Piney Branch Elementary—do you like it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I’m so confused why it has a bunch of super positive reviews and then other people are suuuuuuper negative. Truly zero idea how to assess this info! Has it changed significantly or are people just having totally different experiences?

I’m a PP. Ask around Takoma Park and you’ll hear the same info as above. Everyone describes it as the “weak link” between two excellent schools. This doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s not. It’s completely fine. Your kid will do well there. But the two other schools (before and after Piney Branch are much better). It’s also a run down poorly lit and overcrowded building.

I have to disagree. I felt it was stronger than TPES. My kids had a great experience.

NP here. PP is right. When we moved here in 2019, we heard that exact phrase from everyone we asked about schools - Piney Branch is the “weak link”. We’ve been much more impressed with TPMS. Barely any experience with TPES so can’t comment there.

That's odd. The ELA curriculum in the 4th grade CES at PBES was much more challenging than anything I've seen in middle school which subscribes to the Honors for All model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I’m so confused why it has a bunch of super positive reviews and then other people are suuuuuuper negative. Truly zero idea how to assess this info! Has it changed significantly or are people just having totally different experiences?

I’m a PP. Ask around Takoma Park and you’ll hear the same info as above. Everyone describes it as the “weak link” between two excellent schools. This doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s not. It’s completely fine. Your kid will do well there. But the two other schools (before and after Piney Branch are much better). It’s also a run down poorly lit and overcrowded building.

I have to disagree. I felt it was stronger than TPES. My kids had a great experience.

NP here. PP is right. When we moved here in 2019, we heard that exact phrase from everyone we asked about schools - Piney Branch is the “weak link”. We’ve been much more impressed with TPMS. Barely any experience with TPES so can’t comment there.

That's odd. The ELA curriculum in the 4th grade CES at PBES was much more challenging than anything I've seen in middle school which subscribes to the Honors for All model.

I’ve had a kid in the CES and one in the magnet at TPMS and much more impressed with the middle school. 4th grade CES was all about burdening kids with volume of work not actual depth or quality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I’m so confused why it has a bunch of super positive reviews and then other people are suuuuuuper negative. Truly zero idea how to assess this info! Has it changed significantly or are people just having totally different experiences?

I’m a PP. Ask around Takoma Park and you’ll hear the same info as above. Everyone describes it as the “weak link” between two excellent schools. This doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s not. It’s completely fine. Your kid will do well there. But the two other schools (before and after Piney Branch are much better). It’s also a run down poorly lit and overcrowded building.

I have to disagree. I felt it was stronger than TPES. My kids had a great experience.

NP here. PP is right. When we moved here in 2019, we heard that exact phrase from everyone we asked about schools - Piney Branch is the “weak link”. We’ve been much more impressed with TPMS. Barely any experience with TPES so can’t comment there.

That's odd. The ELA curriculum in the 4th grade CES at PBES was much more challenging than anything I've seen in middle school which subscribes to the Honors for All model.

I’ve had a kid in the CES and one in the magnet at TPMS and much more impressed with the middle school. 4th grade CES was all about burdening kids with volume of work not actual depth or quality.

I have two kids who went through both the CES @PBES and the TPMS magnet, and although they're very different programs, I thought they were both excellent.

[Anonymous]

I have a child at PBES. His K-2 years at TPES were interrupted by covid, so I barely entered the school.

This year at PBES he likes his teacher and classmates. It is a huge school and the students are sorted into pods, so the same few classes have lunch and recess together. My child grew up in the neighborhood but still only knew a couple kids in his class at the beginning of the school year. (To him, it was a positive and he's glad he got to make new friends.)

He won the CES lottery so we'll see how next year goes. A lot of students qualify, but I think there is only 1 CES class. They tell us that enrichment is offered to all students in math and ELA. Compacted math is offered (4/5 in 4th grade; 5/6 in 5th grade). Like all schools, so much is dependent on the teacher.

Finally, I will add that my math teacher family member likes the MCPS math curriculum. It takes the time to build strong foundational math skills, so if the curriculum is done correctly the children should have good number sense and logic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a child at PBES. His K-2 years at TPES were interrupted by covid, so I barely entered the school.

This year at PBES he likes his teacher and classmates. It is a huge school and the students are sorted into pods, so the same few classes have lunch and recess together. My child grew up in the neighborhood but still only knew a couple kids in his class at the beginning of the school year. (To him, it was a positive and he's glad he got to make new friends.)

He won the CES lottery so we'll see how next year goes. A lot of students qualify, but I think there is only 1 CES class. They tell us that enrichment is offered to all students in math and ELA. Compacted math is offered (4/5 in 4th grade; 5/6 in 5th grade). Like all schools, so much is dependent on the teacher.

