Anonymous
05/25/2025 09:43
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am so so so glad we made it into the CES next year. This is a complete bait and switch for those who didn’t get into the lottery
Well that’s great for you. How is any of this fair for the kids who qualified for the CES but didn’t get a seat through the lottery. I don’t understand how MCPS justifies keeping CES. Disband them and offer enrichment at local schools.
Advocating to disband the CES isn't going to help, PP. I agree with you that all of this is unfair, and counterproductive, but I'm old enough to remember that ELC was introduced in order to redress concerns that arose after MCPS adjusted the cut-off for CES. It was introduced explicitly in response to parent outrage, which means it can be brought back the same way.
I don’t think it should be disbanded for sour grapes reasons, I just don’t see the point in it. The fact that they moved to a system that now identifies kids who qualify and then lotteries off the spots exposes that more kids qualify for the program than MCPS will provide spots for. Why? Why can’t MCPS offer an enriched curriculum to everyone who qualifies based on the criteria that they set? The solution to me is that it should be provided at the local school level for all the kids in the pool, instead of creating winners and losers arbitrarily based on a lottery, and then bussing those winners to other schools and leaving the losers with no enrichment. Why are there now essentially two systems for the same pool of kids? This makes no sense.
MCPS hasn’t always used a lottery system for admissions to the CES (or previously, for the HGC), but they have always had more students who qualified than seats for qualified students. That part isn’t new. In fact, there are fewer seats in the middle school magnets than at CES. They should expand these magnet programs or limit them to the very most advanced learners. They should not randomly select a small portion of students who are in the top half of performers for the CES and then offer no enrichment to most of the qualified students. The ways they plan to offer an enriched curriculum to students isn’t satisfactory to anyone.
Yes, I know how the prior system worked and how the current system works. I think the lottery process exposes that they do not provide access to all who qualify. They set the criteria, they identify students, and then they say sorry, no access for you to a segment of the identified students. Why do we need to expand magnets when the curriculum could be provided in the local schools? Same with the middle school magnets. Don't people want their kids to stay at their local schools but have access to the best programs MCPS has to offer? Why the gate keeping, the two tiered system, the busing kids around? Who wants this other than maybe current magnet parents who fear that somehow bringing the curriculum to the local schools will feel less special?
We already have a successful model for this with the four local CES schools. They should expand that program to any school with a large enough cohort to populate at least one classroom. If schools don't have a large enough cohort, their students should be able to attend a regional CES. I don't understand why they have not implemented this.
That is essentially what ELC was offering, and that is the model they are destroying for the next school year. MCPS had literally just finished rolling ELC (magnet level ELA curriculum) to almost every ES in the county, training teachers, helping schools figure out scheduling and then BAM, a year later they destroy it.
It makes no sense. They were on their way to the model you describe.
Anonymous
05/25/2025 09:27
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am so so so glad we made it into the CES next year. This is a complete bait and switch for those who didn’t get into the lottery
Well that’s great for you. How is any of this fair for the kids who qualified for the CES but didn’t get a seat through the lottery. I don’t understand how MCPS justifies keeping CES. Disband them and offer enrichment at local schools.
Advocating to disband the CES isn't going to help, PP. I agree with you that all of this is unfair, and counterproductive, but I'm old enough to remember that ELC was introduced in order to redress concerns that arose after MCPS adjusted the cut-off for CES. It was introduced explicitly in response to parent outrage, which means it can be brought back the same way.
I don’t think it should be disbanded for sour grapes reasons, I just don’t see the point in it. The fact that they moved to a system that now identifies kids who qualify and then lotteries off the spots exposes that more kids qualify for the program than MCPS will provide spots for. Why? Why can’t MCPS offer an enriched curriculum to everyone who qualifies based on the criteria that they set? The solution to me is that it should be provided at the local school level for all the kids in the pool, instead of creating winners and losers arbitrarily based on a lottery, and then bussing those winners to other schools and leaving the losers with no enrichment. Why are there now essentially two systems for the same pool of kids? This makes no sense.
MCPS hasn’t always used a lottery system for admissions to the CES (or previously, for the HGC), but they have always had more students who qualified than seats for qualified students. That part isn’t new. In fact, there are fewer seats in the middle school magnets than at CES. They should expand these magnet programs or limit them to the very most advanced learners. They should not randomly select a small portion of students who are in the top half of performers for the CES and then offer no enrichment to most of the qualified students. The ways they plan to offer an enriched curriculum to students isn’t satisfactory to anyone.
Yes, I know how the prior system worked and how the current system works. I think the lottery process exposes that they do not provide access to all who qualify. They set the criteria, they identify students, and then they say sorry, no access for you to a segment of the identified students. Why do we need to expand magnets when the curriculum could be provided in the local schools? Same with the middle school magnets. Don't people want their kids to stay at their local schools but have access to the best programs MCPS has to offer? Why the gate keeping, the two tiered system, the busing kids around? Who wants this other than maybe current magnet parents who fear that somehow bringing the curriculum to the local schools will feel less special?
