Disappointed about CES

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teach your kids who didn’t get in to be gracious. DC got in and BF didn’t, and BF kept saying the program was for “nerds” who “don’t have friends.” Really?

Our school all learned the word CRAPSHOOT and SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR. We hope CES can help solve the achievement gap.

But it makes it worse

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it ironic that the people pushing for more classroom segregation are often the ones talking about mixing the buildings the most. As if the ideas of mixing class rooms are toxic but mixing the buildings provides magic benefits. Or as if putting high achievers off to the side as to not be affected by the plebeians is noble in academics but immoral for SES academics.

Your desire to keep your child untethered is no different than the W’s desire, and poor kids and the education gap could be helped by just mixing kids by age and letting the rest fall where it may. But on the same token we have to be honest that the collective is help back by the weight of the needy and inept.

Truth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think what it comes down to is this - there are kids who are high achievers who are just outside this CES bucket (for whatever reason) and are grossly under-served by MCPS. So what are the options:
1> Expand these CES type programs - unlikely to happen especially with the current school board who are focused on other issues! Serving the top quartile of kids is the LOWEST priority for them.
2> Private School - not an option for many of us!
3> Enrichment at home actively engaging the kids, museum visits, theatre etc. Sure!
But does it need to be more organized? It is very hard for a parent to figure out what level of math/reading/writing supplementing to do by themselves. And so we are back to looking at places like Kumon/Dr Li/ etc etc. Makes me cringe but how else do you get these kids to aim for higher.

This is how I and most of our catchment area would sum it up. Sad.

Need Teach To Potential for all students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it ironic that the people pushing for more classroom segregation are often the ones talking about mixing the buildings the most. As if the ideas of mixing class rooms are toxic but mixing the buildings provides magic benefits. Or as if putting high achievers off to the side as to not be affected by the plebeians is noble in academics but immoral for SES academics.

Your desire to keep your child untethered is no different than the W’s desire, and poor kids and the education gap could be helped by just mixing kids by age and letting the rest fall where it may. But on the same token we have to be honest that the collective is help back by the weight of the needy and inept.

Truth

This is borderline incomprehensible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think what it comes down to is this - there are kids who are high achievers who are just outside this CES bucket (for whatever reason) and are grossly under-served by MCPS. So what are the options:
1> Expand these CES type programs - unlikely to happen especially with the current school board who are focused on other issues! Serving the top quartile of kids is the LOWEST priority for them.
2> Private School - not an option for many of us!
3> Enrichment at home actively engaging the kids, museum visits, theatre etc. Sure!
But does it need to be more organized? It is very hard for a parent to figure out what level of math/reading/writing supplementing to do by themselves. And so we are back to looking at places like Kumon/Dr Li/ etc etc. Makes me cringe but how else do you get these kids to aim for higher.

#1 could happen. Should have happened 15 years ago when the student population started exploding and the HGc and magnets did not follow suit.

[Anonymous]

If MoCo is only admitting 99%-tile kids, then it is unlikely that that population has exploded to the same extent. I agree the program should be expanded. It should also be made made continuous ie once you are in you should only leave if you fail out and there should be entry years where you can test on along the way. For the über gifted there can be special programs but smart hardworking kids shouldn’t have to compete for advanced work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think what it comes down to is this - there are kids who are high achievers who are just outside this CES bucket (for whatever reason) and are grossly under-served by MCPS. So what are the options:
1> Expand these CES type programs - unlikely to happen especially with the current school board who are focused on other issues! Serving the top quartile of kids is the LOWEST priority for them.
2> Private School - not an option for many of us!
3> Enrichment at home actively engaging the kids, museum visits, theatre etc. Sure!
But does it need to be more organized? It is very hard for a parent to figure out what level of math/reading/writing supplementing to do by themselves. And so we are back to looking at places like Kumon/Dr Li/ etc etc. Makes me cringe but how else do you get these kids to aim for higher.

How about ask a parent who had/has a kid at a CES and see what their curriculum looks like? You can't replicate the environment, but you can come close and on top of that filter out the stuff you don't like about the CES.

[Anonymous]

Transparency for how 4th/5th grade enrichment at home schools would be carried out is critical, yet it is not readily available. We only know about the names of enrichment materials and compact math. With this information more clearly conveyed from the county or school, parents should be much more comfortable and confident with its quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If MoCo is only admitting 99%-tile kids, then it is unlikely that that population has exploded to the same extent. I agree the program should be expanded. It should also be made made continuous ie once you are in you should only leave if you fail out and there should be entry years where you can test on along the way. For the über gifted there can be special programs but smart hardworking kids shouldn’t have to compete for advanced work

Since tracking is anathema, MS and HS' could offer really advanced/accelerated classes, open to all, but graded rigorously. You'd then burn off the kids who are either not capable or unwilling to put in the time and effort to fully benefit from the classes and do well. Make it clear on transcripts how difficult these classes are. Then get rid of the magnets. MS and HS are big enough to have a least one class of kids willing to take on this challenge, if it's clear to colleges what it means to do well in these classes.

