MCPS percentiles based on current school and not county or home school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My God, if it weren’t for DCUM I would never have known there were people like you who thought this way. So you actually think that parents who live in Silver Spring are materialistic showoffs who just want bigger houses? (Where are these bigger houses in Silver Spring anyway?) You think you prioritized education and we didn’t?! You, naively, prioritized Great Schools scores, which are a 100% proxy for how few low-income kids are in your schools. So what you prioritized is white kids. Period. Meanwhile, we have much smaller class sizes, and our children grow up learning that the world is bigger than white suburbs. Plus we have magnets on our side of town. Plus, my kids’ colleges are fully funded wherever they want to go. Cut it with your ludicrous presumptions.

Yep pretty much and plenty of Silver Spring posters inadvertently admit to it all the time on different threads. You could afford to rent, buy a condo, or buy a TH in one of the W clusters but you wanted a SFH and your own yard more than the best schools. There's even a saying -you want the Silver Spring discount without the price of Silver Spring. Your claims for wanting diversity are really blown apart by all the cries about what to do if your kid doesn't get into a magnet and is sent back into the general population. Silver Spring parents spend all their energy trying to make sure their snowflakes don't have to mix too much with the rest of the school. Its actually disturbing how much this is a focus over there.

BTW- the magnets aren't yours, they are supposed to be for the county. I'm all for admitting FARMs AA and hispanic students that have potential but didn't score as well but rewarding the white UMC/MC hypocritical bargain hunters is ridiculous and just waters down the magnet.

Interesting. I've lived in Silver Spring for years and have never heard that saying. Gosh, the things you learn on DCUM! So it's the less wealthy white kids who are watering down the magnet? Who knew. Huh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yep pretty much and plenty of Silver Spring posters inadvertently admit to it all the time on different threads. You could afford to rent, buy a condo, or buy a TH in one of the W clusters but you wanted a SFH and your own yard more than the best schools. There's even a saying -you want the Silver Spring discount without the price of Silver Spring. Your claims for wanting diversity are really blown apart by all the cries about what to do if your kid doesn't get into a magnet and is sent back into the general population. Silver Spring parents spend all their energy trying to make sure their snowflakes don't have to mix too much with the rest of the school. Its actually disturbing how much this is a focus over there.

BTW- the magnets aren't yours, they are supposed to be for the county. I'm all for admitting FARMs AA and hispanic students that have potential but didn't score as well but rewarding the white UMC/MC hypocritical bargain hunters is ridiculous and just waters down the magnet.

I've never heard that saying. Who says it?

[Anonymous]

There's even a saying -you want the Silver Spring discount without the price of Silver Spring.

I've heard this on this board several times. IRL too from friends in Silver Spring.

[Anonymous]

This is all so far away from the realities of what we are going through upcounty that it is becoming hilarious. We are just hoping for some decent enrichment to ever come to our home schools... to have your problems (magnet school or cohort with enrichments) would be delightful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is all so far away from the realities of what we are going through upcounty that it is becoming hilarious. We are just hoping for some decent enrichment to ever come to our home schools... to have your problems (magnet school or cohort with enrichments) would be delightful!

Eh? The upcounty has middle-school magnet programs, CESs, and home-school enriched classes too.

[Anonymous]

This is all so far away from the realities of what we are going through upcounty that it is becoming hilarious. We are just hoping for some decent enrichment to ever come to our home schools... to have your problems (magnet school or cohort with enrichments) would be delightful!

LOL, yeah only SS and Bethesda count.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My child's national verbal percentile was 97% and MCPS percentile was 78%. That seems like a large swing. The difference in quantitative was smaller - 99% national and 92% MCPS. The nonverbal was overall lower but also a large spread 79% and 49%

So yes, it can be a big change between national and MCPS percentiles."

Wow, that IS a big spread! Your child is in the top 3% nationally for verbal - and isn't even the top 20% in MoCo.. Really eye-opening.
I wish MCPS did the same last year for CES admissions other than just sending around rejections in the letter that also stated 99% test scores in all categories; it could have saved us a lot of frustration if we knew how our child performed in comparison to other MoCo applicants.

