MS/HS in Takoma Park, SS MD

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind that all the area middle and high school boundaries are going to be up for review in a boundary study soon. Elementary school boundaries are excluded from the study.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TPES - used to have the only ES magnet. Still h as math enrichment.
PBES - local CES but that's all lottery these days
TPMS - STEM magent w/ 25 seat local set aside
DCC - you can pick your homeschool or use choice. Many programs from Wheaton Engineering, Einstein VAC, various IB programs, Blair SMCS and CAP etc.

What does PBES, CES, SMCS and CAP stand for?

[Anonymous]

If you are OP - you have to do a little work on your own - you can search any of these on the MCPS page on this site or spend some time reviewing on the MCPS website

PBES - Piney Branch Elementsry School - Takoma Park school for 3rd-5th

TPES - takoma park elementary school - K-2nd

CES - Center for Enriched Studies - an accelerated humanities program for 4th and 5th

SMCS- STEM magnet at Blair HS (application based)

CAP - Humanities magnet at Blair HS (application based)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that all the area middle and high school boundaries are going to be up for review in a boundary study soon. Elementary school boundaries are excluded from the study.

Not a lot of options there for change since there is no high school in the entire East portion of the county south of the beltway. Blair still services that area says its original location was silver sprig. In fact, the next closest high school to us is BCC, which is 3 minutes further away than Blair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that all the area middle and high school boundaries are going to be up for review in a boundary study soon. Elementary school boundaries are excluded from the study.

Not a lot of options there for change since there is no high school in the entire East portion of the county south of the beltway. Blair still services that area says its original location was silver sprig. In fact, the next closest high school to us is BCC, which is 3 minutes further away than Blair.

Sure, but the dividing lines between Blair, Northwood, Einstein, and BCC are likely to be redrawn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that all the area middle and high school boundaries are going to be up for review in a boundary study soon. Elementary school boundaries are excluded from the study.

Not a lot of options there for change since there is no high school in the entire East portion of the county south of the beltway. Blair still services that area says its original location was silver sprig. In fact, the next closest high school to us is BCC, which is 3 minutes further away than Blair.

Sure, but the dividing lines between Blair, Northwood, Einstein, and BCC are likely to be redrawn.

Yeah, but Takoma Park is safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that all the area middle and high school boundaries are going to be up for review in a boundary study soon. Elementary school boundaries are excluded from the study.

Not a lot of options there for change since there is no high school in the entire East portion of the county south of the beltway. Blair still services that area says its original location was silver sprig. In fact, the next closest high school to us is BCC, which is 3 minutes further away than Blair.

Sure, but the dividing lines between Blair, Northwood, Einstein, and BCC are likely to be redrawn.

Yeah, but Takoma Park is safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi,

New to this board. We are in DC and considering moving across the line to MD (likely Takoma Park or Silver Spring). Is there a place that explains the MS/HS feeders, magnets, charter options? We are leaving DC because we have no MS path and looking for a solid public option outside the city. Appreciate any help and dvi e you can share.

Hi OP! Here's an intro: MCPS has a total of 26 high schools with 2 more being built. Here's the list of the 26: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/clusteradmin/clusters/. You can click on each and see which middle schools and elementary schools feed into each. Your house address determines which ES/MS/HS you are assigned to.
Now onto the consortiums. MCPS has 2 of them- both are within the Silver Spring and Takoma Park, MD area: One is the Downcounty (DCC) which has a group of 5 High Schools; and there's Northeast with 3 High Schools. Students in neighborhoods that feed into either consortium are automatically assigned to their home high school but they can choose a different one within their consortium. You may or may not get your first choice. Takoma Park, MD is part of the DCC and homes there are automatically assigned to Blair, but residents can choose any of the other 4 depending on their preference.

Now onto the special programs- there are a bunch of them, which is a good thing! Check out this page: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/ for details at the ES, MS, and HS level.

I know it seems a lot but it's not that complicated once you understand the lay of the land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,

New to this board. We are in DC and considering moving across the line to MD (likely Takoma Park or Silver Spring). Is there a place that explains the MS/HS feeders, magnets, charter options? We are leaving DC because we have no MS path and looking for a solid public option outside the city. Appreciate any help and dvi e you can share.

OP- THANK YOU. This is really helpful and I appreciate you sharing this info with. A clueless newcomer. Looks like have a quite a bit of research to do

Hi OP! Here's an intro: MCPS has a total of 26 high schools with 2 more being built. Here's the list of the 26: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/clusteradmin/clusters/. You can click on each and see which middle schools and elementary schools feed into each. Your house address determines which ES/MS/HS you are assigned to.
Now onto the consortiums. MCPS has 2 of them- both are within the Silver Spring and Takoma Park, MD area: One is the Downcounty (DCC) which has a group of 5 High Schools; and there's Northeast with 3 High Schools. Students in neighborhoods that feed into either consortium are automatically assigned to their home high school but they can choose a different one within their consortium. You may or may not get your first choice. Takoma Park, MD is part of the DCC and homes there are automatically assigned to Blair, but residents can choose any of the other 4 depending on their preference.

