Reply to TPMS MAP-M scores

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, did MCPS share these MAP scores or did you personally ask everyone you know at TPMS?

Don't be so insecure. People on this board do not think your particular child is unworthy. There have always been far fewer spots than deserving children. Not to mention the program has never truly been about serving the smartest children. It was created to keep white students in the eastern downcounty schools. The selection process is now being revised so the program can be a tool to reduce the achievement gap.

My kids were tested 2 and 4 years ago and did not get in despite having Map-M scores that were in the high 270s. They also scored slightly higher than the median of those admitted on the entrance test (MCPS used to send the median scores on each section of the test of those admitted to the magnet). The process was not transparent then, and it is not transparent now.

There is a distinct difference between the magnet curriculum and home school curriculums.[b] People feel like their kids could benefit from the magnet curriculum, but have no access to it despite having various test scores that label them advanced and/or gifted amongst their peers.  [/b]

Your child was lucky and got a spot (luck has always been part of the process, not just ability). There are hundreds of additional kids who could benefit from a magnet program and have no access to it. This is why people are mad. MCPS should absolutely create more spots in the magnet programs (and create a program in the western part of downcounty).  They won't, because, it is not going to help the achievement gap, and it will increase the demographic imbalance in these programs.[/quote]

I agree, it has always been the case that there are more kids who could benefit from the program than spaces available.  The difference now is that more students from across the ENTIRE county are benefitting from the program.  The other difference is that for most of the strong students who did not get a space due to space, they do have other intellectual peers at their home schools and opportunities to engage in deeper discussions, more more quickly through curriculum and learn with other students who think like them.  In the past, many of the strong students who weren't selected were in schools where there were only a few other students working on similar levels and there was little opportunity for in depth discussion or working with similar level peers on a project.

Many on DCUM have said that the new process has created lower performing cohorts in the magnets and that some of the students there are "non-deserving" or less-deserving than their students.  I applaud the OP for sharing his/her experiences and sharing that the cohort seems similarly strong even with a slightly different process in place, although I also agree with the PP that luck has always been a part of the process in addition to ability and there have always been many deserving students who did not have access to the magnets due to parents not understanding the process or not completing the application.

It's unfortunate that the number of seats hasn't changed in the magnets even though other efforts have been made to increase access/number of students considered.  However to say it's now unfair and wasn't unfair before is just not accurate.  There have always strong students who did not have access to the magnets.  [/quote]

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