New thread -- actual MS magnet results

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected from both, no waitlists either. Also feeding to Lee MS.

MCPS percentiles (national were much higher, especially verbal)
83% Verbal
94% Quantitative
99% Nnonverbal

All As in 5th grade, 99% on both MAPs, 5s on PARCC tests.

Will appeal, but appeal just gets on waitlist for "Not recommended" students.

What are your grounds for an appeal, if I may ask? According to MCPS, the one and only valid reason is some kind of 'undocumented hardship', and nothing else. Not being snarky, just genuinely curious.

01/16/2019 19:31 poster here. MCPS appeal is looking for"a significant change in student performance or student services since the close of marking period one in Grade 5." DC's fall Map-M and MAP-R scores and percentiles both were lower than previous tests. The winter MAP-M score went up 17 points, well beyond the 10-point growth projection. MAP-R will be later this month, so I'm hoping to have a good score on that to report, especially to balance the relative weakness of the CogAT verbal score. DC does have a 504 for hearing impairment, but that does not severely affect class, or so we think.

We're also going to talk to the guidance counselor. We were told by a teacher that several kids in the school were invited on appeal after initial denial last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am very confused after reading all these messages. My son was recommended for Takoma Park and while he always scores 99% in MAP and gets straight A's, his cogat MCPS percentiles weren't as impressive (70's and 80's). We are Causasian in a W-feeder. Not sure why he was selected, to be honest, after seeing the scores for the kids who were not recommended.

Maybe he didn't have a cohort in the "lower" range. The info session specifically said that they'd take lower band scores and leave behind higher bands if the cohort numbers said so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If you really cared about your child's education, you'd live in bounds @TPMS.

How does living in bounds guarantee you a Magnet spot?

Also, not everyone can afford TP.

It doesn't *guarantee* it. But there are a certain number of seats in the TPMS magnet program for students zoned for TPMS. Or so I've read on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also received letter today. Nearly identical results to the OP: wait pool for Eastern but not recommended for TPMS.

Wait pool means he gets into Historical Inquiry into Global Humanities.

Stats: CES school with straight As, DCC middle school, CoGAT 99th verbal, 98th quantitative, 97th nonverbal. MAP Fall 2018 was RIT 250 math, 99th, 243 reading, 99th. 5s on PARCC scores.

Is anyone going to appeal? He just got a 270 on the winter MAP.

Not all Middle Schools offer the Historical Inquiry into Global Humanities. It said that on my DC letter as well, but our home Middle School does not offer the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also received letter today. Nearly identical results to the OP: wait pool for Eastern but not recommended for TPMS.

Wait pool means he gets into Historical Inquiry into Global Humanities.

Stats: CES school with straight As, DCC middle school, CoGAT 99th verbal, 98th quantitative, 97th nonverbal. MAP Fall 2018 was RIT 250 math, 99th, 243 reading, 99th. 5s on PARCC scores.

Is anyone going to appeal? He just got a 270 on the winter MAP.

Not all Middle Schools offer the Historical Inquiry into Global Humanities. It said that on my DC letter as well, but our home Middle School does not offer the class.

I was hoping now that this isn't a new thing that more schools would offer and improve on these programs. Part of the larger issue here is the magnets don't have sufficient seats for the many kids who are qualified and the enriched classes should provide a remedy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If you really cared about your child's education, you'd live in bounds @TPMS.

How does living in bounds guarantee you a Magnet spot?

Also, not everyone can afford TP.

It doesn't *guarantee* it. But there are a certain number of seats in the TPMS magnet program for students zoned for TPMS. Or so I've read on DCUM.

Yes, there are 20 or so seats reserved for kids who are in-bounds for TPMS, so kids zoned for TPES/PBES or ESS elementary schools. So 120 kids enter the magnet each year, some of whom are benefiting from being in-bounds for the school.

It's a little bit of a historical quirk, I think, but it is great for those living in the neighborhood and does actually open up more seats to the rest of the county.

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP who said my kid gets into the social studies class automatically because of the wait pool; yes it's offered at my MS, and from what I've heard, it's better than the math class, which is basically just IM with more application and discussion --not really that accelerated from the class all 5th graders in compacted 5/6 take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I don't know what's going on with the MS magnets but for elementary school students it can be really hard to pinpoint the outliers from a sea of very bright kids. But based on anecdotal evidence you have a legitimate gripe. At some schools it seems like there weren't any outliers but a lucky few had to get in so they got in.

DP, with a kid in a Regional CES.

