Reply to What is the real reason MCPS uses Lottery for Middle School Magnet Program

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "What is the real reason MCPS uses Lottery for Middle School Magnet Program"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As someone who works in equity and education policy, I was supportive of the changes MCPS made 3-4 years ago, even though those changes made it harder for my own kids to access the MS magnets.

With that said, the newest changes are really terrible, both in terms of equity and in terms of serving the needs of children who learn differently.

Getting rid of the CoGAT is maybe the worst possible decision from an equity perspective. CoGAT was one of the only ways to find kids who had aptitude but not exposure to the material. By screening the lottery by grades and MAPs, MCPS is essentially gatekeeping for kids with involved parents who expose them to above-grade-level material.

Moreover, a lottery that is not accompanied by accelerated programming at home schools is poisonous for kids who actually NEED differentiated/accelerated instruction in order to remain engaged in school. There are kids who in fact learn differently, and up until now MCPS seemed to be willing to do the work to find those kids (which includes kids from URM groups whose aptitude was not always apparent from grades and MAP scores).

Basically, this is a mess and the folks in charge should be ashamed of themselves. [/quote]

How does random picking of kids through lottery address any of the issues you stated above? There is no objectivity and transparency in the process. This looks like an effort and process designed to disadvantage some students and promote others lowering the entire standard of education. This will only provide psychological satisfaction to some segments and fail to meet any objectives including equity by the way. Without solid programs at all levels to meet the needs of students, MCPS is merely creating an appearance of equity in classrooms but not equity in academic performance shaping the future.

Bigger question is does  any of the BOE members have their kids in MCPS system now? if not, then they are sitting their making decisions which will not impact their own kids. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics