Reply to Is CogAT gone forever?

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Reply to "Is CogAT gone forever?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The Office of Shared Accountability presented their review schedule to the BOE recently.  Selection criteria for the magnets and accelerated math are scheduled for review in the Spring.  MCPS won't be making any changes like going back to using CogAT until after that, if they do at all.[/quote]

And these bad decisions are why The Office of Shared Accountability needs to be replaced.

By not using a Nationally-normed, race-neutral exam, I feel MCPS is basically admitting 'bias' or 'discrimination' since MCPS chose not to focus on better teaching, but instead handicaps kids that are smarter and better prepared to succeed.  Until MCPS comes clean regarding all details of it's selections (which is hidden under the veil of "child privacy"), we will never know.  For all we know, there's someone making up names on a spreadsheet behind the curtain?  There's only one thing that is certain, though - MCPS is not choosing the best of the best children for the program.[/quote]

Disagree by using an exam that favors those who can afford CogAT prep it unfairly skews selection to those with resources. You very well know kids hire CogAT tutors and it makes a difference. The last thing anyone needs is more of this gatekeeping.[/quote]

Exactly, when my kids were applying to these special programs, I hired a CogAT tutor. It got their scores up by 25%. They breezed right into the mangets. I think that's why so many people want these tests back because they're so easily gamed.[/quote]
+1 CogAT is both an ability and an exposure test, contrary to what a PP claims. People with more resources can hire the best tutors.

On a related note, I don’t understand why MCPS keeps trying to forcibly diversify by lowering the bar, which denies opportunity for some top performing students.

Parents and students decide where to spend their time and money. Some choose to focus completely on athletics, doing expensive travel teams and then breezing through tryouts to public school athletic teams. Many cannot afford expensive travel teams, and some public school varsity teams are not diverse. Yet the bar is not lowered (via lowering standards and having a lottery) to diversify the public school varsity teams despite the unfairness and inequity. Both athletics and academics are based on ability, yet why is it that MCPS is only focusing equity efforts on academics, and not athletics? Both are financed by the public.[/quote]

Varsity athletic teams are a game. Academics are important life skills. Kids can play free basketball and soccer to get the same benefits as varsity sports. The exception is college recruiting for sports, but the solution to that is to kill the sports recruiting. [/quote]

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