Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s teally good that we were given the MCPS percentiles in addition to the national percentiles. It really paints the picture for me. I have twins. One scored in the 99th percentile nationally on a particular section of the CogAT, but only in the 93rd percentile for MCPS. The other scored in the 98th percentile nationally on that section, but only in the 85th percentile in MCPS. Another poster that their child scored in the 97th percentile nationally on that section, but in the 83rd percentile in MCPS. That tellls me that among the fifth graders in MCPS who took the CogAT this year, roughly 7-8% were in the 99th percentile nationally for that test section and another 7-8% were in the 98th% nationally. Two kids could both be in the 99th% on a MAP test but have scores that are 20 points apart. If 3% or less of MCPS fifth graders get accepted into the competitive magnets, then they can’t take all the students who have always been in the 99th% nationally on all tests because there aren’t that many seats in the program. The selection committee had to try to determine what separated one 99th% from another. In the end, I’m sure there was a certain amount of luck involved because they were probably looking at very small differences in lots of cases. When you add in the consideration for home middle school cohort, well, it’s easy to see why many parents can’t understand why their very high performing child didn’t get in and it seems unfair to parents because the home cohort aspect is something they couldn’t control for and cannot understand because they don’t get to see the grades and test scores of other students. How do you ever really know how your child compares to other students if even the 99% kids aren’t all the same?

I tried to make your point last year without the MCPS average data. My 99% kid didn't get in and 2 of DC's classmates did. They were also 99%, but I knew that they scored higher on MAP tests and their raw Cogat scores were higher. My child's school was also listed as one with a high number of cohort kids. This process seems obvious to me! I suspect some people of lying and using the National percentiles to explain the rejections OR their kids scored on the lower end of 99% for other measures such as MAP and PARCC. Is it possible that some kids were overlooked, yes; but I don't think it is a systemic issue because someone would have sued to make sure MCPS couldn't do the same thing 2 years in a row.

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s teally good that we were given the MCPS percentiles in addition to the national percentiles. It really paints the picture for me. I have twins. One scored in the 99th percentile nationally on a particular section of the CogAT, but only in the 93rd percentile for MCPS. The other scored in the 98th percentile nationally on that section, but only in the 85th percentile in MCPS. Another poster that their child scored in the 97th percentile nationally on that section, but in the 83rd percentile in MCPS. That tellls me that among the fifth graders in MCPS who took the CogAT this year, roughly 7-8% were in the 99th percentile nationally for that test section and another 7-8% were in the 98th% nationally. Two kids could both be in the 99th% on a MAP test but have scores that are 20 points apart. If 3% or less of MCPS fifth graders get accepted into the competitive magnets, then they can’t take all the students who have always been in the 99th% nationally on all tests because there aren’t that many seats in the program. The selection committee had to try to determine what separated one 99th% from another. In the end, I’m sure there was a certain amount of luck involved because they were probably looking at very small differences in lots of cases. When you add in the consideration for home middle school cohort, well, it’s easy to see why many parents can’t understand why their very high performing child didn’t get in and it seems unfair to parents because the home cohort aspect is something they couldn’t control for and cannot understand because they don’t get to see the grades and test scores of other students. How do you ever really know how your child compares to other students if even the 99% kids aren’t all the same?

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s teally good that we were given the MCPS percentiles in addition to the national percentiles. It really paints the picture for me. I have twins. One scored in the 99th percentile nationally on a particular section of the CogAT, but only in the 93rd percentile for MCPS. The other scored in the 98th percentile nationally on that section, but only in the 85th percentile in MCPS. Another poster that their child scored in the 97th percentile nationally on that section, but in the 83rd percentile in MCPS. That tellls me that among the fifth graders in MCPS who took the CogAT this year, roughly 7-8% were in the 99th percentile nationally for that test section and another 7-8% were in the 98th% nationally. Two kids could both be in the 99th% on a MAP test but have scores that are 20 points apart. If 3% or less of MCPS fifth graders get accepted into the competitive magnets, then they can’t take all the students who have always been in the 99th% nationally on all tests because there aren’t that many seats in the program. The selection committee had to try to determine what separated one 99th% from another. In the end, I’m sure there was a certain amount of luck involved because they were probably looking at very small differences in lots of cases. When you add in the consideration for home middle school cohort, well, it’s easy to see why many parents can’t understand why their very high performing child didn’t get in and it seems unfair to parents because the home cohort aspect is something they couldn’t control for and cannot understand because they don’t get to see the grades and test scores of other students. How do you ever really know how your child compares to other students if even the 99% kids aren’t all the same?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Relying on lottery to get off wait list, or for any school placement, is a joke. What's the lesson here? Tell the kids to work hard, do their best, study, even from kindergarten, then know that it's all for nothing and they are just lucky or not?