Maybe that's true, but at our CES, the kids do a good amount of work together. Especially in 4th grade, there were a ton of group projects. They're often allowed to work in pairs, or teams for Math worksheets, etc. They really get to know each other, and know their strengths and weaknesses. Also, the kids talk about scores, like it or not. They're pretty open about MAP scores, and grades on tests.

It's not abnormal for the kids to know that Larla is phenomenal at Math. They edit each other's work, so they know who has a strong vocabulary, etc.

DP. I think this was referring to CES admission so we are talking about 3rd graders and whether parents can tell who the outliers are or not.
I think this type of information based on what your child says can be deceiving. DD had a CES classmate a few years ago who was very awkward and quiet and did not participate well in group work. Some of the other kids thought he was not getting the assignment. I don't think they knew he was incredibly smart but had trouble articulating his thoughts verbally. She had another classmate who was sporty and goofed off sometimes. No one really thought of him as one of the outliers. Fast forward three years later and he's in a MS magnet with DD and DD says he's some kind of prodigy.

[Anonymous]

Adding that it was the HGC a few years ago so as not to cause confusion. ^^^

[Anonymous]

DD got waitlisted at MLK. We are happy with the outcome since she would most likely not attend if she got in (we declined a spot at Clear Spring for 4th grade because she did not want to go to a school far away).

I called our middle school (Redland) and the counselor confirmed they are offering both enrichment classes next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rejected from both, no waitlists either. Also feeding to Lee MS.

MCPS percentiles (national were much higher, especially verbal)
83% Verbal
94% Quantitative
99% Nnonverbal

All As in 5th grade, 99% on both MAPs, 5s on PARCC tests.

Will appeal, but appeal just gets on waitlist for "Not recommended" students.

What are your grounds for an appeal, if I may ask? According to MCPS, the one and only valid reason is some kind of 'undocumented hardship', and nothing else. Not being snarky, just genuinely curious.

01/16/2019 19:31 poster here. MCPS appeal is looking for"a significant change in student performance or student services since the close of marking period one in Grade 5." DC's fall Map-M and MAP-R scores and percentiles both were lower than previous tests. The winter MAP-M score went up 17 points, well beyond the 10-point growth projection. MAP-R will be later this month, so I'm hoping to have a good score on that to report, especially to balance the relative weakness of the CogAT verbal score. DC does have a 504 for hearing impairment, but that does not severely affect class, or so we think.

We're also going to talk to the guidance counselor. We were told by a teacher that several kids in the school were invited on appeal after initial denial last year.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If you really cared about your child's education, you'd live in bounds @TPMS.

How does living in bounds guarantee you a Magnet spot?

Also, not everyone can afford TP.

It doesn't *guarantee* it. But there are a certain number of seats in the TPMS magnet program for students zoned for TPMS. Or so I've read on DCUM.

Yes, there are 20 or so seats reserved for kids who are in-bounds for TPMS, so kids zoned for TPES/PBES or ESS elementary schools. So 120 kids enter the magnet each year, some of whom are benefiting from being in-bounds for the school.

It's a little bit of a historical quirk, I think, but it is great for those living in the neighborhood and does actually open up more seats to the rest of the county.

There were seats reserved for kids who are zoned for Roberto Clemente MS, too. I don't know if that transferred to MLK MS with the upcounty Humanities magnet. But in any case, if you want to really up your kid's chances, you can move to areas zoned for RCMS or MLK MS.

[Anonymous]

Are there kids with 99s or 98s across the board in the MCPS percentiles (not the national percentiles) getting rejected?

[Anonymous]

National scores were (V/Q/N) 97/99/99, but MCPS were 83/94/99. Not recommended for either program. MAP scores have all been 99th percentile since 1st grade. Currently Pine Crest/Oak View CES, compacted math, DCC middle school catchment. Not at all happy with local MS, will consider moving this summer if lottery/appeal doesn't work. Private school not affordable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:National scores were (V/Q/N) 97/99/99, but MCPS were 83/94/99. Not recommended for either program. MAP scores have all been 99th percentile since 1st grade. Currently Pine Crest/Oak View CES, compacted math, DCC middle school catchment. Not at all happy with local MS, will consider moving this summer if lottery/appeal doesn't work. Private school not affordable.

I find it utterly puzzling. Your child, obviously, is doing pretty great in math, even compared to other MCPS students, and the non-verbal section of CogAt is the most challenging one, even more so than the quantitative. Not even waitlisted at Takoma?
Ugh. I'm sorry, PP!