We already have a successful model for this with the four local CES schools. They should expand that program to any school with a large enough cohort to populate at least one classroom. If schools don't have a large enough cohort, their students should be able to attend a regional CES. I don't understand why they have not implemented this.
Anonymous
05/25/2025 08:50
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Im the parent who posted that we got into the CES next year and I would love if she could stay at her home school and be in a class with just high performing kids, but even if it were just ELC (and compacted math I guess) everything else would continue to be mixed. I hear constantly about the kids in her class who are behind and who take the attention of the teacher. The fact that all the kids will be advanced is what I’m looking forward to most.
I never thought I’d say this but I truly think we need to go back to tracking — more like the German education system…
But they don’t want to go back to tracking because it harms more kids than it helps. Your child would benefit from tracking, but other kids would not.
They don't have to track kids. They could let kids in and out of the courses as appropriate. That's what happens in math. Some kids who do 5/6 do 6+ and others do AIM. Meanwhile, some kids who do math 5 go into 6+ while othrs go into 6. You could do the same with ELA. In fact, that's what they did with ELC.
+100. You don’t need to track kids you need to let them move as would be best for them for the current year and then reassess and place accordingly next year. Elementary is the only level we expect teachers to teach 4-5 subjects areas while constantly changing curriculum and having a ridiculously wide range of students.
Anonymous
05/24/2025 20:36
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Im the parent who posted that we got into the CES next year and I would love if she could stay at her home school and be in a class with just high performing kids, but even if it were just ELC (and compacted math I guess) everything else would continue to be mixed. I hear constantly about the kids in her class who are behind and who take the attention of the teacher. The fact that all the kids will be advanced is what I’m looking forward to most.
I never thought I’d say this but I truly think we need to go back to tracking — more like the German education system…
But they don’t want to go back to tracking because it harms more kids than it helps. Your child would benefit from tracking, but other kids would not.
They don't have to track kids. They could let kids in and out of the courses as appropriate. That's what happens in math. Some kids who do 5/6 do 6+ and others do AIM. Meanwhile, some kids who do math 5 go into 6+ while othrs go into 6. You could do the same with ELA. In fact, that's what they did with ELC.
Anonymous
05/24/2025 16:58
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Im the parent who posted that we got into the CES next year and I would love if she could stay at her home school and be in a class with just high performing kids, but even if it were just ELC (and compacted math I guess) everything else would continue to be mixed. I hear constantly about the kids in her class who are behind and who take the attention of the teacher. The fact that all the kids will be advanced is what I’m looking forward to most.
I never thought I’d say this but I truly think we need to go back to tracking — more like the German education system…
But they don’t want to go back to tracking because it harms more kids than it helps. Your child would benefit from tracking, but other kids would not.
If the “no more white collar jobs” poster is to be believed, perhaps tracking students into trade jobs would actually give them a leg up…
Anonymous
05/24/2025 16:56
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Anonymous wrote:Im the parent who posted that we got into the CES next year and I would love if she could stay at her home school and be in a class with just high performing kids, but even if it were just ELC (and compacted math I guess) everything else would continue to be mixed. I hear constantly about the kids in her class who are behind and who take the attention of the teacher. The fact that all the kids will be advanced is what I’m looking forward to most.
I never thought I’d say this but I truly think we need to go back to tracking — more like the German education system…
But they don’t want to go back to tracking because it harms more kids than it helps. Your child would benefit from tracking, but other kids would not.
Anonymous
05/24/2025 16:53
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am so so so glad we made it into the CES next year. This is a complete bait and switch for those who didn’t get into the lottery
Well that’s great for you. How is any of this fair for the kids who qualified for the CES but didn’t get a seat through the lottery. I don’t understand how MCPS justifies keeping CES. Disband them and offer enrichment at local schools.
Advocating to disband the CES isn't going to help, PP. I agree with you that all of this is unfair, and counterproductive, but I'm old enough to remember that ELC was introduced in order to redress concerns that arose after MCPS adjusted the cut-off for CES. It was introduced explicitly in response to parent outrage, which means it can be brought back the same way.
I don’t think it should be disbanded for sour grapes reasons, I just don’t see the point in it. The fact that they moved to a system that now identifies kids who qualify and then lotteries off the spots exposes that more kids qualify for the program than MCPS will provide spots for. Why? Why can’t MCPS offer an enriched curriculum to everyone who qualifies based on the criteria that they set? The solution to me is that it should be provided at the local school level for all the kids in the pool, instead of creating winners and losers arbitrarily based on a lottery, and then bussing those winners to other schools and leaving the losers with no enrichment. Why are there now essentially two systems for the same pool of kids? This makes no sense.
