Tell me about Burning Tree

[Anonymous]

Why is the ranking so low? I'v heard that it has a Special Education Center, but don't they take that into consideration when they test?

[Anonymous]

What ranking are you talking about? We are considering moving to that neighborhood, but I hadn't heard that it was ranked low.

[Anonymous]

not sure what you are talking about. Burning tree is considered a pretty well regarded school!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:not sure what you are talking about. Burning tree is considered a pretty well regarded school!!!

WTF? It's rated a 7/10 on greatschools. A 7/10 SUCKS when you compare it to Bannockburn, Wyngate, Bradley Hills and Carderock.
http://www.greatschools.org/maryland/bethesda/868-Burning-Tree-Elementary-School/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:not sure what you are talking about. Burning tree is considered a pretty well regarded school!!!

WTF? It's rated a 7/10 on greatschools. A 7/10 SUCKS when you compare it to Bannockburn, Wyngate, Bradley Hills and Carderock.
http://www.greatschools.org/maryland/bethesda/868-Burning-Tree-Elementary-School/

That website along with others that rank schools are a joke

[Anonymous]

That greatschools ranking (a 7) is based on the school's performance on the state assessment and the federal No Child Left Behind rules on AYP. Under federal AYP rules, a school can perform on the proficient or advanced level for all but one of its disaggregated subgroups, but fail to make AYP because of one subgroup (in the case of Burning Tree the special ed subgroup). In other words, a school could be great in general, but poor performance by one subgroup could pull the whole school's ranking/AYP score down. This hits schools with special ed centers like Burning Tree particularly hard, and/or schools with small subgroups (for example, a school with a small subgroup of 10 disaggregated kids could pull the whole school down if 3 children in that subgroup did not perform well). You can get more specific information about a school's performance here: http://www.mdreportcard.org (this is particularly helpful if you want to see how many kids are performing at the advanced level which greatschools does not capture -- granted this mdreportcard site is not particularly user-friendly but it has a lot of good info). Also, for what it is worth, the Wash Post ran a story yesterday on how a subgroup can pull down the ranking of a school (in this case North Chevy Chase) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/26/AR2011012606752.html I hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That greatschools ranking (a 7) is based on the school's performance on the state assessment and the federal No Child Left Behind rules on AYP. Under federal AYP rules, a school can perform on the proficient or advanced level for all but one of its disaggregated subgroups, but fail to make AYP because of one subgroup (in the case of Burning Tree the special ed subgroup). In other words, a school could be great in general, but poor performance by one subgroup could pull the whole school's ranking/AYP score down. This hits schools with special ed centers like Burning Tree particularly hard, and/or schools with small subgroups (for example, a school with a small subgroup of 10 disaggregated kids could pull the whole school down if 3 children in that subgroup did not perform well). You can get more specific information about a school's performance here: http://www.mdreportcard.org (this is particularly helpful if you want to see how many kids are performing at the advanced level which greatschools does not capture -- granted this mdreportcard site is not particularly user-friendly but it has a lot of good info). Also, for what it is worth, the Wash Post ran a story yesterday on how a subgroup can pull down the ranking of a school (in this case North Chevy Chase) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/26/AR2011012606752.html I hope this helps.

This is very useful but it seems you can only take out a sub group such as SPED. How about looking at the total NON-SPED population and seeing how they compare to the neighboring schools.
Nobody seems to have this information. I think high 80s for a Bethesda elementary school is not good when others in the near vicinity are scoring in the high 90s. That's 10 points and definitely more than 1 standard deviation.

[Anonymous]

bump

[Anonymous]

www.mdreportcard.org

[Anonymous]

My children attend Burning Tree. It is a highly educated parent community, so the non-Special-Ed scores are quite high, unsurprisingly. I believe that having the spec. ed students helps the other students develop compassion at a young age. Recently the school was ranked #1 in a Bethesda Magazine survey--the parents are quite happy, and the students thrive there as well.

[Anonymous]

I am interested in hearing from other parents on any differences between Burning Tree Elementary and Bannockburn Elementary. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

My kids go to a different Bethesda elementary, but I've only heard great things about this school. I would feel completely comfortable.

[Anonymous]

The superintendent's kids go to Burning Tree.

[Anonymous]

My kids attended burning tree until we moved. I thought it was fabulous--caring teachers, involved parent community, smart kids, etc. They have a new principal and vice principal who are well liked. And yes, it is true that the superintendent has his kids at burning tree. It is a fairly wealthy school, though certainly not across the board, and it has a sizeable international population (world bank, IMF, int'l journalists). It had both a nice neighborhood feel as well as a more cosmopolitan edge.

[Anonymous]

Its amazing that a parent would agonize over the differences between any elementary schools on the west side of Bethesda.

They are all great! The kids come from highly educated homes. The teachers are top notch.

Do not bother reading any rankings. Its all B.S.