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][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]

I guess it depends on how you look at it.  Sure, let's say that 50% of the spots at TPMS and EMS now go to kids who would not have applied or been offered a spot under the previous process.  That's 100 6th graders, out of 12,000.  Great for them, but what about the other thousands of kids for whom that may mean little.  Or the fact that for kids - and they exist in droves - who could really use a rigorous educational program, taking away perceived opportunities at the MS magnets may sour them on the system.

There was an interesting article this week in the Economist about GT programs in the US.  They noted, as expected, de Blasio's efforts to change the make-up of the selective high schools in NYC.  But what was shocking was the following:  "[b]An astonishing 40% of high schools in the city do not teach chemistry, physics or upper-level algebra..."[/b]  Yes, great, the students who may be able to access the selective high schools in some future (because change hasn't happened yet) will benefit tremendously, but it's a crime that the NYC administration is making such a big deal about the selective high schools and its proposed changes when Rome is burning.

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This is bad but I am guessing that the kids there have not been academically prepared to succeed in those classes, not that the system is not capable of offering the classes.  Definitely the emphasis needs to be on solid ES and MS preparation.[/quote]

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