Best public elementary school in Montgomery County?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can tell you with some authority that it is NOT Woodacres. That school is way overcrowded and continues to increase in enrollment. It used to be great, but now is a MESS. Bullying, overcrowded classes, substitute teachers for most of the school year in several classes, cafeteria can not handle all the kids so lunch starts at 10:45 for some kids and 1:30 for others....

Where are all of these kids coming from? Woodacres is a stable community so there is no new construction. Does it have a special program where kids are bused in from outside the Woodacres boundary?

Not pp but I think more families are moving in as the older residents move out, and more people are using public over private. My kids didn't go to WA but do go to the high school and it's fabulous. And our neighbors with kids at WA are very happy there. Obviously PPs experience was different, which is unfortunate.

[Anonymous]

PP here. Woodacres does feed in to amazing middle and high schools. Woodacres is not a bad school, it is just very crowded. There are some amazing teachers, too. However, it used to be universally touted as the top elementary school in Mont. County. I just don't think it is anymore. If they could change some boundaries and decrease the enrollment, I think it would improve dramatically. It is that many of the surrounding neighborhoods are undergoing a huge transition as more retired folks and original homeowners are moving on and families with kids are moving in. The vast majority of folks at Woodacres are happy with the school. But, I think that there are better schools in the county now.

[Anonymous]

Is Beall Elementary School a good school?

[Anonymous]

Oakland Terrace.

Real diversity (people from everywhere!) my kid has kids from Senegal, Poland, Peru, Vietnam, etc, etc in his class...and the parents (of the kid's in my kid's class) are all involved and interesting. Not the richest, whitest school in the county, for sure, but there are many many professionals among the parents and then those who aren't are still very involved in their kid's education. Also now the school isn't overcrowded at all.

Seriously I don't see how it could be better in MOCO public schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chev Chs school culture: awful. Teach to test, brow-beating, shaming. Kids taught to fear authority rather than respect it (and question it respectfully). The best schools are where kids and community are happy. Look for that.

I have seen this same post/poster multiple times. Obviously you had a bad experience but we are at Chevy Chase, and while there are things I don't like about MoCo schools (such as an emphasis on testing), I haven't experienced anything like this, and I don't have any reason to think things would be better at another school (like a different one we visited where they brought up test scores 2-3x during the tour).

Just wondering do you have a boy or a girl.

[Anonymous]

Darnestown and Jones Lane

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chev Chs school culture: awful. Teach to test, brow-beating, shaming. Kids taught to fear authority rather than respect it (and question it respectfully). The best schools are where kids and community are happy. Look for that.

I have seen this same post/poster multiple times. Obviously you had a bad experience but we are at Chevy Chase, and while there are things I don't like about MoCo schools (such as an emphasis on testing), I haven't experienced anything like this, and I don't have any reason to think things would be better at another school (like a different one we visited where they brought up test scores 2-3x during the tour).

I have not posted previously but also have kids at CCES. Our experience at CCES has not been great. There has been a great deal of teacher turnover in both the HGC and the regular program in the past few years, which makes me wonder if teachers are not that happy at school. This year's third grade teachers are mostly brand new or very recent graduates. Many parents dislike the principal and/or fear her. She's not really a collaborative principal -- more of a "do as I say" type. Kids are definitely taught to fear authority. Some may think that's a good thing; it does mean the school is orderly.

In addition, test scores at CCES are not what they appear to be. If you look at the scores broken down by grade, you will see that the percent of advanced readers are low in 3rd grade, higher in 4th and 5th grade, and then drop again in 6th grade. This is because the reading test scores are artificially inflated by the influx of kids in the Highly Gifted Center, almost all of whom are very strong readers. Math scores are probably inflated too, but it's more difficult to tell about that because most of the center math kids are accelerated by 1 or more years, so although they are all good at math, it's less predictable that they will universally do well on the math MSAs (since the math MSA focuses on on grade level math, some of which a kid can sort of forget when they are 1-3 years advanced). Since test scores are not broken out separately for the regular program and the HGC program, the principal gets a bit of a free ride from the performance of the HGC kids.

CCES used to be really good at acceleration in math. This year they have stopped math acceleration and are only serving kids in heterogenous groups in math. Many kids are repeating math concepts for the second year in a row. Many parents dislike this but principal refuses to do anything about it. Some other MCPS elementary schools have continued to do some acceleration in 3rd grade, but not CCES.

Also, principal is very tough on special ed at this school. I have heard this from a number of parents who have had difficulty and a number of special ed professionals who advise against sending special ed kids to this school or have had difficulty with this principal on special ed issues. ( I know that many families have difficulties with their schools and special ed, but I've really heard some tales about CCES).

Having a sixth grade program is nice in a way as the kids are sheltered socially from middle school issues for a year, but the academic program for 6th graders suffers (e.g. only one language choice, no daily orchestra option, etc.). Parents tried to get MCPS to provide equivalent programming, but failed and instead got a new middle school which won't be ready for years. Principal did seem to try to cope with this, but basically wasn't interested in advocating for the parents against the MCPS upper admin (although she also didn't stand in the way of parents advocating for themselves...)

