Are MC magnet programs worthwhile

[Anonymous]

The lackluster U.S. News & World Report rankings of MD public high schools and the omission of any mention of its magnets, makes me question whether it is worth the trouble to put your kid through the wringer to get into these programs I also wonder whether trying to position your child to compete for limited slots in a magnet program is a way of distracting parents from the broader problem, a lack of availability of advanced classes. Rather than challenge the school's niggardly distribution of advanced courses, we instead spend all of our time and energy posturing our kids to be the ones who have access. Whether Johnny has the right extra curriculars or the right relationships with teachers has nothing to do with assessing his ability to excel in particular advanced courses offered through these programs. If the kid can do the work he should have access to the course. But instead of attacking the school's course offerings, we are mired in the process of making our children the most desirable candidate he can be; so that, its someone else's kid who gets left behind. And at the end of the day do we even have a measure of whether this process helps our kids get into better colleges or to excel wherever they end up going.

I don't know if my perspective distorted or not. So, I am interested in hearing your views.

[Anonymous]

Mcps does not have any full magnet schools which is why they are not mentioned. Other than that if you are not interested in a magnet...stay with your local school

[Anonymous]

Our kid is in the math/sci program and went through zero wringers. If you put your kids through a wringer, that's on you.

[Anonymous]

MCPS middle schools are the weakest link in their educational system. MCPS magnets in up-county are terrible now because we do not have Bethesda lawyer parents advocating for us. Toxic administrators and low morale amounts staff in schools.

A very incompetent magnet coordinator is responsible for both programs in both schools but is completely clueless.

if you can afford it, opt out of MCPS in the middle school and go private, while following the MCPS curriculum from their website. Come back again in MCPS at the HS level and take AP courses or go to magnet programs.

Of course, this is assuming that your child has the brains to be above MCPS average, and you yourself are educated.

[Anonymous]

I found that HGC and Magnet HS were pretty good. Magnet MS was not that great because only a few subjects were magnet and the rest were general ed. During the non-magnet classes, students were not grouped appropriately with like-ability peers and were not allowed to be with their magnet cohort in non-magnet classrooms.

[Anonymous]

For us, the magnet programs were a way to get somewhat ok curriculum and not home school our neurotypical kids. The private and public schools were very lacking in course content, teacher training and knowledge and enrichment.

Magnet programs are worth it because of the cohort of students and their parents. If you are lucky, some of the more experienced magnet teachers have stuck around and are still teaching. The curriculum was better when the magnet teachers were not being hounded off the school system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The lackluster U.S. News & World Report rankings of MD public high schools and the omission of any mention of its magnets, makes me question whether it is worth the trouble to put your kid through the wringer to get into these programs I also wonder whether trying to position your child to compete for limited slots in a magnet program is a way of distracting parents from the broader problem, a lack of availability of advanced classes. Rather than challenge the school's niggardly distribution of advanced courses, we instead spend all of our time and energy posturing our kids to be the ones who have access. Whether Johnny has the right extra curriculars or the right relationships with teachers has nothing to do with assessing his ability to excel in particular advanced courses offered through these programs. If the kid can do the work he should have access to the course. But instead of attacking the school's course offerings, we are mired in the process of making our children the most desirable candidate he can be; so that, its someone else's kid who gets left behind. And at the end of the day do we even have a measure of whether this process helps our kids get into better colleges or to excel wherever they end up going.

I don't know if my perspective distorted or not. So, I am interested in hearing your views.

This is a clear signal that you don't have kids in MCPS. The teacher reocmmendation and extracurriculars are no longer part of the review process, and hasn't been for several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kid is in the math/sci program and went through zero wringers. If you put your kids through a wringer, that's on you.

