So the country shouldn't spend its resources to educate its citizens? And try to make ti more attractive to families to come and live here and provide their income tax dollars into the county school budget? Lets not be better at something? |
DCPS parent here and this is really the question. Of course an urban city school district doesn't have the same consistency in schools as a suburban school district. If you put Anacostia High School and it's student body in MCPS, the proficiency rates wouldn't magically sky rocket by virtue of being in MCPS instead of DCPS because it would still be a school full of extreme poverty, at-risk students. Which is why middle and upper class parents in every urban school district in the country don't put their high SES children in any high school, they stick to the "good" schools with demographics that match their own. In DC that's JR, MacArthur, selective high schools, and charters. Some DC schools should be better than they are (ahem, Capitol Hill), but they're not and it shouldn't come as a surprise to any families that live in those boundaries. When we were deciding whether to stay in DC or move to the suburbs, we found that our suburban choices were either high SES "pressure cooker" suburban schools or schools with more SES diversity that were pretty comparable to the "good" DC schools. Yes, suburban schools may have more G&T and magnet options, but our kids aren't TJ material and we've seen enough kids lose the G&T lotteries in MCPS or return to their home schools after realizing the G&T programs aren't a good fit for them. We would not put our kids in "pressure cooker" schools for socio-emotional reasons, and just didn't see enough of a difference between the rest of the suburban schools to make it worth moving. I think it's a completely valid choice to choose suburban schools to avoid the DC school lottery. Particularly if you can't afford a $1m home and value a neighborhood school. It's also valid to get to middle school and not want to deal with a lottery and/or cross town commute every day. And yes, it's true that special ed in DCPS is abysmal and many, many families are forced to move out of the city to get their children the services they need. But if you have lottery luck, can afford to buy in the "good" school zones, or are willing to push the decision until middle school, there are plenty of schools in DC that are equal to (or even better than) plenty of schools in MCPS and FCPS. |
that last paragraph....yeah if you are willing to deal with crap, don't have a child with sped needs, are rich, bank on winning a lottery, and are willing to do an hour+ commute for school each way per day, then some DCPS schools are comparable to MCPS or FCPS schools. this is all supportive that MCPS and FCPS schools are better than DCPS. |
This is effed up but so true. No county wants the sped kids. I work in a neighboring county. Our school tries their best to push them elsewhere. We are a lottery school. It is not want we want for our community. Will anyone outright say this? Of course not but let’s not be stupid here. Test scores go down. Resources are pulled from the average above kids. Warm bodies are needed to work with these kids that again, gets pulled elsewhere. Teaching with a high sped count in your classroom is nearly impossible. You are so focused on accommodations and modifications that you can barely teach anymore. |
As far as university admissions, which school system does better:
MoCo, FFX, or DCPS ? |
A private neuropsych evaluation is several thousands of dollars and there are no guarantees your school will provide the suggested services or accommodations. At the IEP meeting a lot will depend on the principal of the school and the school counselor no matter what report you bring in. We had an IEP evaluation meeting at one of the highly rated MCPS elementary schools and before we even walked through the door, the decision had already been decided with their own evaluation of observing my child in PE class and talking with the teacher. This was in spite of having reports every day from the 2nd grade teacher of something my kid failed to do like sitting still during story time or waiting to talk their turn (in hindsight this was likely code for get your kid evaluated for ADD) and having similar issues in 3rd with school work and social issues (in hindsight this was the ASD diagnosed much later in high school ). The evaluation meeting wasn’t a discussion it was telling us why an IEP wasn’t needed, showing us their paperwork and asking if we had any questions. Later in talking with other parents I found that many had similar experiences when it came to being granted an IEP unless their kid came thru the PEP program where they were already evaluated in pre-school by the county and receiving county services. |
That I am not sure about, but as a MOCO family, I would recommend you move to Virginia. You have better options for state university (UVA, W&M, VA Tech). My son would have gladly attended UVA (was accepted), but we ended up paying for a higher ranked private university. If we lived in VA, UVA would have been a no brainer, and the price tag much lower. Son didn't want to attend UMD...too close to home. |
If you are happy then by all means do what makes you happy. It would make us very unhappy if DC had to go to DCPS, so we live outside DC. The wonderful thing about America is the freedom of each to choose what they think best for their situation. |