Anonymous wrote:My non Asian kid has an advantage by being at the home school of a magnet program and getting a seat. I agree that it’s a good argument to fight the “cohort” argument for out of boundary students by not letting some kids in magnet. I really hope the folks fighting this win.

Huh. At the school my kid goes to, the kids who have the advantage of being at the home school of a magnet program and getting a seat are Asian-American.

My non Asian kid has an advantage by being at the home school of a magnet program and getting a seat. I agree that it’s a good argument to fight the “cohort” argument for out of boundary students by not letting some kids in magnet. I really hope the folks fighting this win.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There aren't any seats set aside for 9th grade but in boundary kids can test into the classes for upper grades, take the exams and get the diploma.

The TPMS seats were something that the TP community lobbied for and they see it as an entitlement. MCPS saw it as a hook to entice qualified private school kids in TP back into the system. RM have never had a parent community making demands and doesn't have the same brain drain from private schools that TPMS has struggled to address.

So MCPS is allowing this and and at the same time making sure that less Asian kids make into magnets using cohort criterion from CS?

That tin foil hat is cutting off the circulation to your brain.

never gets old.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There aren't any seats set aside for 9th grade but in boundary kids can test into the classes for upper grades, take the exams and get the diploma.

The TPMS seats were something that the TP community lobbied for and they see it as an entitlement. MCPS saw it as a hook to entice qualified private school kids in TP back into the system. RM have never had a parent community making demands and doesn't have the same brain drain from private schools that TPMS has struggled to address.

Actually, all MS magnets have set-asides for the host school.

This policy should be changed specially when MCPS is using cohort criterion.

If MS has 25 students, who are good enough for magnet, then they are better off by attending the non-magnet section. That way strong peer group is present for that MS and magnet seats can be taken by students without having peer group.

+1

With peer group argument, there should be no quota of 25 students in host schools. 25 students are big enough peer group. In fact, it's similar to CS peer group. Both groups don't need magnet school to have a strong peer group.

MCPS is not being consistent with their policies.

The host schools were selected because they had the highest number of high-achieving students and the set aside was a way to limit them from completely taking over these programs.

It is actually the opposite - the original purpose of the magnets was "pull" integration, and they were placed in lower performing schools. The 25 student quota at TPMS was designed as a way to fight white flight, and it seems to have worked very well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, remember that invited students does not equal enrolled students. Maybe they gave 194 invitations, expecting 100-125 to accept. Remember that people who get into RMIB may also get into programs like Blair SMAC and CAP. In fact, my DD’s year, everyone we knew with the choice chose CAP, about 5 kids. Of course, I’m sure lots made the opposite choice as well.

I hope you call RMIB and ask your question and report back.

That makes no sense. It's like airlines that over sell their seats thinking some people won't show. But what happens if they all show? Similarly, what happens if all the invited students (200+ in some cases) decide to accept? That may never happen, but you could end up with more than 150 accepting, surely.

So the 125 can't be a hard number.

OP here.. I found this.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/rmhs/ib/2017-18%20%20Electronic%20%20RM_Profile.pdf

"Each year the school accepts approximately 125 students from a pool of over 900 applicants countywide. "

It says there are 125 seats, but doesn't give a breakdown of whether they set aside some seats for in cluster students.

The METIS report indicates there are 100 seats, though, but this was in 2013/2014. I don't know if they up'd the numbers, or there are indeed 25 seats set aside for inbound students and METIS report didn't include these numbers.

Both of those numbers are correct. The school is accepting ~125 students into the program. METIS was studying students changing schools via COSA, which is 100 students for RM. Subtract those numbers and you get the ~25 spaces for home-school students.

All of the magnet programs have home-school set-asides except for Poolesville Humanities and SMACS. Remember that when each program was put in place at a school, they were adding to the population of the school via a COSA process. The out-of-area numbers were fixed - 100 for Takoma Park and Eastern, 50 for Clemente and MLK, 100 for RM and Blair, 50 each for Poolesville Hum., SMACS, and Global.The set-asides serve a couple of purposes. First, they prevent home school students from taking slots allocated for out-of-area students. If you remove the set asides, you don't increase availability for non-home school to attend - that's capped at the 100 or 50 as originally designated for the program. Second, adding qualified home-school students to the program doesn't increase the student population at the school, and it makes staffing work out better for the programs. Programs with ~125 students will have 4 sections of ~31 students each for the special classes. Programs with ~65 students will end up with 2 sections of ~33 students. PV Global has a set-aside of 25 students because the program was originally a local program. They run ~75 students and end up with 3 sections of ~25 kids. Finally, the set-asides act as a buffer for incorrectly guessing yield for invites. I've talked with coordinators at both Clemente and PV and they have said that they won't invite unqualified home-school students just to fill up spaces, but if they only have 15 qualified students for 25 set-aside spaces, they aren't too worried if instead of getting 50 out-of-area students, they end up with 55.

People complaining about MCPS being inconsistent need to take a step back and take a deep breath. It has only been a few years since the METIS report and the school system has been steadily responding to the concerns - namely increasing access to programs and rigorous instruction. With the potential that next year's rising 8th graders will have 4 different IB high schools to apply to, I think that people don't need to worry over RM's set-aside seats. Some of the 100 out-of-area students who would have come to RM, will instead be zoned for a different IB program, making room at RM for more students within the RM zone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There aren't any seats set aside for 9th grade but in boundary kids can test into the classes for upper grades, take the exams and get the diploma.

