Reply to Size & placement of regional magnet programs set to decimate non-host, non-rich schools

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why would any parent send their kids to a watered down “magnet”.  Won’t happen. Look at what they tried to do the IB programs at Watkins mill and Kennedy.  [/quote]

If the watered-down magnet offers much better classes than the home school does, then parents who can swing the logistics and have kids who want to get into selective colleges will almost feel like they have to send their kids to the magnets to get classes they can't get at the home school and have a peer group of academically focused and motivated kids.

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How do you know they will be watered down?[/quote]

As an example, WJ is designated as a Humanities school under the new model.  And yet, WJ is eliminating the APEX program as of next school year, which is arguably the only thing resembling a Humanities program at WJ.  They are "replacing it" with the AP Capstone, which is already offered at WJ and most high schools.  The AP Capstone is not a program, but a diploma designation for students who choose to take two particular AP courses, plus four other AP courses. [b] So the Humanities program at WJ is nothing new, it's watered down from the current APEX, and it's certainly not a Humanities program.[/b][/quote]

Thanks for this context. I'd been wondering what the Humanities program might be and how it would be different from IB. Knowing it's a rebranded APEX kind of helps, but I found the APEX program to be poorly defined as is.[/quote]

Just to clarify:  It's not rebranded APEX.  APEX is being entirely eliminated.  It is being sold as being replaced by AP Capstone.  But AP Capstone already exists at WJ and only involves students selecting two particular AP courses (AP Seminar and AP Research).  Students who successfully take those two classes and also take four other AP courses get a College Board designation on their diplomas saying AP Capstone.  This is already happening at WJ at at most other high schools in MCPS.  APEX is being elimated entirely and not being replaced by anything that does not already exists.  And yet, the new regional model labels WJ as a Humanities regional program.[/quote]

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