What are W schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

These are fairly objection quantitative and qualitative ways to judge a school. Besides special magnet or arts programs embedded in a host school. It is not difficult to see why MoCo planners put special programs in far off schools in order to bolster real estate there and test scores at the school.

Our neighborhood has lots of african americans, but they all go to DC private schools and do very well. They don't trust MCPS.

They're not far off schools for those of us who live near them.

Right. But for these people, the center of the world is the District/Potomac/Bethesda. Everything is determined in relation to those places.

And this is why I didn't want my kids to go to schools in those areas. Too many self-absorbed, righteous, and snobby people. I didn't want my kids to be influenced or surrounded by those types of people.

And yet here you are posting on a thread about "W schools," which suggests that you have more than a passing interest in how those schools are perceived and characterized. How big is that chip on your shoulder?

No chip here. Just responding to folks like the PP who spreads misinformation about "far off schools" and the pervasive but incorrect assumption that special programs must be placed in those schools to bolster their test scores.

Clearly the magnets at Poolesville, RM and Blair bolster the test scores at those schools. Whether they "had to be placed" in those schools is a different question.

There was a post here a few weeks back that crunched the actual numbers for this. The results weren't that significant. For example, at Blair there are 100 juniors in the magnet of which 80 are from out of boundary and around 40% of those students are white. This boosted the SAT average from 1296 to 1326 within that cohort. Point being even without the magnet kids that cohort still outperforms any W.

That was just some moron making up numbers, no one gives them any weight.

Also no one is arguing that the 80 best students shipped in from a million person county won’t give test scores a bump. What you are arguing is that if you consitrict the sample pool to 20 or so students out of the 3000 (person control group that is blair) using fictitious criteria, you can get an average score that is comparable to the full school multi-thousand person sample of the stronger high schools. Even assuming that is true, who wouldn’t just send their kids to a school where all of the kids are competitive compared to the thousands you write off at Blair and don’t include in your averages. The high peer group argument is fine and dandy but most people don’t think especially favorably to the Blair peer group. Once again if W parents wanted their kid part of that, they would have bought one of the nicest homes IB to Blair as it a fairly cheep place to live.

When I look at Blair’s scores and graduation rates I see an average score towards the bottom of county and then when I factor in that those scores are despite those power students shipped in, well that paints a different picture.

interesting thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And yet, Blair is never at or near the top of MCPS HS rankings, and yet Poolesville is either 1 or 2.

And yet Poolesville wishes it could have half of Blair academics accomplishments.
The point is ranking on paper doesn't mean sh$t. It's on the field performances that count.

Huh? You realize there are inputs to those rankings, right? Poolesville outperforms Blair enough to be ranked higher in every ranking. It’s just the truth.

Poolesville outperforms Blair in what ?

NMSF?
College matriculations?
C-Span competition?
Science bowls?
Math olympiads?
Science and Physics Olympiads?
Siemens?
Intel/Regeneron?

In what exactly Poolesville outperforms Blair? Ok, I'll give you SAT test score, what else?
Poolesville wishes they have half of Blair academics accomplishments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And yet, Blair is never at or near the top of MCPS HS rankings, and yet Poolesville is either 1 or 2.

And yet Poolesville wishes it could have half of Blair academics accomplishments.
The point is ranking on paper doesn't mean sh$t. It's on the field performances that count.

Huh? You realize there are inputs to those rankings, right? Poolesville outperforms Blair enough to be ranked higher in every ranking. It’s just the truth.

Poolesville outperforms Blair in what ?

NMSF?
College matriculations?
C-Span competition?
Science bowls?
Math olympiads?
Science and Physics Olympiads?
Siemens?
Intel/Regeneron?

In what exactly Poolesville outperforms Blair? Ok, I'll give you SAT test score, what else?
Poolesville wishes they have half of Blair academics accomplishments.

Oh my God. Stop it people. Poolesville is awesome. So is Blair. Blair has wonderful achievements for sure due to it's long history of having an amazing math and science magnet program. Poolesville however, does well academically overall (rated #1) because majority of its students (even without the magnet) are white. Less FARMS too. Both are good. Is that cool? Go upcounty and downcounty! Go MCPS!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And yet, Blair is never at or near the top of MCPS HS rankings, and yet Poolesville is either 1 or 2.

Hell 15% of Blair kids don't even graduate. Not bad for a high poverty, high minority school but still not somewhere parents are dying to send their kids to general population.

I know and still, Blair manages to have the highest number of NMSF, tons of academic awards, and even the highest SAT average across several cohorts even without the magnet. That's pretty awesome for the most diverse school in the entire state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It has a Gaithersburg mailing address.

But the real point here is the people who make this distinction are doing so because they associate Gaithersburg with gangs and thugs, and think that a high-performing school like QO couldn't possibly be associated with such a place. These are the same people who claim Kentlands/Lakelands aren't really in Gaithersburg (which is funny because those of us who actually live in Kentlands are happy to say we live in Gaithersburg)!

Kentlands and Lakelands are within the Gaithersburg city limits. Quince Orchard High School is not. They're all in what I consider Gaithersburg, and they all have a Gaithersburg zip code.

