Prep for HGC and MS magnet tests

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid isn’t “gifted” but is a high performer so I’m prepping her so that she doesn’t have to go to our zoned low performing school that focuses way too much on low performing students. I just want my kid to have a decent and challenging curriculum. Magnet admission for us isn’t about giftedness. It’s about escaping our crappy middle school.

I would then caution you to not let down your guard. Magnet MS, ES and all GT education in MCPS have deteriorated significantly because of MCPS attempts to water down curriculum throughout as well as pushing out excellent teachers. At this point, if you do not supplement outside the school and depend on your kid to learn everything from the magnet program (even if it is better than your crappy school) then you will face another kind of achievement gap. My suggestion would be to look online for curriculum.

The opposite seems to be true. In fact, since the advent of universal screening the applicant pool is 5X larger and the most qualified cohort in the county history is now selected. Sure, the uber-preppers whose parents used to game system have a harder time gaining admission, but that's because their kids just aren't that smart.

Agree the new system is doing a better job identifying student potential. The cohort rules were a stroke of genius. This made the system much fairer. So many parents with the most have gamed the system for decades. Their kids attend schools that are so much better that people pay hundreds of thousands more to ensure their children attend them. This confers a huge advantage to those who aren't fortunate to attend one of these elite schools. The cohort rules help identify student potential rather than rewarding students who have had every possible advantage. The county is finally making smart moves to better serve its residents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid isn’t “gifted” but is a high performer so I’m prepping her so that she doesn’t have to go to our zoned low performing school that focuses way too much on low performing students. I just want my kid to have a decent and challenging curriculum. Magnet admission for us isn’t about giftedness. It’s about escaping our crappy middle school.

I would then caution you to not let down your guard. Magnet MS, ES and all GT education in MCPS have deteriorated significantly because of MCPS attempts to water down curriculum throughout as well as pushing out excellent teachers. At this point, if you do not supplement outside the school and depend on your kid to learn everything from the magnet program (even if it is better than your crappy school) then you will face another kind of achievement gap. My suggestion would be to look online for curriculum.

The opposite seems to be true. In fact, since the advent of universal screening the applicant pool is 5X larger and the most qualified cohort in the county history is now selected. Sure, the uber-preppers whose parents used to game system have a harder time gaining admission, but that's because their kids just aren't that smart.

Agree the new system is doing a better job identifying student potential. The cohort rules were a stroke of genius. This made the system much fairer. So many parents with the most have gamed the system for decades. Their kids attend schools that are so much better that people pay hundreds of thousands more to ensure their children attend them. This confers a huge advantage to those who aren't fortunate to attend one of these elite schools. The cohort rules help identify student potential rather than rewarding students who have had every possible advantage. The county is finally making smart moves to better serve its residents.

Well, the perception is that they're better, but most research shows that schools don't make a huge difference. The other thing they're paying for is a reduced commute time generally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can't we have all kids who are neurotypical and average? Why do we have variations in abilities? Also, were the Spartans right?

MCPS failed to teach some kids the basic reading and math in their preK,, K, 1st, and 2nd grade years for the past decades. Of course they also received many of the kids who cannot read and do math when they enrolled in MCPS in upper grades. Instead of admit that they have a challenge that beyond their control, MCPS decided to have a war on the students who are at the other end of the normal distribution, or the bell-curve. They spread the runor that the test prep center knows s the content of the test for HGC and magnets, they blamed the parents who prepare their kids for school, and they used dirty methods to reduce the number of Asian students in the Magnet programs.
There is no one size-fit-all education. MCPS works with human beings with different heights, body weights, skin tones, and ability to aquire knowledge. Busing students around will not erase these differences.

That must be some powerful weed you've been smoking. It's not that there isn't some kernel of truth here, but most of what you're saying is patently false.

It’s gotta be a sativa. Makes users paranoid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid isn’t “gifted” but is a high performer so I’m prepping her so that she doesn’t have to go to our zoned low performing school that focuses way too much on low performing students. I just want my kid to have a decent and challenging curriculum. Magnet admission for us isn’t about giftedness. It’s about escaping our crappy middle school.

I would then caution you to not let down your guard. Magnet MS, ES and all GT education in MCPS have deteriorated significantly because of MCPS attempts to water down curriculum throughout as well as pushing out excellent teachers. At this point, if you do not supplement outside the school and depend on your kid to learn everything from the magnet program (even if it is better than your crappy school) then you will face another kind of achievement gap. My suggestion would be to look online for curriculum.

The opposite seems to be true. In fact, since the advent of universal screening the applicant pool is 5X larger and the most qualified cohort in the county history is now selected. Sure, the uber-preppers whose parents used to game system have a harder time gaining admission, but that's because their kids just aren't that smart.

