DCC residents - what are your plans for high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We currently live in DCC area and have enjoyed our very diverse elementary school. We rent now and are looking to buy. We immediately compared high schools as much as possible and are attracted to the w schools. If you chose to live in DCC and you considered the high schools, why did you chose this area? Really struggling with our decision, Cost of home vs strong schools.

I know these questions have come up on other threads, I couldn’t find this specifically.

HS is pretty customized to your student so does not matter. Obviously if there is some EC that is desired and that club or coach is better elsewhere do that, or some particular classes you want. HS will be loads tougher than ES or MS, even if at a W school pyramid the whole time. SOmething is just off in K-8 and much of the education is backended in HS in MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The GS ratings are just about the percentage of kids who met the state's benchmark. Although about 10% of Blair's population is out of boundary magnet kids, its impact just isn't that great.

10% is huge and that 10% is at the top. If you moved Blair's 10% out of boundary into Wheaton or Kennedy or Einstein you would see an immediate change in scores and ratings. You would see further change over time as more DCC parents who want the best schools they can afford would try to buy homes in the school with the magnet population.

Blair's magnet programs may really help Blair be perceived as better than it is but they hurt the other DCC schools by drawing away talent.

NP: I live in IB for Blair and agree with your point overall. I don't think 10% is huge, but I do think it is significant in impacting scores overall. However, your point about buying "the best schools they can afford would try to buy homes in the school with the magnet population" is accurate. I take issue with people who think that everyone at Blair that is not in the magnet program is failing and that is not true. Many families, especially in Takoma Park, send their kids to the local program and that has had an impact on overall scores in addition to the magnet. If the magnet moved to Einstein, Kennedy, etc. then scores would go up eventually in the local non-magnet population because higher SES educated families would follow.

Also a Blair parent and agree. The other thing people neglect to consider is many families live in Blair cluster because it's on the edge of the county and allows for a split commute. They can't move deeper into the county and they have carefully chosen to buy in exactly this catchment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The GS ratings are just about the percentage of kids who met the state's benchmark. Although about 10% of Blair's population is out of boundary magnet kids, its impact just isn't that great.

For example, if 60% normally pass the PARCC let's says 600 of 1000 and assuming all the magnet kids pass then without the magnet that would be 500 of 900 or 55%.

Sure 5% is lower but not enough to get excited about.

Exactly - the impact is a lot smaller than people realize when you crunch the actual numbers.

Although it makes little difference statistically, the point that makes some higher SES families more comfortable with the area who might otherwise not live there rings true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kennedy is ONLY one GS rating spot below Einstein, Northwood and Wheaton. Its not that different from the other schools at all.

Kennedy is a 3, the rest are all 4s and Blair is a 6 but it has the magnet and CAP. If the magnet and special programs didn't draw the top kids away, all the DCC schools would be rated the same.

And what about if they remove the rich, white kids from Whitman and Churchill; or if they remove the white and Asian kids from Wootton, would they be different from other schools? What would be their GS ratings?
Oops, I forgot, Whitman is a former GS 4 rating.

[Anonymous]

Also a Blair parent and agree. The other thing people neglect to consider is many families live in Blair cluster because it's on the edge of the county and allows for a split commute. They can't move deeper into the county and they have carefully chosen to buy in exactly this catchment.

Just curious but what split commute are you talking about here? DC and SS are the only viable places to commute from the Blair zone. I don't know anyone that lives in that area with one person commuting to DC and the other commuting to VA, Howard County or Rockville.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kennedy is ONLY one GS rating spot below Einstein, Northwood and Wheaton. Its not that different from the other schools at all.

Kennedy is a 3, the rest are all 4s and Blair is a 6 but it has the magnet and CAP. If the magnet and special programs didn't draw the top kids away, all the DCC schools would be rated the same.

And what about if they remove the rich, white kids from Whitman and Churchill; or if they remove the white and Asian kids from Wootton, would they be different from other schools? What would be their GS ratings?
Oops, I forgot, Whitman is a former GS 4 rating.

