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][quote=Anonymous]NP. It means they will be available only to kids zoned for a school in the same region as the program. [/quote]

The reason why the current programs are so successful is that MCPS can concentrate resources. If this is expanded, it will dilute everything, and the quality of all the programs would go down drastically. You would not be able to find enough teachers capable of teaching some of these advanced courses.

In addition, I highly doubt all these programs would even be nearly of the same quality if equity is the goal. Look at the current regional IB programs, and compare them to RM. [/quote]

Every time this comes up I feel the need to remind folks that the regional IB magnets have only been in existence long enough to have ONE graduating class, and continue to lose the strongest students to RMIB. Assuming that outcomes wouldn't improve with this change is not correct. [/quote]

I would actually agree with you on this. But, this is not the main reason.

The students are a huge factor in determining if the program is successful.

https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiNWY4ODhiMmUtNTcwNi00NjEwLTgxZjQtMDQ5MzA1NDQ4MDI3IiwidCI6ImRkZjc1NWU5LWJjZDYtNGE1ZS1hNDcyLTdjMzc4YTc4YzZjNyIsImMiOjF9

If you look at the testing & graduation section for Kennedy, RM, and Whitman, they are not even close to comparable. It is not feasible to offer many of the courses because there are not enough students who are able to fill up the classes. And thus, those at the very top of some regional programs will not have the same opportunity as others.

A strong student body also helps the students. Students who are strong and passionate about a subject will help push each other up so everyone improves. This is not possible with so many regional programs, as the data show.

Additionally, if you create so many programs, you will require so many more teachers. The teachers at the countywides are incredibly skilled, specialized, and unique. They are some of the very best educators in the nation. I doubt you would find enough to equitably staff all the programs. [/quote]
+1 splitting the 100 or RMIB students across the regions is not going to provide the economies of scale for each of those regional programs to provide the additional courses that RMIB has.

Kennedy has had 4 years to to develop its IB program, yet they still don't have magnet level classes starting in 9th grade from what I saw of the course offerings at Kennedy.  RMIB has magnet level classes starting in the 9th grade.
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I have a hard time believing that in a county as huge and educated as MoCo, that there are only 100 students per year who are snowflake smart enough to handle a rigorous IB curriculum. I think the real constraint is qualified teachers.[/quote]

I agree with you. So Blair should become TJ and offer 500 slots per year. But not dividing these kids to 6 regions. 
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Well, you'd have to hire a lot more teachers with expansion, too. The difference is the regional programs would offer the ability for students to have a shorter commute. But as someone else said upthread, 6 regions is probably overkill; maybe 4 or even 2-3 would work better.[/quote]

Probably a lot less teachers than splitting into 6 programs. If they sincerely want to expand magnet opportunities, they should expand existing programs and add one program somewhere. That’s it.

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I agree that a more incremental approach would be better. Add seats to existing programs, open up additional programs one at a time, then re-evaluate. This major overhaul all at once has the potential to be a disaster.[/quote]

I think while they are re-allocating staff to new high schools, this is a good time to set up all of the programs.  In addition, there isn't space at Blair to add more seats.  The budget is under stress and it doesn't make sense to add seats to a program that you will take apart in a few years.  Kids who would like to access special programming closer to their home will be well served by moving quickly.  Rip off the band-aid.[/quote]

The program was put at Blair to boost up Blair.  They could add different programs to other schools to boost up their scores and make them more desirable.  It is better to serve the majority of kids at their home schools and offer more.  These schools have lower test scores as the smarter kids leave due to the lack of offerings.[/quote]

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