Anonymous wrote:Parent of a 5th grader that got a spot in this Magnet program. We have 11 days to accept. We will attend next week’s welcome night, but want to hear from current families what we should look out for and what questions to ask.

Is it official that the magnet will switch to the CKLA English curriculum?

If so, how does this affect the interdisciplinary nature of the program? Will the other curriculums change to fit CKLA?

Am I understanding correctly that Eastern, TP and Blair Magnet kids ride the same bus?!?

How is the music program? Why only afterschool band for credit and not orchestra? Why don't all MS have the after school music for credit option?

Lunch at 10:17?!?!

Anonymous wrote:I think BOE has approved MCPS's exploration of a new social studies curriculum for MS. But I expect that when the time comes, BOE won't say no to that curriculum. And then it will start Fall 2026.

Anonymous wrote:I was looking on the Eastern website for info on open house timing (January FYI) and came across this video about the current English class:

Looks like a wonderful course that the kids really enjoy and get a lot out of-- such a shame MCPS is looking to kill it.

(My 4th grader, who loves to read and write, hates CKLA, even the enriched cohorted version. It's so depressing to think that she will have no possible alternative to 4.5 more years of it, when she's a kid who I think would absolutely love and excel at an actually engaging English class like the one at Eastern ..)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So the real question is even though a new MS social studies curriculum is approved, how will that impact the MS Humanities magnets? Prob too early to know.

One one end, I could see them force change in the new school year, completely revamping the program. On the other, maybe the MS will just blow off the curriculum change and let the program continue as it has. Too early to know.

There are two separate issues:

1). MCPS wants to get rid of the above-grade-level English curriculum at the Humanities magnet and replace it with a boxed curriculum with some enriched "add ons," probably CKLA. They have announced this and parents are trying to push back but I don't know if they've made any progress on that or not. See here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vAnyPLxfh0vR9JMncj3SlqpM6R3N6JDYVx_-Y9Z2qtk and thread here: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1295472.page
2) MCPS has to revise 6th & 7th grade social studies for all middle school students. It is not yet clear if they will revise the HiGH curriculum too, or just have all kids in one on-level social studies class. (Would not be surprised if they drop HIGH and instead switch to "CKLA with enrichment" as the enriched option in local schools for kids who lose out in the lottery for the humanities magnets, either in cohorts or in mixed-level classes, similar to how they are doing 4th and 5th grade enriched literacy right now, which does not seem to be going well.)

More here as well: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1296561.page#30953613

Anonymous wrote:So the real question is even though a new MS social studies curriculum is approved, how will that impact the MS Humanities magnets? Prob too early to know.

One one end, I could see them force change in the new school year, completely revamping the program. On the other, maybe the MS will just blow off the curriculum change and let the program continue as it has. Too early to know.