Reply to Impact of CAP/Poolesville Humanities/etc not being criteria-based anymore?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Can anyone with experience with these programs, or with the difference between criteria-based and interest-based programs more generally, speak to the potential impact of this and whether you think it is concerning or would work out fine?  How competitive/selective are these programs, and how much does the cohort makeup affect the experience?  Are the classes currently challenging enough that an interest-based cohort would be unlikely to be able to handle them and hence they would likely be watered down moving forward?  Would this be a modest change or a "these programs will no longer exist as we know them" kind of change?
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I have a rising senior in the Poolesville Humanities program and I thought you should hear directly from a student in one of these programs. Here's what my DD had to say.

While the program is challenging and competitive (60 seats per grade for the entirety of the upcounty region), the rigor alone is not what makes PHS Humanities so special.  The experience depends on students who are fast-paced learners, strong readers/writers and researchers, and motivated to form a tight-knit community with peers at their level. The cohort is the foundation of the experience. Being in classes with the same group of people throughout high school builds community, and that has been one of the best parts of going to PHS. I can't imagine myself anywhere else, and that's because of the people.

If you take away the cohort, Humanities is just a list of a bunch of AP classes that can be replicated at any school. 9th grade, AP Gov; 10th grade, AP Seminar and APUSH; 11th grade, AP Lang, AP World, and AP Art History; 12th grade, AP Research and AP Lit. Aside from two classes that were designed only for Humanities, you can get the full program experience anywhere....right? Except the cohort informs class discussions, the interdisciplinary projects, group work, field trips, etc. It just wouldn't be the same.

If it became interest-based, the rigor would definitely be reduced to accommodate the students who wouldn't previously have been accepted. I went to the middle school Humanities magnet at MLK, which became lottery-based during the pandemic starting with the class two years behind me. When I was in 8th grade, one of the program teachers confided that there was a noticeable difference in the abilities of the 6th graders and that the speed and rigor of the class were affected.

Ultimately, I haven't heard anything about this change from selective criteria-based to interest-based, but I hope it doesn't happen. Humanities would go from a program to a list of classes.[/quote]

Send your concern to BOE and cc Taylor and Nicky Porter. They have no idea about these.[/quote]

Of course Niki (Hazel) Porter knows (I imagine Taylor does, as well, but he's only been around a year vs. Porter's many, and this is within/very proximate to her sphere of influence, whereas Taylor has the whole kit and caboodle conpeting for his attention).

Support for it simply [i]isn't her interest[/i].[/quote]

Her job title is chief academy officer. Why does she hate rigor so much? And who gives her power to always move nonsense forward to drag down the entire system? I don’t think she is a villain but just incompetent. At what point can she be hold accountable?[/quote]

Watching the BOE meetings, Taylor seems very definite about his belief in the regional programming plan. I believe we need to hold him accountable.[/quote]

I think regional programming is a good idea, but the skew that makes the STEM programs criteria-based, but the Humanities program interest-based, demonstrates a lack of respect for Humanities and what they offer students. [/quote]

It appears that each high school is allowed only one criteria-based program - for Poolesville and Blair, these are their science-math magnets; humanities and communications programs at the schools have been shifted to interest-based programs.[/quote]
MCPS just spent more than $64 million designing and constructing Poolesville’s new building (which just opened in April of 2024) around these specific programs, and giving the building nearly 3 times the core capacity of the number of students who are actually zoned for it. Now they’re completely re-imagining these programs and rushing the implementation of changes. They sure are visionaries and great stewards of our resources.[/quote]

It will be interesting to see the funding that will be allocated to build to new regional program requirements. This, when we have multiple schools with terrible facility problems. [/quote]

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