Finally, I will add that my math teacher family member likes the MCPS math curriculum. It takes the time to build strong foundational math skills, so if the curriculum is done correctly the children should have good number sense and logic.

For a moderately low FARMS school like PBES you need to be in something like the top 8% nationally to be in the top 15% at a school like PBES; fortunately, a class of 28 out of a grade of roughly 200 at PBES gives pretty good lottery odds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That's odd. The ELA curriculum in the 4th grade CES at PBES was much more challenging than anything I've seen in middle school which subscribes to the Honors for All model.

I think both the problem teachers in the PBES RLA program are gone now but the P is still there. One moved to NCC and not sure where the other one went?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
That's odd. The ELA curriculum in the 4th grade CES at PBES was much more challenging than anything I've seen in middle school which subscribes to the Honors for All model.

I think both the problem teachers in the PBES RLA program are gone now but the P is still there. One moved to NCC and not sure where the other one went?

Don't know what that means but my kids had a couple of the best teachers ever at PBES. They made them love school and learned so much.

[Anonymous]

What do you mean by problem teachers in RLA? Is RLA reading/language arts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by problem teachers in RLA? Is RLA reading/language arts?

I think PP means the 4th grade CES teacher who did her best to destroy any love of learning and joy for life in her students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by problem teachers in RLA? Is RLA reading/language arts?

I think PP means the 4th grade CES teacher who did her best to destroy any love of learning and joy for life in her students.

She was a demanding teacher that had high expectations of the students which isn't opular. However, my children learned a lot in her class .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by problem teachers in RLA? Is RLA reading/language arts?

I think PP means the 4th grade CES teacher who did her best to destroy any love of learning and joy for life in her students.

She was a demanding teacher that had high expectations of the students which isn't opular. However, my children learned a lot in her class .

High expectations in this case = excessive volume, quantity over quality

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by problem teachers in RLA? Is RLA reading/language arts?

I think PP means the 4th grade CES teacher who did her best to destroy any love of learning and joy for life in her students.

She was a demanding teacher that had high expectations of the students which isn't opular. However, my children learned a lot in her class .

High expectations in this case = excessive volume, quantity over quality

I know she didn't hand out A's like candy so a lot of parents were upset.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by problem teachers in RLA? Is RLA reading/language arts?

I think PP means the 4th grade CES teacher who did her best to destroy any love of learning and joy for life in her students.

She was a demanding teacher that had high expectations of the students which isn't opular. However, my children learned a lot in her class .

High expectations in this case = excessive volume, quantity over quality

I know she didn't hand out A's like candy so a lot of parents were upset.

I know she expected 9 and 10 year olds to write 25-40 pages typewritten ten chapter + assignments (longer than anything they produce in high school) so a lot of parents were upset.

I know she expected kids to write ludicrously detailed and highly specific book reports every week but write them on a t-shirt they designed or on a dodecahedron they built or on a cereal box or some other ridiculous time consuming build at home design so a lot of parents were upset.

I could go on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by problem teachers in RLA? Is RLA reading/language arts?

I think PP means the 4th grade CES teacher who did her best to destroy any love of learning and joy for life in her students.

She was a demanding teacher that had high expectations of the students which isn't opular. However, my children learned a lot in her class .

High expectations in this case = excessive volume, quantity over quality

I know she didn't hand out A's like candy so a lot of parents were upset.

I know she expected 9 and 10 year olds to write 25-40 pages typewritten ten chapter + assignments (longer than anything they produce in high school) so a lot of parents were upset.

I know she expected kids to write ludicrously detailed and highly specific book reports every week but write them on a t-shirt they designed or on a dodecahedron they built or on a cereal box or some other ridiculous time consuming build at home design so a lot of parents were upset.

I could go on.

Is she still there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean by problem teachers in RLA? Is RLA reading/language arts?

I think PP means the 4th grade CES teacher who did her best to destroy any love of learning and joy for life in her students.

She was a demanding teacher that had high expectations of the students which isn't opular. However, my children learned a lot in her class .

High expectations in this case = excessive volume, quantity over quality

I know she didn't hand out A's like candy so a lot of parents were upset.

I know she expected 9 and 10 year olds to write 25-40 pages typewritten ten chapter + assignments (longer than anything they produce in high school) so a lot of parents were upset.

I know she expected kids to write ludicrously detailed and highly specific book reports every week but write them on a t-shirt they designed or on a dodecahedron they built or on a cereal box or some other ridiculous time consuming build at home design so a lot of parents were upset.

I could go on.

Is she still there?

No she was promoted and they're exaggerating. My kid did once write a 5 page paper for her but most were 1-2 pages.