Now onto the special programs- there are a bunch of them, which is a good thing! Check out this page: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/ for details at the ES, MS, and HS level.

I know it seems a lot but it's not that complicated once you understand the lay of the land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,

New to this board. We are in DC and considering moving across the line to MD (likely Takoma Park or Silver Spring). Is there a place that explains the MS/HS feeders, magnets, charter options? We are leaving DC because we have no MS path and looking for a solid public option outside the city. Appreciate any help and dvi e you can share.

OP- THANK YOU. This is really helpful and I appreciate you sharing this info with. A clueless newcomer. Looks like have a quite a bit of research to do

Hi OP! Here's an intro: MCPS has a total of 26 high schools with 2 more being built. Here's the list of the 26: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/clusteradmin/clusters/. You can click on each and see which middle schools and elementary schools feed into each. Your house address determines which ES/MS/HS you are assigned to.
Now onto the consortiums. MCPS has 2 of them- both are within the Silver Spring and Takoma Park, MD area: One is the Downcounty (DCC) which has a group of 5 High Schools; and there's Northeast with 3 High Schools. Students in neighborhoods that feed into either consortium are automatically assigned to their home high school but they can choose a different one within their consortium. You may or may not get your first choice. Takoma Park, MD is part of the DCC and homes there are automatically assigned to Blair, but residents can choose any of the other 4 depending on their preference.

Now onto the special programs- there are a bunch of them, which is a good thing! Check out this page: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/ for details at the ES, MS, and HS level.

I know it seems a lot but it's not that complicated once you understand the lay of the land.

Sure thing! My suggestion is to research the 8 high schools housed in one of the 2 consortiums since you are looking at Silver Spring/Takoma Park. If there's a program at one of those high schools that you really like, then I suggest you look for homes that are assigned to that high school. You can find information on each of the high schools here: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/school-profiles. It will give you the stats, demographics, special programs, etc. There's a huge caveat though. There's a new HS being built in Bethesda (Woodward HS) and there will be a boundary study/shifting as a result. No one knows yet what the changes are but the build will be done by 2027. All high schools in the DCC are part of this study. If you find a HS that you like, make sure that you find a place that is very close to that school otherwise you might get moved. You may just want to let the chips fall where they may though since all high schools in MCPS in general, will give you the same curriculum and will have some special programs available to all students.

The scope of the boundary study includes the following high schools: Bethesda Chevy-Chase (BCC), Blair, Albert Einstein, Walter Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Northwood, Wheaton, and Walt Whitman. The scope also includes the following middle schools: Argyle, Eastern, A. Mario Loiederman, Newport Mill, North Bethesda, Parkland, Thomas W. Pyle, Odessa Shannon, Silver Creek, Silver Spring International, Sligo, Takoma Park, Tilden, and Westland.

[Anonymous]

OP - I think your first step is to find a couple of neighborhoods that work for you. If you are coming from DC, you might prefer the part of Silver Spring that feels more urban, so anything walking distance to Takoma, Silver Spring, or Forest Glen metros.

This is not my neighborhood, but if we'd had just a touch more money I would have loved the Seven Oaks neighborhood in DTSS: https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/where-we-live--seven-oaks-ravenswood-in-silver-spring/2016/03/02/0d4378c0-df0f-11e5-8d98-4b3d9215ade1_gallery.html

Then, pick a MS and HS you can live with if your child ends up there. All of the special program stuff can come later, but I assume you played the "will my child lottery into a good school" game in DC and don't want to repeat it.

TPMS --> Blair is a solid path that is going to give your child options even if they don't make it into one of the special MS or HS programs.

SSIMS --> Northwood gives access to the IB middle years program at SSIMS, and then a cool dual immersion program in HS. Plus, Northwood will be in its newly renovated building by then, which is a major plus.

Sligo --> Einstein is another great option. Einstein is the smallest of the DCC high schools, hosts a visual arts magnet and an IB program, and families are overwhelmingly happy with the course offerings and the administration.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that all the area middle and high school boundaries are going to be up for review in a boundary study soon. Elementary school boundaries are excluded from the study.

Not a lot of options there for change since there is no high school in the entire East portion of the county south of the beltway. Blair still services that area says its original location was silver sprig. In fact, the next closest high school to us is BCC, which is 3 minutes further away than Blair.

Sure, but the dividing lines between Blair, Northwood, Einstein, and BCC are likely to be redrawn.

Yeah, but Takoma Park is safe.

