Can anyone help compare Manns, Woodacre, and Ross ES?
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Anonymous
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We toured the Manns ES (in NW of DC) and had good impression of it. Then later heard very good things about Wood Acre in Bethesda, but have not got a chance to visit it - is the Wood Acre in Montgomery County the best public school in the DC- Bethesda area?
Also, the Ross ES (close to DuPont circle in DC) also has good rank in Niche and close to my workplace, but have not got a chance to visit. I’d appreciate if anyone can give suggestions on which one to choose- any pros and cons you know or experienced? We recently relocated to DC area. My kid will enroll to K the coming fall and we need to settle down to a school district. |
Anonymous
Typo in my post - I meant “ Mann ES” Thanks! |
Anonymous
| There is a separate DCPS Forum. This likely belongs there. |
Anonymous
We are at one of these and it's excellent, and I'm going to guess the other two are as well. The big difference will be middle and high school feeder path, which differ greatly. And lifestyle in the neighborhood. Ross: urban lifestyle, excellent elementary, mediocre middle and terrible high school (I would guess that literally not one student from Ross goes there) Mann: excellent elementary, very good middle, potentially good high school but not everyone likes it. Suburban within the city limits lifestyle. Wood acres. I don't know anything about this, but I would guess the pyramid is strong all the way through high school. Very suburban lifestyle. |
Anonymous
| We are at Ross and the pyramid is frankly awful. We’ve had a great run but would have probably chosen APS if we were doing it again. |
Anonymous
| Any Bethesda or Potomac elementary school in Montgomery County will be an excellent school, not just Woodacres. Bannockburn, Bradley Hills, Burning Tree, Carderock, for example, are all excellent. Look at the high school cluster for guidance. In MCPS the Whitman cluster, Churchill Cluster, and Walter Johnson Clusters are excellent. Wootton may be going through a transition but it too is excellent. |
Anonymous
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Here’s my best understanding, as I’ve just completed school diligence on many schools, including Wood Acres and Mann:
The schools will feel very different, OP, as do the neighborhoods around them - but all three are regarded as great both in terms of academics and school culture. Wood Acres is a suburban Bethesda school and is the largest of the three, with four classes per grade and around 95 kids per grade. Single family homes abound in the neighborhood and are more affordable than in the other two school neighborhoods you are considering. No foreign language is taught. Racial and socioeconomic diversity is low, though there are a number of international families. Everyone who attends lives in-boundary for the school, because there is no lottery system in Montgomery County. Most students stay in the public system and go on to Pyle Middle school and the top-rated Whitman High school. Mann is an urban school but in a part of DC that feels more suburban. The homes are very expensive nearby. Mann has three classes and appx 60 kids per grade. Mann has three unique features, IMHO: two teachers per class for all of K-5, foreign language (Spanish) for PK, K and 1, and a sort of garden “lab” that on the 3rd floor that they use to teach kids about sustainability. It is quite international but has low socioeconomic diversity. Appx 80% of the student body lives in-boundary. 50% of graduates go on to private school. Ross is very much a city school and is the smallest of the three (one class per grade). I didn’t consider it because it was too urban for us, and I feared the social dynamics of such a small grade. But it is very popular. I think your biggest question is: do you want to be in a city or live in the suburbs? The atmosphere is very different in the suburbs though all three are located in great neighborhoods. |
Anonymous
All top schools without many at-risk kids--I would go Ross since so small. Lifestyle-wise--Woodacres and Mann are both suburban. Ross is hard to compare since a very different lifestyle. |
Anonymous
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Woodacres is charming but its hard to be a bad elementary school as most little kids are harmless. They don't turn to snots until later closer to middle school.
It really depends on what type of challenges you want to expose your kid to and when. They will never learn to swim without being thrown into the pool. Most kids learn to get by, some become champions and a few drown. You can control exposures and gain access to more opportunities in a cluster like Whitman's but that creates different types of problems. Knowing your kid and your style of teaching is more relevant than a school measuring stick. I always say the difference in ceilings between outcomes for strong kids from good family's is negligible between most schools with exceptions only at the extremes on both sides of the spectrum in terms of quality, what is different is the floor for so-so kids or even disappointing kids. With chaos there are distractions and risks without as many safety nets or resources to compensate due to so many that need them so exponentiality more fall though the cracks. I personally know a family with a freshman at Whitman struggling, that stood out in the crowd and the principle personally called a meeting with the parents and teachers for a proactive plan. Just one example |
Anonymous
Which school do your kids attend ? |