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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I just have to say this.  I hate the lottery.  I hate a system that keeps my 260+ MAP-M/R scoring, straight A kid out of the MS Magnet program.  MCPS sucks.  [/quote]

No, it doesn’t suck.  It’s a *public* school system; its goals are to meet the needs of as much of the public as possible.  People at either are extreme are usually going to have the most mismatch, with the ones at the lower end suffering the most.

My high-percentile scoring, straight A kid didn’t get in either.  Oh well.[/quote]

A public school system should aim to give kids an education.  It should give accelerated / magnet education only to the brightest kids.  [/quote]

A public school system should aim to meet the educational needs of students.  Sure, it has to balance providing differential instruction that meets the need against the impact on the "mainstream" population and alternate use of resources.  Saying "only the brightest" ignores the fact that many, many students in our county have associated need, and would benefit from being afforded enriched/accelerated instruction.

There is law on the books, and MCPS policy, to require this, but it is vague on the one hand and ignored to a great deal on the other.  Law regarding the needs of those needing learning [i]supports[/i] is much more robust, and the system spends far more per pupil addressing their needs, though even this runs up against the balancing of resources/consideration for mainstream impact.[/quote]

But if you think long-term, bringing extra supports to kids who NEED them has an enormous impact.  Better ROI than enriching already smart kids, especially at the middle school level.  Inasmuch as the latter adds extra stress, I might argue the value is diminished.[/quote]

As a society, we need many more to be highly-fluent in Math, both better to ensure personal capability and better to provide a workforce that can handle modern challenges.  That's going to require interested students, and enrichment/acceleration prior to High School is essential to maintaining that interest.

While the impact of supporting measures for those needing them also is high, and perhaps even higher, I would argue that the cost to provide those supports is, itself, disproportionately higher, especially on a per-pupil basis, than affording differentiated instruction to those demonstrating greater ability.  The answer should be to ensure [b]both[/b] to the degree that the system can do so without greatly impairing the addressing of "mainstream" educational need.  There is a limit to the overall benefit achieved from robbing Peter to pay Paul, and the follow-up is to ensure that there is more allotted to pay each.

And that raises the issue of different "mainstreams" across schools.  It is clear from many DCUM discussions that some schools' mainstream/default is acceleration.  That becomes a huge equity issue if schools where that is not the case (typically low-SES) are not differentially funded to allow for the greater variation within their cohort.  If we had town-based school districts in this state, that might not not be feasible (even if societally just); however, in Maryland, school districts are county-based, and the onus is on the county's school system to provide equitable educational services to all.

Of course, one could reduce that to a one-size-fits-all approach, with no differentiation, whether support or enrichment.  Casting aside the clear deficits that would present to our community, it would ignore, again, the need-oriented law and policy that mandate both.

That said, enrichment/acceleration should be about the pull of addressing need (and properly identifying it in the first place), not a demanding and resisted push, whether by the school or by families.  There certainly are those that create stress via the latter, but there are a very large number who make up the former, with effect felt especially prior to High School.[/quote]

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