I am surprised by your confidence. "Zero wringers?" I wonder what your child would say, if you asked them how they felt during the process, or if they would actually tell you. Did your child somehow not have to participate, didn't have to test, didn't have to write an essay, didn't have to ask teachers for recommendations, didn't care how things turned out? The stress is there without the parent placing it there. I hope your parenting prowess is as great as you believe it to be, but I doubt it. Congrats that things worked out so well for your child, but if they hadn't worked out, would she we be all goo with it? "Zero wringers"....Really???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The lackluster U.S. News & World Report rankings of MD public high schools and the omission of any mention of its magnets, makes me question whether it is worth the trouble to put your kid through the wringer to get into these programs I also wonder whether trying to position your child to compete for limited slots in a magnet program is a way of distracting parents from the broader problem, a lack of availability of advanced classes. Rather than challenge the school's niggardly distribution of advanced courses, we instead spend all of our time and energy posturing our kids to be the ones who have access. Whether Johnny has the right extra curriculars or the right relationships with teachers has nothing to do with assessing his ability to excel in particular advanced courses offered through these programs. If the kid can do the work he should have access to the course. But instead of attacking the school's course offerings, we are mired in the process of making our children the most desirable candidate he can be; so that, its someone else's kid who gets left behind. And at the end of the day do we even have a measure of whether this process helps our kids get into better colleges or to excel wherever they end up going.

I don't know if my perspective distorted or not. So, I am interested in hearing your views.

This is a clear signal that you don't have kids in MCPS. The teacher reocmmendation and extracurriculars are no longer part of the review process, and hasn't been for several years.

OP here: Wrong on all counts madame prosecutor. I checked the HS applications for APEX and Blair this morning. Posting were from last year, because MCPS never gives timely information. They do include extracurriculars and recommendations. I do have a child at MCPS, not that it matters, because if I were moving here the same question would apply. What bit of paranoia or provincialism sparked this unhelpful nonresponse from you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kid is in the math/sci program and went through zero wringers. If you put your kids through a wringer, that's on you.

I am surprised by your confidence. "Zero wringers?" I wonder what your child would say, if you asked them how they felt during the process, or if they would actually tell you. Did your child somehow not have to participate, didn't have to test, didn't have to write an essay, didn't have to ask teachers for recommendations, didn't care how things turned out? The stress is there without the parent placing it there. I hope your parenting prowess is as great as you believe it to be, but I doubt it. Congrats that things worked out so well for your child, but if they hadn't worked out, would she we be all goo with it? "Zero wringers"....Really???

+many. Yeah that response made me roll my eyes. Somehow reminds me of parents posting “my kid got a 26 on ACT!! NO PREP!”

[Anonymous]

My kids have been in MCPS magnet programs from ES to HS. The admission process is not easy and yes it is stressful because there are more qualified applicants than seats. Recent changes that takes into account demographics has further penalized certain groups with high performing kids. It is what it is.

Both my DSs are Asian-American, non-FARMS and non-ESOL. We live in UpCounty and are financially a donut-hole family. Children are STEM students. Education and EC activities have taken a big part of our focus. It looks effortless to people when they see our kids getting and excelling in these programs, but it is all due to luck and years of making education a priority. The admission process is also difficult because it evaluates skills and achievements that are gained after putting in effort for a long time. It also takes something out of parents because our energy, effort and money is being taken up with these kinds of activities.

Doing well in school and standardized testing happens due to the discipline of daily studies and practice. Doing well in EC activities happen because of the tedious nature of daily work and practice. And when you apply - you take all of that and combine it with meeting the deadlines of writing essays, gathering credentials, asking for recommendations, not having disciplinary issues at school, being held in high regard by your teachers and having a history of doing well, documented with the school system. In other words, your MAP and PARCC and other tests also mark you as being advanced. This is a long marathon and not a sprint. It is stressful in many ways because anytime you work towards a goal, you are aware that failure can also happen despite your best efforts.

For me as a parent, the big stressor is how to make sure that the kids are doing what they need to do to succeed, while keeping in mind to be strategic and guide them in a way that reduces their stress and harnesses their interests and strengths. Every kid is different and what motivates and works for one child may not work for another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS magnet programs from ES to HS. The admission process is not easy and yes it is stressful because there are more qualified applicants than seats. Recent changes that takes into account demographics has further penalized certain groups with high performing kids. It is what it is.

Both my DSs are Asian-American, non-FARMS and non-ESOL. We live in UpCounty and are financially a donut-hole family. Children are STEM students. Education and EC activities have taken a big part of our focus. It looks effortless to people when they see our kids getting and excelling in these programs, but it is all due to luck and years of making education a priority. The admission process is also difficult because it evaluates skills and achievements that are gained after putting in effort for a long time. It also takes something out of parents because our energy, effort and money is being taken up with these kinds of activities.

