Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. They should have more.

-parent of former RMIB student

Why should there be more of them? Most districts in the county don’t have as many special and magnet programs. Folks here complain about cost, not focusing on the basics, bussing, etc etc. Getting rid of these extra programs would allow more teachers to focus on “the basics” and lower the cost of transportation because kids wouldn’t be going to programs all across the county.

Howard and Frederick county don’t have all these specialized and magnet programs but are supposedly great school districts. Why should MCPS keep this up?

You cannot compare MCPS to Howard and Frederick. PG and Baltimore Counties both have over 100,000 students. MCPS has over 160,000. Compare MCPS to a similarly sized system. Howard and Frederick are roughly a third the size in student population.

And yet no one is advocating moving to PG or Baltimore Counties. They do advocate moving to Howard and Frederick which means people would ultimately be fine without having all these programs.

dp.. right, because neither of those school districts have the amount of special programs that MCPS has. They don't because they don't have as many high achieving students that MCPS has.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is really no need for a central program.
Each school can have its own advanced classes.

This would greatly reduce the cost, while kids can still receive good education.

each school cannot have its own advanced classes because some schools do not have enough high achieving kids to warrant a whole class just for like 10 kids. That is the whole reason why MCPS moved to the new model of selecting kids who did not have a similar cohort to the ES/MS magnets.

If a school has hundreds of kids, why should the resource tilt to less than 10 kids? That does not make sense!

Resources are being split.

It's like saying if there are 10 kids with IEPs why should the school use resources for those 10 IEP students?

Anonymous wrote:There is really no need for a central program.
Each school can have its own advanced classes.

This would greatly reduce the cost, while kids can still receive good education.

1. It would INCREASE costs. The main cost is teacher salaries. You would need to hire a whole lot more, to teach fewer kids at each school. Central programs are more cost-effective than in-school programs.

2. There is a teacher shortage. Most teachers are not qualified to teach magnet-level courses. MCPS can't even put certified warm bodies in every class, and it's a problem all over the nation. Hiring enough teachers to staff every in-school program just isn't operationally possible, even if you have the budget!


Math and logic. They're hard, aren't they?

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if MCPS has given thought to reducing its HS magnet and special programs offerings. There are certainly a lot of benefits that could be had from doing so.

The plan is to expand the magnets so they become magnets for all.

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if MCPS has given thought to reducing its HS magnet and special programs offerings. There are certainly a lot of benefits that could be had from doing so.

MCPS teaches that you should provide support for a claim.

What "lot of benefits" could be had?

Anonymous wrote:There is really no need for a central program.
Each school can have its own advanced classes.

This would greatly reduce the cost, while kids can still receive good education.

That only works when you have 50+ advanced students per grade like Blair magnets+inboundary do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. They should have more.

-parent of former RMIB student

+1

- parent of former Blair Magnet students

Education is the whole purpose of our schools and should not be rationed. We should make sure that any child who wants to learn more can have that opportunity. These kids are our future. They’re the ones who will be researching cancer, fighting global warming, governing the nation, and negotiating for peace. It’s up to us, right now, to give them the tools they’ll need to face those challenges. We can’t afford NOT to invest in them.

Agree, but money and resources do not grow on trees. Where is this investment coming from? I’m sure teachers would like smaller classes and more time or aides so they can provide feedback and provide support. But that requires more people and more space which requires more dollars.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. They should have more.

-parent of former RMIB student

Why should there be more of them? Most districts in the county don’t have as many special and magnet programs. Folks here complain about cost, not focusing on the basics, bussing, etc etc. Getting rid of these extra programs would allow more teachers to focus on “the basics” and lower the cost of transportation because kids wouldn’t be going to programs all across the county.

Howard and Frederick county don’t have all these specialized and magnet programs but are supposedly great school districts. Why should MCPS keep this up?

Because we ALL know that cancelling these programs would not result in a sudden improvement of curriculum and teaching at all schools. Instead, everyone would have low-level expectations and there would be no pathways for academic achievers who were not zoned for the affluent W schools. It would be incredibly regressive to cancel Blair or RMIB. If you authentically want to transition to a home-school model then you need to discuss how to ensure that each school has a rigorous and differentiated curriculum.

You're in for a shock when you find out where almost everyone at RMIB and Blair SMACS live.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disagree. They should have more.

-parent of former RMIB student

Why should there be more of them? Most districts in the county don’t have as many special and magnet programs. Folks here complain about cost, not focusing on the basics, bussing, etc etc. Getting rid of these extra programs would allow more teachers to focus on “the basics” and lower the cost of transportation because kids wouldn’t be going to programs all across the county.