That's not what MCPS percentile means, though I think they choose that misleading label on purpose to cause us to think like you outline.

It's really a "special calculation" percentile. All the rest of this thread explains it. The actual difference between a 99% national CoGat and MoCo CoGAT is never revealed. Partly because all MCPS students don't take the CoGAT in 5th.

Right. It seems like the MCPS % means that the child was in the 78th percentile of all MCPS students within the same poverty "band" who were selected to take the test for consideration for magnet programs. So it not only includes only your school's SES "band" but it also does not include your performance relative to students who were not selected to take the test to be considered for the magnets (well, it includes like 377 of them whose parents overrode the MCPS recommendation and had them take the test). But it is a measure of how your student compares within a relatively high performing MCPS cohort, which would give a read on whether your child is an "outlier" within the SES band or not.

In case anyone left on this thread still interested in meaningful MCPS percentiles, I realized we do each have an example of the ACTUAL difference between MCPS Map scores and Nationally normed Map scores. It's right there on the MAP reports under documents in my DC's MY MCPS Parent Portal. Eyeball average of a number of test runs for two kids suggests MCPS Map scores average between 5 and 10% higher than the national averages. For last year and this fall. That's by looking up the percentiles of the scores on the 2015 NWEA charts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all so far away from the realities of what we are going through upcounty that it is becoming hilarious. We are just hoping for some decent enrichment to ever come to our home schools... to have your problems (magnet school or cohort with enrichments) would be delightful!

Eh? The upcounty has middle-school magnet programs, CESs, and home-school enriched classes too.

No, the county is considering whether to give upcounty middle schools the enriched curriculum next year, depending on identified cohort. They envision “most” schools will have “at least one.” So while downcounty kids are getting the enrichment in pilots this year, we get to wait, possibly forever. Like downcounty, our magnets are small and have limited seats. MLk just started. So PP who is so upset about their child forced to stay at excellent home middle school with a large and powerful cohort and 2 special enrichment classes can cry me a river.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My God, if it weren’t for DCUM I would never have known there were people like you who thought this way. So you actually think that parents who live in Silver Spring are materialistic showoffs who just want bigger houses? (Where are these bigger houses in Silver Spring anyway?) You think you prioritized education and we didn’t?! You, naively, prioritized Great Schools scores, which are a 100% proxy for how few low-income kids are in your schools. So what you prioritized is white kids. Period. Meanwhile, we have much smaller class sizes, and our children grow up learning that the world is bigger than white suburbs. Plus we have magnets on our side of town. Plus, my kids’ colleges are fully funded wherever they want to go. Cut it with your ludicrous presumptions.

Yep pretty much and plenty of Silver Spring posters inadvertently admit to it all the time on different threads. You could afford to rent, buy a condo, or buy a TH in one of the W clusters but you wanted a SFH and your own yard more than the best schools. There's even a saying -you want the Silver Spring discount without the price of Silver Spring. Your claims for wanting diversity are really blown apart by all the cries about what to do if your kid doesn't get into a magnet and is sent back into the general population. Silver Spring parents spend all their energy trying to make sure their snowflakes don't have to mix too much with the rest of the school. Its actually disturbing how much this is a focus over there.

BTW- the magnets aren't yours, they are supposed to be for the county. I'm all for admitting FARMs AA and hispanic students that have potential but didn't score as well but rewarding the white UMC/MC hypocritical bargain hunters is ridiculous and just waters down the magnet.

Interesting. I've lived in Silver Spring for years and have never heard that saying. Gosh, the things you learn on DCUM! So it's the less wealthy white kids who are watering down the magnet? Who knew. Huh.

Aren't the W's in Rockville and does anyone really choose to live way out there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My God, if it weren’t for DCUM I would never have known there were people like you who thought this way. So you actually think that parents who live in Silver Spring are materialistic showoffs who just want bigger houses? (Where are these bigger houses in Silver Spring anyway?) You think you prioritized education and we didn’t?! You, naively, prioritized Great Schools scores, which are a 100% proxy for how few low-income kids are in your schools. So what you prioritized is white kids. Period. Meanwhile, we have much smaller class sizes, and our children grow up learning that the world is bigger than white suburbs. Plus we have magnets on our side of town. Plus, my kids’ colleges are fully funded wherever they want to go. Cut it with your ludicrous presumptions.