Doing well in school and standardized testing happens due to the discipline of daily studies and practice. Doing well in EC activities happen because of the tedious nature of daily work and practice. And when you apply - you take all of that and combine it with meeting the deadlines of writing essays, gathering credentials, asking for recommendations, not having disciplinary issues at school, being held in high regard by your teachers and having a history of doing well, documented with the school system. In other words, your MAP and PARCC and other tests also mark you as being advanced. This is a long marathon and not a sprint. It is stressful in many ways because anytime you work towards a goal, you are aware that failure can also happen despite your best efforts.

For me as a parent, the big stressor is how to make sure that the kids are doing what they need to do to succeed, while keeping in mind to be strategic and guide them in a way that reduces their stress and harnesses their interests and strengths. Every kid is different and what motivates and works for one child may not work for another.

Got to disagree with you a bit here, though I agree with some parts. Like I agree it's a marathon and not a sprint. But I disagree very much with your statement about how doing well on standardized tests happens due to discipline and practice. It has a lot to do with luck, and just the kind of brain you happen to have. I am one of those people who just did pretty well on standardized tests without effort. (This did not translate to career success.) My sons are the same. My older son has done brilliantly on his standardized tests not because of discipline and practice. He didn't prep (though I know the folks on here don't believe that) It's just that those tests happen to test for the kind of intelligence he has in spades. Yes, a little might be related to upbringing, mostly in making sure he exercised a lot and ate well, got a lot of time outdoors and enough sleep, and wasn't allowed much screen time. I think those things kept his anxiety in check, and if he were a more anxious kid he probably wouldn't test as well. I think a good, stable home environment help prep for these kinds of tests much more than any diligent prep-work. I see too many kids too stressed out because their parents have them do tons of test-prep and extra-curriculars. I wish our schools had more accelerated tracks in the regular high schools, as many more kids could benefit from these magnet programs than get in. To answer the question if the magnet programs are worth it... it really depends on your child. Some kids aren't happy in the Blair magnet because they find it too competitive, too pressured, too much work. If they truly love the subject matter, it's a great place to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The lackluster U.S. News & World Report rankings of MD public high schools and the omission of any mention of its magnets, makes me question whether it is worth the trouble to put your kid through the wringer to get into these programs I also wonder whether trying to position your child to compete for limited slots in a magnet program is a way of distracting parents from the broader problem, a lack of availability of advanced classes. Rather than challenge the school's niggardly distribution of advanced courses, we instead spend all of our time and energy posturing our kids to be the ones who have access. Whether Johnny has the right extra curricular or the right relationships with teachers has nothing to do with assessing his ability to excel in particular advanced courses offered through these programs. If the kid can do the work he should have access to the course. But instead of attacking the school's course offerings, we are mired in the process of making our children the most desirable candidate he can be; so that, its someone else's kid who gets left behind. And at the end of the day do we even have a measure of whether this process helps our kids get into better colleges or to excel wherever they end up going.

I don't know if my perspective distorted or not. So, I am interested in hearing your views.

All MCPS HS affords your kid the opportunity to take the AP course in subjects that interest them. By the time a kid is in the magnet program, they should be interested in the courses offered in the program track. The best part of doing magnet or AP courses is that it is filled with students who have self-selected to be there, so the cohort is always as homogeneous in abilities as it can be. My kid came to the HS magnet program (Poolesville HS) from MS magnet program, and the joy of being in a HS school day with other students who wanted to excel in every single period was the most satisfying experience for him.

US news and world report ranking was flawed because they were looking for very basic level of achievement and almost none of the kids were doing basic Math and English in PHS, except Special Ed kids. Most students were at very advanced level of Math and English. However, US World News did not know that PHS was a whole school magnet. It was hilarious how many people reached out to convey their sympathy that the school has fallen down in rating. I will take US world news reporting with a pinch of salt because obviously they should have outsourced their reporting instead of depending on in-house reporting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS magnet programs from ES to HS. The admission process is not easy and yes it is stressful because there are more qualified applicants than seats. Recent changes that takes into account demographics has further penalized certain groups with high performing kids. It is what it is.