The TPMS seats were something that the TP community lobbied for and they see it as an entitlement. MCPS saw it as a hook to entice qualified private school kids in TP back into the system. RM have never had a parent community making demands and doesn't have the same brain drain from private schools that TPMS has struggled to address.

Actually, all MS magnets have set-asides for the host school.

No, they don't. TPMS is the exception.

When DD graduated recently there were about 120 IB kids in graduation. I’ve heard the program has more kids now. Not sure if it’s true.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, remember that invited students does not equal enrolled students. Maybe they gave 194 invitations, expecting 100-125 to accept. Remember that people who get into RMIB may also get into programs like Blair SMAC and CAP. In fact, my DD’s year, everyone we knew with the choice chose CAP, about 5 kids. Of course, I’m sure lots made the opposite choice as well.

I hope you call RMIB and ask your question and report back.

That makes no sense. It's like airlines that over sell their seats thinking some people won't show. But what happens if they all show? Similarly, what happens if all the invited students (200+ in some cases) decide to accept? That may never happen, but you could end up with more than 150 accepting, surely.

So the 125 can't be a hard number.

OP here.. I found this.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/schools/rmhs/ib/2017-18%20%20Electronic%20%20RM_Profile.pdf

"Each year the school accepts approximately 125 students from a pool of over 900 applicants countywide. "

It says there are 125 seats, but doesn't give a breakdown of whether they set aside some seats for in cluster students.

The METIS report indicates there are 100 seats, though, but this was in 2013/2014. I don't know if they up'd the numbers, or there are indeed 25 seats set aside for inbound students and METIS report didn't include these numbers.

Anonymous wrote:OP, remember that invited students does not equal enrolled students. Maybe they gave 194 invitations, expecting 100-125 to accept. Remember that people who get into RMIB may also get into programs like Blair SMAC and CAP. In fact, my DD’s year, everyone we knew with the choice chose CAP, about 5 kids. Of course, I’m sure lots made the opposite choice as well.

I hope you call RMIB and ask your question and report back.

That makes no sense. It's like airlines that over sell their seats thinking some people won't show. But what happens if they all show? Similarly, what happens if all the invited students (200+ in some cases) decide to accept? That may never happen, but you could end up with more than 150 accepting, surely.

So the 125 can't be a hard number.

OP, remember that invited students does not equal enrolled students. Maybe they gave 194 invitations, expecting 100-125 to accept. Remember that people who get into RMIB may also get into programs like Blair SMAC and CAP. In fact, my DD’s year, everyone we knew with the choice chose CAP, about 5 kids. Of course, I’m sure lots made the opposite choice as well.

I hope you call RMIB and ask your question and report back.

The 194 and 200+ numbers are invited. Not all invited students enroll. Many are invited to both RMIB and Blair and have to pick.

I think there are 125ish for RMIB. It is not a hard number because they don't know exactly how many will accept their invitations.

Then they take a few more, maybe 5, so that students moving doesn't bring the number "too low", until more students start the IB program in grade 11.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There aren't any seats set aside for 9th grade but in boundary kids can test into the classes for upper grades, take the exams and get the diploma.

The TPMS seats were something that the TP community lobbied for and they see it as an entitlement. MCPS saw it as a hook to entice qualified private school kids in TP back into the system. RM have never had a parent community making demands and doesn't have the same brain drain from private schools that TPMS has struggled to address.

Actually, all MS magnets have set-asides for the host school.

This policy should be changed specially when MCPS is using cohort criterion.

If MS has 25 students, who are good enough for magnet, then they are better off by attending the non-magnet section. That way strong peer group is present for that MS and magnet seats can be taken by students without having peer group.

+1

With peer group argument, there should be no quota of 25 students in host schools. 25 students are big enough peer group. In fact, it's similar to CS peer group. Both groups don't need magnet school to have a strong peer group.

MCPS is not being consistent with their policies.

The host schools were selected because they had the highest number of high-achieving students and the set aside was a way to limit them from completely taking over these programs.

that's obvious

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There aren't any seats set aside for 9th grade but in boundary kids can test into the classes for upper grades, take the exams and get the diploma.

The TPMS seats were something that the TP community lobbied for and they see it as an entitlement. MCPS saw it as a hook to entice qualified private school kids in TP back into the system. RM have never had a parent community making demands and doesn't have the same brain drain from private schools that TPMS has struggled to address.

+1 this. In 11th grade, any student at RM can join the IB magnet program, but apparently very few students actually join in 11th.

RM has the IB middle years program in grades 9 & 10 for all students. It is a continuation from the IB middle years program at Julius West.

OP here.. yes, I do know this because my DC is at JWMS. I am referring to the IB magnet specifically. I thought that they set aside certain number of seats to the IB magnet program starting in 9th grade for in cluster students, but maybe I was misinformed.

Also, I can't find anywhere how many seats are available for the IB program. Someone provided the link below which shows the breakdown of all of the special programs, and for RMIB, it shows that 2018 had 194 invited students. Obviously, that's way more than the 125 seats that I thought RMIB had, and in previous years it was more than 200. Does RMIB have any official number of seats?

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/schoolchoice/Update%20Enrich%20Accelerate%20Prog%20Place%20Results.pdf