[Anonymous]

Amazing how much sound and fury about the ideas of CES inequality signifies nothing.
Here is the bottom line OP.
If you want your kid to go to CES you have two avenues:
Petition for a review of your child's case and/or move to a local CES district.
That's it!
There is no need to hoist every social problem on your shoulders.
And, if you think of high achievers outside of the constraint of map scores, that is what some have done. Whatever it takes to get their child into CES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If MoCo is only admitting 99%-tile kids, then it is unlikely that that population has exploded to the same extent. I agree the program should be expanded. It should also be made made continuous ie once you are in you should only leave if you fail out and there should be entry years where you can test on along the way. For the über gifted there can be special programs but smart hardworking kids shouldn’t have to compete for advanced work

We’ll never know, they stopped reporting cogat scores of admits last year when they remade the selection criteria. Who knows what the bar is now—90%, 95%, 99%??

Either way for a “top school district” with a large portion of the most educated parents in the country, mcps only having G&T seats for less than 1% of its student body is pretty pathetic. And telling of the Admins priorities and share of mind (ie. It ain’t on high performers).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it ironic that the people pushing for more classroom segregation are often the ones talking about mixing the buildings the most. As if the ideas of mixing class rooms are toxic but mixing the buildings provides magic benefits. Or as if putting high achievers off to the side as to not be affected by the plebeians is noble in academics but immoral for SES academics.

Your desire to keep your child untethered is no different than the W’s desire, and poor kids and the education gap could be helped by just mixing kids by age and letting the rest fall where it may. But on the same token we have to be honest that the collective is help back by the weight of the needy and inept.

Have you ever tried to learn another language through immersion? It's incredibly hard and it's not fair to claim that all English language learning students are needy and inept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MoCo is only admitting 99%-tile kids, then it is unlikely that that population has exploded to the same extent. I agree the program should be expanded. It should also be made made continuous ie once you are in you should only leave if you fail out and there should be entry years where you can test on along the way. For the über gifted there can be special programs but smart hardworking kids shouldn’t have to compete for advanced work

We’ll never know, they stopped reporting cogat scores of admits last year when they remade the selection criteria. Who knows what the bar is now—90%, 95%, 99%??

Either way for a “top school district” with a large portion of the most educated parents in the country, mcps only having G&T seats for less than 1% of its student body is pretty pathetic. And telling of the Admins priorities and share of mind (ie. It ain’t on high performers).

For CES programs, it's more than 1%. Probably north of 5%. There are 9 regional CES programs, and if each has only 2 CES classes per grade (ours has 3) with 28 kids each, that's 504 seats. Assuming the 162K students in the system are evenly distributed across K-12, that's about 12,500 per grade. The regional CES programs cover 4% of kids in each grade, more if you count the local centers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I find it ironic that the people pushing for more classroom segregation are often the ones talking about mixing the buildings the most. As if the ideas of mixing class rooms are toxic but mixing the buildings provides magic benefits. Or as if putting high achievers off to the side as to not be affected by the plebeians is noble in academics but immoral for SES academics.

Your desire to keep your child untethered is no different than the W’s desire, and poor kids and the education gap could be helped by just mixing kids by age and letting the rest fall where it may. But on the same token we have to be honest that the collective is help back by the weight of the needy and inept.

Truth

This is borderline incomprehensible.

Agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If MoCo is only admitting 99%-tile kids, then it is unlikely that that population has exploded to the same extent. I agree the program should be expanded. It should also be made made continuous ie once you are in you should only leave if you fail out and there should be entry years where you can test on along the way. For the über gifted there can be special programs but smart hardworking kids shouldn’t have to compete for advanced work

We’ll never know, they stopped reporting cogat scores of admits last year when they remade the selection criteria. Who knows what the bar is now—90%, 95%, 99%??

Either way for a “top school district” with a large portion of the most educated parents in the country, mcps only having G&T seats for less than 1% of its student body is pretty pathetic. And telling of the Admins priorities and share of mind (ie. It ain’t on high performers).

For CES programs, it's more than 1%. Probably north of 5%. There are 9 regional CES programs, and if each has only 2 CES classes per grade (ours has 3) with 28 kids each, that's 504 seats. Assuming the 162K students in the system are evenly distributed across K-12, that's about 12,500 per grade. The regional CES programs cover 4% of kids in each grade, more if you count the local centers.

It’s still pretty exclusive ( I mean that as excluding qualified candidates not some highly vaunted thing). Given the demographics of the county, this means a lot of kids who would benefit are being short changed.