There really aren't a lot of close in schools in that area. Blair isn't even that close, but he is a little closer than BCC, which is very downcounty since it's inside the Beltway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,

New to this board. We are in DC and considering moving across the line to MD (likely Takoma Park or Silver Spring). Is there a place that explains the MS/HS feeders, magnets, charter options? We are leaving DC because we have no MS path and looking for a solid public option outside the city. Appreciate any help and dvi e you can share.

OP- THANK YOU. This is really helpful and I appreciate you sharing this info with. A clueless newcomer. Looks like have a quite a bit of research to do

Hi OP! Here's an intro: MCPS has a total of 26 high schools with 2 more being built. Here's the list of the 26: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/clusteradmin/clusters/. You can click on each and see which middle schools and elementary schools feed into each. Your house address determines which ES/MS/HS you are assigned to.
Now onto the consortiums. MCPS has 2 of them- both are within the Silver Spring and Takoma Park, MD area: One is the Downcounty (DCC) which has a group of 5 High Schools; and there's Northeast with 3 High Schools. Students in neighborhoods that feed into either consortium are automatically assigned to their home high school but they can choose a different one within their consortium. You may or may not get your first choice. Takoma Park, MD is part of the DCC and homes there are automatically assigned to Blair, but residents can choose any of the other 4 depending on their preference.

Now onto the special programs- there are a bunch of them, which is a good thing! Check out this page: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/ for details at the ES, MS, and HS level.

I know it seems a lot but it's not that complicated once you understand the lay of the land.

Sure thing! My suggestion is to research the 8 high schools housed in one of the 2 consortiums since you are looking at Silver Spring/Takoma Park. If there's a program at one of those high schools that you really like, then I suggest you look for homes that are assigned to that high school. You can find information on each of the high schools here: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/school-profiles. It will give you the stats, demographics, special programs, etc. There's a huge caveat though. There's a new HS being built in Bethesda (Woodward HS) and there will be a boundary study/shifting as a result. No one knows yet what the changes are but the build will be done by 2027. All high schools in the DCC are part of this study. If you find a HS that you like, make sure that you find a place that is very close to that school otherwise you might get moved. You may just want to let the chips fall where they may though since all high schools in MCPS in general, will give you the same curriculum and will have some special programs available to all students.

The scope of the boundary study includes the following high schools: Bethesda Chevy-Chase (BCC), Blair, Albert Einstein, Walter Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Northwood, Wheaton, and Walt Whitman. The scope also includes the following middle schools: Argyle, Eastern, A. Mario Loiederman, Newport Mill, North Bethesda, Parkland, Thomas W. Pyle, Odessa Shannon, Silver Creek, Silver Spring International, Sligo, Takoma Park, Tilden, and Westland.

But they've stated if you are i n a schools walkzone you are safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi,

New to this board. We are in DC and considering moving across the line to MD (likely Takoma Park or Silver Spring). Is there a place that explains the MS/HS feeders, magnets, charter options? We are leaving DC because we have no MS path and looking for a solid public option outside the city. Appreciate any help and dvi e you can share.

Hi OP! Here's an intro: MCPS has a total of 26 high schools with 2 more being built. Here's the list of the 26: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/clusteradmin/clusters/. You can click on each and see which middle schools and elementary schools feed into each. Your house address determines which ES/MS/HS you are assigned to.
Now onto the consortiums. MCPS has 2 of them- both are within the Silver Spring and Takoma Park, MD area: One is the Downcounty (DCC) which has a group of 5 High Schools; and there's Northeast with 3 High Schools. Students in neighborhoods that feed into either consortium are automatically assigned to their home high school but they can choose a different one within their consortium. You may or may not get your first choice. Takoma Park, MD is part of the DCC and homes there are automatically assigned to Blair, but residents can choose any of the other 4 depending on their preference.

Now onto the special programs- there are a bunch of them, which is a good thing! Check out this page: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/ for details at the ES, MS, and HS level.

I know it seems a lot but it's not that complicated once you understand the lay of the land.

DP. Clarification: each 8th grader in the consortium has to rank their choices. If you rank your home school number 1, you're assigned there. If you rank another school number 1 and your home school number 2, you're assigned to one of those two. Beyond that there are no guarantees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that all the area middle and high school boundaries are going to be up for review in a boundary study soon. Elementary school boundaries are excluded from the study.

Not a lot of options there for change since there is no high school in the entire East portion of the county south of the beltway. Blair still services that area says its original location was silver sprig. In fact, the next closest high school to us is BCC, which is 3 minutes further away than Blair.

Sure, but the dividing lines between Blair, Northwood, Einstein, and BCC are likely to be redrawn.

Yeah, but Takoma Park is safe.

There really aren't a lot of close in schools in that area. Blair isn't even that close, but he is a little closer than BCC, which is very downcounty since it's inside the Beltway.

Reminder that there are four factors. Proximity is just one of the four.