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Anonymous wrote:Not the pp, but I think there is some sense for the old application system: you only get considered after you apply, and only people who can handle the logistics apply. I understand MCPS tries its best to encourage potential capable students, but if there's no will, there's no way.

It'd be more efficient and likely would require far less county resources to finalize each starting class at the selective MS magnets, but the whole purpose of the new system was to cast a broad net and identify students who could benefit from the program (however the county makes that determination) who might not (for whatever reason) have considered applying under the old system. That approach has to accept that some number of students who are selected won't attend because any number of reasons (otherwise, if the county didn't anticipate that, they are fools). But the county clearly is hoping that the net result is the type of class makeup more in line with the county's goals. I suspect that the county's further hope is that once selected students, who otherwise may never have considered a magnet MS, better understand the program through things like the open houses and just finding out more because they now have the option, they do develop that "will." And I'm fine with that. I'm also fine if people decide it is not worth it and decline. But to suggest that they don't prioritize education if they do decline is utterly ridiculous.

I don't believe PP I was responding to was suggesting that people who declined for reasons such as logistics don't prioritize education. Other posts did, but not this one. I also read the post as saying only that the county was trying to find capable students who were not applying under the old process, not that those students were somehow less because they were only "potentially capable".

Anonymous wrote:Not the pp, but I think there is some sense for the old application system: you only get considered after you apply, and only people who can handle the logistics apply. I understand MCPS tries its best to encourage potential capable students, but if there's no will, there's no way.

It'd be more efficient and likely would require far less county resources to finalize each starting class at the selective MS magnets, but the whole purpose of the new system was to cast a broad net and identify students who could benefit from the program (however the county makes that determination) who might not (for whatever reason) have considered applying under the old system. That approach has to accept that some number of students who are selected won't attend because any number of reasons (otherwise, if the county didn't anticipate that, they are fools). But the county clearly is hoping that the net result is the type of class makeup more in line with the county's goals. I suspect that the county's further hope is that once selected students, who otherwise may never have considered a magnet MS, better understand the program through things like the open houses and just finding out more because they now have the option, they do develop that "will." And I'm fine with that. I'm also fine if people decide it is not worth it and decline. But to suggest that they don't prioritize education if they do decline is utterly ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are really a peach. "potential capable students." You are assuming my child is not as qualified as your definitely capable child because I don't have as much money or time as you do.

Hey if you are that sensitive, we cannot communicate

And I said "potential capable students", which means capable students that are potentially missing by the old process, not "potentially capable students", which means students that maybe or may not be capable to handle the program.

Anonymous wrote:You are really a peach. "potential capable students." You are assuming my child is not as qualified as your definitely capable child because I don't have as much money or time as you do.

Hey if you are that sensitive, we cannot communicate

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Anonymous wrote:How does the social stuff work if everybody is taking long bus rides to school? How do the kids get together to socialize outside of school? It seems like a lot of kids would just be too geographically spread out. How does it work?

Social on the bus.

From where we live in Chevy Chase TPMS is about a 15-20 minute drive which I wouldn't classify as especially long.

Well, aren't you special? From where we live in Rockville, it's 50 minutes and I'd call it long.

That's not that long but you can always drive your child.

Some people have jobs.

Funny thing, most of us who don't get bus service find a way to drive our kids.

Who does not get bus service to TPMS?

To Takoma, we only get bus service from the local elementary school which is not walkable and we have to drive. To the other magnets, no bus service. To our local elementary school, no bus service.

You do not get a bus to your local school? Then it should be walkable. Having to drive a few minutes to catch a magnet bus does not mean there is no bus service. My DD closest magnet stop is 1.2 miles away. We do drive her but I would never say there is no bus service. When it is necessary she can walk....like a 1/2 day or if a parent is traveling.

I know several families in this situation. There is a bus stop at their local elementary but they need to drive to that local elementary. It is definitely not walkable, maybe 4 miles away.

You are really a peach. "potential capable students." You are assuming my child is not as qualified as your definitely capable child because I don't have as much money or time as you do.

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Anonymous wrote:How does the social stuff work if everybody is taking long bus rides to school? How do the kids get together to socialize outside of school? It seems like a lot of kids would just be too geographically spread out. How does it work?

Social on the bus.

From where we live in Chevy Chase TPMS is about a 15-20 minute drive which I wouldn't classify as especially long.

Well, aren't you special? From where we live in Rockville, it's 50 minutes and I'd call it long.

That's not that long but you can always drive your child.

Some people have jobs.

Funny thing, most of us who don't get bus service find a way to drive our kids.

Who does not get bus service to TPMS?

To Takoma, we only get bus service from the local elementary school which is not walkable and we have to drive. To the other magnets, no bus service. To our local elementary school, no bus service.

You do not get a bus to your local school? Then it should be walkable. Having to drive a few minutes to catch a magnet bus does not mean there is no bus service. My DD closest magnet stop is 1.2 miles away. We do drive her but I would never say there is no bus service. When it is necessary she can walk....like a 1/2 day or if a parent is traveling.

Anonymous wrote:I prioritize keeping a roof over my child's head, being able to feed my child, and paying the heating and utilities. I cannot pick up due to work, I do not have relatives in the area and I certainly cannot afford a nanny. If you would give me the money for the after care I would gladly use it. I don't really understand your post.

Not the pp, but I think there is some sense for the old application system: you only get considered after you apply, and only people who can handle the logistics apply. I understand MCPS tries its best to encourage potential capable students, but if there's no will, there's no way.

I prioritize keeping a roof over my child's head, being able to feed my child, and paying the heating and utilities. I cannot pick up due to work, I do not have relatives in the area and I certainly cannot afford a nanny. If you would give me the money for the after care I would gladly use it. I don't really understand your post.

