Reply to Two paths to magnet program at Richard Montgomery High School

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Actually they don't. They are funded from a different bucket altogether by MCPS.

Magnet programs do the following - 
-> Bring the academic scores of the school up
-> Lower the discipline issues in the school
-> Bring parents who have more resources to the school (usually you see the changes when parents start/fund programs, volunteer to chaperone field-trips, donate to school causes, start clubs, seek out outside opportunities for the students) and are more engaged.  RM parents started an IB Foundation a few years ago that benefits all students doing the diploma program not just RMIB magnet students
-> [b]Provide opportunities to other high-achieving non-magnet students within the school to be in a class with high performing peers and also to avail of opportunities that are opened up because of the magnet population - teams, clubs, volunteer opportunities, outreach, academic preparation[/b]
-> Becomes attractive to teachers who want to teach these students. Once these teachers are in the school they also take on other roles - club sponsors, team leads etc. 
-> Make the area attractive to prospective home-buyers and lead to revitalization of that community.

What it does not do - 
-> Increase the academic abilities of low and medium performing students.  Magnet classrooms do not create the phenomenon where by mixing magnet students with non-magnet students will result in some sort of osmosis of abilities from high performing students to low performing students.    Regardless of what MCPS is daydreaming. Not. Gonna. Happen.

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That's what OP is complaining about.[/quote]

Nope.  This is not what OP is complaining about.  There are many high achieving students in a school with a magnet program who are not in the program.  The grouping however is not done in a way that a few students who are high achieving (not exceptional) are placed in classroom with majority magnet students.   The original idea was these few students who are perhaps slightly below their magnet peers will benefit from this co-mingling in the non-magnet classes.

However, MCPS is great in fucking up good ideas.  In many magnet MS programs it is easy to see that these groupings are thrown out of the window.  Few magnet students are sprinkled in these classes with students of all levels, helping no one.  It is an MCPS-wide phenomenon.  I am not at all surprised that OP is complaining.  In the guise of making things accessible they are diluting the cohort strength because they are not basing it on merit.  Yes, RM should absolutely take RM students in RMIB program in the 10th grade, but it should be an application and exam based application.  This is not a barrier to entry for students who deserve to be there, regardless of race.

RMIB has several ec activities that anyone with skill can enter - robotics, its academic etc.  These opportunities have become available because of the number of magnet kids who provide the necessary numbers to have them in the first place.

Can RM survive without the RMIB program? No.  The Principal (who is basically a puppet of MCPS) would not want to lose this program from his school and neither would the teachers. All the great numbers would plummet. The school is not doing great. Its the magnet students who are propping up the school.  
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