That said, the school is very clean and orderly. We like the parent community and the neighborhood and a number of the school activities throughout the year. For self-motivated kids without any special learning or social needs, this is probably a fine place, like many MCPS schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oakland Terrace.

Real diversity (people from everywhere!) my kid has kids from Senegal, Poland, Peru, Vietnam, etc, etc in his class...and the parents (of the kid's in my kid's class) are all involved and interesting. Not the richest, whitest school in the county, for sure, but there are many many professionals among the parents and then those who aren't are still very involved in their kid's education. Also now the school isn't overcrowded at all.

Seriously I don't see how it could be better in MOCO public schools.

Thanks for chiming in; I agree!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chev Chs school culture: awful. Teach to test, brow-beating, shaming. Kids taught to fear authority rather than respect it (and question it respectfully). The best schools are where kids and community are happy. Look for that.

I have seen this same post/poster multiple times. Obviously you had a bad experience but we are at Chevy Chase, and while there are things I don't like about MoCo schools (such as an emphasis on testing), I haven't experienced anything like this, and I don't have any reason to think things would be better at another school (like a different one we visited where they brought up test scores 2-3x during the tour).

I have not posted previously but also have kids at CCES. Our experience at CCES has not been great. There has been a great deal of teacher turnover in both the HGC and the regular program in the past few years, which makes me wonder if teachers are not that happy at school. This year's third grade teachers are mostly brand new or very recent graduates. Many parents dislike the principal and/or fear her. She's not really a collaborative principal -- more of a "do as I say" type. Kids are definitely taught to fear authority. Some may think that's a good thing; it does mean the school is orderly.

In addition, test scores at CCES are not what they appear to be. If you look at the scores broken down by grade, you will see that the percent of advanced readers are low in 3rd grade, higher in 4th and 5th grade, and then drop again in 6th grade. This is because the reading test scores are artificially inflated by the influx of kids in the Highly Gifted Center, almost all of whom are very strong readers. Math scores are probably inflated too, but it's more difficult to tell about that because most of the center math kids are accelerated by 1 or more years, so although they are all good at math, it's less predictable that they will universally do well on the math MSAs (since the math MSA focuses on on grade level math, some of which a kid can sort of forget when they are 1-3 years advanced). Since test scores are not broken out separately for the regular program and the HGC program, the principal gets a bit of a free ride from the performance of the HGC kids.

CCES used to be really good at acceleration in math. This year they have stopped math acceleration and are only serving kids in heterogenous groups in math. Many kids are repeating math concepts for the second year in a row. Many parents dislike this but principal refuses to do anything about it. Some other MCPS elementary schools have continued to do some acceleration in 3rd grade, but not CCES.

Also, principal is very tough on special ed at this school. I have heard this from a number of parents who have had difficulty and a number of special ed professionals who advise against sending special ed kids to this school or have had difficulty with this principal on special ed issues. ( I know that many families have difficulties with their schools and special ed, but I've really heard some tales about CCES).

Having a sixth grade program is nice in a way as the kids are sheltered socially from middle school issues for a year, but the academic program for 6th graders suffers (e.g. only one language choice, no daily orchestra option, etc.). Parents tried to get MCPS to provide equivalent programming, but failed and instead got a new middle school which won't be ready for years. Principal did seem to try to cope with this, but basically wasn't interested in advocating for the parents against the MCPS upper admin (although she also didn't stand in the way of parents advocating for themselves...)

That said, the school is very clean and orderly. We like the parent community and the neighborhood and a number of the school activities throughout the year. For self-motivated kids without any special learning or social needs, this is probably a fine place, like many MCPS schools.

Ypu mention some other schools continue to provide math acceleration in 3rd grades. Which shools are doing that? I thought Curr 2.0 prohibits that?

[Anonymous]

Starr says 2.0 does not prohibit it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Starr says 2.0 does not prohibit it.

Where did he say that?


BTW, I think 22:33 gives a pretty fair assessment of our experience at CCES. I am concerned about teacher turnover. I don't love the principal, but I don't fear her. I haven't got the sense from my kid that CCES is any authoritarian than Rosemary Hills was-- I don't really have anything else to compare it to. We have had some good experiences with teachers (including a brand new one) and some ok experiences.

[Anonymous]

For what it is worth, our experience at Chevy Chase was very similar to what was described in the lengthy post. The Principal is very weak, something that the County is well aware of but for whatever reason has not done anything about. Most people who have experience with her will tell you she is very difficult to deal with, and I have hard this specifically about special ed issues. There are some terrific teachers but there are also lots of mediocre teachers who lack enthusiasm, and the recent turnover has been substantial. It is a shame because from what I understand it used to be very good and has a diverse population and a very good facility but the atmosphere within leaves much to be desired. Keeping the Sixth Grade also sets kids behind academically.