Agree the new system is doing a better job identifying student potential. The cohort rules were a stroke of genius. This made the system much fairer. So many parents with the most have gamed the system for decades. Their kids attend schools that are so much better that people pay hundreds of thousands more to ensure their children attend them. This confers a huge advantage to those who aren't fortunate to attend one of these elite schools. The cohort rules help identify student potential rather than rewarding students who have had every possible advantage. The county is finally making smart moves to better serve its residents.

Since it just started how do you know the system is doing a better job? We shale see with test scores. Let’s see if the gap doesn’t grow as the W’s no longer hemorrhage some of their top students and local kids who were all ready in the testing pool at lower performing schools take those slots. If the high cohort schools see an uptick and the magnet schools get browner with lower test scores, what then? The magnet programs are there for a reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid isn’t “gifted” but is a high performer so I’m prepping her so that she doesn’t have to go to our zoned low performing school that focuses way too much on low performing students. I just want my kid to have a decent and challenging curriculum. Magnet admission for us isn’t about giftedness. It’s about escaping our crappy middle school.

I would then caution you to not let down your guard. Magnet MS, ES and all GT education in MCPS have deteriorated significantly because of MCPS attempts to water down curriculum throughout as well as pushing out excellent teachers. At this point, if you do not supplement outside the school and depend on your kid to learn everything from the magnet program (even if it is better than your crappy school) then you will face another kind of achievement gap. My suggestion would be to look online for curriculum.

The opposite seems to be true. In fact, since the advent of universal screening the applicant pool is 5X larger and the most qualified cohort in the county history is now selected. Sure, the uber-preppers whose parents used to game system have a harder time gaining admission, but that's because their kids just aren't that smart.

Agree the new system is doing a better job identifying student potential. The cohort rules were a stroke of genius. This made the system much fairer. So many parents with the most have gamed the system for decades. Their kids attend schools that are so much better that people pay hundreds of thousands more to ensure their children attend them. This confers a huge advantage to those who aren't fortunate to attend one of these elite schools. The cohort rules help identify student potential rather than rewarding students who have had every possible advantage. The county is finally making smart moves to better serve its residents.

Yes, MCPS asked the magnet teachers to adjust their teaching and expectation when the first cohort-admitted classes entered Eastern and TPMS. To me, it seems that MCPS admitted a lot of less smart kids since the new policy. Students with potential? After three years, the students admitted by lower standard will be math star or fantastic writer!

[Anonymous]

MCPS cannot compensate for home environment, parental involvement, level of education and prioritization of education for high achieving communities. Can you switch out the parents and home environment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS cannot compensate for home environment, parental involvement, level of education and prioritization of education for high achieving communities. Can you switch out the parents and home environment?

Some evidence that a knowledge based curriculum rather than a skills based curriculum actually can

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/08/the-radical-case-for-teaching-kids-stuff/592765/?utm_term=2019-07-09T12%3A00%3A05&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR25CI-znCKbJrhT8MCrqwVRbGzzmT7m8KcpG31Lq9FPzY2SQxe1alIKUOE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS cannot compensate for home environment, parental involvement, level of education and prioritization of education for high achieving communities. Can you switch out the parents and home environment?

Some evidence that a knowledge based curriculum rather than a skills based curriculum actually can

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/08/the-radical-case-for-teaching-kids-stuff/592765/?utm_term=2019-07-09T12%3A00%3A05&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR25CI-znCKbJrhT8MCrqwVRbGzzmT7m8KcpG31Lq9FPzY2SQxe1alIKUOE

Great article, thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid isn’t “gifted” but is a high performer so I’m prepping her so that she doesn’t have to go to our zoned low performing school that focuses way too much on low performing students. I just want my kid to have a decent and challenging curriculum. Magnet admission for us isn’t about giftedness. It’s about escaping our crappy middle school.

I would then caution you to not let down your guard. Magnet MS, ES and all GT education in MCPS have deteriorated significantly because of MCPS attempts to water down curriculum throughout as well as pushing out excellent teachers. At this point, if you do not supplement outside the school and depend on your kid to learn everything from the magnet program (even if it is better than your crappy school) then you will face another kind of achievement gap. My suggestion would be to look online for curriculum.

The opposite seems to be true. In fact, since the advent of universal screening the applicant pool is 5X larger and the most qualified cohort in the county history is now selected. Sure, the uber-preppers whose parents used to game system have a harder time gaining admission, but that's because their kids just aren't that smart.

Agree the new system is doing a better job identifying student potential. The cohort rules were a stroke of genius. This made the system much fairer. So many parents with the most have gamed the system for decades. Their kids attend schools that are so much better that people pay hundreds of thousands more to ensure their children attend them. This confers a huge advantage to those who aren't fortunate to attend one of these elite schools. The cohort rules help identify student potential rather than rewarding students who have had every possible advantage. The county is finally making smart moves to better serve its residents.

