Reply to County-wide magnet/IB/GE/Humanity programs will become regional programs if the secondary program plan is passed

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Reply to "County-wide magnet/IB/GE/Humanity programs will become regional programs if the secondary program plan is passed"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Okay here's a compromise idea.  What about getting on board with the regional plan, but also advocating for a small set-aside of a certain number of seats per year (25? 40? not sure the number needed) at a couple of the key regional magnets like Blair and RMIB for out-of-bounds kids who have extremely high qualifications/are profoundly gifted?

That way more kids could get into magnets overall and have them closer to their homes, the very brightest kids would still have a cohort of similar kids concentrated in one place to be able to take very high level courses (probably not 100% of the ones they get now, but many of them), and rather than having to sell MCPS on the extra cost of keeping all the countywide programs *and* adding 6 new regional programs, a few schools would essentially have a hybrid regional/countywide program which would make it more affordable. [/quote]

This seems like the most win-win solution and also the most likely to actually succeed. MCPS gets its shift to a regional model, Blair and RMIB get to keep most of what keeps them special while becoming regional/countywide hybrids, the tiny sliver of kids who really need to be centralized countywide still can be, and the supporters of the regional model and of the flagship countywide programs can work together rather than fight each other.[/quote]

We need to first understand the current student makeup of the Blair Magnet program. If 80% of the students are currently from outside the region, shifting that to just 20% won’t be enough to preserve the program. 
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The school district should release data on the number of students applying to Blair magnet who have the likely capacity to succeed in the program, as well as zip code information on where they live. They should do this for RMIB, Einstein's VAC, and Wheaton's Academy of Engineering as well.

My student wasn't in TMPS' magnet nor Blair's magnet, but he benefitted from attending schools with these programs. He completed geometry in 8th grade and took higher level math at Blair because of the magnet' presence at the schools.

If I get sick with cancer, my child won't treat me, but it could be that I will live longer because a Blair magnet alumni helped develop effective treatments or even a cure. That is the type of thing that happens when you have students with high ability provided access to very rigorous curriculum in a specialized program. It's unlikely that a truly rigorous magnet will have a sufficient cohort in any one region; none will be the type of flagship program that Blair is.

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How dramatic. Or they could attend excellent colleges and grad schools that train them to do that sort of life-saving work. [/quote]

Why are you against having an outstanding program for highly able students? [/quote]

Absolutely no one is against this.  Some people do not think that the needs of 20 kids per year exceed the needs of the many who would benefit from regional programming.[/quote]

It's not 20 kids per year.  It's 400 kids per year.[/quote]

Sorry, I was referring to an argument I keep reading here that the Blair magnet has to be county wide because of those top kids who won’t find a cohort in a regional program.[/quote]

Some classes, such as Functions, have around 20 kids per year, and splitting the magnet up would result in none of the schools having enough people to offer the class. The countywide magnet is how a critical mass of students that would take classes such as Functions is formed, so it's the only way to meet the needs of such students.[/quote]

It's not a countywide magnet.[/quote]

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