Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard that this program is very rigorous. How does it help students to get good college?
Are the magnet courses more weighted than non magnet?

Unclear if these programs help students get into a "good" college. My kid is a senior now and I think I like his odds better if he was at our home school. Very happy with the program. Got to take a lot of amazing classes and had a great peer group. Its definitely feels like a down side now competing with other magnet kids for college spots. Not sure if college admissions officers are familiar with the magnet programs to know that there is a large peer group of highly qualified students or not.

Magnet courses are weighed same as honors and AP classes. Taking Magnet Pre-calc (functions) gives the same credit as Honors Geometry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both the Poolesville and Blair SMACs are HS choice Magnet programs. Both offer classes that are not offered in other HS curriculum (especially advanced math). Both are non-lottery applications. However, both no longer use a Nationally-recognized test to qualify applicants, since MAP is only an indicator of "grade-level" progress and the course offerings are somewhat static, so it's not really a G-T program per-se, although most G-T kids are "grade-level" advanced, so there is significant overlap.

A factor that some college admissions boards may take note of are the national school rankings. College admissions boards don't normally take the time to examine each HS individually, so will rely upon past performance of students they received as well as well-known national rankings as indicators of success. For the latter, US News is probably the most widely-known national school ranking system, however, GreatSchools, Niche, Patch, etc. all are roughly comparable.

When schools went virtual, the makers of the CogAT test would not allow it to be given online so MCPS had no choice but to cancel it that year. Afterward, they decided to extend that pause to 3 years so they can evaluate whether it was necessary. These days similar tests like SATs have fallen in disfavor with many colleges since they don't provide any new information aside from who took the expensive prep course to improve their scores.

*Shrug* I'm not the one trying to get into a good college, but if you think it's good for your kid(s), okay by me.

These tests don't really tell us anything we didn't already know but act as a gatekeeper for less affluent schools where kids don't typically take CogAT prep classes

And you think parents aren’t prepping for MAP now instead? Getting rid of COGAT a mistake.

Exactly! Also, studying/prepping for MAP is way easier than cogat, especially for the super rich.

Not really I mean learning a ton of math is harder than learning the test format. Also, my sense is the CogAT was more heavily weighted and mostly just kept out poor kids who were talented but didn't prep.

Other way around hun, but it's a good attempt to fool everyone.

Although the Verbal portion might somewhat favor kids who's parents speak English well or prep their kids, the Quantitative and Non-Verbal Battery were designed to help balance out kids who might not have access to tutoring and prep resources. That would be easy to determine by a CogAT screener (ex. a B profile, with verbal as the outlyer).

If anything, I think by dropping CogAT and adopting MAP, MCPS royally screwed kids with fewer access to resources, since MAP favors the preppers! Such an irony this happened under McKnight's watch!

Anonymous wrote:Both the Poolesville and Blair SMACs are HS choice Magnet programs. Both offer classes that are not offered in other HS curriculum (especially advanced math). Both are non-lottery applications. However, both no longer use a Nationally-recognized test to qualify applicants, since MAP is only an indicator of "grade-level" progress and the course offerings are somewhat static, so it's not really a G-T program per-se, although most G-T kids are "grade-level" advanced, so there is significant overlap.

A factor that some college admissions boards may take note of are the national school rankings. College admissions boards don't normally take the time to examine each HS individually, so will rely upon past performance of students they received as well as well-known national rankings as indicators of success. For the latter, US News is probably the most widely-known national school ranking system, however, GreatSchools, Niche, Patch, etc. all are roughly comparable.

Outside of the Magnet programs, of the two schools, Poolesville is #248 in National Rankings and 4th in the State of Maryland, whereas Blair is #1,467 nationally and 34th within Maryland.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maryland/districts/montgomery-county-public-schools/poolesville-high-school-9143
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maryland/districts/montgomery-county-public-schools/montgomery-blair-high-school-9141

Blair's low ranking is likely due to the fact that if you removed the SMACs program from Blair, it does not stand up well as a serious academic school. Only 62.9% of it's students are "college ready" (even with SMACs).

