Anonymous wrote:

The W's are Winston (Churchill), Walter (Johnson), Walt Whitman, and (Thomas) Wootton.

Anonymous wrote:PP, well that is what I am trying to understand. With the knowledge I have, and based on my discussions with parents of selected, non selected, school councilors, coordinators, I have come to the conclusion that there are some factors other than the academics are considered by the screening committee which leads to not a perfect selection.

Having said this, again I am not upset or unhappy, as DC is one of the finest hard working student and am certain will excel in academics in home school. I wanted to debate my thoughts of how I understand the magnet admissions with other forum members. So thank you all.

Anonymous wrote:Your theory doesn't hold up, OP.

Take a look at the data. Wooton and Walter Johnson are among the top high schools for # of kids sent to magnet programs.
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/info/choice/Appendix-B-Program-data-tables.pdf

Churchill also, although not technically a "W" school.

The only one that doesn't send a lot of kids to the magnets is Whitman and from what I've heard from talking to parents it's because Whitman is so good that why bother applying elsewhere. The commute is also terrible to Blair from that part of Bethesda.

There was a book about top Whitman students a few years ago and one kid went to Blair for a year and then his parents pulled him out because they thought Whitman would be better. He ended up going to Harvard so it sounds like it worked out for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is WINSTON CHURCHILL, that's why it's a W school.

It's odd that I've never, not once, heard anybody call Churchill HS "Winston Churchill".

Well, OPs question didn't reference Montgomery Blair either but if you ever look something up with MCPS there are official names.

But nobody gets upset on DCUM insisting that Blair is an M school.

Ok, but M looks like an upside down W...so, what does that signify?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This - this is WHY you bought a house in a W Cluster so you WOULDN'T depend on getting into a magnet for a good education. Don't bitch when your kid is going to get a better education than 98% of the kids in U.S. public schools. It's unseemly and ungracious.

Do families in W cluster really believe W-cluster education is equal to the magnet program (Blair or RM/IB)? With equal rigor, equal results, and whatever?

They do think that.

I have one kid at Whitman and another in the Blair magnet and I can assure you that the Whitman experience is not comparableat all. But my neighbors are sure that it is the best in the county, bar none.

Whatever.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+2 Here's the thing folks may not know about Silver Spring, Kensington, Takoma Park, and other places on the eastern side of the county - there are A TON of college professors, NIH and other government scientists, public and private school teachers, etc. We care about our children's education as much as you do. We help our kids achieve their potential as much as you do.

Your kids are not smarter or more motivated by virtue of attending a "W" school. You just need to accept that your child, like many other kids, was beaten fair and square. There's no conspiracy. Very few kids make the cut, and yours didn't. Be glad you have a good program to fall back on.

This - this is WHY you bought a house in a W Cluster so you WOULDN'T depend on getting into a magnet for a good education. Don't bitch when your kid is going to get a better education than 98% of the kids in U.S. public schools. It's unseemly and ungracious.

OP here. Exactly that us my point. When a student from so called 'W' has performed way and beyond all through the seventh plus first sem eighth grade, very good recommendations not only from home school but from others too, has shown excellence not online in academics, and did not make in the first 100, but is still under consideration, the factors that weigh in are - is this student going to be ok in home school which is consider done of the very good high schools in mont county or another student with an equally good record or even a little less but from a home school which does not have a good rating in the county should be considered if there are any slots that might open up. This is first hand experience of parents who are NIH / govt/ DC officials with high education and from the neighborhood boundaries of Kensington/ Silver spring/ north Bethesda regions of this county. My point is that why there is a regional/high school bias on selection of kids to STEM program of magnet schools. Why the merit can not be determined based only on the magnet test score and /or the combined report card of sixth and seventh grade. Why to bring in race/ region/ gender/extra curricular activities/ other certifications and even the recommendations to determine the top 100. Why the county doesn't assign some slots for sports/ race/ school boundary based categories apart from the top 100 to bring diversity. How magnet is a magnet if so many other factors that the academic merit decides who gets in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+2 Here's the thing folks may not know about Silver Spring, Kensington, Takoma Park, and other places on the eastern side of the county - there are A TON of college professors, NIH and other government scientists, public and private school teachers, etc. We care about our children's education as much as you do. We help our kids achieve their potential as much as you do.

