How or why are Howard County public schools so good?
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Anonymous
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Howard county has more middle class and less poverty. The key is less poverty.
NSA, the largest employer of mathematicians in the world, is nearby, as well as the John Hopkins Physics campus. Lots of well educated decent earners, combined with richer people and very few poor people. |
Anonymous
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If you only need to go into DC 1x/week then definitely look into HoCo. We love the diversity, open space/bike paths and proximity to Patapsco park(s), traffic isn’t horrendous, and hard to go wrong with the schools. Our kid is SN and has thrived at one of the high schools that isn’t even one of the “best.”
Redistricting is a thing, but I don’t know of any kids who have moved more than once. The elementary-middle-high school feeder system means that kids don’t stay with the same cohort K-12 anyway. |
Anonymous
| They’re not that good - just better leadership. Curriculum is true. MCPS is she gang that couldn’t shoot straight. |
Anonymous
What are you talking about? Of course some kids stay in the same k-12 cohort in hoco schools. |
Anonymous
| A ton of FDA employees live in my neighborhood. Another good thing about HoCo is the lack of magnets. All schools offer GT and honors schools and entry into them is very equitable. Ofcourse if you can't keep up with the coursework and grades I'm told you'll be asked to move out of GT. But I think what this has done is made schools arw free of the admission rat race for high performers and there is a strong cohort in every school. One peek at the AAP forum and the complexities of the admission process makes me glad to be in hoco. |
Anonymous
| And thise that talk about redistricting, there are several pockets here that you can buy in knowing you will not be redistricted. Our house is 30 years old and has never been redistricted. |
Anonymous
You’re right, should have said “not all kids” stay with the same cohort. In our case, most of my kids’ closest friends from elementary and middle went to a different HS |
Anonymous
| Howard County is almost exclusively upper-middle-class and wealthy neighborhoods. They don’t even have a single high-poverty high school. The highest FARMS rate at any of their high schools is like 35%. The high affluence of the county, combined with the fact that the county heavily prioritizes its schools and spends a lot of money on them makes them top-notch. Per-pupil spending is very high in HoCo. |
Anonymous
This, and most families use the public schools, as opposed to Baltimore City and County where many middle and upper middle class families send their kids to parochial or private schools. |
Anonymous
Why isn't every public school system like this. I've never understood the mentality of "hey, we've got this great program that is in high demand, lets restrict access to it" |
Anonymous
I'm in HoCo and this is by far the best part about Howard County schools. Every student has the opportunity to learn at their own level, and the high schools make it possible for every student to specialize in the subjects of their choice without having to apply to a magnet school before 9th grade. Every high school teaches engineering, business, computer science, etc. Students can easily switch from one path to another without changing schools. There is also a central location for very specialized fields (aerospace engineering, finance, etc.) as well as vocational fields such as automotive, agriculture, etc. The students do have to apply to those programs but I don't think it's that difficult to get in as long as there is space. I agree with the above statement that students in Howard County do well because the county residents have a very high percentage of college degrees, hence the high income. It's also worth noting that while housing is definitely not cheap, it isn't nearly as expensive as you'd find closer to DC. Redistricting frequency is exaggerated by many. The policy is that no child is redistricted more than once at each school level (elementary, middle, and high) and they don't even go through the process every year so redistricting anywhere in the county doesn't happen more than every 3 years or so. My neighborhood just switched to a different high school for the first time in 20 years and now my youngest attends a different high school than his brother did. (Both high schools are 3 miles from the house but in different directions.) Another side effect of the way HoCo does districting is that you do not have clean feeds from a lower school to an upper school. Your child's elementary might be split into two different middle schools, and each middle school might split into two or three (or more) high schools. There is no guarantee (or even likelihood) that your child will be at school with the same group of friends from k-12. Honestly, like someone said above, it fosters diversity, alleviates overcrowding, and prevents a large population influx into one area just for the schools. |
Anonymous
Nope, it is not. It is 47% white and 19% black |
Anonymous
Maybe the PP was talking about the school system stats - slightly different than the overall county demographics: 77 Schools 42 elementary schools 20 middle schools 12 high schools 3 education centers Currently, HCPSS has no charter schools. Total Enrollment – 57,325* Pre-K: 1,321 Elementary (K-5) – 24,366 Middle (6-8) – 13,319 High (9-12) – 18,319 *Official count from September 30, 2021 Race/Ethnicity FY22 Asian – 23.4% Black/African American – 24.8% Hispanic/Latino – 13.1% White – 32.0% Other – less than or equal to 5.0% Two or more races – 6.3% Students Receiving Special Services FY21 Free/Reduced-priced Meals – 23.1% English Learners – 5.9% Special Education – 9.4% |
Anonymous
Howard county schools aren't better. HCPS is about 55,000 students while FCPS and MCPS are both over 150,000 students, have more FARMS and ESL students. |
Anonymous
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In terms of redistricting it really depends on where you live.
Howard County redistricts often but tries to not hit the same place twice in a short span. "Try" of course being the operative word. There are always exceptions. In practical terms that means you run the risk of being redistricted at least once unless you live very close to the school you wish to attend. The further East you are the higher your chance of getting redistricted. The West side of the county is less populated, so boundaries will tend to shift West. But it's not a hard and fast rule. Anything can happen. If you don't like redistricting then Montgomery County is a better choice. It happens far less over there. But I feel like Montgomery County has way more drama, and they are starting to redistrict more. |