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04757.pdf

In terms of pure Magnet program ranking, Poolesville is #58 in Magnet Rankings whereas Blair was #173. Compare that to TJ in Virginia which is #1.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings/magnet-school-rankings

My understanding is some colleges first use the SAT (or similar) to somewhat mechanically establish cut off scores, then grades, to establish groups, then will look at essays, coursework and extracurruculars of the student to find differentiators. Other colleges look wholistically at each application at the same time, but I question how many applications they have and how thoroughly they review those applications? Either way, SAT and other standardized test scores, grades, academic coursework all form an important part of every college application, but for non-straight-A SAT 1500+ students, I would suggest that the real differentiators are what the kids are doing outside of the school and what they write on their individual essays. Colleges understand that HS can only offer vanilla and chocolate ice cream. If the kid is into tutti-fruitty, the only way that will shine is through what's done outside of schoolwork.

Blair parents and teachers will claim their courses are super difficult, and Poolesville is not as good. I would argue, if a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound? As you read responses from the very vigorous pro-Blair crowd on DCUMS, see if they are only non-opinionated facts backed up by data within cited articles.

I think the reason for this is they are living in the past, from achievements made that are not theirs, and are in overall denial that the Magnet programs slid into the gutter under the current board, MCPS administration, and AEI office. I believe the only way to fix this is to vote them out or fire them all, since they seem to be entrenched in their positions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both the Poolesville and Blair SMACs are HS choice Magnet programs. Both offer classes that are not offered in other HS curriculum (especially advanced math). Both are non-lottery applications. However, both no longer use a Nationally-recognized test to qualify applicants, since MAP is only an indicator of "grade-level" progress and the course offerings are somewhat static, so it's not really a G-T program per-se, although most G-T kids are "grade-level" advanced, so there is significant overlap.

A factor that some college admissions boards may take note of are the national school rankings. College admissions boards don't normally take the time to examine each HS individually, so will rely upon past performance of students they received as well as well-known national rankings as indicators of success. For the latter, US News is probably the most widely-known national school ranking system, however, GreatSchools, Niche, Patch, etc. all are roughly comparable.

Outside of the Magnet programs, of the two schools, Poolesville is #248 in National Rankings and 4th in the State of Maryland, whereas Blair is #1,467 nationally and 34th within Maryland.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maryland/districts/montgomery-county-public-schools/poolesville-high-school-9143
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/maryland/districts/montgomery-county-public-schools/montgomery-blair-high-school-9141

Blair's low ranking is likely due to the fact that if you removed the SMACs program from Blair, it does not stand up well as a serious academic school. Only 62.9% of it's students are "college ready" (even with SMACs).

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04757.pdf

In terms of pure Magnet program ranking, Poolesville is #58 in Magnet Rankings whereas Blair was #173. Compare that to TJ in Virginia which is #1.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/national-rankings/magnet-school-rankings

My understanding is some colleges first use the SAT (or similar) to somewhat mechanically establish cut off scores, then grades, to establish groups, then will look at essays, coursework and extracurruculars of the student to find differentiators. Other colleges look wholistically at each application at the same time, but I question how many applications they have and how thoroughly they review those applications? Either way, SAT and other standardized test scores, grades, academic coursework all form an important part of every college application, but for non-straight-A SAT 1500+ students, I would suggest that the real differentiators are what the kids are doing outside of the school and what they write on their individual essays. Colleges understand that HS can only offer vanilla and chocolate ice cream. If the kid is into tutti-fruitty, the only way that will shine is through what's done outside of schoolwork.

Blair parents and teachers will claim their courses are super difficult, and Poolesville is not as good. I would argue, if a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound? As you read responses from the very vigorous pro-Blair crowd on DCUMS, see if they are only non-opinionated facts backed up by data within cited articles.

I think the reason for this is they are living in the past, from achievements made that are not theirs, and are in overall denial that the Magnet programs slid into the gutter under the current board, MCPS administration, and AEI office. I believe the only way to fix this is to vote them out or fire them all, since they seem to be entrenched in their positions.

My God! How long have been waiting to show your Blair envy? The OP asked about the Poolesville SMACS but you just posted a tirade about Blair.
Blair envy is strong with you.

lol It seems to me the only thing it shows is Poolesville envy?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In terms of pure Magnet program ranking, Poolesville is #58 in Magnet Rankings whereas Blair was #173. Compare that to TJ in Virginia which is #1.

