Anonymous wrote:Cold Spring CES used to send 20+ students to TPMS which was more than any school before the magnet admission changes. Cold Spring has the highest scores in the county (including the non CES kids). Several of the feeder elementary schools also score extraordinarily high. The school and area is itself an outlier of high performers. The principal is great and the teachers are used to working with actual gifted and highly motivated students. It is a fantastic school for kids who really get into their work and have a perfectionist streak.

It would not be the greatest experience for a kid who is very smart but would rather play video games or ball outside in the afternoons. The downside of the new admission process is that the teacher recommendations used to catch which 99.9999% kid would be happy doing the work and which 99.99999% kid would not be happy doing the work.

Can't agree with the bolded part more.

Having had a kid who has thrive in the program, I would have reservations sending my second child despite the latter being a smarter student. Some kids benefit from the program while others seem to languish, and it does a number on their confidence entering middle school. I think parents get so excited being offered this opportunity that they think it is some golden opportunity without thinking about the whole child.

Cold Spring CES used to send 20+ students to TPMS which was more than any school before the magnet admission changes. Cold Spring has the highest scores in the county (including the non CES kids). Several of the feeder elementary schools also score extraordinarily high. The school and area is itself an outlier of high performers. The principal is great and the teachers are used to working with actual gifted and highly motivated students. It is a fantastic school for kids who really get into their work and have a perfectionist streak.

It would not be the greatest experience for a kid who is very smart but would rather play video games or ball outside in the afternoons. The downside of the new admission process is that the teacher recommendations used to catch which 99.9999% kid would be happy doing the work and which 99.99999% kid would not be happy doing the work.

Anonymous wrote:I have heard a mix of opinions regarding Cold Spring. In our experience, it is not cut out for every kid. 4th grade seem manageable but 5th grade can be quite intense with heavy and constant workload. If anything, I would say half of the kids benefit from the program while the other half likely would have done well staying at their local schools, especially if they came from a good ES. Parents are intense, although there is a small group who are open and friendlier. Kids are competitive with each other, and are unabashed in letting their peers know their unfiltered comments. While there is a group of kids who are terrific writers (and I assume they would have been good writers regardless of which school they attended), we were surprised at how many students are poor and disorganized writers and continue to be so. We feel the kids were not taught to write. It was more or less they are expected to do more of it. The program moves quickly that if kids have gaps in a certain academic skill, it would linger and fester. Almost all of the kids, even the ones who scored extremely high on the MAP tests, 5s on PARCC and get straight A's will not get into the magnet MS so they will be returning to their local MS. If social transition is an issue for your child, this is something to consider. Overall, if you have a kid who has great work ethics and seeks a challenge, willing to put in the time to learn, is somewhat organize and can time manage, can work independently, could be motivated to write, and is socially comfortable with such transitions, Cold Spring will be a great place to be. Outside of that, I would consider the alternative. Good luck to all in helping your kids with this decision!

12:16 here. I agree with all of this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^so all students get the Latin, Shakespeare, and Social Studies with the fabulous 5th grade teacher. Once she retires, no more of the first two and a good piece of what's special about Cold Spring will be gone. In my opinion, the other three teachers and curriculum are not all that much better than our excellent home school, and socially it is much less relaxed.

Also agree that students are expected to jump into substantial writing projects without ever having been properly taught the fundamentals. We had to teach DS them in order for him to complete his assignments at first.

Isn’t she 68 this year?

A very youthful 68, I'd say. She could easily teach for another decade if she wishes. I am being very honest when I say to parents of prospective students that I would try to ascertain whether she'll be there for 5th when their kids come up. I am not certain the magnet program would be worth leaving the home school if not, but I also am not familiar with the quality of all the feeder ESs. I just assume given Potomac/Bethesda, they are quite good already.

Anonymous wrote:The principal is fantastic. There’s one truly fantastic 5th grade teacher who has been there forever and everyone loves. The other 5th grade teacher has a history of issues and would be a very bad fit for a child who is highly gifted but has an IEP or 504. Can’t say much about 4th grade.

They put on a Shakespeare play in 5th which everyone always looks forward to.

The kids are very intense and competitive about grades and scores as are the parents. Of course, there are always some exceptions.

The school tries to integrate the program by having the CES kids interact with the regular classrooms but it does seem like there’s little social interaction.

Not many kids go from CES to magnets so don’t choose the CES based on that hope alone.

Is there a difference in magnet chances if the same student graduates from Cold Spring CES vs home elementary school? That would be bizarre.

Anonymous wrote:^^so all students get the Latin, Shakespeare, and Social Studies with the fabulous 5th grade teacher. Once she retires, no more of the first two and a good piece of what's special about Cold Spring will be gone. In my opinion, the other three teachers and curriculum are not all that much better than our excellent home school, and socially it is much less relaxed.

Also agree that students are expected to jump into substantial writing projects without ever having been properly taught the fundamentals. We had to teach DS them in order for him to complete his assignments at first.

Isn’t she 68 this year?