Yes, MCPS asked the magnet teachers to adjust their teaching and expectation when the first cohort-admitted classes entered Eastern and TPMS. To me, it seems that MCPS admitted a lot of less smart kids since the new policy. Students with potential? After three years, the students admitted by lower standard will be math star or fantastic writer!

I teach in one of those programs. Must have missed that memo! Can you share your copy?

I acknowledge some adjustments made. However, they were mainly made to accommodate a much greater percentage of white students with IEPs and 504 plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid isn’t “gifted” but is a high performer so I’m prepping her so that she doesn’t have to go to our zoned low performing school that focuses way too much on low performing students. I just want my kid to have a decent and challenging curriculum. Magnet admission for us isn’t about giftedness. It’s about escaping our crappy middle school.

I would then caution you to not let down your guard. Magnet MS, ES and all GT education in MCPS have deteriorated significantly because of MCPS attempts to water down curriculum throughout as well as pushing out excellent teachers. At this point, if you do not supplement outside the school and depend on your kid to learn everything from the magnet program (even if it is better than your crappy school) then you will face another kind of achievement gap. My suggestion would be to look online for curriculum.

The opposite seems to be true. In fact, since the advent of universal screening the applicant pool is 5X larger and the most qualified cohort in the county history is now selected. Sure, the uber-preppers whose parents used to game system have a harder time gaining admission, but that's because their kids just aren't that smart.

Agree the new system is doing a better job identifying student potential. The cohort rules were a stroke of genius. This made the system much fairer. So many parents with the most have gamed the system for decades. Their kids attend schools that are so much better that people pay hundreds of thousands more to ensure their children attend them. This confers a huge advantage to those who aren't fortunate to attend one of these elite schools. The cohort rules help identify student potential rather than rewarding students who have had every possible advantage. The county is finally making smart moves to better serve its residents.

Yes, MCPS asked the magnet teachers to adjust their teaching and expectation when the first cohort-admitted classes entered Eastern and TPMS. To me, it seems that MCPS admitted a lot of less smart kids since the new policy. Students with potential? After three years, the students admitted by lower standard will be math star or fantastic writer!

I teach in one of those programs. Must have missed that memo! Can you share your copy?

I acknowledge some adjustments made. However, they were mainly made to accommodate a much greater percentage of white students with IEPs and 504 plans.

The earlier poster's self-serving narrative about how their little genius was cheated out of their rightful seat in the magnnet by an undeserving minority is getting tiresome. Their claims amount to flimsy anecdotes. The county has made some laudable changes. I hope they keep it up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid isn’t “gifted” but is a high performer so I’m prepping her so that she doesn’t have to go to our zoned low performing school that focuses way too much on low performing students. I just want my kid to have a decent and challenging curriculum. Magnet admission for us isn’t about giftedness. It’s about escaping our crappy middle school.

I would then caution you to not let down your guard. Magnet MS, ES and all GT education in MCPS have deteriorated significantly because of MCPS attempts to water down curriculum throughout as well as pushing out excellent teachers. At this point, if you do not supplement outside the school and depend on your kid to learn everything from the magnet program (even if it is better than your crappy school) then you will face another kind of achievement gap. My suggestion would be to look online for curriculum.

The opposite seems to be true. In fact, since the advent of universal screening the applicant pool is 5X larger and the most qualified cohort in the county history is now selected. Sure, the uber-preppers whose parents used to game system have a harder time gaining admission, but that's because their kids just aren't that smart.

Agree the new system is doing a better job identifying student potential. The cohort rules were a stroke of genius. This made the system much fairer. So many parents with the most have gamed the system for decades. Their kids attend schools that are so much better that people pay hundreds of thousands more to ensure their children attend them. This confers a huge advantage to those who aren't fortunate to attend one of these elite schools. The cohort rules help identify student potential rather than rewarding students who have had every possible advantage. The county is finally making smart moves to better serve its residents.

Yes, MCPS asked the magnet teachers to adjust their teaching and expectation when the first cohort-admitted classes entered Eastern and TPMS. To me, it seems that MCPS admitted a lot of less smart kids since the new policy. Students with potential? After three years, the students admitted by lower standard will be math star or fantastic writer!

I teach in one of those programs. Must have missed that memo! Can you share your copy?

I acknowledge some adjustments made. However, they were mainly made to accommodate a much greater percentage of white students with IEPs and 504 plans.

The earlier poster's self-serving narrative about how their little genius was cheated out of their rightful seat in the magnnet by an undeserving minority is getting tiresome. Their claims amount to flimsy anecdotes. The county has made some laudable changes. I hope they keep it up.

