Anonymous wrote:All blair SMAC students attend tutoring. They receiving tutoring for math competition, science bowl, research at near by colleges or NIST, cimputer or IT related competitions. I wish my kid was as smart, driven, hardworking as those kids.

I wouldn't say all but I do most do. They get tutored well and parents get them access to their labs. It is a program for the well-tutored and connected crowd.

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Anonymous wrote:Didn't they just change the standards for the HGC's this year? How would that affect Blair?

Good question. IMHO, the standards will decline further. This is after all an urban school system and the standards must match the majority population.

The average math SAT for the Blair magnet was 750 last year. It used to be higher? What evidence is there of a decline?

For example,
http://beta.mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/ParentResources/Magnet%202011%20Profile.pdf
and now
https://mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/ParentResources/MagnetProfile.pdf

OK 2011 Math SAT 771 2017 Math SAT 779. Moe National Merit Scholars in 2017 too.

Those are measures of tutored skills. Look at SAT II scores.

Math SAT II went up at well!

Now I know that is one of the most tutored subjects at Blair.

And my child is not a junior yet, but said many kids had perfect math psat scores...so can't imagine one would plan to much SAT prep with high psat scores.

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Anonymous wrote:All blair SMAC students attend tutoring. They receiving tutoring for math competition, science bowl, research at near by colleges or NIST, cimputer or IT related competitions. I wish my kid was as smart, driven, hardworking as those kids.

So by "tutoring", you mean, "SMAC program stuff"?

OMG!! Thanks to the PP in bold for pointing that out. I think the previous PP used the word tutoring incorrectly. There are many students who participate in Math, Science and IT competitions. These students do work together and with a teacher mentor to prepare for these competitions. So for example, the Science Bowl team might meet during lunch or after school to practice etc. These are run nearly like clubs - very similar to a debate club in any area high school. I would not call that tutoring.
The previous PP also mentioned research at nearby colleges. This is part of the SMAC program. In 11th grade, students write a research proposal and have to find a mentor outside of the school (at a govt. lab or university lab) to work with. They spend two months during the summer before 12th grade doing the research with their mentor (very often as part of the mentor's larger research group) and write a paper and presentation during the first semester of 12th grade. Many of these papers and presentations are entered into competitions. They do receive a lot of support from the senior scientist in this effort and are supervised by a Blair science teacher but I don't think it is accurate to describe it as tutoring. Science is typically a collaborative enterprise and it is hardly surprising that a science magnet program would be encourage students to work closely with each other, their teachers and academic mentors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All blair SMAC students attend tutoring. They receiving tutoring for math competition, science bowl, research at near by colleges or NIST, cimputer or IT related competitions. I wish my kid was as smart, driven, hardworking as those kids.

So by "tutoring", you mean, "SMAC program stuff"?

Like every other school that has a math team, science bowl team etc..

Anonymous wrote:All blair SMAC students attend tutoring. They receiving tutoring for math competition, science bowl, research at near by colleges or NIST, cimputer or IT related competitions. I wish my kid was as smart, driven, hardworking as those kids.

So by "tutoring", you mean, "SMAC program stuff"?

Anonymous wrote:All blair SMAC students attend tutoring. They receiving tutoring for math competition, science bowl, research at near by colleges or NIST, cimputer or IT related competitions. I wish my kid was as smart, driven, hardworking as those kids.

Mine has never had any tutoring. He is, however, hard working, driven, and very motivated to succeed.

Anonymous wrote:All blair SMAC students attend tutoring. They receiving tutoring for math competition, science bowl, research at near by colleges or NIST, cimputer or IT related competitions. I wish my kid was as smart, driven, hardworking as those kids.

I don't know where you're getting this information. I don't know many kids who are being tutored at blair. Speaking for our family we do not intend to send our child for tutoring unless he is struggling in a class. When it comes time for taking the SAT we will have him take a practice test and if the score is ok great if not we will buy him a book to do a little practice beforehand. He works very hard and I can't imagine expecting him to go for tutoring on top of school work. He also has friends who participate in the various competitions and no one he knows is being tutored. Why do people spread these types of rumors?

