would need to completely change its curriculum if it started admitting some of the lower performing whites that got into TPMS with the changes.

It would be nice if MCPS would actually help the highly capable URM students for once. Provide universal screening and then have guidance counselors reach out to URM students who score at the top. Provide set aside seats for URM students AND wrap around services to help them succeed there. Guarantee them access to a tutor, more transportation options, work study programs, and whatever it takes for them to succeed.

Another boondoggle with MCPS just ending up giving seats to lower performing white kids who live in crappy areas and spending a bunch of money on the subsequent lawsuits and investigations instead os actually helping the URM kids would be nice.

[Anonymous]

Why is everyone being tested if they still have to apply?

[Anonymous]

Only who apply to HS magnet will be tested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will make admission really difficult for Asian kids.

Why?

They have their superior intelligence; a culture of hard work, love of learning and being law abiding; their involved and educated parents;; their prioritization of education and achievement; their intact and functional families; their community support structure and majority of them are not FARMS or ESOL

Are they going to be targeted because they are actually good, able, functional, meritorious, deserving and intelligent?

Here's a book to read: The Color of Success: Asian-Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority, by Ellen D. Wu, Princeton University Press, 2013.

https://press.princeton.edu/titles/10134.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will make admission really difficult for Asian kids.

Why?

They have their superior intelligence; a culture of hard work, love of learning and being law abiding; their involved and educated parents;; their prioritization of education and achievement; their intact and functional families; their community support structure and majority of them are not FARMS or ESOL

Are they going to be targeted because they are actually good, able, functional, meritorious, deserving and intelligent?

Yes, because Asians' performance rate is too far ahead