Reply to MCPS should reduces its HS magnet and special profesms

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Disagree. They should have more.

-parent of former RMIB student[/quote]

Why should there be more of them?  Most districts in the county don’t have as many special and magnet programs. Folks here complain about cost, not focusing on the basics, bussing, etc etc.  Getting rid of these extra programs would allow more teachers to focus on “the basics” and lower the cost of transportation because kids wouldn’t be going to programs all across the county.

Howard and Frederick county don’t have all these specialized and magnet programs but are supposedly great school districts.  Why should MCPS keep this up?[/quote]

Because we ALL know that cancelling these programs would not result in a sudden improvement of curriculum and teaching at all schools. Instead, everyone would have low-level expectations and there would be no pathways for academic achievers who were not zoned for the affluent W schools. It would be incredibly regressive to cancel Blair or RMIB. If you authentically want to transition to a home-school model then you need to discuss how to ensure that each school has a rigorous and differentiated curriculum. [/quote]

+1 I think most parents would be fine if MCPS got rid of the magnets (or some of the magnets) but also reinstated differentiated and cohorted instruction beginning in 6th grade. Right now, any kid who wants an above-the-baseline education needs to get into a magnet because MCPS doesn't offer differentiated instruction until 11th grade.

If MCPS would like to change that stance, and go back to magnets only for the absolute most advanced/hardest working kids, it would be controversial but ultimately fine. The problem is that MCPS is headed in the direction of MORE Honors for All, not LESS. [/quote]

But that would probably not be feasible, because you'd need to replicate magnet instruction in every school and hire a ton more teachers who are capable of teaching to that level - please be aware that a lot of teachers aren't that bright, and MCPS has difficulty hiring to begin with! The magnets deal with that problem by centralizing accelerated instruction so that it costs less and you don't need that many gifted teachers.

Not saying I wouldn't like home school "magnets" - it would be wonderful to not have a longer commute to a far-away school, and be able to stay with one's friends at the home school! But I think it's a slippery slope, because the school system might promise an equally ambitious program of instruction for the top performers in every school, and then predictably fail to follow through due to the reasons I mentioned above.

So... buyer beware!

[/quote]

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