TPMS vs. Hoover Middle School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The benefit is one required CS class. But because TP will now be 7 periods, that means your student will not have an elective if they want a foreign language as well.

The science class is also better.

Commute is long.

That's a weak benefit because there are tons of free and paid CS courses that are as good or better than TPMS. Some of that curriculum is even in school (6igital Literacy, 7:Cybersecurity, 8:Foundations of CS track)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One more data point for your reference - Our kid went to Hoover, and now attend Blair Magnet. Hoover experience was memorable and the kids had a great time. Hoover graduates adopt as well as Takoma Park graduates at Blair.

Especially now, post lottery, when Hoover is sending more kids to Blair than before.

[Anonymous]

I think I agree with the PP that unless your kid has clear elite college aspirations and a real shot at getting there and ready to adhere to the rigorous requirements of resume building perfection, time and community is more important to work life balance. I think kids only have that small window to maximize their youth. If all their friends are scattered across the county is a big impact too. Living around their school and friends is big

[Anonymous]

I don't have a good way to compare. My kid went to Hoover and it's not particularly challenging.

That said, one other issue to consider. (My kid declined a different magnet offer for this reason among other reasons.) It's not just that you have a huge commute to TPMS. It's that kids at that school live all over the place, and probably leaning toward living in that part of the county. That means that any meet-ups with friends also require a lot of driving. And if the kid wants to join a team or activity with friends from that area, it will probably also be located in that direction with less ability to carpool, etc.

If this is your only kid, that's all doable. But I seriously would have struggled balancing all that with my other kids' schedules. (Or my kid would have lost friendship time.)

[Anonymous]

You should consider your child's overall health. Starting in 6th, my kid started to get increasingly tired and needed every minute of sleep. The commute time can be a killer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if one buys the premises that a slightly advanced curriculum in a mixed area with a stacked student peer group in the specific classrooms is better than an affluent middle school with a high standards community and a stacked peer population. Is the marginal exposure to advance ABCs and 123s (that is often soon brain dumped) and a middle school resume worth the hours spent commuting daily while being extracted from the neighborhood and community? Haven’t met many adults who state “if only my middle school resume was stronger” but I have met quite a few that talk about the types of enrichments they did like sports, dancing ect. Two hours a day is 10 hours a week coupled to a heavy homework load, IMHO it is pretty unimaginative if going to piney brach road daily is the best most productive thing you can do with your time. Hardly any of the magnet kids end up going to Ives or super elite colleges even if they continue on though HS anyway so what exactly are you getting with all of that.

There are a million ways to get into a good college esp if you can afford IB for Hoover. Focus on living not striving, you can take a level math in summer school if you really want them to get ahead. A few compressed weeks beats uprooting one’s life and community.

OTOH, if magnet is your peer group, then joining that group on 6th instead of 9th has benefits.

If you care about the non-magnet peers on the magnet campus, then the TPMS+SMCS magnet puts you in the building the non-magnet TPMS->Blair students 6-12 instead of 6-9.

(This argument was stronger before the lottery decimated the TPMS->SMCS pipeline. Now, the W middle school -> SMCS pipeline is larger.)

i

What is your evidence that the pipeline from TPMS to Blair magnet was “decimated”?!! I understood many kids got in last year which was the only year so far of lottery based middle school magnet kids applying to high school.

[Anonymous]

You should ask for a tour during business hours. We did this when our daughter was offered a spot at eastern. We went to eastern and knew immediately that was not where we were going to send our kid to and it couldn’t possibly justify the logistics. Don’t have any first hand TP experience but as they are both in the same cluster, I have my doubts it could be night and day better.

[Anonymous]

I'm a parent of a current 9th grader at Blair Magnet and can confirm this is definitely the case.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if one buys the premises that a slightly advanced curriculum in a mixed area with a stacked student peer group in the specific classrooms is better than an affluent middle school with a high standards community and a stacked peer population. Is the marginal exposure to advance ABCs and 123s (that is often soon brain dumped) and a middle school resume worth the hours spent commuting daily while being extracted from the neighborhood and community? Haven’t met many adults who state “if only my middle school resume was stronger” but I have met quite a few that talk about the types of enrichments they did like sports, dancing ect. Two hours a day is 10 hours a week coupled to a heavy homework load, IMHO it is pretty unimaginative if going to piney brach road daily is the best most productive thing you can do with your time. Hardly any of the magnet kids end up going to Ives or super elite colleges even if they continue on though HS anyway so what exactly are you getting with all of that.

There are a million ways to get into a good college esp if you can afford IB for Hoover. Focus on living not striving, you can take a level math in summer school if you really want them to get ahead. A few compressed weeks beats uprooting one’s life and community.

OTOH, if magnet is your peer group, then joining that group on 6th instead of 9th has benefits.

If you care about the non-magnet peers on the magnet campus, then the TPMS+SMCS magnet puts you in the building the non-magnet TPMS->Blair students 6-12 instead of 6-9.

