
Hello all. Used to live in MoCo when childless and loved it. We moved to DC for job purposes and now have young kids. I am incredibly disappointed at how the quality of the public schools in DC depends too much on which neighborhood you live in and how much the parents can afford to contribute to the PTA. And getting into an excellent charter school is based largely on luck.
I've been planning on trying to move back to MoCo for Kindergarten, thinking that we can get our children a great education in the public schools, without too much regard to the neighborhood. While I expect some differences in individual MoCo schools in terms of student population, I'm hoping not to see such broad differences in the quality of the teachers, curriculum, facilities or "extras" that schools offer based on the income of the surrounding neighborhood. Am I setting myself up for disappointment? I REALLY don't want to make the same mistake again. Thanks! |
you will be disappointed if you expect all the schools to be the same. The curriculum is standardized but there is a significant variation in the performance of the various schools, which does seem to be linked to income, FARMS, diversity, etc.. Take a look at the test scores on the MCPS website to see the disparities. There is a reason people pay more to buy a house in the Whitman district. |
OP Here. Thanks, 12:36. I'm more concerned about equitable resources than test scores, and am not at all afraid of diversity. Are the facilities just as nice? Do the schools all have the same quality extras, like foreign languages, computers in the classroom, sports after school? Or are opportunities limited by how much the parents can afford? |
The curriculum in uniform across the county --- so the kids in Potomac are learning the same material as the kids in Wheaton. And the teachers are top-notch across the county (they are the top-paying district in the county, so they can afford to be choosy and take the top grads from area universities). Here's the thing about test scores (and why you should take that with a grain of salt): if you are in a school district with a high number of students who speak English as a second language or are very low-income, etc., then it sort of makes sense that scores for those kids *might* be lower than the scores for the kid of a Type-A, DCUM, well-educated, yuppie parent, right? That kid will likely do well in any school regardless of whether or not he/she is surrounded by low-income, non-english-speaking students. And the reality is that most teachers will push any bright student to achieve to help boost test scores (so again, "that kid" will do well). So I think the "reason" people pay more to buy a house in the Whitman district perhaps has more to do with the other fish in the pond. Just my two cents (said the mom with kids in a diverse MoCo school with excellent teachers, etc.). |
So you have to look beyond the test scores and realize that a school can be an excellent place to learn but include a challenging population because on language differences or lack of enrichments/support at home...so there tests scores are not as high. If your child attended that school it would not mean their individual test scores would be any different than if they attended a Whittman district school. That said, I do think you should visit the schools in your perspective neighborhood...to make sure it would be a good fit for your family in terms of philosphy of teaching, parent involvement, class size. There are lots of differences there. |
I completely agree with this and with 12:50. |
I generally agree with the PPs, but I would say that there are differences in facilities because some schools have been built/renovated more recently than others, or are more overcrowded than others (but obviously those situations change over a period of years). |
Schools vary greatly--leadership is one piece of it, because the principal sets the tone for the school.
Another thing to be aware of is the "green zone" versus the "red zone," a system of organizing schools which Weast used to improve performance in schools with different needs. (See http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/leadingforequity/ and look at his article on "Differentiated Treatment at the Montgomery County Public Schools" as an example of how MCPS approached the issue. There are many great schools in Montgomery County, and the majority of them aren't in the Whitman district (the example the pp gave), so you have lots of options. But I'd definitely do your homework rather than assuming that any MoCo school would fit your family's needs. One way to learn about particular schools is to go to http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/ and look up individual schools. You can also plug in addresses and see their school assignments. And this site is a great place to get feedback on particular schools and neighborhoods, too. |
There are facilities differences but they aren't related to whether the school is in a high income area. We are at a school in Silver Spring that is great but I know people are unhappy with the next school over because of the principal. So there are some differences but I generally agree with the pps. |
I think some parents worry that their child might be appreciated for their high test scores but that for the majority of the year, the teacher won't be able to differentiate because they're busy making sure other kids are getting to where they need to be. In a school where students are achieving more highly, the administration can focus more on getting students to pass at the advanced, rather than proficient or basic, level. |
Or the reverse can happen, in a high achieving school, the accelerated math group is filled to rafters, but your high acheiver is a different school might find themselves with their own reading group (my child did!) or a math group with only a few children... |
We are in a diverse school in Silver Spring, and I agree with most of the PPs. Keep in mind also that the schools in wealthier neighborhoods with high test scores have much larger class sizes in the early grades. DS has only 16 kids in his kindergarten class at our school vs 25+ for some of the Bethesda schools. |
The above has been our experience in our diverse rockville area MCPS elementary school. So much emphasis has been placed on bringing low performing kids up to the profient level and proficient to advanced, that the unfortunate result is that if your child begins the year in the "advanced" category, he/she is pretty much left to fend for himself/herself because there just aren't enough resources to go around. |
Our home elementary school in Silver Spring is, facility wise, beautiful and recently completely redone. One DC attends a Silver Spring magnet which is also very nice, facility-wise. The other DC attends a magnet ES in Chevy Chase where the building is falling down around the kids' ears -- it's awful.
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FWIW, I know a family who pulled their kid out of a private school and sent them to a Title 1 school in Silver Spring --- primarily as a means to lay the foundation to get him into a MCPS magnet program for MS (ie: the kid wouldn't have been eligible for program had he stayed in the private school, so he had to enroll in the local neighborhood school for a couple years to improve his odds of getting in). FWIW, this title 1 school is actually in a decent part of SS where homes are $550k+ --- it just also happens to encompass neighborhoods with tons of apartment complexes and rental homes. The parents met with the principal at the public school prior to enrolling their kid there to make sure his needs would be met and explained the impetus behind their decision to send their kid there. The school was very responsive, and the kid did very well there (and got into the magnet program). I think a good principal at a title 1 school (or an underperforming school) would do anything to increase enrollment by more affluent families in the neighborhood who had previously given up on the school and went the private route. |