Reply to Is it good or bad that MCPS placed Magnet schools in the lowest performing schools?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Let me get this straight, MCPS isn't allowing top scoring students to the magnets' schools because there are too many top scoring students in their home schools? So then what? Those top scoring students just spin their wheels in C2.0 and never get really challenged like they could have in a HGC, CES or magnet program?

And some other parents are happy about this because now their lesser top scoring kid can attend?

But that doesn't solve the problem of what the school district is doing with or for the original top set of kids they now are shutting out of the top programs.

And to top it off they are no longer publishing the median or distribution of admit scores?[/quote]

Actually, that's not it at all. The new system does a better job identifying more qualified students. It also made it harder for parents to game the system by 1) identifying 5X the number of candidates than in prior years 2)[b] looking at a broader range of criteria than one test.[/b] This didn't go over well with the people who had been gaming the system.  [/quote]
So if test scores aren't a good indicator of being high achieving then why does MCPS use PARCC and MAP scores as the basis for the opposite - identifying low achieving students, and then use this as the basis for closing the achievement gap? Why not look at teacher recommendations, or whatever else criteria they are using to indicate whether a student is "high achieving"?

[b]If it's ok for them to use tests to help them identify low achieving students to give them extra help, why is it not ok for them to use tests to identify very high achieving kids?[/b][/quote]

This has already been expalined 1000 times, and if your reading comprehension is any indication of your child's, it's no wonder they're not in a magnet program. [/quote]
Well, my DC didn't bother applying to MS magnet because it was too far, but I have a younger one coming up, and this isn't about just my child. It's about how MCPS treats all the high achieving students.

So, ok, if I'm that stupid, explain to me why it's ok for MCPS to use test scores to gauge the achievement gap, but it's not ok for them to use the same test scores to gauge who is really high achieving?  If it's good for one side, why not the other?

You say one test doesn't reflect high achieving. Then one test shouldn't reflect low achieving either, right?  That actually seems logical to my simple mind, but ok, I'm too simple to grasp this convoluted logic you are using, so then explain it to me like I'm a non magnet 6th grader.[/quote]

Time for someone to sue to put an end to this nonsense. 
You can’t actually take public funds and act like you’re running your own private program.

The exact criteria were laid out a few pages back and were taken directly from the MCPS website. You need to do your own legwork because I don't care enough to reread through 5+ pages to get you the exact info, but It isn't what you're saying and is pretty reasonable stuff. [/quote]
I've read the criteria, and "cohort" was one of them, which is BS when it comes to who qualifies for an academic program.

But, you still didn't answer my question why it's ok to use test scores to identify low achieving kids, but not high achieving ones.
P
[b]If a test score isn't a good measure of identifying high achieving kids, then why is it a good measure for identifying low achieving kids?[/b][/quote]
Fortunately your opinion doesn’t matter and the county disagrees. [/quote]
So the answer is that there isn't a difference, hence they use "holistic" approach for admission criteria, or "cohort" because otherwise, no matter if they cast a wider net, those kids wouldn't be able to get in otherwise.  If this is not true, then answer the question. I bolded it for you.[/quote][/quote]

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