(This argument was stronger before the lottery decimated the TPMS->SMCS pipeline. Now, the W middle school -> SMCS pipeline is larger.)

i

What is your evidence that the pipeline from TPMS to Blair magnet was “decimated”?!! I understood many kids got in last year which was the only year so far of lottery based middle school magnet kids applying to high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is at Churchill and went to TPMS at a time when the final admissions were not lottery based, so I'll be honest: the cohort was stronger (it is still quite strong though).

When we arrived at Churchill I honestly think there was just one other kid who had attended TPMS in their class. My kid was OK with that, but it could be a rough transition back. I think that is a serious thing to consider. I understand there are about 20 "new" kids each year from 8th to 9th.

The academics and environment at TPMS were fantastic. But now there is a new principal (who is good), and the way the classes work are different (and changing again as far as I read on DCUM). Some of the really stellar teachers my kid had are gone now, like the old 7th grade science teacher who also stood up the community service club (I do not know how this is working now so no insult to the current people in those roles).

If I had this decision to make today personally again I think sticking with Hoover would be the smarter choice, but I am not sure that I would have made that choice in your position because the draw of the program is strong (or was for us).

Our family is very happy at Churchill and my child was very prepared for math and science and coding (though is not leaning towards a STEM major).

Sadly the new principal has driven away many of the great teachers in the magnet and weakened many of the things that made it great. She has driven a wedge between the administration and families with inept communication. It’s still a good program but I question whether it’s worth a long commute if you have another good option, especially as you’ll only be able to take one elective.

I had kids at TPMS before and after the new principal and only know of one magnet teacher who retired after 30+ years. Their departure had nothing to do with the new principal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a parent of a current 9th grader at Blair Magnet and can confirm this is definitely the case.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even if one buys the premises that a slightly advanced curriculum in a mixed area with a stacked student peer group in the specific classrooms is better than an affluent middle school with a high standards community and a stacked peer population. Is the marginal exposure to advance ABCs and 123s (that is often soon brain dumped) and a middle school resume worth the hours spent commuting daily while being extracted from the neighborhood and community? Haven’t met many adults who state “if only my middle school resume was stronger” but I have met quite a few that talk about the types of enrichments they did like sports, dancing ect. Two hours a day is 10 hours a week coupled to a heavy homework load, IMHO it is pretty unimaginative if going to piney brach road daily is the best most productive thing you can do with your time. Hardly any of the magnet kids end up going to Ives or super elite colleges even if they continue on though HS anyway so what exactly are you getting with all of that.

There are a million ways to get into a good college esp if you can afford IB for Hoover. Focus on living not striving, you can take a level math in summer school if you really want them to get ahead. A few compressed weeks beats uprooting one’s life and community.

OTOH, if magnet is your peer group, then joining that group on 6th instead of 9th has benefits.

If you care about the non-magnet peers on the magnet campus, then the TPMS+SMCS magnet puts you in the building the non-magnet TPMS->Blair students 6-12 instead of 6-9.

(This argument was stronger before the lottery decimated the TPMS->SMCS pipeline. Now, the W middle school -> SMCS pipeline is larger.)

i

What is your evidence that the pipeline from TPMS to Blair magnet was “decimated”?!! I understood many kids got in last year which was the only year so far of lottery based middle school magnet kids applying to high school.

So many of DC's classmates from the first lottery year of TPMS were invited to Blair SMCS. Surpringly a few chose RMIB or Wheaton but it seems like half the class still ended up at Blair in SMCS.

[Anonymous]

More accurate to say that the lottery substantially boosted the W to Blair pipeline, while reducing the TPMS to Blair pipeline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should ask for a tour during business hours. We did this when our daughter was offered a spot at eastern. We went to eastern and knew immediately that was not where we were going to send our kid to and it couldn’t possibly justify the logistics. Don’t have any first hand TP experience but as they are both in the same cluster, I have my doubts it could be night and day better.

What did you see that you didn't like?

[Anonymous]

I'd do Hoover if he has friends from elementary. It's not worth the double transition for a child with SN. It will make the transition to Churchill easier which is really important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should ask for a tour during business hours. We did this when our daughter was offered a spot at eastern. We went to eastern and knew immediately that was not where we were going to send our kid to and it couldn’t possibly justify the logistics. Don’t have any first hand TP experience but as they are both in the same cluster, I have my doubts it could be night and day better.

What did you see that you didn't like?

Not that PP but it's a rough school and it's not for people who like to be around white people only.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should ask for a tour during business hours. We did this when our daughter was offered a spot at eastern. We went to eastern and knew immediately that was not where we were going to send our kid to and it couldn’t possibly justify the logistics. Don’t have any first hand TP experience but as they are both in the same cluster, I have my doubts it could be night and day better.

What did you see that you didn't like?

Not that PP but it's a rough school and it's not for people who like to be around white people only.

There are rough white schools in the world that are trashy too. People can not like trashy kids that are brown simply because they are trashy and it not be racist. Classiest maybe just because there isn’t a significant poor white population in the DC metro doesn’t mean we have to embrace the all the poor people. One can wish them all the luck in the world but not want to immerse one’s family into that world and that’s ok.