Reply to How is the new pilot offering equivalent to TPMS/Eastern

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’m a teacher not a parent, and I believe there should be differentiation for gifted kids, but here are my predictions:

Admin and counselors at places like Cabin John and Pyle get DELUGED with calls/emails from parents who think their child should be in the pilot classes. “We wanted to be close to home so we didn’t apply to the magnet, but my child could have gotten in and therefore they should be in that section.” There probably are way more qualified kids at a huge school like Pyle than there are spots in those classes.

Teachers get ticked off that they have five minutes to learn yet another curriculum, knowing that many parents will be displeased with the rollout and they’ll be the ones to bear the brunt of that.

Mega scheduling problems—yet to be determined, sure to happen. Tons of annoyed counselors upset that they too have yet another thing to deal with. Hopefully that master scheduling training will be done well.

Totally irritated principals who have disdain for the “pushy” gifted community who think their children are “special snowflakes”—and who’ve been trying to head off this type of differentiation for years. They now will have to admit defeat on the matter, at least temporarily.

It won’t be enough. No matter what, it won’t be enough. And there will be a lot of unhappy parents whose kids don’t get to take these classes. And so...

Eventually everyone will get to take the magnet-ish classes, and we’ll all be back to where we started. ?
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+1 I'm a parent, and this is pretty much what I had stated before on this forum about how this is going to roll.  I feel badly for the teachers because they will not have much time to learn the new curriculum.  2.0 rollout was bad with lack of training.  I can't see how this will be any different.  When was the new curriculum created? Has it been finalized and reviewed?

I'm glad that MCPS acknowledges that something like this is needed, and that they are willing to try. But, I feel this was really poor planning on their part. If they knew in advance that they were going to change the admissions criteria from magnet to look more strongly at "cohort" (Metis report came out a couple of years ago), then they should've had all of this being developed simultaneously in advance. Did they really think parents wouldn't be upset over the changes in criteria and would just happily have their kids go to the home MS with no chance for a challenging curriculum?  They seem out of touch with the populace of the parents of magnet cohort.[/quote]

[b]Why do we think that the curricula is any different from what is already in the magnet program [/b]- World Studies at Eastern or Math at TP - they aren't reinventing the wheel, they are just making the wheel available in more places.   Perhaps we'll have one wheel without the other two or three wheels, but a unicycle or bicycle is better than walking, as long as you know how to ride it.  Further, MCPS teachers who decide and/or are tapped to teach these classes can rise to the occasion. I have, on multiple occasions, been amazed by the quality of my children's teachers - both in magnet and in the neighborhood schools.  This is not C.2.0 with all the attendant hysteria about testing - this is true enrichment, and I think the teachers who take on the burden/opportunity will do a great job. [/quote]
Because MCPS has stated it's not the exact same:  "Office of Curriculum and Instructional Programs is developing two enriched and accelerated courses"

Why would they have to develop the new curriculum if they are going to use the exact same one at magnets?

yes the are basing it off the magnet classes, but it's not the same, by their own admission.  I think you are deluded if you really think these classes will have the same curriculum as the magnets.  I have a DC in MS whose World Studies class is supposed to be "honors" - designated as such on the report card. It's a joke.  DC came back to home MS from HGC.  When DC went into 6th grade, and teacher recommended Honors WS I was happy that DC was going to be challenged. Prior to starting MS, some of us parents of students from HGC met with the Principal and teachers about challenging curriculum.   They talked up the "honors" class.  I came away thinking that DC would be challenged a bit.  OMG. Was I wrong.  So, I'm just very dubious about this new enriched curriculum.  If it works out well, then of course, I will be happy (I have a younger DC close to hitting MS), but I'm just very dubious (and yes, cynical).[/quote]

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