Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do what you think is best but I would caution doing anything because of how it might impact CES admission. It’s pretty much a crap shoot as to whether students win that lottery or not these days since MCPS went away from a merit based admissions system. Your chances are obviously better than nothing if you listen to those here talking about staying in 3rd in order to be assessed for CES, but the extent to which your DD is beyond her grade level norms won’t impact her chances on winning the CES lottery.

2022-2023 is the final lottery year

The lottery exists because the maker of the CogAT wouldn't let them administer it remotely during the height of the pandemic. The county decided to use this as an opportunity to evaluate other selection methods. They seem to be getting better at it even with the lottery but it will likely be different by the time your child is CES age.

They could certainly administer the CogAT this year if they wanted, but they didn't because they like the more equitable outcomes from the lottery system. I really doubt this is the last year of it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do what you think is best but I would caution doing anything because of how it might impact CES admission. It’s pretty much a crap shoot as to whether students win that lottery or not these days since MCPS went away from a merit based admissions system. Your chances are obviously better than nothing if you listen to those here talking about staying in 3rd in order to be assessed for CES, but the extent to which your DD is beyond her grade level norms won’t impact her chances on winning the CES lottery.

2022-2023 is the final lottery year

The lottery exists because the maker of the CogAT wouldn't let them administer it remotely during the height of the pandemic. The county decided to use this as an opportunity to evaluate other selection methods. They seem to be getting better at it even with the lottery but it will likely be different by the time your child is CES age.

Anonymous wrote:Do what you think is best but I would caution doing anything because of how it might impact CES admission. It’s pretty much a crap shoot as to whether students win that lottery or not these days since MCPS went away from a merit based admissions system. Your chances are obviously better than nothing if you listen to those here talking about staying in 3rd in order to be assessed for CES, but the extent to which your DD is beyond her grade level norms won’t impact her chances on winning the CES lottery.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should contact the principal. My recommendation would be to ask that the math instructional specialist and the reading instructional specialist evaluate your child in the spring of this year for proper placement the following year. I ended up going this route for DC3 when they came out of K in Montessori. DC3 age would be 1st grade. Academically DC3 was ready for 2nd grade reading and 3rd grade math. Scheduling option was either reading 1st and float to 3rd for math, or placement in 2nd grade for both (which is what we did). Some of this is because the principal already knew our family. DC1 was very advanced, but we didn't know to apply for HGC (at the time) and so principal was challenged with DC1 grouping in 4th & 5th (DC1 ended up in MS and HS magnets). DC2 was floated a grade level up in math and went to HGC (and on to MS and HS magnets). So skipping DC3 an entire grade wasn't unexpected. DC3 also ended up at HGC (and followed magnet route through HS).

The key is to ask for an evaluation and then work with the principal for an appropriate placement. Don't presume a specific solution is the right solution. However, if your daughter is currently grade 2, the better solution may be to enroll her in grade 3 next year and hope for placement in the CES program for 4th and 5th. Or you could possibly see about transferring into 3rd grade this year in December to get MAP-R and MAP-M testing data in time for screening for next year's 4th grade CES cohort.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/elementary/highly-gifted-centers.aspx

Our ES does not offer any floating to other grades for specific subjects.

Anonymous wrote:You should contact the principal. My recommendation would be to ask that the math instructional specialist and the reading instructional specialist evaluate your child in the spring of this year for proper placement the following year. I ended up going this route for DC3 when they came out of K in Montessori. DC3 age would be 1st grade. Academically DC3 was ready for 2nd grade reading and 3rd grade math. Scheduling option was either reading 1st and float to 3rd for math, or placement in 2nd grade for both (which is what we did). Some of this is because the principal already knew our family. DC1 was very advanced, but we didn't know to apply for HGC (at the time) and so principal was challenged with DC1 grouping in 4th & 5th (DC1 ended up in MS and HS magnets). DC2 was floated a grade level up in math and went to HGC (and on to MS and HS magnets). So skipping DC3 an entire grade wasn't unexpected. DC3 also ended up at HGC (and followed magnet route through HS).

The key is to ask for an evaluation and then work with the principal for an appropriate placement. Don't presume a specific solution is the right solution. However, if your daughter is currently grade 2, the better solution may be to enroll her in grade 3 next year and hope for placement in the CES program for 4th and 5th. Or you could possibly see about transferring into 3rd grade this year in December to get MAP-R and MAP-M testing data in time for screening for next year's 4th grade CES cohort.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/elementary/highly-gifted-centers.aspx

Anonymous wrote:Is CES a 2 year deal or are there placement implications beyond? Curious since it’s a lottery.

Anonymous wrote:I would be hesitant to skip her. While she may be able to do the academics, it may be an issue in middle school and high school in terms of maturity and social skills. I have an academically advanced daughter who's the youngest in her class and I would actually prefer to hold her back a year but you can't really do that without stigma. She's never been in public school and probably won't ever be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is currently enrolled in a private school and has been since PreK-3. She is currently in Grade 2. Our intention was never to keep her private school long term but COVID changed the calculus for us and momentum has kept us there. She is working at least 2 grade levels above where she is in both reading and math but her school is not really providing much by way of enrichment/acceleration. We are strongly considering pulling DD out next year to attend our local well-rated MCPS elementary. To be very clear: I know that enrichment/acceleration will be no better at public school, however without having to pay tuition I'll be able to provide supplemental activities that I currently cannot.

Right now I'm trying to figure out who I need to talk to to start that process -- If anyone has BTDT, can you provide guidance? My main questions right now are if I should contact the principal of the MCPS school? What are the possibilities of them letting DD skip third grade if she can demonstrate mastery (she's a fall birthday but beyond the cutoff so she is on the older side of her grade currently)? What else do I need to consider/do at this point?

TIA

Well the good news is child won't be alone. Many kids are a year or two above grade level, and enrolling by 3rd makes sense because that's when they make decisions on CES. Next year the current lottery ends and a new process will begin. Nobody knows what it is but the lottery was a function of not being allowed to administer the CogAT during the padnemic.

Anonymous wrote:DD is currently enrolled in a private school and has been since PreK-3. She is currently in Grade 2. Our intention was never to keep her private school long term but COVID changed the calculus for us and momentum has kept us there. She is working at least 2 grade levels above where she is in both reading and math but her school is not really providing much by way of enrichment/acceleration. We are strongly considering pulling DD out next year to attend our local well-rated MCPS elementary. To be very clear: I know that enrichment/acceleration will be no better at public school, however without having to pay tuition I'll be able to provide supplemental activities that I currently cannot.

Right now I'm trying to figure out who I need to talk to to start that process -- If anyone has BTDT, can you provide guidance? My main questions right now are if I should contact the principal of the MCPS school? What are the possibilities of them letting DD skip third grade if she can demonstrate mastery (she's a fall birthday but beyond the cutoff so she is on the older side of her grade currently)? What else do I need to consider/do at this point?

TIA

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No chance unless her private skips her.

My younger DD was skipped. MCPS told us that they would place her with her “age-appropriate grade” through 5th. So we kept her in private through 5th. They also lost her private school records and never tested her in math so she got a 6th grade math placement that was laughably easy. In the end, it worked out okay. She’s in AP Calc.

Our MCPS ES started taking kids at grade level in second grade. So if you were skipped a grade before then, you went in at the grade level you were on in your private school.