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

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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Umm, No. [b]MCPS has been planning this since Fall, when representatives alluded to it during the Magnet MS presentations. [/b] They did not communicate well about their plans, however, and everyone Freaked-the-heck-out.  So now, MCPS is planning to spread their original plan to more schools.  [/quote]

Yeah, I'm not sure why everybody thinks that this is happening in response to pressure from parents who are upset that their children didn't get into the magnets.  If you'd paid attention to the CES process in the field test areas last year, you'd know that what's happening now is very, very similar (I have a child in the 4th grade at one of the field test CES schools):

1) They expanded testing and identified more kids who would do well in the CES centers.

2)  There were not enough spaces for all of them, so many children who had similar test scores (and would have probably done equally well) were not offered places at the centers.

3) The "peer group at the home school" was mentioned as a reason, although some children from those same home schools were selected to go to the CES (e.g., my child was selected, and another child with the same score on the magnet test was not selected and told there was a peer group as a reason -- I don't know what distinctions there were between the two children on other measures such as MAP tests, grades, etc., but both are the same race).
 
   4) Some parents who were told there was a "peer group" were upset that their qualified children weren't offered spaces, but it didn't turn into a massive thread on DCUM.  I knew that although my child was selected, it didn't mean she was more qualified than others who weren't selected; it meant she was qualified and lucky, since there were not enough spaces for everybody who was qualified and for some reason she was chosen.

5) In the meantime, MCPS was working on opening additional local centers and increasing enrichment offerings at home schools in an attempt to bring some benefit to larger groups of students, although information about these options was slow to reach parents.

This sounds exactly like what is happening this year; there's just more outrage because it's hitting a larger number of students and there are even fewer magnet MS spots compared to CES spots.

I am hopeful that MCPS is moving in the right direction to identify larger numbers of highly capable students and to provide additional opportunities beyond the limited magnet spaces that currently exist.  I look forward to seeing what options my child has once she hits middle school.[/quote]

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