We have heard about schools with large numbers of high performers sending ridiculously low numbers of students to the middle school magnets. Schools llike Cold spring CES for instance which would normally send a couple dozen only got a couple of spots. We have also heard that mcps is lowering the bar food n who they consider qualified for a slot and students who score above the 85th percentile are treated as equally qualified as children who are in the 99th percentile has

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS cannot compensate for home environment, parental involvement, level of education and prioritization of education for high achieving communities. Can you switch out the parents and home environment?

Some evidence that a knowledge based curriculum rather than a skills based curriculum actually can

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/08/the-radical-case-for-teaching-kids-stuff/592765/?utm_term=2019-07-09T12%3A00%3A05&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR25CI-znCKbJrhT8MCrqwVRbGzzmT7m8KcpG31Lq9FPzY2SQxe1alIKUOE

And that will surely happen with MCPS? For closing achievement gap? In a classroom where disruptive behavior is tolerated in name of restorative discipline? With poorly trained administrators?

Some truths are self-evident - like climate change and achievement gap. No amount of whitewashing the truth, no smoke and mirrors policies and reporting is gonna change that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS cannot compensate for home environment, parental involvement, level of education and prioritization of education for high achieving communities. Can you switch out the parents and home environment?

Some evidence that a knowledge based curriculum rather than a skills based curriculum actually can

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/08/the-radical-case-for-teaching-kids-stuff/592765/?utm_term=2019-07-09T12%3A00%3A05&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR25CI-znCKbJrhT8MCrqwVRbGzzmT7m8KcpG31Lq9FPzY2SQxe1alIKUOE

And that will surely happen with MCPS? For closing achievement gap? In a classroom where disruptive behavior is tolerated in name of restorative discipline? With poorly trained administrators?

Some truths are self-evident - like climate change and achievement gap. No amount of whitewashing the truth, no smoke and mirrors policies and reporting is gonna change that.

Disruptive behavior isn't tolerated. If you want to just make up stories to suit your narrative fine, but keep that nonsense to yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid isn’t “gifted” but is a high performer so I’m prepping her so that she doesn’t have to go to our zoned low performing school that focuses way too much on low performing students. I just want my kid to have a decent and challenging curriculum. Magnet admission for us isn’t about giftedness. It’s about escaping our crappy middle school.

I would then caution you to not let down your guard. Magnet MS, ES and all GT education in MCPS have deteriorated significantly because of MCPS attempts to water down curriculum throughout as well as pushing out excellent teachers. At this point, if you do not supplement outside the school and depend on your kid to learn everything from the magnet program (even if it is better than your crappy school) then you will face another kind of achievement gap. My suggestion would be to look online for curriculum.

The opposite seems to be true. In fact, since the advent of universal screening the applicant pool is 5X larger and the most qualified cohort in the county history is now selected. Sure, the uber-preppers whose parents used to game system have a harder time gaining admission, but that's because their kids just aren't that smart.

Agree the new system is doing a better job identifying student potential. The cohort rules were a stroke of genius. This made the system much fairer. So many parents with the most have gamed the system for decades. Their kids attend schools that are so much better that people pay hundreds of thousands more to ensure their children attend them. This confers a huge advantage to those who aren't fortunate to attend one of these elite schools. The cohort rules help identify student potential rather than rewarding students who have had every possible advantage. The county is finally making smart moves to better serve its residents.

Dude, you cannot beat nature and nurture. High performing students have the genes and the support. You can keep tryin to take low performing students from non-supportive families and then find out that they burn-out and can not perform. MCPS performance keeps going down so obviously their attempts to placate the URM vote bank is not working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS cannot compensate for home environment, parental involvement, level of education and prioritization of education for high achieving communities. Can you switch out the parents and home environment?

Some evidence that a knowledge based curriculum rather than a skills based curriculum actually can

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/08/the-radical-case-for-teaching-kids-stuff/592765/?utm_term=2019-07-09T12%3A00%3A05&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_source=twitter&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR25CI-znCKbJrhT8MCrqwVRbGzzmT7m8KcpG31Lq9FPzY2SQxe1alIKUOE

And that will surely happen with MCPS? For closing achievement gap? In a classroom where disruptive behavior is tolerated in name of restorative discipline? With poorly trained administrators?

Some truths are self-evident - like climate change and achievement gap. No amount of whitewashing the truth, no smoke and mirrors policies and reporting is gonna change that.

Disruptive behavior isn't tolerated. If you want to just make up stories to suit your narrative fine, but keep that nonsense to yourself.

Are you MCPS central office or the parent of a disruptive student? Ask the teachers and students who want to learn - they have to deal with this kind of bottom feeder students all the time and they are frustrated.