Black students at Churchill are performing better than white and Asian students at Kennedy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Also a Blair parent and agree. The other thing people neglect to consider is many families live in Blair cluster because it's on the edge of the county and allows for a split commute. They can't move deeper into the county and they have carefully chosen to buy in exactly this catchment.

Just curious but what split commute are you talking about here? DC and SS are the only viable places to commute from the Blair zone. I don't know anyone that lives in that area with one person commuting to DC and the other commuting to VA, Howard County or Rockville.

NP: I do; my husband commutes to downtown DC and me to Columbia, MD. We picked Takoma Park to split the difference. He takes metro to DC, I drive 30 mins to Howard County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kennedy is ONLY one GS rating spot below Einstein, Northwood and Wheaton. Its not that different from the other schools at all.

Kennedy is a 3, the rest are all 4s and Blair is a 6 but it has the magnet and CAP. If the magnet and special programs didn't draw the top kids away, all the DCC schools would be rated the same.

And what about if they remove the rich, white kids from Whitman and Churchill; or if they remove the white and Asian kids from Wootton, would they be different from other schools? What would be their GS ratings?
Oops, I forgot, Whitman is a former GS 4 rating.

Black students at Churchill are performing better than white and Asian students at Kennedy.

I have the data to back this up. In 2017, 83 Black students at Churchill took AP exams. 66.3% of them scored a 3 or higher. The same year, 41 Asian students took AP exams at Kennedy. Only 41.5% scored a 3 or higher. Fewer than 20 White students at Kennedy took AP exams. 50% scored a 3 or higher.

It's all on p. 18
http://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2018/2017%20AP%20IB%20Course%20Enrollment%20and%20Exam%20Participation%20Performance.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Also a Blair parent and agree. The other thing people neglect to consider is many families live in Blair cluster because it's on the edge of the county and allows for a split commute. They can't move deeper into the county and they have carefully chosen to buy in exactly this catchment.

Just curious but what split commute are you talking about here? DC and SS are the only viable places to commute from the Blair zone. I don't know anyone that lives in that area with one person commuting to DC and the other commuting to VA, Howard County or Rockville.

My DH works near BWI. I used to be DC, now Wheaton. We thought that was freakish but DH keeps running into people from work in SS and turns out they're doing the same.

[Anonymous]

Yep, plenty of folks in DCC doing DC-Baltimore split, or as one of our good friends do, a Tyson’s-Baltimore split.

[Anonymous]

Whitman is a GS 4?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kennedy is ONLY one GS rating spot below Einstein, Northwood and Wheaton. Its not that different from the other schools at all.

Kennedy is a 3, the rest are all 4s and Blair is a 6 but it has the magnet and CAP. If the magnet and special programs didn't draw the top kids away, all the DCC schools would be rated the same.

And what about if they remove the rich, white kids from Whitman and Churchill; or if they remove the white and Asian kids from Wootton, would they be different from other schools? What would be their GS ratings?
Oops, I forgot, Whitman is a former GS 4 rating.

Black students at Churchill are performing better than white and Asian students at Kennedy.

I have the data to back this up. In 2017, 83 Black students at Churchill took AP exams. 66.3% of them scored a 3 or higher. The same year, 41 Asian students took AP exams at Kennedy. Only 41.5% scored a 3 or higher. Fewer than 20 White students at Kennedy took AP exams. 50% scored a 3 or higher.

It's all on p. 18
http://montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/reports/2018/2017%20AP%20IB%20Course%20Enrollment%20and%20Exam%20Participation%20Performance.pdf

And, what do you find surprising about this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whitman is a GS 4?

It's recently gone downhill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whitman is a GS 4?

It's recently gone downhill.

Yah DCC is totally better!!! Simply ignore SAT scores, college readiness, graduation rates, MS13 and poverty and be happy you were smart enough to live thereS Whitman is the worst school in the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whitman is a GS 4?

It's recently gone downhill.

Yah DCC is totally better!!! Simply ignore SAT scores, college readiness, graduation rates, MS13 and poverty and be happy you were smart enough to live thereS Whitman is the worst school in the county.

It's true.