Reply to I don't get it- very few CES kids get into magnet school?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What it clearly shows is how heavily people were self selecting for the magnets before universal screening.  In 2016, 299 Asian students applied for Takoma, in 2018, 689 were screened--about a 60% increase.  By comparison only only 241 white students applied in 2016, while 1230 were identified for screening in 2018--a five fold increase.  Of course Asian numbers went down, they had a disproportionate interest in the program and they're applications from viable candidates were probably beyond saturation.  Anything that causes more students to apply, is going to disadvantage such a group.  URMs are still under represented but the numbers identified are up substantially.  Meanwhile Asians are still represented at twice their population, whites at 25% their population--so in no way has anyone been shut out or a quota been instituted.

I just don't see how it can be argued that screening more applicants is a bad thing.  Sure it means more people may not accept an offer, but that's better than having people who didn't even know their child should be in the program.[/quote]

It's a bad thing for parents who had gotten used to gaming the system to their child's advantage, but a good thing since changes like universal screening and cohort ensure more children benefit.[/quote]

Exactly, and no need to call it gaming the system, [b]it was a system that benefited those in the know[/b] and worked by word of mouth.  Yes, I know MCPS was contacting all parents and telling them they could apply, but I saw how it worked in my circle.  Before my child was in ES, I met a parent who's kid was at an HGC, just knowing them and their experience made us more likely to apply later, my DC got in.  Whenever I met a parent with younger kids I talked up the program.  Twelve years on, I know a one block region of my neighborhood has been over represented in application programs.  Now, maybe that's just a fluke and it would have worked out the same under universal screening, but I have my doubts.  When you don't know anyone who's been involved in the magnets, parents are reluctant to pull their DC from the current school.  It's much better to have parents make that decision after they know their child is eligible and they've had the opportunity to go to a selected students open house.[/quote]
This line of reasoning is getting stale.  Before they moved to the universal testing, there was no less than 2 phone calls per week for months (in both English and Spanish) explaining the magnet application process and the deadlines.  This is on top of all the countless handouts and flyers that came home with the kids explaining the same thing.  To simply say "I know MCPS was contacting all parents and telling them they could apply" is a huge understatement.  It was overwhelming - so every parent was "in the know" unless they chose not to be.  If you choose not to be involved in your child's education that child is likely not a good candidate for the Magnet program.  I have a child at Blair and know that the only way to keep up with the rigors of the program is to have a strong support structure at home.[/quote]
Agree with the last poster. A student is unlikely to succeed at Eastern or TP or RM or Blair without significant parental support. If you cannot be bothered to or are too busy to read and figure out the simple application, the program itself will be very challenging. Having said that, I support the universal screening and I don’t know anyone who is opposed to testing every child. What I and many people don’t like is the focus on race and the willingness to massage the testing criteria to change the racial makeup of the program. Since they cannot explicitly use race they used peer cohort which made it harder for students from high performing school clusters to “qualify “. This is not fair to the children who scored better than children from low performing schools and were still not invited to the magnet. It also means that the program no longer serves the best and the brightest in the county which will inevitably result in the dilution of curriculum and rigor. The lowering of standards has become the unofficial MCPS strategy for dealing with the stubborn and growing achievement gap. It doesn’t reduce the gap but it does mask the real problem 
I wish MCPS would do universal screening , pick the best applicants regardless of location/race and have at least one enriched math and one enriched humanities class in every single middle school in the county   
For the people who are convinced that Asian children only do well in the Magnet application process because they “prep” I would just say that while testing is popular I am not sure if it is entirely effective. DS and most of his friends (including Asians) who have been there in Magnet programs since elementary school did not prep.  Many of the kids who go to prep centers do so because their parents think it is necessary but we the ones who get into the Magnet programs would most likely make it without prep. There is probably some self selection at play.  Many of the kids who go are naturally bright and hardworking and are likely to do well on the test. What is really noteworthy about the demographics of the kids in the Magnet programs especially Blair and RM is that the parents are highly educated. I can’t think of a single parent I have met who doesn’t have a graduate degree and most have terminal degrees (Ph.Ds or law degrees). [/quote]

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