Anonymous wrote:Decision would be easy for me.

High performers with 99th percentile IQ type scores (if you know) plus coming from a high performing school. Not worth it this year. You'd be better off at your home school with the other high performers who would have gotten in in previous years.

If you have a child who is a lower performer and got lucky in the lottery and your child is in a lower performing school you may want to consider.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That makes no sense. You're talking about an entire program filled with top students from around the county vs. a home middle school classroom filled with a range of abilities, even in advance classes. There's no comparison. In addition, the lottery system will ensure there are fewer kids in the magnet that are prepped in outside classes who are overly competitive about grades and scores. That's the kind of cohort that I want my DC to be a part of.

You don't seem to understand. A school like Frost to use an example from the other thread might have several dozen kids who are highly able with all around high scores in the 99th or close to it percentile.

Only 1-3 will probably be at one of the magnets if probability holds they will be anywhere from 95-99th percentile. So the group left at Frost is likely more high scoring than those at the magnets. Throw in the commute and the social aspect of leaving friends and I could see how a family might choose to stay at the home school. Unless your child is unhappy at the neighborhood school due to lack of friends or is really obsessed with certain topics over others it makes a lot of sense to stay put. The kids in DC's magnet program seem pretty socially awkward and the parents say it's a reason they chose the magnet.

No, you really don't get it. The elementary schools that feed into Frost have big groups of students that go to weekly outside math classes. Some of those afterschool programs boast that they get a quarter of their kids into CES programs. Of course that kind of regular exposure to higher math year after year is going to create a glut of artificially inflated 99% Math-M scores (artificial because they're essentially taking a second math class). It's also going to create kids who are overly concerned about grades and scores and unduely competitive with each other (poor three-quarters who didn't make it to the CES despite attending the same classes!). The magnets should capture students with potential, not prepping, and then provide them with the resources - strong teachers, innovative curriculum, high standards, and challenging projects - to bring out their best. I guarantee DC would be much happier with the top 5% of students across the county showing potential than the 1% prepped in so-and-so's class and similar. The lottery helps weed out the preppers. Thank goodness for that.

I think you made this up. We are in one of those elem that feed to Frost. I don’t know anyone who did prep in elementary school. I can guarantee you my child did no prep and she was selected for the magnet. This sounds like a bunch of assumptions on your part.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That makes no sense. You're talking about an entire program filled with top students from around the county vs. a home middle school classroom filled with a range of abilities, even in advance classes. There's no comparison. In addition, the lottery system will ensure there are fewer kids in the magnet that are prepped in outside classes who are overly competitive about grades and scores. That's the kind of cohort that I want my DC to be a part of.

You don't seem to understand. A school like Frost to use an example from the other thread might have several dozen kids who are highly able with all around high scores in the 99th or close to it percentile.

Only 1-3 will probably be at one of the magnets if probability holds they will be anywhere from 95-99th percentile. So the group left at Frost is likely more high scoring than those at the magnets. Throw in the commute and the social aspect of leaving friends and I could see how a family might choose to stay at the home school. Unless your child is unhappy at the neighborhood school due to lack of friends or is really obsessed with certain topics over others it makes a lot of sense to stay put. The kids in DC's magnet program seem pretty socially awkward and the parents say it's a reason they chose the magnet.

No, you really don't get it. The elementary schools that feed into Frost have big groups of students that go to weekly outside math classes. Some of those afterschool programs boast that they get a quarter of their kids into CES programs. Of course that kind of regular exposure to higher math year after year is going to create a glut of artificially inflated 99% Math-M scores (artificial because they're essentially taking a second math class). It's also going to create kids who are overly concerned about grades and scores and unduely competitive with each other (poor three-quarters who didn't make it to the CES despite attending the same classes!). The magnets should capture students with potential, not prepping, and then provide them with the resources - strong teachers, innovative curriculum, high standards, and challenging projects - to bring out their best. I guarantee DC would be much happier with the top 5% of students across the county showing potential than the 1% prepped in so-and-so's class and similar. The lottery helps weed out the preppers. Thank goodness for that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That makes no sense. You're talking about an entire program filled with top students from around the county vs. a home middle school classroom filled with a range of abilities, even in advance classes. There's no comparison. In addition, the lottery system will ensure there are fewer kids in the magnet that are prepped in outside classes who are overly competitive about grades and scores. That's the kind of cohort that I want my DC to be a part of.

You don't seem to understand. A school like Frost to use an example from the other thread might have several dozen kids who are highly able with all around high scores in the 99th or close to it percentile.

Only 1-3 will probably be at one of the magnets if probability holds they will be anywhere from 95-99th percentile. So the group left at Frost is likely more high scoring than those at the magnets. Throw in the commute and the social aspect of leaving friends and I could see how a family might choose to stay at the home school. Unless your child is unhappy at the neighborhood school due to lack of friends or is really obsessed with certain topics over others it makes a lot of sense to stay put. The kids in DC's magnet program seem pretty socially awkward and the parents say it's a reason they chose the magnet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1
DC is IN THE POOLS and waiting for available slots, and the letter SPECIFICALLY STATES those in the pools will be given enrichment at their middle school in the form of AIM and HIGH.