Anonymous wrote:There is some real weirdness on this thread.

The bus ride is a real issue, and the PP being callous about how they "value their child's education" is being a jerk. Of course access is an issue, and it is more of an issue for single-parent families, or families where parents do not have flexible work schedules.

It is also true that those of us who live in the eastern part of the county have dealt with YEARS of being told we don't value our kids' educations, so it is moderately amusing that this one time we've apparently done something right by having a short magnet bus ride.

So, if there's any overlap between folks complaining about the bus ride, and folks who have in the past disparaged east county parents, please examine your choices.

It isn't about valuing your child's education but it is about priorities and if it is important to you and your child, you make the drive work. We have never had bus service to school. Our school only has a few buses for elementary school and the majority of us live 1.5 miles or more away but they count things like a cut through to the school through unpaved woods as a quicker way to school and deny us. All the parents seem to make it work. Tons of parents at pick up, relatives nannies, or parents use the after care. I think its funny how the same people who slam our schools are fighting to get into them but then concerned about diversity, statistics, etc.

MCPS really should have gifted classes in every school but really doesn't challenge most kids till middle or high school depending on the school. Except if your child is going to an Ivy or a few other schools, most aren't going to care where your child goes to elementary or middle school. I cannot even remember the last time I was asked where I went to high school either. So, most of this when our kids are adults is not relevant. And, depending on the profession, it really doesn't matter where you go to college (though I'd prefer my doctor and other professionals to go to top schools).

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Amazing scores. From personal experience, however, prepare for a score drop next year. The MAP scores do go as high as that, but become unstable as your child reaches the ceiling of their current version. Those documents show the MAP M 2-5 maxing out in the mid 200’s, and once your child scores above that, the results are inaccurate... they will have many subjects on their MAP M 6+ next year that were not on the MAP 2-5. And those high scores will be accurate until your child reaches 300 on the MAP M 6+.

True. Thanks for the suggestion and I'm readily prepared especially when knowing the 6th grade fall's MAP has completely different pool of questions.

I had no idea these MAP scores were important and that you have to prepare for them! I thought it was just some evaluation that the school did to understand how well they - the school is doing!

Yes MAP scores are important because they are used as one measure for magnet selection. No I don't prepare for my DC. He taught himself. I said I'm prepared for a big drop in score at 6th grade fall.

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Anonymous wrote:English and history were big disappointments at TPMS for my kid. Science and math were top notch - great teachers and motivated/capable peer. English and history -- much worse than W district middle schools.

Can you please say more about this? English especially is as important to us as the math and science. Can you give more particulars about the problems and also about why some W/non-magnet middle schools are better?

Teachers were ok. English and History classes are with non-magnet students. In those classes teachers were not able to challenge kids more. Sometimes having disrupting kids in classes. With watered-down materials to ensure most kids get As. Overall those classes were way too easy for my kid.

+ same experience
Also when there are disrupting kids and low expectations, even magnet kids find it boring and as a result no one take the classes seriously

I think there are disruptive kids in every middle school. However, the rising class of 6th graders will include almost 60 CES kids from Piney Branch, plus CES kids from ESS that went to a regional center and a lot of other bright and motivated kids from Piney Branch and ESS (like my kid and a lot of his friends) that didn't test into CES. There is an especially strong cohort of 5th graders entering TPMS next year.

Honestly, it's more like 50 than 60, and only because decided to make two classes. It'd be the same kids regardless. The TPMS cohort is always mixed but also always pretty solid.

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Anonymous wrote:How does the social stuff work if everybody is taking long bus rides to school? How do the kids get together to socialize outside of school? It seems like a lot of kids would just be too geographically spread out. How does it work?

Social on the bus.

From where we live in Chevy Chase TPMS is about a 15-20 minute drive which I wouldn't classify as especially long.

Well, aren't you special? From where we live in Rockville, it's 50 minutes and I'd call it long.

That's not that long but you can always drive your child.

Some people have jobs.

Funny thing, most of us who don't get bus service find a way to drive our kids.

Who does not get bus service to TPMS?

To Takoma, we only get bus service from the local elementary school which is not walkable and we have to drive. To the other magnets, no bus service. To our local elementary school, no bus service.

By that definition most of the area served by the TPMS magnet does not have bus service. And neither did our regional CES program.

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Anonymous wrote:How does the social stuff work if everybody is taking long bus rides to school? How do the kids get together to socialize outside of school? It seems like a lot of kids would just be too geographically spread out. How does it work?

Social on the bus.

From where we live in Chevy Chase TPMS is about a 15-20 minute drive which I wouldn't classify as especially long.

Well, aren't you special? From where we live in Rockville, it's 50 minutes and I'd call it long.

That's not that long but you can always drive your child.

Some people have jobs.

Funny thing, most of us who don't get bus service find a way to drive our kids.

Who does not get bus service to TPMS?

To Takoma, we only get bus service from the local elementary school which is not walkable and we have to drive. To the other magnets, no bus service. To our local elementary school, no bus service.

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Anonymous wrote:How does the social stuff work if everybody is taking long bus rides to school? How do the kids get together to socialize outside of school? It seems like a lot of kids would just be too geographically spread out. How does it work?

Social on the bus.

From where we live in Chevy Chase TPMS is about a 15-20 minute drive which I wouldn't classify as especially long.

Well, aren't you special? From where we live in Rockville, it's 50 minutes and I'd call it long.

That's not that long but you can always drive your child.

Some people have jobs.

Funny thing, most of us who don't get bus service find a way to drive our kids.

Who does not get bus service to TPMS?