pros and cons of CES?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, many parents are pretty angry about the changed criteria and I think their anger is understandable. There are families, especially from some immigrant groups, that feel the magnets will help their child have a better life.

If MCPS used a straight ranking of test scores and grades their children might have gotten in but instead the county is emphasizing diversity.

We can debate whether this is good or bad all day long and both sides have legitimate points. Other kids shouldn't be telling your child he should not have been admitted but you should have some empathy for those children and those families.

This must be really hard for them.

Before you attack me for being a bitter person, my child got in to their choice of magnet. After my child was at the open house and word got around that my child got in, several students told my child the only reason was because of race. I do know where you are coming from but I don't see any sense that you see the other side.

Eh, I’m not an attacker. Despite posting on DCUM.

I can understand why some people feel disadvantaged by the new criteria / process. However, since they don’t know my kid’s scores, why would they assume they scored higher? Also, since my kid goes to the same school they do, I’m not sure the new criteria even factor in - unless non-CES kids in a regional center somehow get preference, which is not the impression I’m getting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any info on the CES teachers and how they are selected? We just went to the virtual opening house this week and there were a few flags for me. I don't want to go into them because I get that what qualifies as flags for me do not mean she isn't a good fit for gifted education, but in general I would love some reassurance that the teachers are selected for this because of either aptitude or education for gifted kids...

It seems to be a mixed bag, but I know at least two of the four teachers at OVES are in the process (or maybe just completed) their Master's in Gifted Education and JHU. They were very adorably doing the program at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I don't believe this for a second. I have a kid at CCES CES, and almost no one got into the MS magnets. Irrespective of what ES they came from. It's not possible that none of these kids are the top kid when compared with the pool at the home school. They absolutely are considering the CES kids to be coming "from" the CES elementary school, not from the home school. I strongly believe that going to the CES now reduces the chance of getting into the MS magnets. But I can also see some value to spreading around those opportunities. My kid got 2 great years in CES, and now a kid from our home ES who didn't have that will have a similarly rigorous experience in MS. And my kid will be coming from a different MS when time rolls around for HS programs. Or kid will have a great experience at the home HS. It is what it is and you're not guaranteed the perfect individualized learning experience from public school. If that's what you want you have to go pay for it. Our kid has flourished in the CES. But kid will most likely also be fine at the home MS. It is what it is.

+1 to the almost no one got in this year.

RCES is a local, rather than regional, CES. Last year we only knew of 2 kids who got into a ms magnet (could have been more we just didn’t know about). This year there were at least 7. It doesn’t work out the same way every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any info on the CES teachers and how they are selected? We just went to the virtual opening house this week and there were a few flags for me. I don't want to go into them because I get that what qualifies as flags for me do not mean she isn't a good fit for gifted education, but in general I would love some reassurance that the teachers are selected for this because of either aptitude or education for gifted kids...

It seems to be a mixed bag, but I know at least two of the four teachers at OVES are in the process (or maybe just completed) their Master's in Gifted Education and JHU. They were very adorably doing the program at the same time.

Oh, that is great! Kids probably benefited so much from that, too. This is at Stonegate and so if anyone in the interwebs has any insight about the CES 4th grade teacher, I would love to hear it...5th grade teach seemed awesome.

[Anonymous]

So is the “virtual open house” deal school by school?
BC our CES sent a link to a slide deck but that was it... no Q+A, no discussion, nothing. Did I miss something? I am taking it as a big red flag...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So is the “virtual open house” deal school by school?
BC our CES sent a link to a slide deck but that was it... no Q+A, no discussion, nothing. Did I miss something? I am taking it as a big red flag...

It must be school by school, but I wouldn't take it as too big of a flag. We got the notice the day before they hosted it and no slides...it really seems like the teachers are all just underwater right now. Give it a week, or email the school and ask if they will be doing anything for live QandA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So is the “virtual open house” deal school by school?
BC our CES sent a link to a slide deck but that was it... no Q+A, no discussion, nothing. Did I miss something? I am taking it as a big red flag...

It must be school by school, but I wouldn't take it as too big of a flag. We got the notice the day before they hosted it and no slides...it really seems like the teachers are all just underwater right now. Give it a week, or email the school and ask if they will be doing anything for live QandA.

[Anonymous]

Barnsley sent out a slide deck with separate videos from principal, teachers, and students. Was well done and then they also have two Zoom Q & A sessions. Went to the first one this evening. Was very informative and great!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any info on the CES teachers and how they are selected? We just went to the virtual opening house this week and there were a few flags for me. I don't want to go into them because I get that what qualifies as flags for me do not mean she isn't a good fit for gifted education, but in general I would love some reassurance that the teachers are selected for this because of either aptitude or education for gifted kids...

It seems to be a mixed bag, but I know at least two of the four teachers at OVES are in the process (or maybe just completed) their Master's in Gifted Education and JHU. They were very adorably doing the program at the same time.

