Anonymous
07/26/2025 18:11
Subject: Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I found this info really fascinating. Any thoughts on what it means for the implications for the new regional magnets?
https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DJVQ56678E2B/$file/Attachment%20D%20SY2025%20Student%20Enrollment%20Countywide%20Programs%20250724.pdf
It’s interesting that Northwood has the most students leaving for countywide programs (232). I wonder if that’s an increase due to the holding school being incomplete and so far away from the actual school boundary.
Also, as somebody said in another thread, is the end goal to have the same number of kids entering a school for a special program as are leaving the school to attend a different program in another building?
And that won't happen. What they are actually trying to achieve is for students to NOT want to go to other programs and just stay at the home school that offers some program.
There are only two STEM magnets, and Wootton sends a whopping 105 to Blair, but 0 to < 10 to the other STEM magnets.
Some of it is due to proximity, but largely, IMO, it's due to the classes that are offered.
FWIW, my kids didn't/don't go to Blair magnet, but I don't think MCPS will be able to recreate Blair magnet and all of its very advanced course offerings at other schools. I'll say again - finding STEM teachers is difficult, even more so for these very advanced magnet level classes.
The programs will be watered down, and it will be a "magnet" in name only.
Well, your opinion is worthless and useless.
Wootton is not eligible for the other STEM magnet.
Anonymous
07/26/2025 18:03
Subject: Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Why do so many kids from Churchill, WJ, and Wootton go to RMIB?
It's not just RMIB, they send a lot to Blair too. Are those 3 bad schools or something?
Those zones have most the tippy top students in the county.
And that's why MCPS wants to create regional programs. They see it as unfair for the kids from lower performing schools to try to complete with kids from higher performing schools.
To some degree, I do agree with that, but I don't think doing away with county wide magnets is a good idea. It will definitely water down the program. There aren't enough well trained/degreed STEM teachers to teach such advanced topics.
They could just expand programs if they wanted the second tier performing students in the programs.
But that's not what they want. They want paper equity. They want the lower tier performing students in the "same" programs as the upper tier, which is only possible by eliminating the upper tier programs.
Perfectly described. There is no way all six regions will equal because of the cohort and teaching quality.
Anonymous
07/26/2025 11:48
Subject: Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Why do so many kids from Churchill, WJ, and Wootton go to RMIB?
It's not just RMIB, they send a lot to Blair too. Are those 3 bad schools or something?
Those zones have most the tippy top students in the county.
What does "tippy top students" even mean? I can't imagine those schools have that many more gifted kids with high potential than other schools, most of which send less than 10 kids.
I'd believe kids in those areas have higher test scores or other accomplishments based on exposure though, between the elementary and middle schools and the exposure and support from better-off parents But that shouldn't affect admissions that much, should it-- what are the admissions criteria? The magnets are supposed to serve the smartest kids in the county, right? Not just provide extra resources and supports to kids who get ahead because of receiving more resources and support than kids of equal intelligence in poorer areas/families?
If the countywide magnets are actually serving the smartest, most capable kids of all backgrounds countywide, regardless of background, then I support them. But if they're essentially just helping 95th percentile kids from rich areas get more advantages than top 1-2% kids from poor areas because the richer kids score better on exposure-based tests like MAP or the like, then I have a huge problem with that
High intelligence, high performance people tend to cluster together and raise their kids together. People who care about education find each other. The differences are stark.
If a smart kid hasn't learned anything much by 8th grade, that's a tragedy but throwing them into an advanced accelerated program isn't going to help. They need something to help them catch up.
People like to tell themselves that, but I don't buy it. Rich schools don't just so happen to have 5-10 times the number of profoundly gifted kids as poor schools. But they do often have many more kids who are bright and get lots of supports to succeed and access accelerated material and score high on exposure-based tests like MAP.
And no one's saying that smart kids who are behind grade level/"haven't learned anything much" by 8th grade should be admitted into advanced programs. Just that bright rich kids who test better than profoundly gifted, slightly-ahead-of-grade level poor kids shouldn't get all the spots and leave the highly gifted poor kids behind with the justification that the poor kids can just take AP classes and that'll be fine.
Anonymous
07/26/2025 11:39
Subject: Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Why do so many kids from Churchill, WJ, and Wootton go to RMIB?
It's not just RMIB, they send a lot to Blair too. Are those 3 bad schools or something?
Those zones have most the tippy top students in the county.
What does "tippy top students" even mean? I can't imagine those schools have that many more gifted kids with high potential than other schools, most of which send less than 10 kids.
