Reply to Did anyone from Westland/Cabin John/N. Bethesda/Frost/Pyle/Hoover get in to MS magnets last year?

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Reply to "Did anyone from Westland/Cabin John/N. Bethesda/Frost/Pyle/Hoover get in to MS magnets last year?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]DC's home MS is Tilden -- one of three I know of from home ES attending a magnet MS. If there are others who got in and declined the offer, I don't know about them -- I do know one of the three kids got into both magnet MS.

Having had one kid go through Tilden already, I think the cohort rationale is nonsense. It's not the cohort that makes the difference between an average to subpar education and a good to great one, it's the curriculum and the quality/training of the teachers that makes the difference. The magnet MS is not perfect by any means, but the quality of the instruction and the curriculum in the magnet classes blows the instruction/curriculum at Tilden out of the water.

The real shame here is that the very existence of these so-called "cohorts" demonstrates that there are groups of kids at every MS who would rise to the challenge of the magnet-level curricula. Instead of figuring out different ways to split the pie, MCPS should make the pie bigger and provide much better curricula (and train teachers to implement them) at all the MS (and not just these "magnet lite" advanced courses, but the truly excellent and integrated curricula the magnet kids benefit from).[/quote]

Yes to all this. [/quote]

Although I agree there's some truth to their statements, I also think it's a bit more complicated than this. Nevertheless, I expect the county to add more stem magnets in 1-2 years once they finish with the IB magnets.[/quote]

We'll see.  There was a recent WaPo article that basically said that everything MoCo has been trying over the past x number of years (cannot remember specific number) hasn't worked to close the achievement gap.  I'm of the view that no amount of money (or no realistically available amount) that you throw at the problem will overcome the severe obstacles many kids who are not doing well face at home or in their communities.  But I'm also of the view that the MoCo, and other localities, cannot simply throw their hands up and stop trying.  We have to try and find a better way, even if it's a sisyphean task, and that's going to mean applying more resources to the issue.  And that's where the resources are going to go, not for magnets.  The BoD and County Council reflect that view, as far as I can tell.  It's an issue over which I'm very torn.  Easy to think about the collective good, unless it directly impacts your child.[/quote]

Another +1. I'm all for closing the achievement gap, for lifting more boats, and also all for my own child getting a MUCH better education than she has gotten so far.[/quote]

The changes they made to admissions for these programs has definitely improved inclusion and their numbers. Sure, there's still a lot of room for improvement but it is a significant step in the right direction. [/quote]

Has it? still mostly white and Asian kids across the board. Standardized tests aren’t going to start being forgiving to not-well rounded lower income minorities. The peer cohort will help middle class white and Asian kids compete against better rounded rich kids, that’s all. The testing for all will help a few diamonds in the rough but not many. There simply isn’t go to be a influx of ESOL or FARMs even if the drop their specific standards which they can’t effectively without being challenged in court. The local peer cohort can also be read as “how many white kids are in your class at the home school. Not enough? then here is a leg up for the schools within a school for your last shot of segregation if you don’t have a strong cohort in the DCC for instance.

Wonder what constitutes a strong peer group by the numbers, I bet the Venn diagram looks like a circle when compared to test score by race and SES[/quote]

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