Anonymous wrote:Turned down HGC because far away from home school (very long bus ride) and current families there were not happy with teacher(s)/said it was not particularly challenging/home school has compacted math. HGC families mostly thought strong peer group as the advantage - decided that was not enough to warrant going through transportation difficulties.

Also these HGC families did not even apply to magnet MS - all are coming back to home MS.

Turned down HGC because far away from home school (very long bus ride) and current families there were not happy with teacher(s)/said it was not particularly challenging/home school has compacted math. HGC families mostly thought strong peer group as the advantage - decided that was not enough to warrant going through transportation difficulties.

PP, I am curious why did you decide to turn down the HGC?

To the other PPs the, HGC and compacted math designation are completely not related. I would think that most kids that get into HGC would be eligible for compact math but that's a coincidence.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was admitted with slightly below the median verbal and way above median math and non verbal. I wish they had not changed the acceleration opportunities. Hoping the hgc will give my kid a challenge across the board but only cautiously optimistic about the math.

I wonder if admissions to HGC depends on whether your child is likely to be offered compacted C2.0 4/5/6 math in the home school? Each HGC in a cluster will surely have at least one class of compacted 4/5/6 math, but not all elementary schools in a cluster will offer compacted 4/5/6. Some elementary schools are busing to the local middle school for it, some are busing to another elementary nearby, another option reportedly was to do it online but I'm not sure if any school actually implemented that.

Do you happen to know if your home elementary is offering C2.0 4/5/6 compacted class at your local elementary?

This makes little sense given that there are two separate tests- one for HGC and one for compacted math.

DC was accepted to HGC and compacted math given at home school (chose not to go to HGC).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid was admitted with slightly below the median verbal and way above median math and non verbal. I wish they had not changed the acceleration opportunities. Hoping the hgc will give my kid a challenge across the board but only cautiously optimistic about the math.

I wonder if admissions to HGC depends on whether your child is likely to be offered compacted C2.0 4/5/6 math in the home school? Each HGC in a cluster will surely have at least one class of compacted 4/5/6 math, but not all elementary schools in a cluster will offer compacted 4/5/6. Some elementary schools are busing to the local middle school for it, some are busing to another elementary nearby, another option reportedly was to do it online but I'm not sure if any school actually implemented that.

Do you happen to know if your home elementary is offering C2.0 4/5/6 compacted class at your local elementary?

This makes little sense given that there are two separate tests- one for HGC and one for compacted math.

The HGC process for current 4th graders was in place before compacted math was formally created.

Anonymous wrote:My kid was admitted with slightly below the median verbal and way above median math and non verbal. I wish they had not changed the acceleration opportunities. Hoping the hgc will give my kid a challenge across the board but only cautiously optimistic about the math.

I wonder if admissions to HGC depends on whether your child is likely to be offered compacted C2.0 4/5/6 math in the home school? Each HGC in a cluster will surely have at least one class of compacted 4/5/6 math, but not all elementary schools in a cluster will offer compacted 4/5/6. Some elementary schools are busing to the local middle school for it, some are busing to another elementary nearby, another option reportedly was to do it online but I'm not sure if any school actually implemented that.

Do you happen to know if your home elementary is offering C2.0 4/5/6 compacted class at your local elementary?

My kid was admitted with slightly below the median verbal and way above median math and non verbal. I wish they had not changed the acceleration opportunities. Hoping the hgc will give my kid a challenge across the board but only cautiously optimistic about the math.

When we went to visit our HGC, the principal mentioned that it might not be the place for a child who talents were very focused towards only math.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

HGC math is the same as general education under 2.0.

HGC math was the same before 2.0, also.

Weird that MCPS test for HGC includes math given it is a language arts "magnet" program.

It is not a language arts magnet program.

OK - but it does not have different math instruction.

The math test for HGC was put in place long before C2.0. Pre C2.0, the HGC was really the main place where kids could be accelerated in math 2 or 3 or even 3+ years. In order to do that kind of acceleration, a school had to have a critical mass of kids so that the teacher/student ratios weren't ridiculously small. Thus, although the math curriculum has always been the same in and out of the HGC, at the HGC kids were able to accelerate faster. This was due to the math teaching structure which allowed teachers to teach a class as "on grade level plus next grade ahead enrichment". For the super smart kids they were essentially doing 2 years of math in 1 year or at least enough of the second year that they could skip it.