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools...ankings/magnet-school-rankings

The rankings you are referencing evaluate the entire High School, not the programs in isolation based on the school's overall average on standardized tests. Blair has 3200 students and a 400 person magnet program. When it ever competes with Poolesville or TJ, #1 on that silly list, it most often comes out on top. Blair's program has a higher percentage of NMSF, a higher SAT average, wins more math and science competitions, and includes members of the US math and science olympiad.

You can easily pick out the emotion ("envy", "silly"), versus posting hard data. There are several claims made here without citations? I'm also dubious about anyone saying these are examples of Blair HS achievements, given the Magnet program pulls 400 students from across all of DCC? A few months back someone posted a claim that Blair scored higher on SATs, but that claim turned out to be false. It referenced an old SAT report and the number picked was only for "white males", which sort of tells you everything about the person who posted the information.

Poolesville, on the other hand, is an academically stronger school overall. The data supports this statement. 84.8% of it's students are college-ready (versus Blair's 62.9%), with a substantially lower dropout rate (≤5.0% compared to Blair's 8.8%).

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04757.pdf
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04152.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both the Poolesville and Blair SMACs are HS choice Magnet programs. Both offer classes that are not offered in other HS curriculum (especially advanced math). Both are non-lottery applications. However, both no longer use a Nationally-recognized test to qualify applicants, since MAP is only an indicator of "grade-level" progress and the course offerings are somewhat static, so it's not really a G-T program per-se, although most G-T kids are "grade-level" advanced, so there is significant overlap.

A factor that some college admissions boards may take note of are the national school rankings. College admissions boards don't normally take the time to examine each HS individually, so will rely upon past performance of students they received as well as well-known national rankings as indicators of success. For the latter, US News is probably the most widely-known national school ranking system, however, GreatSchools, Niche, Patch, etc. all are roughly comparable.

When schools went virtual, the makers of the CogAT test would not allow it to be given online so MCPS had no choice but to cancel it that year. Afterward, they decided to extend that pause to 3 years so they can evaluate whether it was necessary. These days similar tests like SATs have fallen in disfavor with many colleges since they don't provide any new information aside from who took the expensive prep course to improve their scores.

*Shrug* I'm not the one trying to get into a good college, but if you think it's good for your kid(s), okay by me.

These tests don't really tell us anything we didn't already know but act as a gatekeeper for less affluent schools where kids don't typically take CogAT prep classes

And you think parents aren’t prepping for MAP now instead? Getting rid of COGAT a mistake.

Exactly! Also, studying/prepping for MAP is way easier than cogat, especially for the super rich.

Not really I mean learning a ton of math is harder than learning the test format. Also, my sense is the CogAT was more heavily weighted and mostly just kept out poor kids who were talented but didn't prep.

Anonymous wrote:And where is the data to back up the previous posters claims? If MCPS wanted to do this right they would track the outcomes here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both the Poolesville and Blair SMACs are HS choice Magnet programs. Both offer classes that are not offered in other HS curriculum (especially advanced math). Both are non-lottery applications. However, both no longer use a Nationally-recognized test to qualify applicants, since MAP is only an indicator of "grade-level" progress and the course offerings are somewhat static, so it's not really a G-T program per-se, although most G-T kids are "grade-level" advanced, so there is significant overlap.

A factor that some college admissions boards may take note of are the national school rankings. College admissions boards don't normally take the time to examine each HS individually, so will rely upon past performance of students they received as well as well-known national rankings as indicators of success. For the latter, US News is probably the most widely-known national school ranking system, however, GreatSchools, Niche, Patch, etc. all are roughly comparable.

When schools went virtual, the makers of the CogAT test would not allow it to be given online so MCPS had no choice but to cancel it that year. Afterward, they decided to extend that pause to 3 years so they can evaluate whether it was necessary. These days similar tests like SATs have fallen in disfavor with many colleges since they don't provide any new information aside from who took the expensive prep course to improve their scores.