I'd believe kids in those areas have higher test scores or other accomplishments based on exposure though, between the elementary and middle schools and the exposure and support from better-off parents But that shouldn't affect admissions that much, should it-- what are the admissions criteria? The magnets are supposed to serve the smartest kids in the county, right? Not just provide extra resources and supports to kids who get ahead because of receiving more resources and support than kids of equal intelligence in poorer areas/families?
If the countywide magnets are actually serving the smartest, most capable kids of all backgrounds countywide, regardless of background, then I support them. But if they're essentially just helping 95th percentile kids from rich areas get more advantages than top 1-2% kids from poor areas because the richer kids score better on exposure-based tests like MAP or the like, then I have a huge problem with that
High intelligence, high performance people tend to cluster together and raise their kids together. People who care about education find each other. The differences are stark.
If a smart kid hasn't learned anything much by 8th grade, that's a tragedy but throwing them into an advanced accelerated program isn't going to help. They need something to help them catch up.
Anonymous
07/26/2025 10:54
Subject: Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Why do so many kids from Churchill, WJ, and Wootton go to RMIB?
It's not just RMIB, they send a lot to Blair too. Are those 3 bad schools or something?
Those zones have most the tippy top students in the county.
What does "tippy top students" even mean? I can't imagine those schools have that many more gifted kids with high potential than other schools, most of which send less than 10 kids.
I'd believe kids in those areas have higher test scores or other accomplishments based on exposure though, between the elementary and middle schools and the exposure and support from better-off parents But that shouldn't affect admissions that much, should it-- what are the admissions criteria? The magnets are supposed to serve the smartest kids in the county, right? Not just provide extra resources and supports to kids who get ahead because of receiving more resources and support than kids of equal intelligence in poorer areas/families?
If the countywide magnets are actually serving the smartest, most capable kids of all backgrounds countywide, regardless of background, then I support them. But if they're essentially just helping 95th percentile kids from rich areas get more advantages than top 1-2% kids from poor areas because the richer kids score better on exposure-based tests like MAP or the like, then I have a huge problem with that
Anonymous
07/26/2025 10:42
Subject: Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:My Whitman coworker was shocked to see Blair's course offerings both for magnet and neighborhood. He just assumed Whitman had mostly the same options. My HoCo coworker also told me that HoCo basically has a SMCS magnet in each high school...until she looked at the course offerings.
Yo' HoCo co-wo loco, lololol
Anonymous
07/26/2025 10:42
Subject: Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Why do so many kids from Churchill, WJ, and Wootton go to RMIB?
It's not just RMIB, they send a lot to Blair too. Are those 3 bad schools or something?
Those zones have most the tippy top students in the county.
And that's why MCPS wants to create regional programs. They see it as unfair for the kids from lower performing schools to try to complete with kids from higher performing schools.
To some degree, I do agree with that, but I don't think doing away with county wide magnets is a good idea. It will definitely water down the program. There aren't enough well trained/degreed STEM teachers to teach such advanced topics.
They could just expand programs if they wanted the second tier performing students in the programs.
But that's not what they want. They want paper equity. They want the lower tier performing students in the "same" programs as the upper tier, which is only possible by eliminating the upper tier programs.
Going from two locations to six is expanding the programs.
Anonymous
07/26/2025 10:41
Subject: Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I found this info really fascinating. Any thoughts on what it means for the implications for the new regional magnets?
https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DJVQ56678E2B/$file/Attachment%20D%20SY2025%20Student%20Enrollment%20Countywide%20Programs%20250724.pdf
It’s interesting that Northwood has the most students leaving for countywide programs (232). I wonder if that’s an increase due to the holding school being incomplete and so far away from the actual school boundary.
No, they don't. The document is countywide and regional programs combined. Most of the Northwood students at these special programs are in the local DCC regional programs (Wheaton and Blair CAP), half at CAP.
CAP at Blair is the local neighborhood school for Northwood
Anonymous
07/26/2025 10:35
Subject: Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Why do so many kids from Churchill, WJ, and Wootton go to RMIB?
It's not just RMIB, they send a lot to Blair too. Are those 3 bad schools or something?
Those zones have most the tippy top students in the county.
And that's why MCPS wants to create regional programs. They see it as unfair for the kids from lower performing schools to try to complete with kids from higher performing schools.
To some degree, I do agree with that, but I don't think doing away with county wide magnets is a good idea. It will definitely water down the program. There aren't enough well trained/degreed STEM teachers to teach such advanced topics.
They could just expand programs if they wanted the second tier performing students in the programs.
But that's not what they want. They want paper equity. They want the lower tier performing students in the "same" programs as the upper tier, which is only possible by eliminating the upper tier programs.
Anonymous
07/26/2025 10:33
Subject: Re:Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Still, it's notable that Churchill sends 77 students to Blair SMCS, while Whitman only sends 19.
