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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]Takoma Park schools are recognized for their diverse student body and racial and socioeconomic diversity. While this may result in lower test averages compared to more segregated areas, these schools still provide the best educational opportunities available in Montgomery County.

TPES stands out for hosting the county's only elementary school magnet program, which includes enriched and accelerated math courses. Additionally, TPES is a focus school with smaller class sizes than other schools. For instance, their kindergarten class previously had only 16 students during DC's tenure.

PBES, on the other hand, offers an exceptional local CES program that provides an outstanding learning experience for students. With only 1-2 classes per grade and around 200 students in each grade, there is ample space for 15%-25% of the students to participate. However, the program remains competitive, and even students who score highly on the CogAT can be waitlisted due to the lottery system.

TPMS is the home of the highly-regarded MS STEM magnet program, providing selected students with enriched math, science, and computer science courses. With only 100 seats available, it's a highly competitive program. However, an additional 25 seats are set aside for in-boundary students. About a third of the TPMS magnet students end up at Blair SMSC STEM magnet. The TPMS math team is also a highly regarded EC. Students compete at the highest levels often in high-school contests. Many of these opportunities aren't available at other schools.

Blair High School, which serves the Takoma Park area. The TPMS magnet does a fantastic job preparing students for the Blair STEM magnet. Nevertheless, (any) students who meet the prerequisites can take advanced magnet classes in 11th and 12th grades, such as Cell Biology, Complex Analysis, Linear Algebra, or AI Programming. Interestingly, white students at Blair had the highest average SAT score of any MCPS school, averaging 1326. Some claim this was due to the magnet, which seems unlikely since it's primarily Asian. Blair remains a fine school with numerous opportunities for academic enrichment. People often remark that it's very well organized and run. [/quote]

The magnet programming at TPES ended several years ago. [/quote]

And they haven’t taken COGAT in MCPS since 2019.[/quote]

What is cogat? I’m not following the implication [/quote]

The point is that the weird advertising post that sounds like it’s copy and paste from somewhere else is out of date. [b]COGAT is an IQ test[/b] that kids took in 2nd (I think) and 5th grade and was used to inform selection to CES and middle school magnets. It’s been suspended since the pandemic. Now MAP scores are the only standardized test considered. It’s unclear if that might change for next year.[/quote]

No, CogAT is not an IQ test, which measures intelligence. CogAT measures reasoning and problem-solving abilities.[/quote]

Yes, that poster is misinformed and suffers from a bad case of Blair envy. They gave a version of the CogAT 3rd and 5th before the pandemic. I don't see the need for more testing either. With MCAP and MAP they have enough standardized tests to make informed decisions. [/quote]

I guess I’m suffering from so much “Blair envy” that Blair is my home school and my kid is in the Blair magnet… I’m not sure what is “Blair envy” about pointing out that they haven’t taken Cogat since 2019 (and it basically is an IQ test with all the flaws that IQ tests have).[/quote]

My kid too! However, the CogAT is NOT an IQ test; it focuses on reasoning skills related to school success. Kids always did the same on it as every other standardized test, so I don't see the need for additional testing especially since it won't tell us anything new.[/quote]

It’s an aptitude test which is basically the same thing with the “score”. It’s not testing what’s been taught or knowledge.[/quote]

Well provided you don't consider familiarity with the CogAT question types something one is taught. :D[/quote]

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