Yep pretty much and plenty of Silver Spring posters inadvertently admit to it all the time on different threads. You could afford to rent, buy a condo, or buy a TH in one of the W clusters but you wanted a SFH and your own yard more than the best schools. There's even a saying -you want the Silver Spring discount without the price of Silver Spring. Your claims for wanting diversity are really blown apart by all the cries about what to do if your kid doesn't get into a magnet and is sent back into the general population. Silver Spring parents spend all their energy trying to make sure their snowflakes don't have to mix too much with the rest of the school. Its actually disturbing how much this is a focus over there.

BTW- the magnets aren't yours, they are supposed to be for the county. I'm all for admitting FARMs AA and hispanic students that have potential but didn't score as well but rewarding the white UMC/MC hypocritical bargain hunters is ridiculous and just waters down the magnet.

Interesting. I've lived in Silver Spring for years and have never heard that saying. Gosh, the things you learn on DCUM! So it's the less wealthy white kids who are watering down the magnet? Who knew. Huh.

Aren't the W's in Rockville and does anyone really choose to live way out there?

No, the Ws are in Bethesda, and yes, people really do choose to live 'way out here'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all so far away from the realities of what we are going through upcounty that it is becoming hilarious. We are just hoping for some decent enrichment to ever come to our home schools... to have your problems (magnet school or cohort with enrichments) would be delightful!

Eh? The upcounty has middle-school magnet programs, CESs, and home-school enriched classes too.

No, the county is considering whether to give upcounty middle schools the enriched curriculum next year, depending on identified cohort. They envision “most” schools will have “at least one.” So while downcounty kids are getting the enrichment in pilots this year, we get to wait, possibly forever. Like downcounty, our magnets are small and have limited seats. MLk just started. So PP who is so upset about their child forced to stay at excellent home middle school with a large and powerful cohort and 2 special enrichment classes can cry me a river.

Or, more accurately, the program that had been at Clemente is now at MLK..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all so far away from the realities of what we are going through upcounty that it is becoming hilarious. We are just hoping for some decent enrichment to ever come to our home schools... to have your problems (magnet school or cohort with enrichments) would be delightful!

Eh? The upcounty has middle-school magnet programs, CESs, and home-school enriched classes too.

No, the county is considering whether to give upcounty middle schools the enriched curriculum next year, depending on identified cohort. They envision “most” schools will have “at least one.” So while downcounty kids are getting the enrichment in pilots this year, we get to wait, possibly forever. Like downcounty, our magnets are small and have limited seats. MLk just started. So PP who is so upset about their child forced to stay at excellent home middle school with a large and powerful cohort and 2 special enrichment classes can cry me a river.

Oh - stop being so melodramatic. "MLK just started" ?? The humanities magnet just moved from Clemente to MLK.

And, just like what was done with CES admissions, DCCAPS chose to pilot the new MS magnet admission process in one area and then extend to the rest. And they are extending it the *very next year*.

(Also, to make you feel better about upcounty, did you know that all upcounty MS students can apply to the humanities magnet at Poolesville? If you live downcounty, you do not have access to anything equivalent unless you live/study in DCC.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all so far away from the realities of what we are going through upcounty that it is becoming hilarious. We are just hoping for some decent enrichment to ever come to our home schools... to have your problems (magnet school or cohort with enrichments) would be delightful!

Eh? The upcounty has middle-school magnet programs, CESs, and home-school enriched classes too.

No, the county is considering whether to give upcounty middle schools the enriched curriculum next year, depending on identified cohort. They envision “most” schools will have “at least one.” So while downcounty kids are getting the enrichment in pilots this year, we get to wait, possibly forever. Like downcounty, our magnets are small and have limited seats. MLk just started. So PP who is so upset about their child forced to stay at excellent home middle school with a large and powerful cohort and 2 special enrichment classes can cry me a river.