Oh, that is great! Kids probably benefited so much from that, too. This is at Stonegate and so if anyone in the interwebs has any insight about the CES 4th grade teacher, I would love to hear it...5th grade teach seemed awesome.

It's really great. I can't speak to how their expertise translated to the academics versus a teacher with different training, but I can tell you that their understanding of the "baggage" that comes with some gifted kids was really amazing, the best my kid had in their MCPS career to date.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any info on the CES teachers and how they are selected? We just went to the virtual opening house this week and there were a few flags for me. I don't want to go into them because I get that what qualifies as flags for me do not mean she isn't a good fit for gifted education, but in general I would love some reassurance that the teachers are selected for this because of either aptitude or education for gifted kids...

It seems to be a mixed bag, but I know at least two of the four teachers at OVES are in the process (or maybe just completed) their Master's in Gifted Education and JHU. They were very adorably doing the program at the same time.

Oh, that is great! Kids probably benefited so much from that, too. This is at Stonegate and so if anyone in the interwebs has any insight about the CES 4th grade teacher, I would love to hear it...5th grade teach seemed awesome.

It's really great. I can't speak to how their expertise translated to the academics versus a teacher with different training, but I can tell you that their understanding of the "baggage" that comes with some gifted kids was really amazing, the best my kid had in their MCPS career to date.

Oh wow, that really is super. Actually, one of my flags (again, please no one flame me) was when I asked her about how she approaches social/emotional support in the class she said if the kid "needs it, we have a counselor"...which was just bizarre and not at all what i was asking about...gifted kids, in my experience, have a full range of emotional oddities and i assumed that would be a part of the curriculum or program...

[Anonymous]

I'm not flaming you but is this a real question? You are asking if dealing with kids' "emotional oddities" because they are "gifted" is part of the curriculum or program? No. Just no.

Not at our CES. There are some kids who have social or emotional issues just like at any other school. There are also many kids who are very social, outgoing and confident.

There are some teachers who try to support the kids who have struggling socially or emotionally but they do this because they are nice. Most of them don't do anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any info on the CES teachers and how they are selected? We just went to the virtual opening house this week and there were a few flags for me. I don't want to go into them because I get that what qualifies as flags for me do not mean she isn't a good fit for gifted education, but in general I would love some reassurance that the teachers are selected for this because of either aptitude or education for gifted kids...

It's up to the individual principal to hire the teachers for their school. Different principals have different preferences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not flaming you but is this a real question? You are asking if dealing with kids' "emotional oddities" because they are "gifted" is part of the curriculum or program? No. Just no.

Not at our CES. There are some kids who have social or emotional issues just like at any other school. There are also many kids who are very social, outgoing and confident.

There are some teachers who try to support the kids who have struggling socially or emotionally but they do this because they are nice. Most of them don't do anything.

I'm not the PP, but I understand the question.

First, the disclaimers: Not all gifted kids are quirky, and not all quirky kids are gifted. Not all gifted kids are anxious, and not all anxious kids are gifted. Heck, not all kids in the CES program are "gifted." Some are just bright and hard working.

But are there more quirky kids and anxious kids in a CES classroom than in a mainstream 4th or 5th grade class? Yes, absolutely. Having teachers who have taken the time to develop some tools for teaching those kids can only be a good thing. It's not part of the curriculum, nor should it be, but ideally the teachers would have some tools in their toolboxes for common social-emotional issues that are more likely to come up in a classroom of high achievers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Barnsley sent out a slide deck with separate videos from principal, teachers, and students. Was well done and then they also have two Zoom Q & A sessions. Went to the first one this evening. Was very informative and great!

Drew posted a slide deck with videos and has a scheduled Zoom Q&A next week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not flaming you but is this a real question? You are asking if dealing with kids' "emotional oddities" because they are "gifted" is part of the curriculum or program? No. Just no.

Not at our CES. There are some kids who have social or emotional issues just like at any other school. There are also many kids who are very social, outgoing and confident.

There are some teachers who try to support the kids who have struggling socially or emotionally but they do this because they are nice. Most of them don't do anything.

I'm not the PP, but I understand the question.

First, the disclaimers: Not all gifted kids are quirky, and not all quirky kids are gifted. Not all gifted kids are anxious, and not all anxious kids are gifted. Heck, not all kids in the CES program are "gifted." Some are just bright and hard working.

But are there more quirky kids and anxious kids in a CES classroom than in a mainstream 4th or 5th grade class? Yes, absolutely. Having teachers who have taken the time to develop some tools for teaching those kids can only be a good thing. It's not part of the curriculum, nor should it be, but ideally the teachers would have some tools in their toolboxes for common social-emotional issues that are more likely to come up in a classroom of high achievers.

+1000 NP here. It stands to reason, with asynchronous development being well-documented with *gifted* kids, social-emotional development would fit into a program like this. I don't think it is an odd question and I also know MCPS are working towards integrating these tools into the standard curriculum. If I did have a kid who was anxious or "quirky" it would be the first question I asked before pulling them into a whole new program.