Then you've missed the many posts where people have said Kentlands and Lakelands are not *really* in Gaithersburg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It has a Gaithersburg mailing address.

But the real point here is the people who make this distinction are doing so because they associate Gaithersburg with gangs and thugs, and think that a high-performing school like QO couldn't possibly be associated with such a place. These are the same people who claim Kentlands/Lakelands aren't really in Gaithersburg (which is funny because those of us who actually live in Kentlands are happy to say we live in Gaithersburg)!

Kentlands and Lakelands are within the Gaithersburg city limits. Quince Orchard High School is not. They're all in what I consider Gaithersburg, and they all have a Gaithersburg zip code.

Then you've missed the many posts where people have said Kentlands and Lakelands are not *really* in Gaithersburg.

No, I haven't. They're wrong, that's all. People being wrong on the Internet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[
Oh my God. Stop it people. Poolesville is awesome. So is Blair. Blair has wonderful achievements for sure due to it's long history of having an amazing math and science magnet program. Poolesville however, does well academically overall (rated #1) because majority of its students (even without the magnet) are white. Less FARMS too. Both are good. Is that cool? Go upcounty and downcounty! Go MCPS!

ESPECIALLY without the magnet.

John Poole MS: 72% white, 10% FARMs
Poolesville ES: 66% white, 12% FARMs
Monocacy ES: 73% white, 18% FARMs

Which suggests that, without the Poolesville HS students who test in from outside the Poolesville cluster, the student population of Poolesville HS would be (1) more white and (2) more poor. (And much smaller - which is why the HS magnet program is located at Poolesville HS, i.e., there was space there, and it allowed Poolesville HS to stay open, since a ~500 student high school is not a realistic option in MCPS.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Wootton is now a W? THOMAS S. Wootton, not a W!

Actually Thomas S. WOOTTON is a W! Whereas Winston CHURCHILL and Walter JOHNSON are not Ws. The W schools are WATKINS Mill, WHEATON, Walt WHITMAN, and Thomas S. WOOTTON - see here, for the high schools, under W: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/

LOL. Walt Whitman, Winston Churchill, Walter Johnson. It's the letter of the first name not the last name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Well, it's like the people who claim QO isn't in Gaithersburg because it draws from Gaithersburg and North Potomac (although it has a Gaithersburg address and is clearly within the city limits). These posters clearly don't live upcounty and have no idea what it's actually like.

Quince Orchard HS is NOT within the limits of the City of Gaithersburg. Yes, it's in Gaithersburg. Yes, it's very near the city limits of Gaithersburg - in fact, literally across the streets. No, it's not within the city limits.

https://maps.gaithersburgmd.gov/addressParcelInfo/

It has a Gaithersburg mailing address.

But the real point here is the people who make this distinction are doing so because they associate Gaithersburg with gangs and thugs, and think that a high-performing school like QO couldn't possibly be associated with such a place. These are the same people who claim Kentlands/Lakelands aren't really in Gaithersburg (which is funny because those of us who actually live in Kentlands are happy to say we live in Gaithersburg)!

Darnestown also has a Gaithersburg mailing address, and the other half of it is a Germantown mailing address. Doesn't mean anything, just the zip code they are in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
LOL I'm a W parent and no one here looks down on QO, just too far out for DH and I to want to live there. If you don't mind the longer commute to DC then its fine. QO is like a border-line W, the people on here referring badly to non-Ws are talking about Gaithersburg, Watkins Mill, Seneca Valley, Northwest, Wheaton, etc. not QO or Poolesville.

Lol, only in DCUM is Northwest a bad school. I don't know who started this ridiculous rumor on here but here are the facts: GS rated 7 (higher than RM or Blair), 95% graduation rate, 91% for FARM kids (one of the highest grad rates in the county, if not the highest for both farm and non- farm). Stats are pretty much the same as QO with the exception that QO has more white kids (45% vs 29%) and slighly lower FARM rates at 23% vs 28%. This is honestly a blatant example of how here we consider white = better.

Northwest (bad! gangs!) vs. Quince Orchard (good! school spirit!) is really the proof that on DCUM, the higher the white population, the "better" the school. Really the ONLY meaningful difference between Northwest and Quince Orchard is that Quince Orchard has a higher percentage of white kids.

Well no. There have been a lot of incidents at Northwest, and no one choosing Northwest as their first choice for a school(no one wants to live in germantown but its all they can afford). QO is pretty well-regarded, but not the same level as WJ or Churchill.

You are so ignorant it’s actually comical.

I don't find the part about incidents at Northwest funny at all. DD's school had a football game against Northwest there and a couple kids went to the mcdonalds across the street after the game and got jumped. One had his wallet and shoes stolen from him. Scary that this can happen in a community that seems perfectly ordinary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
LOL I'm a W parent and no one here looks down on QO, just too far out for DH and I to want to live there. If you don't mind the longer commute to DC then its fine. QO is like a border-line W, the people on here referring badly to non-Ws are talking about Gaithersburg, Watkins Mill, Seneca Valley, Northwest, Wheaton, etc. not QO or Poolesville.