Howard and Frederick county don’t have all these specialized and magnet programs but are supposedly great school districts. Why should MCPS keep this up?

You cannot compare MCPS to Howard and Frederick. PG and Baltimore Counties both have over 100,000 students. MCPS has over 160,000. Compare MCPS to a similarly sized system. Howard and Frederick are roughly a third the size in student population.

And yet no one is advocating moving to PG or Baltimore Counties. They do advocate moving to Howard and Frederick which means people would ultimately be fine without having all these programs.

Anonymous wrote:My high ability kid was bored in the classroom until he got into the magnet program in ES. He blossomed in the cohort of similar ability classmates, and thrived due to the accelerated pace and rigorous curriculum in the classroom.

He had excellent teachers and classmates in the magnet programs. Especially, his HS years in the SMCS program in Poolesville HS, was an amazing experience and frankly, college seems like a breeze now. He was encouraged to seek out many opportunities on his own and through the framework of the magnet program. No wonder, PHS is the #1 school in Maryland in all metrics.

I think some elements of the magnet program can be useful for all students. And there should be more HS magnets to serve the many GT students who do not find a place in the magnet program due to some policy of MCPS. Neither should MCPS dilute the rigor and standards of admission for students in the magnet program due to some flawed DEI policy implementation. The various different ability and different achieving students require customized programs for their academic needs and they should be given that - that is true equity.

Finally, magnet teachers with the magnet pedagogy training should be not be forced to teach non-magnet students. The various groups of students with different academic needs need to be taught by teachers who can meet their needs - academic and behavioral.

The only metric PHS is number one is SAT scores.

My high ability kid was bored in the classroom until he got into the magnet program in ES. He blossomed in the cohort of similar ability classmates, and thrived due to the accelerated pace and rigorous curriculum in the classroom.

He had excellent teachers and classmates in the magnet programs. Especially, his HS years in the SMCS program in Poolesville HS, was an amazing experience and frankly, college seems like a breeze now. He was encouraged to seek out many opportunities on his own and through the framework of the magnet program. No wonder, PHS is the #1 school in Maryland in all metrics.

I think some elements of the magnet program can be useful for all students. And there should be more HS magnets to serve the many GT students who do not find a place in the magnet program due to some policy of MCPS. Neither should MCPS dilute the rigor and standards of admission for students in the magnet program due to some flawed DEI policy implementation. The various different ability and different achieving students require customized programs for their academic needs and they should be given that - that is true equity.

Finally, magnet teachers with the magnet pedagogy training should be not be forced to teach non-magnet students. The various groups of students with different academic needs need to be taught by teachers who can meet their needs - academic and behavioral.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is really no need for a central program.
Each school can have its own advanced classes.

This would greatly reduce the cost, while kids can still receive good education.

each school cannot have its own advanced classes because some schools do not have enough high achieving kids to warrant a whole class just for like 10 kids. That is the whole reason why MCPS moved to the new model of selecting kids who did not have a similar cohort to the ES/MS magnets.

If a school has hundreds of kids, why should the resource tilt to less than 10 kids? That does not make sense!

because not to put too fine a point on it, educating those kids has a high societal payoff. I feel like these discussions mistake education for a private good. no. we educate our best & brightest appropriately because they are our future engineers, doctors, and scientists. every other kid also deserves a solid education, but it’s suicidal for a nation to decide that it will not provide a rigorous education to the gifted/highly capable students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is really no need for a central program.
Each school can have its own advanced classes.

This would greatly reduce the cost, while kids can still receive good education.

each school cannot have its own advanced classes because some schools do not have enough high achieving kids to warrant a whole class just for like 10 kids. That is the whole reason why MCPS moved to the new model of selecting kids who did not have a similar cohort to the ES/MS magnets.

If a school has hundreds of kids, why should the resource tilt to less than 10 kids? That does not make sense!

Those 10 kids should have their needs met on an equivalent basis as the hundreds of others. Just like those with IEPs, etc.

To the PP, MCPS moved away from that take-the-outliers/leave-the-large-cohorts a year after they implemented it, going to a lottery approach, albeit with adjustments for school FARMS rate and individual received services, to deal with pandemic uncertainty and sticking with that for the last three years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are lots of HS application and special programs. If many were eliminated or at least restricted to local only MCPS would save on all that bussing cost. Save cost for any additional curriculum or supplies. And it would hopefully reset some parent expectations of the district back to reality. Students could still take AP and DE.

Ou school doesn’t have advanced math classes. So, nice plan but you are hurting a lot of kids who don’t have equal access.

NO elementary has "advanced" math classes as far as I know. MCPS middle schools have the same offerings. All high schools have APs. What are you talking about?