Reply to Magnet MS results - Takoma Park & Eastern

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If I were to guess, MCPS had various test minimums they were looking for, but they didn't give much extra weight to an applicant based on how high in the 99th percentile a score might be.  After that, they consider teacher recommendation, written response--subjective criterion--but, everyone in the pool is more than capable of attending the magnet.  I'm doubting that zip was a big part of the process.  But students who have been expecting admission based on an extra high test scores would find themselves in a much bigger pool.  If those students really are clustered in a given zip code, well ... 40 page thread.[/quote]

Why are you posting to this thread? There weren't even any teacher recs this year. And they already did say that the cohort of your home school was a consideration. Clearly the kids that got in from the Western county schools probably didn't have a peer at an Eastern county school, or not a peer that was as good a fit for the magnet, or the committee realized they had to accept someone from those schools or it would just look too bad. I'm in the DCC for the record, so I don't have a dog in that fight. My kid didn't get in, but our home middle school is in Silver Spring. The county just does not have enough enrichment and accleration opportunity at the middle school level. This whole thing is absolutely ridiculous. Screening 4000 kids for 200 spots? Pretending that only 200 kids need or deserve enrichment or acceleration? Leaving it up to parents to advocate with the home  school principal for this? Come on. That's a joke.[/quote]

My bad, [i]academic record[/i] instead of recommendations.  I'm in the same boat as you, DCC student heading to home school and I've been through this before, so I haven't spent enough time figuring out what has changed but I believe a change was in order (even though it hasn't benefitted my child either).  It has always been the case that there are not enough slots for the kids who are capable and could benefit from the magnets.  It is always hard on the ones who don't get in and it's true the home schools offer nothing remotely similar.  I actually find it encouraging that the letter suggests parents badger their home schools for change.  I know people read this as foisting work onto parents, but I suspect this wording wouldn't be approved if there weren't actually some plans in place to support these changes.  Let's hope and let's work toward that, because the magnets are a false hope for too many.  If Cold Spring is the ultimate injustice, remember even in the good ole days, half the students were sen't back to their home school.

I have no idea what has changed this year, just like everyone else here.  There are the complaints that CS is underrepresented and the suggestions of discrimination but we don't know who has benefitted.  Personally I think a wider net does mean they've found more students [i]everywhere[/i] and this means fewer spots for groups that traditionally are over represented.

I believe for the magnet to be just, it needs to be available to anyone with an MCPS education who has a remarkable track record and excels on the screening test.  And if that's the net that's cast there are far too many students for the number of magnet seats.  If there are also students who are years ahead of the MCPS curriculum, of course they should be considered for the magnets, but they shouldn't be guaranteed a spot and they shouldn't make it impossible for someone who has shown great potential with fewer resources to get into the program.  Why?  Because no matter how that student has become so advanced, clearly things are already working for them.  They shouldn't be penalized, but they sure don't need a leg up.  If a correction like this has occurred in the selection process, it's a good thing.

But the bigger issue is the magnets have been a distraction from demanding better instruction at the home schools.  DCUM is a poor source of data, but just look at how many threads about curriculum get shoe horned back to a discussion of the magnets.  Any simple question is met with, [i]well that's not how it works at the magnet[/i] and the implicit [i]guess your DC wasn't magnet material, what did you expect?[/i][/quote]

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