Oh - stop being so melodramatic. "MLK just started" ?? The humanities magnet just moved from Clemente to MLK.

And, just like what was done with CES admissions, DCCAPS chose to pilot the new MS magnet admission process in one area and then extend to the rest. And they are extending it the *very next year*.

(Also, to make you feel better about upcounty, did you know that all upcounty MS students can apply to the humanities magnet at Poolesville? If you live downcounty, you do not have access to anything equivalent unless you live/study in DCC.)

Aren’t we discussing middle school? I am telling you, as an upcounty resident, that the chances of a child receiving sincere enrichment in middle school up here are far less than any child downcounty. MCPS is managing expectations for us and saying that we will likely get at least one class. Which is central office code for maybe, but don’t bet on it. Right now, a highly able math student gets sent to take math with the less abled kids the year ahead. You can imagine how well that goes. RM IB is an amazing humanities program, in addition to the excellence math and science, so don’t drool over our Poolesville humanities program too much. But... we are SUPER grateful that the Poolesville high school has significant enrichment opportunities. It has been wonderful on multiple levels, academically and socially. And there is a lot to love about the upcounty schools. But the fact remains that three middle school years up here aren’t currently a great academic fit for highly abled kids unless you get into the very limited magnet spots. We do wish we had your home school cohorts in enrichment “problem.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is all so far away from the realities of what we are going through upcounty that it is becoming hilarious. We are just hoping for some decent enrichment to ever come to our home schools... to have your problems (magnet school or cohort with enrichments) would be delightful!

Eh? The upcounty has middle-school magnet programs, CESs, and home-school enriched classes too.

No, the county is considering whether to give upcounty middle schools the enriched curriculum next year, depending on identified cohort. They envision “most” schools will have “at least one.” So while downcounty kids are getting the enrichment in pilots this year, we get to wait, possibly forever. Like downcounty, our magnets are small and have limited seats. MLk just started. So PP who is so upset about their child forced to stay at excellent home middle school with a large and powerful cohort and 2 special enrichment classes can cry me a river.

Oh - stop being so melodramatic. "MLK just started" ?? The humanities magnet just moved from Clemente to MLK.

And, just like what was done with CES admissions, DCCAPS chose to pilot the new MS magnet admission process in one area and then extend to the rest. And they are extending it the *very next year*.

(Also, to make you feel better about upcounty, did you know that all upcounty MS students can apply to the humanities magnet at Poolesville? If you live downcounty, you do not have access to anything equivalent unless you live/study in DCC.)

Aren’t we discussing middle school? I am telling you, as an upcounty resident, that the chances of a child receiving sincere enrichment in middle school up here are far less than any child downcounty. MCPS is managing expectations for us and saying that we will likely get at least one class. Which is central office code for maybe, but don’t bet on it. Right now, a highly able math student gets sent to take math with the less abled kids the year ahead. You can imagine how well that goes. RM IB is an amazing humanities program, in addition to the excellence math and science, so don’t drool over our Poolesville humanities program too much. But... we are SUPER grateful that the Poolesville high school has significant enrichment opportunities. It has been wonderful on multiple levels, academically and socially. And there is a lot to love about the upcounty schools. But the fact remains that three middle school years up here aren’t currently a great academic fit for highly abled kids unless you get into the very limited magnet spots. We do wish we had your home school cohorts in enrichment “problem.”

It seems you have this fuzzy feeling of MCPS ignoring the upcounty needs, but do you have any data to support it?

RM IB is open to the WHOLE county. (Blair CAP, the equivalent of Poolesville humanities, is not open to all downcounty students.)

Limited seats in the magnet programs - problem everywhere. (Upcounty MS magnets serve about half as many MS as downcounty magnets. And the number of seats reflects that.)

MS getting at least one enriched class - what MCPS has done downcounty.

Again - MCPS has extended the program *the very next year* after the pilot. You might want to wait and see how they are implementing it, which schools get only one enriched course and why, etc. before beating your chest.