^^so all students get the Latin, Shakespeare, and Social Studies with the fabulous 5th grade teacher. Once she retires, no more of the first two and a good piece of what's special about Cold Spring will be gone. In my opinion, the other three teachers and curriculum are not all that much better than our excellent home school, and socially it is much less relaxed.

Also agree that students are expected to jump into substantial writing projects without ever having been properly taught the fundamentals. We had to teach DS them in order for him to complete his assignments at first.

It will be a very sad day when the well-loved 5th grade teacher retires, but I think she's still passionate about teaching and will remain in the near term. Agree there's not a lot of love for the other 5th grade teacher. Not particularly nice and lacks creativity, just lots of boring worksheets. But since they switch teachers for different subjects, doesn't really matter if you're assigned to her for home room. But there is a real contrast with 4th, since those teachers display more creative pedagogy, having the kids play math games, sudoku and so on. There is a new science teacher (heard nice things about the former one who retired recently), but DC never said much there. In terms of content, seemed good.

Anonymous wrote:The principal is fantastic. There’s one truly fantastic 5th grade teacher who has been there forever and everyone loves. The other 5th grade teacher has a history of issues and would be a very bad fit for a child who is highly gifted but has an IEP or 504. Can’t say much about 4th grade.

They put on a Shakespeare play in 5th which everyone always looks forward to.

The kids are very intense and competitive about grades and scores as are the parents. Of course, there are always some exceptions.

The school tries to integrate the program by having the CES kids interact with the regular classrooms but it does seem like there’s little social interaction.

Not many kids go from CES to magnets so don’t choose the CES based on that hope alone.

The fifth grade teacher who everyone adores is at retirement age so don’t be surprise that when your kid is in fifth that she is no longer teaching. As for the other 5th grade teacher, we have heard similar grumblings.

The principal is fantastic. There’s one truly fantastic 5th grade teacher who has been there forever and everyone loves. The other 5th grade teacher has a history of issues and would be a very bad fit for a child who is highly gifted but has an IEP or 504. Can’t say much about 4th grade.

They put on a Shakespeare play in 5th which everyone always looks forward to.

The kids are very intense and competitive about grades and scores as are the parents. Of course, there are always some exceptions.

The school tries to integrate the program by having the CES kids interact with the regular classrooms but it does seem like there’s little social interaction.

Not many kids go from CES to magnets so don’t choose the CES based on that hope alone.

I have heard a mix of opinions regarding Cold Spring. In our experience, it is not cut out for every kid. 4th grade seem manageable but 5th grade can be quite intense with heavy and constant workload. If anything, I would say half of the kids benefit from the program while the other half likely would have done well staying at their local schools, especially if they came from a good ES. Parents are intense, although there is a small group who are open and friendlier. Kids are competitive with each other, and are unabashed in letting their peers know their unfiltered comments. While there is a group of kids who are terrific writers (and I assume they would have been good writers regardless of which school they attended), we were surprised at how many students are poor and disorganized writers and continue to be so. We feel the kids were not taught to write. It was more or less they are expected to do more of it. The program moves quickly that if kids have gaps in a certain academic skill, it would linger and fester. Almost all of the kids, even the ones who scored extremely high on the MAP tests, 5s on PARCC and get straight A's will not get into the magnet MS so they will be returning to their local MS. If social transition is an issue for your child, this is something to consider. Overall, if you have a kid who has great work ethics and seeks a challenge, willing to put in the time to learn, is somewhat organize and can time manage, can work independently, could be motivated to write, and is socially comfortable with such transitions, Cold Spring will be a great place to be. Outside of that, I would consider the alternative. Good luck to all in helping your kids with this decision!

Thank you.

Academically pretty intense, traditionally very strong cohort in math and somewhat more mixed in writing and humanities.

Predominantly Asian students--nothing wrong with that, just an observation. Kids have a great work ethic, will commit and put in the time and effort necessary to succeed. It was really great for DD to be a part of this kind of cohort, since she had gotten too used to being a top student while coasting in prior grades. The CES was an adjustment for her at first, but an important and valuable one that cultivated a stronger work ethic in the end. She did miss her social life at the home school, and did not really replace those friends at the CES, but was not unhappy because she was so excited about the learning opportunities.

A few students drop out each year due to the challenging HW load and/or poor grades. My DD is a strong writer, but slow and meticulous, so at times found it challenging to keep up with assignments. Still she kept at it and grew tremendously by the end of the program.

Large-ish classes, so don't expect much one-on-one attention. The male teacher in 4th is newer, but very kind, and there is an exceptional 5th grade humanities teacher everyone adores. The other two teachers are fine, competent in gifted instruction just not quite standouts in the same way. The opportunity to learn a little Latin and read/perform a Shakespeare play in 5th is special, don't think other CESs have that.

All in all, the curriculum was well worth it, and DD says she is very happy she has had the experience. Because most of the Cold Spring kids now return to their home MSs under the new magnet admissions process, she will have a number of CS kids in her classes in the future. It seems reasonable to think this strong peer group will elevate standards, and she will have friends from her home ES as well, so transition to MS with the new enriched classes should be good.

No program or curriculum is perfect, but we found Cold Spring to be a big plus overall.

Very bad experience?

Any feedback is appreciated?