Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC was CES at CCES for 4th and 5th (cut short due to Covid). Found teachers at CCES to be amazing and the best teachers as a group that DC has had. Enjoyed the projects and creativity that the teachers employed in teaching and for the most part found like-minded and interested children. Have not seen DC as thrilled and happy to go to school as DC was during those two years. We aren't fans of the principal, but we have nothing but good things to say about the teachers and curriculum. Have found the middle school experience -- WMS -- to be sorely lacking and without real rigor -- even in the supposedly advanced curriculum. Program seems to be dumbed down instead of really creative and rigorous.

This was our experience, with a child in the same class. The word "transformative" gets overused, but that really was the experience at CCES CES for our child. The only downside would be the commute for some kids coming from the far ends of the bus routes if they weren't being driven. As tremendous an experience as it was, not sure 2.5 hours on a bus each day would be worth it.

Maybe the home school experience is now closer to the CES experience given all the changes, and all the ES's in the CCES CES catchment area are strong, but it was no comparison during the years our child was at CCES CES.

2.5 hours? Are they coming from Poolesville?

1:15 each way for some.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/transportation/busroutes/02403mbus.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone share their experience who have a current 4th grader in the program? Do you feel your child benefited from this program? Thanks.

We had an amazing experience. DD was in 4th when pandemic started, so she didn't have a "normal" two years at CES by any means, but even so it was wonderful--and I can only imagine how utterly fantastic it would be for a kid who gets to do it full-time in-person for two whole years. Her writing skills increased exponentially. Mr. Lynch, who teaches math to all the fourth graders at CCES ces, is phenomenal. We also loved Ms Quintana, who is the ELA teacher for 4th graders at CCES. For 5th grade, due to distance learning, DD only had Ms Luster, the ELA teacher (usually they have specialization with the kids rotating between three teachers - one for math, one for ELA, one for social studies & science, but they didn't do that in 2020-2021), and she was also great. All told, three of the most gifted, charismatic, engaging teachers I've encountered. I've heard great things about the remaining teachers as well. I strongly recommend the experience. The only problem now, if there is a problem, is that 6th grade at our home (non-magnet) middle school is a cake walk.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC was CES at CCES for 4th and 5th (cut short due to Covid). Found teachers at CCES to be amazing and the best teachers as a group that DC has had. Enjoyed the projects and creativity that the teachers employed in teaching and for the most part found like-minded and interested children. Have not seen DC as thrilled and happy to go to school as DC was during those two years. We aren't fans of the principal, but we have nothing but good things to say about the teachers and curriculum. Have found the middle school experience -- WMS -- to be sorely lacking and without real rigor -- even in the supposedly advanced curriculum. Program seems to be dumbed down instead of really creative and rigorous.

This was our experience, with a child in the same class. The word "transformative" gets overused, but that really was the experience at CCES CES for our child. The only downside would be the commute for some kids coming from the far ends of the bus routes if they weren't being driven. As tremendous an experience as it was, not sure 2.5 hours on a bus each day would be worth it.

Maybe the home school experience is now closer to the CES experience given all the changes, and all the ES's in the CCES CES catchment area are strong, but it was no comparison during the years our child was at CCES CES.

2.5 hours? Are they coming from Poolesville?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC was CES at CCES for 4th and 5th (cut short due to Covid). Found teachers at CCES to be amazing and the best teachers as a group that DC has had. Enjoyed the projects and creativity that the teachers employed in teaching and for the most part found like-minded and interested children. Have not seen DC as thrilled and happy to go to school as DC was during those two years. We aren't fans of the principal, but we have nothing but good things to say about the teachers and curriculum. Have found the middle school experience -- WMS -- to be sorely lacking and without real rigor -- even in the supposedly advanced curriculum. Program seems to be dumbed down instead of really creative and rigorous.

This was our experience, with a child in the same class. The word "transformative" gets overused, but that really was the experience at CCES CES for our child. The only downside would be the commute for some kids coming from the far ends of the bus routes if they weren't being driven. As tremendous an experience as it was, not sure 2.5 hours on a bus each day would be worth it.

Maybe the home school experience is now closer to the CES experience given all the changes, and all the ES's in the CCES CES catchment area are strong, but it was no comparison during the years our child was at CCES CES.

Anonymous wrote:DC was CES at CCES for 4th and 5th (cut short due to Covid). Found teachers at CCES to be amazing and the best teachers as a group that DC has had. Enjoyed the projects and creativity that the teachers employed in teaching and for the most part found like-minded and interested children. Have not seen DC as thrilled and happy to go to school as DC was during those two years. We aren't fans of the principal, but we have nothing but good things to say about the teachers and curriculum. Have found the middle school experience -- WMS -- to be sorely lacking and without real rigor -- even in the supposedly advanced curriculum. Program seems to be dumbed down instead of really creative and rigorous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whether explicitly termed rank-ordering or not, that's what they were doing with the Metis-noted evaluations of the applications. It may not be rank-ordering based on a single factor, like a MAP or CogAT score, but, instead, based on the overall profile.

Placing top-X-percenters in a lottery basiclly admits to the fact that there are about X percent that have a need. Unfortunately, the lottery, itself, basically admits that they haven't planned or budgeted enough to meet the need. Saying that a local school can meet the need with lesser enrichment than is available in a CES environment is intellectually dishonest -- MCPS need to expand the programs, either with more CES seats or with robust local GT programs that provide a truly equivalent experience.

From what I've read usually G&T programs consist of the top 6% whereas MCPS programs have seats for 2%-3% so would agree the biggest issue is a lack of opportunity.

Anonymous wrote:Current CES CCES parent here. I don’t think my kid got a lot out of it. The environment seems lax and not as structured. Maybe its good for some kids but I don’t think it worked for mine. He loved it because of such environment but I found he didn’t develop any study habits because of the exact same thing.