Reply to MS Magnet admissions: are CES students at a disadvantage?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]From the document describing the selection process (I have highlighted the last sentence by bolding it):

Goal of Choice
To effectively and efficiently meet the 
instructional needs of all highly able learners by 
identifying a myriad of ways to ensure that they 
are receiving instruction to meet their needs.

Purpose of Program
Although many students would benefit from a 
selective magnet program experience, [b]the 
intent of the program is to serve students who 
lack an academic cohort in their home school. [/b]

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/msmagnet/about/Middle%20school%20magnet%20selection%20process%20overview.PDF

I am not sure how narrowly they are defining an academic cohort.  It nearly looks like they are identifying a large number of "highly able" learners and then using the geography criteria to make their final selections.  
If you look at the number of "highly able" learners they identify it is quite a large number - just looking at the COGAT Q results nearly 800 students from 19 sending middle schools (MCPS has 40 middle schools with a total enrollment of 36,000).  
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/msmagnet/about/MS%20Magnet%20Field%20Test%20Data%20by%20Sending%20MS.pdf

This is probably how they are justifying their decision to pick a 88th percentile kid over a 99th percentile kid.    Are they saying that any child in the top 15 percent is equally qualified for the magnet programs?  
I would argue that any child in the top 15 percent is qualified to take an advanced class in their home middle school but the magnet programs should really be for the top 3-5% of students who are in a different cohort from the top 15%.  [/quote]

They essentially say that with regards to the CES.  Our CES had a Wait List last year of about 80 kids.  MCPS told parents that the Wait Lit was a pure lottery system.  Meaning that every one of those kids on the Wait List was equally qualified to get into the CES.

Which of course, leads to the question of why they don’t expand the program so that all the kids who should be admitted, do get admitted.  Different discussion though.[/quote]
If they expand the program that much it would totally change the program especially at the high school and middle school level.
There are more students in MCPS today and so there is a real argument to be made to open a new middle school magnet perhaps in N. Bethesda so kids in Potomac and N. Rockville don't have long commutes.  There is also a real need for more advanced offerings in middle school and the two new classes are a great first step.  There is no doubt that MCPS had a large pool of highly able students who were not sufficiently served in middle school.
This top tier (the top 10-20% of students) has needs that are not really met until high school when they get an opportunity to take AP classes etc.

What I do not like is MCPS lumping kids in the top 5% in with kids in the top 10-20%.  Yes they are all highly able but the top 5% needs a much more specialized curriculum.  This is the cohort traditionally served by Eastern, Takoma Park and Blair SMAC.  The peer group is these programs has traditionally been quite distinctive and the pace, rigor and breadth of their curricula is a reflection of the abilities and interests of their students.  If you change the student body, the programs themselves will slowly change.

It is a large school system with a very diverse student body and MCPS needs to properly serve all its constituents - the highly able, the exceptionally able, the ESOL kids, the kids with special needs etc.[/quote]

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