Reply to The RFP in MCPS - are they going to gut the magnet and immersion programs or enhance them?

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Reply to "The RFP in MCPS - are they going to gut the magnet and immersion programs or enhance them?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I suspect that not all magnets have the same impact on demographics.  For example, the RCF spanish immersion program is probably vulnerable to termination or relocation given how it operates.  Many of the students who attend are coming from schools that have higher FARMS etc. than RCF, and the only reason they applied to the magnet was to avoid attending a relatively high poverty neighborhood school.  This leaves the neighborhood schools with fewer middle class students than they would otherwise have, thus exacerbating the demographic imbalances that exist between schools.  Does RCF need a magnet to lift it up or level the playing field in terms of test scores and demographics?  I suspect if you look around you'll find lots of schools that have a more genuine claim to needing a program of that sort to balance the numbers.  [/quote]

Why would you use RCF as the standard when there are six other immersion schools with different demographics than RCF?  No ones going to Sligo or Gaithersburg or rolling terrace, etc. to escape high poverty.  The immersion program families bring so much t these schools.  You have no idea.[/quote]

Simmer down.  I used it as an example, not as a standard.  RCF has long been considered a ticket out of our neighborhood school and into a better cluster.  I've seen it in action and I do know what I'm talking about, at least as concerns my neighborhood where I've had the opportunity to talk with dozens of parents who tried desperately to get in, despite the long odds.   I think it's different than a school like Rolling Terrace, where it makes sense to have a partial immersion program.  So to be clear, I wasn't using it as a standard and I wasn't advocating to get rid of immersion. I was, however, suggesting that this one is probably first on the chopping block if MCPS starts cutting magnet programs.  If MCPS were forward thinking it would expand its dual immersion programs and implement them in schools with high ESOL populations.   But expecting a little creativity from MCPS might be a stretch at this point.[/quote]

Clarity is certainly needed as I often see comments, some in this same thread, about getting rid of immersion as a whole based solely on some perceived notion about RCF.  NEVER are the other programs even mentioned.  Furthermore, " I've seen it in action".is not data.  I challenge anyone to prove immersion is not effective and that families only choose it for the cluster.  But that proof is impossible to obtain.

Lastly, dual immersion does not work.  Native English speakers never become fluent.[/quote]

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