Now MCPS has made changes to the math pathway. Essentially there are only 3 pathways -- on grade level, one year ahead and remedial (but they don't call it that). The "new C2.0" "on grade level" is actually one year ahead from the pre-C2.0 main pathway. Previously the "on grade level" path was to take Algebra in 9th grade. Now "on grade level" is to take Algebra in 8th grade and "remedial" is Algebra in 9th. Of course, no one knows what kind of numbers are taking and passing the classes on the C2.0 pathway, so it's hard to tell what's really "mainstream" and what's "remedial".

Since the most any child can be ahead is 1 year (i.e. taking Algebra in 7th grade), there is no longer any need to group kids by higher math skills in the HGC. But, the math testing is an artifact of the old system that still exists.

It would be interesting to see admissions data for the HGC -- are they preferentially admitting kids with stronger language and non-verbal reasoning scores than math scores? Or will a kid with above the median math and non-verbal reasoning but below median verbal scores get declined? No one knows since this data isn't released.....

This was my DC who was admitted this year to HGC. Math score was I think at least 10 points below median, but verbal and non-verbal were very high, near the top. Just anecdotal. As you stated, you'd have to analyze all admitted kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

HGC math is the same as general education under 2.0.

HGC math was the same before 2.0, also.

Weird that MCPS test for HGC includes math given it is a language arts "magnet" program.

It is not a language arts magnet program.

OK - but it does not have different math instruction.

The math test for HGC was put in place long before C2.0. Pre C2.0, the HGC was really the main place where kids could be accelerated in math 2 or 3 or even 3+ years. In order to do that kind of acceleration, a school had to have a critical mass of kids so that the teacher/student ratios weren't ridiculously small. Thus, although the math curriculum has always been the same in and out of the HGC, at the HGC kids were able to accelerate faster. This was due to the math teaching structure which allowed teachers to teach a class as "on grade level plus next grade ahead enrichment". For the super smart kids they were essentially doing 2 years of math in 1 year or at least enough of the second year that they could skip it.

Now MCPS has made changes to the math pathway. Essentially there are only 3 pathways -- on grade level, one year ahead and remedial (but they don't call it that). The "new C2.0" "on grade level" is actually one year ahead from the pre-C2.0 main pathway. Previously the "on grade level" path was to take Algebra in 9th grade. Now "on grade level" is to take Algebra in 8th grade and "remedial" is Algebra in 9th. Of course, no one knows what kind of numbers are taking and passing the classes on the C2.0 pathway, so it's hard to tell what's really "mainstream" and what's "remedial".

Since the most any child can be ahead is 1 year (i.e. taking Algebra in 7th grade), there is no longer any need to group kids by higher math skills in the HGC. But, the math testing is an artifact of the old system that still exists.

It would be interesting to see admissions data for the HGC -- are they preferentially admitting kids with stronger language and non-verbal reasoning scores than math scores? Or will a kid with above the median math and non-verbal reasoning but below median verbal scores get declined? No one knows since this data isn't released.....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

HGC math is the same as general education under 2.0.

HGC math was the same before 2.0, also.

Weird that MCPS test for HGC includes math given it is a language arts "magnet" program.

It is not a language arts magnet program.

OK - but it does not have different math instruction.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

HGC math is the same as general education under 2.0.

HGC math was the same before 2.0, also.

Weird that MCPS test for HGC includes math given it is a language arts "magnet" program.

It is not a language arts magnet program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

HGC math is the same as general education under 2.0.

HGC math was the same before 2.0, also.

Weird that MCPS test for HGC includes math given it is a language arts "magnet" program.

It's odd. I think that they must want kids who are also strong in math to be grouped together. In my child's 4th grade HGC class only two children are not in compacted math.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

HGC math is the same as general education under 2.0.

HGC math was the same before 2.0, also.

Weird that MCPS test for HGC includes math given it is a language arts "magnet" program.