The lottery waitlist is cruel - at least that should be ranked by feeder middle school, if the cohort thing is so important.

I completely agree. Last year, some people were saying they have until the end of the summer to decide whether to send their child to a magnet. Meanwhile, there are families selling their homes, moving to new towns, paying for private school contracts that may be hard to afford, just so someone can make a last-minute decision. Why is there no hard acceptance deadline?

Anonymous wrote:Relying on lottery to get off wait list, or for any school placement, is a joke. What's the lesson here? Tell the kids to work hard, do their best, study, even from kindergarten, then know that it's all for nothing and they are just lucky or not?

The lottery waitlist is cruel - at least that should be ranked by feeder middle school, if the cohort thing is so important.

Anonymous wrote:You know that didn’t happen. More like everyone noticed students in the magnet were all coming from the same home middle school. Hey, why don’t we let these kids stay at their home school and give them high level instruction and keep the magnet for those who don’t have a peer cohort? You know? Like a *magnet school* should operate: drawing students from all over.

Anonymous wrote:Relying on lottery to get off wait list, or for any school placement, is a joke. What's the lesson here? Tell the kids to work hard, do their best, study, even from kindergarten, then know that it's all for nothing and they are just lucky or not?

The lottery waitlist is cruel - at least that should be ranked by feeder middle school, if the cohort thing is so important.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If these threads are to be believed, this argument is turning into Chinese moms from the west county against white liberal moms from the east county. Meanwhile, MCPS really can run its system any way it wants.

Definitely East vs West.

Chinese vs White is secondary and will soon be blurred as people make strategic housing decisions for magnet admission.

Problem is that since the diversity situation is not improving, the easiest way forward is closing magnets altogether.

There is zero chance that people will begin moving to Silver Spring to game the magnet admissions process. I am one of the liberal moms who is happy here but make no mistake, Chinese parents and wealthy white patents are absolutely allergic to our neighborhoods. They will never move here.

Who said actually move? Homeschool 8th grade + rent a room in Silver Spring to establish residency.

Not everyone can afford to have a stay-at-home parent to homeschool and/or pay for an extra residence.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If these threads are to be believed, this argument is turning into Chinese moms from the west county against white liberal moms from the east county. Meanwhile, MCPS really can run its system any way it wants.

Definitely East vs West.

Chinese vs White is secondary and will soon be blurred as people make strategic housing decisions for magnet admission.

Problem is that since the diversity situation is not improving, the easiest way forward is closing magnets altogether.

There is zero chance that people will begin moving to Silver Spring to game the magnet admissions process. I am one of the liberal moms who is happy here but make no mistake, Chinese parents and wealthy white patents are absolutely allergic to our neighborhoods. They will never move here.

Who said actually move? Homeschool 8th grade + rent a room in Silver Spring to establish residency.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If these threads are to be believed, this argument is turning into Chinese moms from the west county against white liberal moms from the east county. Meanwhile, MCPS really can run its system any way it wants.

Definitely East vs West.

Chinese vs White is secondary and will soon be blurred as people make strategic housing decisions for magnet admission.

Problem is that since the diversity situation is not improving, the easiest way forward is closing magnets altogether.

There is zero chance that people will begin moving to Silver Spring to game the magnet admissions process. I am one of the liberal moms who is happy here but make no mistake, Chinese parents and wealthy white patents are absolutely allergic to our neighborhoods. They will never move here.

Anonymous wrote:My DC is in a Silver Spring CES, and knows of only 2 girls and possibly 1 boy (rumored) who got into magnet. My DC was not one of them. Both girls were invited to both magnets. Neither is my my DC's feeder middle school. Around 20 others DC talked to said they were rejected from both.