MCPS hasn’t always used a lottery system for admissions to the CES (or previously, for the HGC), but they have always had more students who qualified than seats for qualified students. That part isn’t new. In fact, there are fewer seats in the middle school magnets than at CES. They should expand these magnet programs or limit them to the very most advanced learners. They should not randomly select a small portion of students who are in the top half of performers for the CES and then offer no enrichment to most of the qualified students. The ways they plan to offer an enriched curriculum to students isn’t satisfactory to anyone.
Yes, I know how the prior system worked and how the current system works. I think the lottery process exposes that they do not provide access to all who qualify. They set the criteria, they identify students, and then they say sorry, no access for you to a segment of the identified students. Why do we need to expand magnets when the curriculum could be provided in the local schools? Same with the middle school magnets. Don't people want their kids to stay at their local schools but have access to the best programs MCPS has to offer? Why the gate keeping, the two tiered system, the busing kids around? Who wants this other than maybe current magnet parents who fear that somehow bringing the curriculum to the local schools will feel less special?
The benefits of the programs get diluted when you do anything other than accept the top performers. They’re diluted by using lottery admissions and they’re diluted by being set up at every school, regardless of whether the school has enough high performers to fill a class. What do you do at schools that can fill 1.5 classes with high performers? Do you give them 1 or 2 classes with the CES curriculum? And just as the busing of students costs money, it costs money to roll this curriculum out to every school in the county. When a new CES is established, there’s extensive training for the new teachers. The cheapest, most effective way to provide this enriched instruction is to bring the top performers together.
Anonymous
05/24/2025 16:52
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Im the parent who posted that we got into the CES next year and I would love if she could stay at her home school and be in a class with just high performing kids, but even if it were just ELC (and compacted math I guess) everything else would continue to be mixed. I hear constantly about the kids in her class who are behind and who take the attention of the teacher. The fact that all the kids will be advanced is what I’m looking forward to most.
I never thought I’d say this but I truly think we need to go back to tracking — more like the German education system…
I never thought I’d say this but I truly think we need to go back to tracking — more like the German education system…
Anonymous
05/24/2025 16:35
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am so so so glad we made it into the CES next year. This is a complete bait and switch for those who didn’t get into the lottery
Well that’s great for you. How is any of this fair for the kids who qualified for the CES but didn’t get a seat through the lottery. I don’t understand how MCPS justifies keeping CES. Disband them and offer enrichment at local schools.
Advocating to disband the CES isn't going to help, PP. I agree with you that all of this is unfair, and counterproductive, but I'm old enough to remember that ELC was introduced in order to redress concerns that arose after MCPS adjusted the cut-off for CES. It was introduced explicitly in response to parent outrage, which means it can be brought back the same way.
I don’t think it should be disbanded for sour grapes reasons, I just don’t see the point in it. The fact that they moved to a system that now identifies kids who qualify and then lotteries off the spots exposes that more kids qualify for the program than MCPS will provide spots for. Why? Why can’t MCPS offer an enriched curriculum to everyone who qualifies based on the criteria that they set? The solution to me is that it should be provided at the local school level for all the kids in the pool, instead of creating winners and losers arbitrarily based on a lottery, and then bussing those winners to other schools and leaving the losers with no enrichment. Why are there now essentially two systems for the same pool of kids? This makes no sense.
MCPS hasn’t always used a lottery system for admissions to the CES (or previously, for the HGC), but they have always had more students who qualified than seats for qualified students. That part isn’t new. In fact, there are fewer seats in the middle school magnets than at CES. They should expand these magnet programs or limit them to the very most advanced learners. They should not randomly select a small portion of students who are in the top half of performers for the CES and then offer no enrichment to most of the qualified students. The ways they plan to offer an enriched curriculum to students isn’t satisfactory to anyone.
Yes, I know how the prior system worked and how the current system works. I think the lottery process exposes that they do not provide access to all who qualify. They set the criteria, they identify students, and then they say sorry, no access for you to a segment of the identified students. Why do we need to expand magnets when the curriculum could be provided in the local schools? Same with the middle school magnets. Don't people want their kids to stay at their local schools but have access to the best programs MCPS has to offer? Why the gate keeping, the two tiered system, the busing kids around? Who wants this other than maybe current magnet parents who fear that somehow bringing the curriculum to the local schools will feel less special?
Anonymous
05/24/2025 16:14
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am so so so glad we made it into the CES next year. This is a complete bait and switch for those who didn’t get into the lottery
Well that’s great for you. How is any of this fair for the kids who qualified for the CES but didn’t get a seat through the lottery. I don’t understand how MCPS justifies keeping CES. Disband them and offer enrichment at local schools.