Your kids are not smarter or more motivated by virtue of attending a "W" school. You just need to accept that your child, like many other kids, was beaten fair and square. There's no conspiracy. Very few kids make the cut, and yours didn't. Be glad you have a good program to fall back on.

This - this is WHY you bought a house in a W Cluster so you WOULDN'T depend on getting into a magnet for a good education. Don't bitch when your kid is going to get a better education than 98% of the kids in U.S. public schools. It's unseemly and ungracious.

OP here. Exactly that us my point. When a student from so called 'W' has performed way and beyond all through the seventh plus first sem eighth grade, very good recommendations not only from home school but from others too, has shown excellence not online in academics, and did not make in the first 100, but is still under consideration, the factors that weigh in are - is this student going to be ok in home school which is consider done of the very good high schools in mont county or another student with an equally good record or even a little less but from a home school which does not have a good rating in the county should be considered if there are any slots that might open up. This is first hand experience of parents who are NIH / govt/ DC officials with high education and from the neighborhood boundaries of Kensington/ Silver spring/ north Bethesda regions of this county. My point is that why there is a regional/high school bias on selection of kids to STEM program of magnet schools. Why the merit can not be determined based only on the magnet test score and /or the combined report card of sixth and seventh grade. Why to bring in race/ region/ gender/extra curricular activities/ other certifications and even the recommendations to determine the top 100. Why the county doesn't assign some slots for sports/ race/ school boundary based categories apart from the top 100 to bring diversity. How magnet is a magnet if so many other factors that the academic merit decides who gets in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is WINSTON CHURCHILL, that's why it's a W school.

It's odd that I've never, not once, heard anybody call Churchill HS "Winston Churchill".

Well, OPs question didn't reference Montgomery Blair either but if you ever look something up with MCPS there are official names.

But nobody gets upset on DCUM insisting that Blair is an M school.

Anonymous wrote:

OP here. Exactly that us my point. When a student from so called 'W' has performed way and beyond all through the seventh plus first sem eighth grade, very good recommendations not only from home school but from others too, has shown excellence not online in academics, and did not make in the first 100, but is still under consideration, the factors that weigh in are - is this student going to be ok in home school which is consider done of the very good high schools in mont county or another student with an equally good record or even a little less but from a home school which does not have a good rating in the county should be considered if there are any slots that might open up. This is first hand experience of parents who are NIH / govt/ DC officials with high education and from the neighborhood boundaries of Kensington/ Silver spring/ north Bethesda regions of this county. My point is that why there is a regional/high school bias on selection of kids to STEM program of magnet schools. Why the merit can not be determined based only on the magnet test score and /or the combined report card of sixth and seventh grade. Why to bring in race/ region/ gender/extra curricular activities/ other certifications and even the recommendations to determine the top 100. Why the county doesn't assign some slots for sports/ race/ school boundary based categories apart from the top 100 to bring diversity. How magnet is a magnet if so many other factors that the academic merit decides who gets in.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+2 Here's the thing folks may not know about Silver Spring, Kensington, Takoma Park, and other places on the eastern side of the county - there are A TON of college professors, NIH and other government scientists, public and private school teachers, etc. We care about our children's education as much as you do. We help our kids achieve their potential as much as you do.

Your kids are not smarter or more motivated by virtue of attending a "W" school. You just need to accept that your child, like many other kids, was beaten fair and square. There's no conspiracy. Very few kids make the cut, and yours didn't. Be glad you have a good program to fall back on.

This - this is WHY you bought a house in a W Cluster so you WOULDN'T depend on getting into a magnet for a good education. Don't bitch when your kid is going to get a better education than 98% of the kids in U.S. public schools. It's unseemly and ungracious.

Anonymous wrote:

This - this is WHY you bought a house in a W Cluster so you WOULDN'T depend on getting into a magnet for a good education. Don't bitch when your kid is going to get a better education than 98% of the kids in U.S. public schools. It's unseemly and ungracious.

Do families in W cluster really believe W-cluster education is equal to the magnet program (Blair or RM/IB)? With equal rigor, equal results, and whatever?

Anonymous wrote:

They do think that.

I have one kid at Whitman and another in the Blair magnet and I can assure you that the Whitman experience is not comparableat all. But my neighbors are sure that it is the best in the county, bar none.

Whatever.