Look at all the programs, Whitman barely sends any to any. It isn’t that the kids don’t qualify as Whitman has the highest college placement and SAT scores in the county. People are just happy with the school. A few peal off and go to Blair but half of the programs are really just carrots to attract peer groups to middling schools that need infusions and protection bubbles for the small local populations of serious students. Whitman whole school is that peer group with few exceptions. It isn’t perfect but results don’t line.
Whitman has a broad base of well-supported high performers, but not the cohort of excelling Asians.
They don't have to compete with Asian students for the top college spots.
More than likely, a large cohort of Whitman students come from family with money and connections. They don't have to worry about being in an advanced program. They will use their family money and connections to get their kids into a great college.
And many of them use their family money to get their kids into an elite private high school. Where you you think GDS and STA and NCS, and Bullis and all the rest families live?
Anonymous
07/26/2025 10:01
Subject: Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Why do so many kids from Churchill, WJ, and Wootton go to RMIB?
It's not just RMIB, they send a lot to Blair too. Are those 3 bad schools or something?
Those zones have most the tippy top students in the county.
And that's why MCPS wants to create regional programs. They see it as unfair for the kids from lower performing schools to try to complete with kids from higher performing schools.
To some degree, I do agree with that, but I don't think doing away with county wide magnets is a good idea. It will definitely water down the program. There aren't enough well trained/degreed STEM teachers to teach such advanced topics.
Anonymous
07/26/2025 09:58
Subject: Re:Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Still, it's notable that Churchill sends 77 students to Blair SMCS, while Whitman only sends 19.
Look at all the programs, Whitman barely sends any to any. It isn’t that the kids don’t qualify as Whitman has the highest college placement and SAT scores in the county. People are just happy with the school. A few peal off and go to Blair but half of the programs are really just carrots to attract peer groups to middling schools that need infusions and protection bubbles for the small local populations of serious students. Whitman whole school is that peer group with few exceptions. It isn’t perfect but results don’t line.
Whitman has a broad base of well-supported high performers, but not the cohort of excelling Asians.
They don't have to compete with Asian students for the top college spots.
More than likely, a large cohort of Whitman students come from family with money and connections. They don't have to worry about being in an advanced program. They will use their family money and connections to get their kids into a great college.
Anonymous
07/26/2025 09:56
Subject: Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Why do so many kids from Churchill, WJ, and Wootton go to RMIB?
It's not just RMIB, they send a lot to Blair too. Are those 3 bad schools or something?
Those zones have most the tippy top students in the county.
Anonymous
07/26/2025 09:55
Subject: Re:Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Still, it's notable that Churchill sends 77 students to Blair SMCS, while Whitman only sends 19.
How many of those Churchill kids are Asian? Also look at the local private school enrollment demographics. Asian families aren’t sending their kids private at the same rate as their white counterparts parts. They are treating the McPS special programs like a private school. This is why they don’t want to be spread out
90+% are Asian.
The top 10-15% of the Asian kids at each Western school go to SMCS. Almost perfect correlation.
That also tells you that the Asian students are outperforming everyone. I guess some people don't like that. They would only be happy if Asian students performed as poorly as the other minorities.
No matter how many programs MCPS tries to create, the overall performance of URM won't shift that much. That's a hard pill to swallow, I realize, but it's the hard truth. MCPS is better off focusing on bringing up the bottom, not bringing the top down, to close the achievement gap.
Anonymous
07/26/2025 09:53
Subject: Stats on magnet enrollment by home school
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I found this info really fascinating. Any thoughts on what it means for the implications for the new regional magnets?
https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/files/DJVQ56678E2B/$file/Attachment%20D%20SY2025%20Student%20Enrollment%20Countywide%20Programs%20250724.pdf
It’s interesting that Northwood has the most students leaving for countywide programs (232). I wonder if that’s an increase due to the holding school being incomplete and so far away from the actual school boundary.
Also, as somebody said in another thread, is the end goal to have the same number of kids entering a school for a special program as are leaving the school to attend a different program in another building?
And that won't happen. What they are actually trying to achieve is for students to NOT want to go to other programs and just stay at the home school that offers some program.
There are only two STEM magnets, and Wootton sends a whopping 105 to Blair, but 0 to < 10 to the other STEM magnets.
Some of it is due to proximity, but largely, IMO, it's due to the classes that are offered.
FWIW, my kids didn't/don't go to Blair magnet, but I don't think MCPS will be able to recreate Blair magnet and all of its very advanced course offerings at other schools. I'll say again - finding STEM teachers is difficult, even more so for these very advanced magnet level classes.
The programs will be watered down, and it will be a "magnet" in name only.