The letter says kids in the lottery pools will receive enrichment. However, it doesn’t say that ALL kids receiving enrichment made it into the pools. It’s possible there are two cutoffs: a lower one for enrichment and a higher cutoff for the magnet lottery.

My DC is slated to take AIM and HIGH, but was not in the pool for either. I don’t know the requirements for the enrichment but he had A’s in compacted math and reading/ writing. Map R high 80s map M high 90s. I don’t think it would make sense to only include those who made it in the pool. Clearly he will benefit from the enrichment. So yes it does look like there are two cutoffs, for the pool and for enrichment.

Middle School registration was supposed to be for AIM but not for HIGH. MS were instructed to wait for "the list" from AEI to do that registration. Not sure what is up at your school, but the names of the two courses are very close. Historical Inquiry into World Studies vs. Historical Inquiry into Global Humanities. AIM is a separate issue, and local schools are fully authorized to do that placement. All this to say, (1) check the registration and (2) if you get "unregistered" based on the pool, be prepared to raise the issue at the Middle School

Our middle school offers HIGH to all 6th graders, so it doesn’t make sense to be called enrichment. Just another euphemism.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any data or numbers to help understand this better?

The only numbers that I know is that the upcounty MS magnets have 50 seats each, so 100 seats total upcounty.

I would greatly appreciate if anyone could help provide the following data:

- How many downcounty magnet seats at Eastern and TPMS?
- How many selected in pools for lottery?
- How many total 6th Graders?

This would just help me to better understand and contextualize what is going on here. Thanks in advance!
-

Bump

Eastern - 100

TPMS - 120, of which 20 seats go to kids who are in-bounds for TPMS

MCPS has not released the number of kids who were in-pool this year

There are roughly 7000 5th graders district-wide this year. If we assume up-county and down-county are roughly equal, that's 3500 kids

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any data or numbers to help understand this better?

The only numbers that I know is that the upcounty MS magnets have 50 seats each, so 100 seats total upcounty.

I would greatly appreciate if anyone could help provide the following data:

- How many downcounty magnet seats at Eastern and TPMS?
- How many selected in pools for lottery?
- How many total 6th Graders?

This would just help me to better understand and contextualize what is going on here. Thanks in advance!
-

Bump

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have any data or numbers to help understand this better?

The only numbers that I know is that the upcounty MS magnets have 50 seats each, so 100 seats total upcounty.

I would greatly appreciate if anyone could help provide the following data:

- How many downcounty magnet seats at Eastern and TPMS?
- How many selected in pools for lottery?
- How many total 6th Graders?

This would just help me to better understand and contextualize what is going on here. Thanks in advance!
-

Anonymous wrote:That makes no sense. You're talking about an entire program filled with top students from around the county vs. a home middle school classroom filled with a range of abilities, even in advance classes. There's no comparison. In addition, the lottery system will ensure there are fewer kids in the magnet that are prepped in outside classes who are overly competitive about grades and scores. That's the kind of cohort that I want my DC to be a part of.

Anonymous wrote:Magnets are done.

What parents should push for is integrating magnet curriculum into advanced local classes, esp math.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1
DC is IN THE POOLS and waiting for available slots, and the letter SPECIFICALLY STATES those in the pools will be given enrichment at their middle school in the form of AIM and HIGH.

The letter says kids in the lottery pools will receive enrichment. However, it doesn’t say that ALL kids receiving enrichment made it into the pools. It’s possible there are two cutoffs: a lower one for enrichment and a higher cutoff for the magnet lottery.

My DC is slated to take AIM and HIGH, but was not in the pool for either. I don’t know the requirements for the enrichment but he had A’s in compacted math and reading/ writing. Map R high 80s map M high 90s. I don’t think it would make sense to only include those who made it in the pool. Clearly he will benefit from the enrichment. So yes it does look like there are two cutoffs, for the pool and for enrichment.

Middle School registration was supposed to be for AIM but not for HIGH. MS were instructed to wait for "the list" from AEI to do that registration. Not sure what is up at your school, but the names of the two courses are very close. Historical Inquiry into World Studies vs. Historical Inquiry into Global Humanities. AIM is a separate issue, and local schools are fully authorized to do that placement. All this to say, (1) check the registration and (2) if you get "unregistered" based on the pool, be prepared to raise the issue at the Middle School

That's not true of all schools. Some middle schools offer HIGH and incoming 6th graders are registered for HIGH (Global Humanities).

Anonymous wrote:+1
DC is IN THE POOLS and waiting for available slots, and the letter SPECIFICALLY STATES those in the pools will be given enrichment at their middle school in the form of AIM and HIGH.