All blair SMAC students attend tutoring. They receiving tutoring for math competition, science bowl, research at near by colleges or NIST, cimputer or IT related competitions. I wish my kid was as smart, driven, hardworking as those kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't they just change the standards for the HGC's this year? How would that affect Blair?

Good question. IMHO, the standards will decline further. This is after all an urban school system and the standards must match the majority population.

The average math SAT for the Blair magnet was 750 last year. It used to be higher? What evidence is there of a decline?

For example,
http://beta.mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/ParentResources/Magnet%202011%20Profile.pdf
and now
https://mbhs.edu/departments/magnet/ParentResources/MagnetProfile.pdf

OK 2011 Math SAT 771 2017 Math SAT 779. Moe National Merit Scholars in 2017 too.

Those are measures of tutored skills. Look at SAT II scores.

Math SAT II went up at well!

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Anonymous wrote:

Those are measures of tutored skills. Look at SAT II scores.

If scores go up, it's because the students are getting tutored.

If scores go down, it's because the program is declining.

Congratulations, PP, you've constructed an unfalsifiable hypothesis.

Beginning to understand the decline of MCPS, the same idiots being returned to the BOE ...

Do you you think Blair kids are tutored for the SATs but not the SATII

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Anonymous wrote:

Those are measures of tutored skills. Look at SAT II scores.

If scores go up, it's because the students are getting tutored.

If scores go down, it's because the program is declining.

Congratulations, PP, you've constructed an unfalsifiable hypothesis.

Beginning to understand the decline of MCPS, the same idiots being returned to the BOE ...

!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Those are measures of tutored skills. Look at SAT II scores.

If scores go up, it's because the students are getting tutored.

If scores go down, it's because the program is declining.

Congratulations, PP, you've constructed an unfalsifiable hypothesis.

Beginning to understand the decline of MCPS, the same idiots being returned to the BOE ...

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Anonymous wrote:DC will be in 9th grade in a W high school. Did not make it to Blair SMAC magnet. Talking to others I get a feeling that very few (2 or 3) students from MS made it to Blair though MS is one of the very good schools, with so many bright kids. Why is it that the screening committee would prefer to select a student from non w school area over the one from w school with former having equal or lesser scores? Why is this assumption made that a student from silver spring would benefit more from Blair magnet than the one who would go to Churchill or Walter Johnson or Wooten.

OP, you are basically saying this:

1. My child, in one of the middle schools in Bethesda or Potomac, was not accepted to the Blair SMAC magnet.
2. Only a few children in that middle school were accepted.
3. There are a lot of smart children in that middle school.
4. Therefore the Blair magnet admissions are biased against children from middle schools in Bethesda or Potomac.

+1

Plus, many or most Whitman parents think Whitman is so good that it doesn't make sense to send their kid to Blair.

Sure. Why risk their snowflakes becoming friends with those dangerous Blair colored folk when you have a private-public school like Whitman.

My kid knows at least 3 three kids who are zoned for whitman in his year and he does not even know every kid so there might be more than these three.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC will be in 9th grade in a W high school. Did not make it to Blair SMAC magnet. Talking to others I get a feeling that very few (2 or 3) students from MS made it to Blair though MS is one of the very good schools, with so many bright kids. Why is it that the screening committee would prefer to select a student from non w school area over the one from w school with former having equal or lesser scores? Why is this assumption made that a student from silver spring would benefit more from Blair magnet than the one who would go to Churchill or Walter Johnson or Wooten.

OP, you are basically saying this:

1. My child, in one of the middle schools in Bethesda or Potomac, was not accepted to the Blair SMAC magnet.
2. Only a few children in that middle school were accepted.
3. There are a lot of smart children in that middle school.
4. Therefore the Blair magnet admissions are biased against children from middle schools in Bethesda or Potomac.

+1

Plus, many or most Whitman parents think Whitman is so good that it doesn't make sense to send their kid to Blair.

Sure. Why risk their snowflakes becoming friends with those dangerous Blair colored folk when you have a private-public school like Whitman.