*Shrug* I'm not the one trying to get into a good college, but if you think it's good for your kid(s), okay by me.

These tests don't really tell us anything we didn't already know but act as a gatekeeper for less affluent schools where kids don't typically take CogAT prep classes

And you think parents aren’t prepping for MAP now instead? Getting rid of COGAT a mistake.

Exactly! Also, studying/prepping for MAP is way easier than cogat, especially for the super rich.

Not really I mean learning a ton of math is harder than learning the test format. Also, my sense is the CogAT was more heavily weighted and mostly just kept out poor kids who were talented but didn't prep.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have heard that this program is very rigorous. How does it help students to get good college?
Are the magnet courses more weighted than non magnet?

Unclear if these programs help students get into a "good" college. My kid is a senior now and I think I like his odds better if he was at our home school. Very happy with the program. Got to take a lot of amazing classes and had a great peer group. Its definitely feels like a down side now competing with other magnet kids for college spots. Not sure if college admissions officers are familiar with the magnet programs to know that there is a large peer group of highly qualified students or not.

Magnet courses are weighed same as honors and AP classes. Taking Magnet Pre-calc (functions) gives the same credit as Honors Geometry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both the Poolesville and Blair SMACs are HS choice Magnet programs. Both offer classes that are not offered in other HS curriculum (especially advanced math). Both are non-lottery applications. However, both no longer use a Nationally-recognized test to qualify applicants, since MAP is only an indicator of "grade-level" progress and the course offerings are somewhat static, so it's not really a G-T program per-se, although most G-T kids are "grade-level" advanced, so there is significant overlap.

A factor that some college admissions boards may take note of are the national school rankings. College admissions boards don't normally take the time to examine each HS individually, so will rely upon past performance of students they received as well as well-known national rankings as indicators of success. For the latter, US News is probably the most widely-known national school ranking system, however, GreatSchools, Niche, Patch, etc. all are roughly comparable.

When schools went virtual, the makers of the CogAT test would not allow it to be given online so MCPS had no choice but to cancel it that year. Afterward, they decided to extend that pause to 3 years so they can evaluate whether it was necessary. These days similar tests like SATs have fallen in disfavor with many colleges since they don't provide any new information aside from who took the expensive prep course to improve their scores.

*Shrug* I'm not the one trying to get into a good college, but if you think it's good for your kid(s), okay by me.

These tests don't really tell us anything we didn't already know but act as a gatekeeper for less affluent schools where kids don't typically take CogAT prep classes

And you think parents aren’t prepping for MAP now instead? Getting rid of COGAT a mistake.

Exactly! Also, studying/prepping for MAP is way easier than cogat, especially for the super rich.

Anonymous wrote:I have heard that this program is very rigorous. How does it help students to get good college?
Are the magnet courses more weighted than non magnet?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both the Poolesville and Blair SMACs are HS choice Magnet programs. Both offer classes that are not offered in other HS curriculum (especially advanced math). Both are non-lottery applications. However, both no longer use a Nationally-recognized test to qualify applicants, since MAP is only an indicator of "grade-level" progress and the course offerings are somewhat static, so it's not really a G-T program per-se, although most G-T kids are "grade-level" advanced, so there is significant overlap.

A factor that some college admissions boards may take note of are the national school rankings. College admissions boards don't normally take the time to examine each HS individually, so will rely upon past performance of students they received as well as well-known national rankings as indicators of success. For the latter, US News is probably the most widely-known national school ranking system, however, GreatSchools, Niche, Patch, etc. all are roughly comparable.

When schools went virtual, the makers of the CogAT test would not allow it to be given online so MCPS had no choice but to cancel it that year. Afterward, they decided to extend that pause to 3 years so they can evaluate whether it was necessary. These days similar tests like SATs have fallen in disfavor with many colleges since they don't provide any new information aside from who took the expensive prep course to improve their scores.

*Shrug* I'm not the one trying to get into a good college, but if you think it's good for your kid(s), okay by me.

These tests don't really tell us anything we didn't already know but act as a gatekeeper for less affluent schools where kids don't typically take CogAT prep classes

And you think parents aren’t prepping for MAP now instead? Getting rid of COGAT a mistake.