Lol, only in DCUM is Northwest a bad school. I don't know who started this ridiculous rumor on here but here are the facts: GS rated 7 (higher than RM or Blair), 95% graduation rate, 91% for FARM kids (one of the highest grad rates in the county, if not the highest for both farm and non- farm). Stats are pretty much the same as QO with the exception that QO has more white kids (45% vs 29%) and slighly lower FARM rates at 23% vs 28%. This is honestly a blatant example of how here we consider white = better.

Northwest (bad! gangs!) vs. Quince Orchard (good! school spirit!) is really the proof that on DCUM, the higher the white population, the "better" the school. Really the ONLY meaningful difference between Northwest and Quince Orchard is that Quince Orchard has a higher percentage of white kids.

Well no. There have been a lot of incidents at Northwest, and no one choosing Northwest as their first choice for a school(no one wants to live in germantown but its all they can afford). QO is pretty well-regarded, but not the same level as WJ or Churchill.

You are so ignorant it’s actually comical.

I don't find the part about incidents at Northwest funny at all. DD's school had a football game against Northwest there and a couple kids went to the mcdonalds across the street after the game and got jumped. One had his wallet and shoes stolen from him. Scary that this can happen in a community that seems perfectly ordinary.

So what's your point? I work on the same street as WJ and WJ kids surround the picnic tables near our parking lot during lunch hour to smoke weed all the time. One time a fight even broke out. Happens everywhere. NOt just in Ganglandia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
LOL I'm a W parent and no one here looks down on QO, just too far out for DH and I to want to live there. If you don't mind the longer commute to DC then its fine. QO is like a border-line W, the people on here referring badly to non-Ws are talking about Gaithersburg, Watkins Mill, Seneca Valley, Northwest, Wheaton, etc. not QO or Poolesville.

Lol, only in DCUM is Northwest a bad school. I don't know who started this ridiculous rumor on here but here are the facts: GS rated 7 (higher than RM or Blair), 95% graduation rate, 91% for FARM kids (one of the highest grad rates in the county, if not the highest for both farm and non- farm). Stats are pretty much the same as QO with the exception that QO has more white kids (45% vs 29%) and slighly lower FARM rates at 23% vs 28%. This is honestly a blatant example of how here we consider white = better.

Northwest (bad! gangs!) vs. Quince Orchard (good! school spirit!) is really the proof that on DCUM, the higher the white population, the "better" the school. Really the ONLY meaningful difference between Northwest and Quince Orchard is that Quince Orchard has a higher percentage of white kids.

Well no. There have been a lot of incidents at Northwest, and no one choosing Northwest as their first choice for a school(no one wants to live in germantown but its all they can afford). QO is pretty well-regarded, but not the same level as WJ or Churchill.

You are so ignorant it’s actually comical.

I don't find the part about incidents at Northwest funny at all. DD's school had a football game against Northwest there and a couple kids went to the mcdonalds across the street after the game and got jumped. One had his wallet and shoes stolen from him. Scary that this can happen in a community that seems perfectly ordinary.

So what's your point? I work on the same street as WJ and WJ kids surround the picnic tables near our parking lot during lunch hour to smoke weed all the time. One time a fight even broke out. Happens everywhere. NOt just in Ganglandia.

Agree...I was at Churchill football game a few years ago and several of the cheerleaders were drunk in the bathroom. How many times do we have to hear of Whitman kids having drinking parties that turn fatal. Just recently an AA kid at Whitman was called a racial slur by a classmate that resulted in a fight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Wootton is now a W? THOMAS S. Wootton, not a W!

Actually Thomas S. WOOTTON is a W! Whereas Winston CHURCHILL and Walter JOHNSON are not Ws. The W schools are WATKINS Mill, WHEATON, Walt WHITMAN, and Thomas S. WOOTTON - see here, for the high schools, under W: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/

LOL. Walt Whitman, Winston Churchill, Walter Johnson. It's the letter of the first name not the last name.

Like Watkins Mill, you mean?

[Anonymous]

"The QO v Northwest game is this friday!! Don't forget to take off your car magnets if they say QO or else you will get keyed! Also, don't take your benz, bmw, or any other nice car because they don't have those up there so they will know it belongs to one of us! And make sure you text your kids before and after the game to know they are safe!" Not kidding, literally a group text i received from a mom today(i know, shocking). she literally acts like it is a different country . a little bit of an exaggeration Germantown isn't that bad, and I frequent the Wegmans there too so i know. don't know how much of this is true, but just to show Northwest definitely has a REALLY bad rep around here. a QO student did get robbed of their wallet and got beat up last time the game was there though, which is very scary(not same incident PP mentioned earlier).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Wootton is now a W? THOMAS S. Wootton, not a W!

Actually Thomas S. WOOTTON is a W! Whereas Winston CHURCHILL and Walter JOHNSON are not Ws. The W schools are WATKINS Mill, WHEATON, Walt WHITMAN, and Thomas S. WOOTTON - see here, for the high schools, under W: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/

LOL. Walt Whitman, Winston Churchill, Walter Johnson. It's the letter of the first name not the last name.

Like Watkins Mill, you mean?

And Wheaton