Ashburton Elementary

[Anonymous]

Looking for feedback on Ashburton elementary for incoming K. Nervous parent here. We chose the area based on rank but there are so many concerns online that makes me anxious. We are coming from a small preschool class so overcrowding class with small building, low reading math scores are worry some. Can any current parents share their experience about teachers, PTA involvement, discipline, school community, and education provided.

[Anonymous]

It’s not a small building. It’s a big building as elementary schools go. Ashburton has more classrooms per grade than some other elementary schools but it doesn’t have more students per class.

[Anonymous]

Ashburton has a very strong PTA and good staff. I would start looking into aftercare sooner rather than later if you think you will need it. Luckily there are a few options.

[Anonymous]

Do they still have portables filling the fields, I went there years ago and it look like a trailer park

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do they still have portables filling the fields, I went there years ago and it look like a trailer park

There's an 8-classroom modular building now rather than traditional portables.

[Anonymous]

My DD "graduated" from Ashburton last year and attended from K-5. We had a great experience there. A strong PTA that hosts terrific well attended events (like Fall Festival, movie night on the soccer field, Spring Fling, International Night, Bingo Night, Halloween Costume/Book parade, etc.). DD was fortunate, with the exception of one grade, to have incredibly strong and compassionate teachers each year that she really connected with. The community is incredibly diverse, both ethnically and socioeconomically, which we found to be a huge plus. We also found the school leadership to be accessible, competent, and engaged. I believe the test scores/GS ratings have steadily improved in recent years under the current principal.

However, it is a large public elementary school and that's unlikely to change w/o rezoning or new schools being built. I think the leadership and PTA do everything possible to give the kids a great experience. But if you're looking for a small school akin to your preschool, you may want to explore private, parochial, or Montessori schools nearby. There are a number of decent options that will allow you to keep the intimate school and class size you're used to if that's your priority.

[Anonymous]

Remember that the private schools choose their students and don't have to publish test scores. If you go with public there is a solution to lackluster reading instruction - hire a reading tutor.

Fwiw my child blossomed socially when she went from a small two room daycare she had been at since infancy, to a largish MCPS elementary school. The teachers are phenomenal (the problem is the curricula).

[Anonymous]

I had similar concerns but my kids have been thriving at Ashburton. Like other posters said, the school itself is huge but the classroom sizes are not any different from any other MCPS ES based on what I hear from my friends who have kids at Wyngate and KP for example. My sons usual have between 22-24 kids in their class. I feel the reading and writing curriculum in particular has gotten a lot stronger going from 2nd to 3rd grade. My kids consistently score very high on all standardized tests. The biggest place we see the downside of the large school is lunchtime. They can’t fit more than one grade in the cafeteria at a time so there’s a huge variety in when lunch is. We were lucky for several years and had a normal 12 or 12:30 lunchtime. This year my son’s lunch time is 1:45. This is quite late but they build in time for snack in the morning as a result. Like others said, the PTA is wonderful and there are many amazing PTA run events that some other ES don’t seem to have.

[Anonymous]

Good school if your kid doesn’t have special needs. If they do, it’s not so great (honestly, that’s the case throughout mcps). But that was our experience and it was more curriculum based than anything. Most teachers are good. Though our K teacher totally missed our kid’s reading/writing disability and dismissed our concerns when we raised them. Still not happy about that.

DC is severely dyslexic and all the signs were there. There was just more of a focus to move the kids on and have it be someone else’s problem, partly bc there are so many of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good school if your kid doesn’t have special needs. If they do, it’s not so great (honestly, that’s the case throughout mcps). But that was our experience and it was more curriculum based than anything. Most teachers are good. Though our K teacher totally missed our kid’s reading/writing disability and dismissed our concerns when we raised them. Still not happy about that.

DC is severely dyslexic and all the signs were there. There was just more of a focus to move the kids on and have it be someone else’s problem, partly bc there are so many of them.

This is going to be an issue in any MCPS school and I honestly think it will be an issue at any school. Teachers aren't trained to screen for or diagnose disabilities and are hesitant to report their suspicions to parents for a variety of reasons.