Advocating to disband the CES isn't going to help, PP. I agree with you that all of this is unfair, and counterproductive, but I'm old enough to remember that ELC was introduced in order to redress concerns that arose after MCPS adjusted the cut-off for CES. It was introduced explicitly in response to parent outrage, which means it can be brought back the same way.
I don’t think it should be disbanded for sour grapes reasons, I just don’t see the point in it. The fact that they moved to a system that now identifies kids who qualify and then lotteries off the spots exposes that more kids qualify for the program than MCPS will provide spots for. Why? Why can’t MCPS offer an enriched curriculum to everyone who qualifies based on the criteria that they set? The solution to me is that it should be provided at the local school level for all the kids in the pool, instead of creating winners and losers arbitrarily based on a lottery, and then bussing those winners to other schools and leaving the losers with no enrichment. Why are there now essentially two systems for the same pool of kids? This makes no sense.
MCPS hasn’t always used a lottery system for admissions to the CES (or previously, for the HGC), but they have always had more students who qualified than seats for qualified students. That part isn’t new. In fact, there are fewer seats in the middle school magnets than at CES. They should expand these magnet programs or limit them to the very most advanced learners. They should not randomly select a small portion of students who are in the top half of performers for the CES and then offer no enrichment to most of the qualified students. The ways they plan to offer an enriched curriculum to students isn’t satisfactory to anyone.
Anonymous
05/24/2025 13:54
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am so so so glad we made it into the CES next year. This is a complete bait and switch for those who didn’t get into the lottery
Well that’s great for you. How is any of this fair for the kids who qualified for the CES but didn’t get a seat through the lottery. I don’t understand how MCPS justifies keeping CES. Disband them and offer enrichment at local schools.
Advocating to disband the CES isn't going to help, PP. I agree with you that all of this is unfair, and counterproductive, but I'm old enough to remember that ELC was introduced in order to redress concerns that arose after MCPS adjusted the cut-off for CES. It was introduced explicitly in response to parent outrage, which means it can be brought back the same way.
I don’t think it should be disbanded for sour grapes reasons, I just don’t see the point in it. The fact that they moved to a system that now identifies kids who qualify and then lotteries off the spots exposes that more kids qualify for the program than MCPS will provide spots for. Why? Why can’t MCPS offer an enriched curriculum to everyone who qualifies based on the criteria that they set? The solution to me is that it should be provided at the local school level for all the kids in the pool, instead of creating winners and losers arbitrarily based on a lottery, and then bussing those winners to other schools and leaving the losers with no enrichment. Why are there now essentially two systems for the same pool of kids? This makes no sense.
Anonymous
05/24/2025 13:18
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am so so so glad we made it into the CES next year. This is a complete bait and switch for those who didn’t get into the lottery
Well that’s great for you. How is any of this fair for the kids who qualified for the CES but didn’t get a seat through the lottery. I don’t understand how MCPS justifies keeping CES. Disband them and offer enrichment at local schools.
Advocating to disband the CES isn't going to help, PP. I agree with you that all of this is unfair, and counterproductive, but I'm old enough to remember that ELC was introduced in order to redress concerns that arose after MCPS adjusted the cut-off for CES. It was introduced explicitly in response to parent outrage, which means it can be brought back the same way.
Anonymous
05/24/2025 13:11
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Anonymous wrote:Nothing will happen until parents with advanced kids not receiving instruction that meets their needs all instruct their children to intentionally bomp mcap testing.
You can no longer opt out in the state of Maryland but students are absolutely not mandated ton do their best.
Or parents leave the school.
Some principals only care about test scores and MD report card. Stop letting your kids prop up schools who do not meet their needs.
MCAP is on their record through 12th grade and beyond, so doesn’t sound like a good idea to intentionally bomb it.
I do think the emphasis on the lowest performers is a great disservice to the majority middle and upper performers.
Anonymous
05/24/2025 10:45
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Anonymous wrote:I am so so so glad we made it into the CES next year. This is a complete bait and switch for those who didn’t get into the lottery
Well that’s great for you. How is any of this fair for the kids who qualified for the CES but didn’t get a seat through the lottery. I don’t understand how MCPS justifies keeping CES. Disband them and offer enrichment at local schools.
Anonymous
05/24/2025 10:24
Subject: MCPS is cutting ELC.
Nothing will happen until parents with advanced kids not receiving instruction that meets their needs all instruct their children to intentionally bomp mcap testing.
You can no longer opt out in the state of Maryland but students are absolutely not mandated ton do their best.
Or parents leave the school.
Some principals only care about test scores and MD report card. Stop letting your kids prop up schools who do not meet their needs.
You can no longer opt out in the state of Maryland but students are absolutely not mandated ton do their best.
Or parents leave the school.
Some principals only care about test scores and MD report card. Stop letting your kids prop up schools who do not meet their needs.