Both my DSs are Asian-American, non-FARMS and non-ESOL. We live in UpCounty and are financially a donut-hole family. Children are STEM students. Education and EC activities have taken a big part of our focus. It looks effortless to people when they see our kids getting and excelling in these programs, but it is all due to luck and years of making education a priority. The admission process is also difficult because it evaluates skills and achievements that are gained after putting in effort for a long time. It also takes something out of parents because our energy, effort and money is being taken up with these kinds of activities.

Doing well in school and standardized testing happens due to the discipline of daily studies and practice. Doing well in EC activities happen because of the tedious nature of daily work and practice. And when you apply - you take all of that and combine it with meeting the deadlines of writing essays, gathering credentials, asking for recommendations, not having disciplinary issues at school, being held in high regard by your teachers and having a history of doing well, documented with the school system. In other words, your MAP and PARCC and other tests also mark you as being advanced. This is a long marathon and not a sprint. It is stressful in many ways because anytime you work towards a goal, you are aware that failure can also happen despite your best efforts.

For me as a parent, the big stressor is how to make sure that the kids are doing what they need to do to succeed, while keeping in mind to be strategic and guide them in a way that reduces their stress and harnesses their interests and strengths. Every kid is different and what motivates and works for one child may not work for another.

Got to disagree with you a bit here, though I agree with some parts. Like I agree it's a marathon and not a sprint. But I disagree very much with your statement about how doing well on standardized tests happens due to discipline and practice. It has a lot to do with luck, and just the kind of brain you happen to have. I am one of those people who just did pretty well on standardized tests without effort. (This did not translate to career success.) My sons are the same. My older son has done brilliantly on his standardized tests not because of discipline and practice. He didn't prep (though I know the folks on here don't believe that) It's just that those tests happen to test for the kind of intelligence he has in spades. Yes, a little might be related to upbringing, mostly in making sure he exercised a lot and ate well, got a lot of time outdoors and enough sleep, and wasn't allowed much screen time. I think those things kept his anxiety in check, and if he were a more anxious kid he probably wouldn't test as well. I think a good, stable home environment help prep for these kinds of tests much more than any diligent prep-work. I see too many kids too stressed out because their parents have them do tons of test-prep and extra-curriculars. I wish our schools had more accelerated tracks in the regular high schools, as many more kids could benefit from these magnet programs than get in. To answer the question if the magnet programs are worth it... it really depends on your child. Some kids aren't happy in the Blair magnet because they find it too competitive, too pressured, too much work. If they truly love the subject matter, it's a great place to be.

I disagree somewhat with you. If your kid is great in taking standardized tests then he is basing it on content and knowledge that he has acquired through years of reading for joy or being exposed to material not specifically for the test. There is prior content knowledge that your kid has, even if they do not prep for tests. This is what is meant by Marathon and not Sprint.

Students who love Blair are the ones who were in the marathon and have been exposed to material years in advance due to JHU and AOPs and what have you. Students who are sprinting and finding it tough are those whose foundational knowledge was never magnet + home enrichment level. They are trying to make up for gaps in knowledge and keep up with the marathon runners. That is why they are finding it too competitive, too pressured and too much work. And it is true for them. They also may not have a team supporting them - parents, tutors, networked connections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kid is in the math/sci program and went through zero wringers. If you put your kids through a wringer, that's on you.

I am surprised by your confidence. "Zero wringers?" I wonder what your child would say, if you asked them how they felt during the process, or if they would actually tell you. Did your child somehow not have to participate, didn't have to test, didn't have to write an essay, didn't have to ask teachers for recommendations, didn't care how things turned out? The stress is there without the parent placing it there. I hope your parenting prowess is as great as you believe it to be, but I doubt it. Congrats that things worked out so well for your child, but if they hadn't worked out, would she we be all goo with it? "Zero wringers"....Really???

+many. Yeah that response made me roll my eyes. Somehow reminds me of parents posting “my kid got a 26 on ACT!! NO PREP!”

Yeah, so my kid enjoyed CES, did no external prep... nailed the cogat and was accepted to both programs. I do talk to my child and there were no expectations set... in fact, we talked about how there were only few seats available and that no matter what, middle school was going to be awesome, regardless. The only prep we did was to make sure kid had a good night sleep and a big breakfast. Is that putting a kid through a wringer? I don't think so. Keep rolling your eyes though. It will be your kid in therapy, not mine.