Anonymous wrote:For what it's worth, my understanding is the MCPS does use FARMS status and FARMS students tend to be mostly black or Hispanic. That seems reasonable given that there are tons of tests that show bias towards students with lower incomes or of certain races.

That is not true.

Our center is overwhelmingly Asian (more than 50 percent). I think they do NOT factor in race -- no preference/no quotas.

For what it's worth, my understanding is the MCPS does use FARMS status and FARMS students tend to be mostly black or Hispanic. That seems reasonable given that there are tons of tests that show bias towards students with lower incomes or of certain races.

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if it is sour grapes exactly. We really don't know exactly what they take into consideration and seeing as how colleges take race into consideration thinking that it might play a role here isn't completely unreasonable.

Let's see, no where in the MCPS literature does it mention racial preferences or code words for racial preferences, you don't see a racial makeup even close to that of the county, the parents can google court cases to show it isn't allowed/used ....and yet they still think that's why their kid was denied a spot.

Oh wait, it's because the criteria isn't clearly defined. By that yardstick everyone can claim the racial boogeyman for every situation. Because I don't know how someone is chosen for the job, gets the high evaluation, gets the special award etc. I can say race might have played a role because I didn't get it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if it is sour grapes exactly. We really don't know exactly what they take into consideration and seeing as how colleges take race into consideration thinking that it might play a role here isn't completely unreasonable.

PP, for what it's worth, the item #25 the PP at 14:41 refers to is "When college acceptance letters came out, people started whispering..."People shouldn't be able to get into college just because they are black".

Agreed. By definition, when schools start looking at factors other than test results, the groups that tend to perform better at objective, quantified criteria, will suffer. This is how historically Jewish and Asian students have been discriminated against, either in favor of mainstream whites or AAs.

This is a fact, which we may justify as a means to broader society objectives, but we cannot ignore.

They didn't get in because their scores were not high enough and their school didn't give them the recommendation they needed. The race card is grasping at straws IMO.

PP, for what it's worth, the item #25 the PP at 14:41 refers to is "When college acceptance letters came out, people started whispering..."People shouldn't be able to get into college just because they are black".

For the last 3 centuries (300 years) in the USA no one ever whispered "people shouldn't be able to get into college just because they are white."

Maybe their neighborhood school is great and they don't want their kid on a bus for 90+ minutes a day...

Teacher recommendation is surrogate code. What is the race of the teacher?

This applies to disproportionate disciplinary action for the same offense as well as third grade teacher social engineering for the HGC through recommendations.

Anonymous wrote:I don't know if it is sour grapes exactly. We really don't know exactly what they take into consideration and seeing as how colleges take race into consideration thinking that it might play a role here isn't completely unreasonable.

PP, for what it's worth, the item #25 the PP at 14:41 refers to is "When college acceptance letters came out, people started whispering..."People shouldn't be able to get into college just because they are black".

I don't know if it is sour grapes exactly. We really don't know exactly what they take into consideration and seeing as how colleges take race into consideration thinking that it might play a role here isn't completely unreasonable.

Anonymous wrote:DD is too young to have applied this year but some of my friends' children, who are white or Asian, didn't get in to HGCs and they are saying that their children's scores were much higher than the mean for their particular school. I'm wondering if there is some legitimate concern here or whether they are just upset their children didn't get in and are reaching for whatever explanation they can.

Wondering if MCPS has released information about the average test scores of admitted students by race?

If those kids were the top of the applicant pool, they'd be in. The HGCs are highly competitive. It's very possible to be a strong student and very bright and still just miss the cut off. Also, I don't think they capture race information. I'm pretty sure it is forbidden to do so as other posters have pointed out. Total sour grapes from those people.

Anonymous wrote:Were their scores higher than the mean for the HGC, or for all of the kids at their base school who were applying? The latter wouldn't necessarily qualify them fr HGC entry.

I think this poster is right. They may be higher than the mean for their home school, but not for the entire pool of applicants in the cluster. The teacher rec can also make a difference. There are many factors that can cause a child not to be admited (I say this as the parent of two unsuccessful white applicants), race is not one of them.

The problem with the HGC is that there are many many kids who would benefit and they only can skim the top of the pool.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is that some parents are dealing with massive sour grapes.

+1

I can't dig it up now but I thought years ago (maybe 15) MCPS had a court case about using racial preferences in magnet selection. From the legal implications alone, I doubt MCPS is using racial preferences. Then, if you look at the actual racial makeup of the HGC... Then if you look at the racial related talking points from MCPS they have to do with the local school, not the HGC, like trying to close the achievement gap in home schools and the no labels no limit movement.

Long sigh. This reminds me of #25 on the list.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/27-things-you-had-to-deal-with-as-the-only-black-kid-in-your

Amen!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My guess is that some parents are dealing with massive sour grapes.

+1

I can't dig it up now but I thought years ago (maybe 15) MCPS had a court case about using racial preferences in magnet selection. From the legal implications alone, I doubt MCPS is using racial preferences. Then, if you look at the actual racial makeup of the HGC... Then if you look at the racial related talking points from MCPS they have to do with the local school, not the HGC, like trying to close the achievement gap in home schools and the no labels no limit movement.

Long sigh. This reminds me of #25 on the list.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/27-things-you-had-to-deal-with-as-the-only-black-kid-in-your