Anonymous wrote:

It's not worth the drama of a MPIA request (I think that would create SO much drama and I'm not willing to blow the goodwill I've built up there on it), but it's a good option to know about, so thanks.

An MPIA request wouldn't create drama. The request goes to the central office; here's the procedure: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/news/mpia-info-sheet.pdf

You would say something like, "I would like all of the records about the race and sex of applicants, waitlisted students, and admitted students for [your HGC] for the 2014-2015 application year. Please let me know if this request will cost more than [however much you're willing to pay]. Also, if you withhold any records from disclosure due to one of the exceptions in the MPIA, please list each record and the relevant exception."

By the way, thanks to state senator Jamie Raskin, the General Assembly amended the MPIA this year, which might help to shake loose some records from MCPS: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-sun-investigates-pia-20150418-story.html

OP here. Thanks, all. I don't think our ES is intentionally excluding kids based on sex, but I don't totally trust them to be administering the tests well or putting their best effort into recommendations, etc.

The admin in general is very uncommunicative and opaque and the principal has a history of seeming to not want kids to leave the school for special programs, not wanting to do anything beyond the usual, insisting that the status quo in all things is GREAT and discouraging parents from seeking information or improvements or advocating for their kids. She doesn't seem to encourage people to excel, all around. So if I trusted the principal and things were a little less opaque, I wouldn't feel so paranoid.

It's not worth the drama of a MPIA request (I think that would create SO much drama and I'm not willing to blow the goodwill I've built up there on it), but it's a good option to know about, so thanks.

The randomness year-to-year anecdotes helped. Part of my confusion was that many girls from other schools that I know got in, in fact almost every girl friend my daughter has outside of her ES. Girls that seemed to me to be all over the spectrum, to put it bluntly/honestly, in terms of how suited they'd be to a gifted program. I guess they just tested well, though, and I'm sure there are things I don't know about them. I know this sounds like sour grapes, believe me, and I don't mean it to! I'm not convinced the HGC would be best for my (wait listed) kid anyway. I just get sick of everything being so damn opaque at MCPS. I just want to understand the options well and be able to advocate for my kid and trust that someone at the school is doing the same. I feel like not only do I have to ask questions to find anything out, sometimes it's hard even to know that questions should be asked about something!

Not sure why this would matter. You really think they are excluding kids based on race or sex. That is illegal. Highly doubt this is happening. HGC is all about the test. The top kids on the test get in. The ones on the borderline they look at other data. Unless your kid scored above the median on 2 out of the 3 sections of the test they might not get in. End of story.

They could provide he sex/race data for each HGC without implicating student privacy. The feeder school would probably be too identifying,

Anonymous wrote:Write a letter citing FERPA if you want to see all the material pertaining to your child's HGC application -- tests, tests answers, teacher recs, what principal said, score sheet for essays, etc.

Write a FOIA (or actually a MPIA) letter if you want to get the data about HGC applications and admittance by race or sex.

Either way get the data -- transparency does us all a favor.

The MPIA only gives you a right to see the records the school district already has. Do you think that the school district tabulates data about HGC applications and admittance by race or sex? Also, there is an exception in the MPIA for student records, including records that would allow the requester to match individual students with the records. So I doubt that a MPIA request would get the OP what the OP wants. I guess it can't hurt to ask.

Write a letter citing FERPA if you want to see all the material pertaining to your child's HGC application -- tests, tests answers, teacher recs, what principal said, score sheet for essays, etc.

Write a FOIA (or actually a MPIA) letter if you want to get the data about HGC applications and admittance by race or sex.

Either way get the data -- transparency does us all a favor.

With my first kid, there were 7 accepted, 4 girls and 3 boys.

With my second, there were 5 accepted, 4 boys and 1 girl.

It really varies. The school gets the data on every student who applies- they get their test scores and information on who was accepted, on WL, etc. Not that the school will necessarily give that info to you, but you could probably ask around.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The year that my DC applied (and was rejected from) an HGC, there were 8 or 9 girls from our home school who were accepted, and only one boy. I'm sure it varies from year to year.

+1 Last year it was mostly boys at our HGC. Principal said in previous years it's been more girl heavy. As PP stated, varies from year to year. Really, there is no quota.

This. Plus our school had heavy boy acceptance into HGC, but other schools had heavy girls. Then the classes are also weighted towards boys because even the girls who do get admitted turn it down with more frequency than the boys.

For my kid #1, there were 4 students accepted (2 boys, 2 girls). For my kid #2, there were 7 (4 boys, 3 girls).

it changes yearly. from our es, we have had as many as 8-9 get accepted and as few a 2. boy/girl ratio changes as well.

Anonymous wrote:The year that my DC applied (and was rejected from) an HGC, there were 8 or 9 girls from our home school who were accepted, and only one boy. I'm sure it varies from year to year.

+1 Last year it was mostly boys at our HGC. Principal said in previous years it's been more girl heavy. As PP stated, varies from year to year. Really, there is no quota.

The year that my DC applied (and was rejected from) an HGC, there were 8 or 9 girls from our home school who were accepted, and only one boy. I'm sure it varies from year to year.

saw a post a while ago saying a specific HGC has all Asian boys. Turns out not true. The boy/girl is about half/half. Impression is unreliable some times. Think slow.

Take them to court. You'll see the data.

There's no way to know how many or who from your ES got into the HGC, is there? I have heard of a few boys through the grapevine and not one single girl. Our school had a stink last year about very few boys and even fewer girls selected for Compacted Math - parents were mad at our ES admin but as far as I know nothing concrete came of it - so I'm wondering what's going on, but I can't tell because there's no real data. Any ideas?