Pls tell me about the Rockville HS cluster (with Wood MS, Barnsley ES, Flower Valley ES)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:'For instance, how does a high percentatge of hispanic students in Rockville HS affect the overall school? And then does a high number of Asian students at Wootton have the same effect or is that better (are there for instance less gangs, more studious kids or more academic competition)?"

OP..you may not have meant it but your post sounds like you have some pretty big stereotypes to work through...

So did you look for a school that had a high percentage of Hispanics or move to SE DC just to be politically correct? We all know EVERYONE looks at schools and gets concerned if some red flags are there. Why does everyone have to be so tactful here. Geez! Just look at the "at a glance" at the schools. It is a fact (not opinion) that schools with high Hispanics have poor test scores compared to others - which equals more help needed in class, which equals your kids gets the shaft.

You know I just looked at "at a glance" for Potomac Elementary which is 30% Asian and 60% white and the MSA grades for All students in 3rd grade Math and reading is >= 95%

Now Forest Knolls, which is 41% Hispanic the MSA grades for All students in 3rd grade are 90.7 and 93.5, 4th grade about the same, 5th grade a little lower. Please tell me how having high Hispanics is failing the students. These students are doing fine and FARMs is 40% at Forest Knolls as compared to Potomac < 5%.

Where is the FACT you are talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:'For instance, how does a high percentatge of hispanic students in Rockville HS affect the overall school? And then does a high number of Asian students at Wootton have the same effect or is that better (are there for instance less gangs, more studious kids or more academic competition)?"

OP..you may not have meant it but your post sounds like you have some pretty big stereotypes to work through...

So did you look for a school that had a high percentage of Hispanics or move to SE DC just to be politically correct? We all know EVERYONE looks at schools and gets concerned if some red flags are there. Why does everyone have to be so tactful here. Geez! Just look at the "at a glance" at the schools. It is a fact (not opinion) that schools with high Hispanics have poor test scores compared to others - which equals more help needed in class, which equals your kids gets the shaft.

You know I just looked at "at a glance" for Potomac Elementary which is 30% Asian and 60% white and the MSA grades for All students in 3rd grade Math and reading is >= 95%

Now Forest Knolls, which is 41% Hispanic the MSA grades for All students in 3rd grade are 90.7 and 93.5, 4th grade about the same, 5th grade a little lower. Please tell me how having high Hispanics is failing the students. These students are doing fine and FARMs is 40% at Forest Knolls as compared to Potomac < 5%.

Where is the FACT you are talking about?

also: Viers Mill ES 63% Hispanic (48% resource-sucking ESOL students, 70+% FARMs) >95% MSA proficient across the board in all categories, including those dumb Hispanic kids.
Darnestown ES 5% Hispanic, 80% White could only manage 80-90% MSA proficient for white kids, the only category with enough kids to count.

Bonus: VMES average class sizes: K-16.6, Grades 1-3- 28.5, Grades 4-5-28.7. Overall staff/student ratio: 1/8.4
DES average class sizes: K-25.5, Grades 1-3-34.8 (!), Grades 4-5-30.4. Overall staff/student ratio: 1/14.6

So which kids are really getting the shaft?

Fact-finding PP apparently doesn't understand that ESOL/FARMs kids bring additional staff allocations (that are much more protected by staffing cuts) and additional resources which benefit all students. There are many Title I schools that have it down. There are many affluent schools that do not.

I would argue that the makeup of the school, both in racial categories and socio-economic status, affects the overall school climate. We want our children to attend schools in which they will not be outsiders. Nobody wants their child to be the only white student, or Hispanic student in the class. But to automatically attribute "more undesirable brown students" to "bad school for white/Asian kids" is offensive, and unsupported by the actual facts.

[Anonymous]

VMES amazes me- they continue to defy the stereotype every year!

To the PP advising the OP move to the Wooten cluster instead, good grief, use your head. Not everyone can afford to live in the W clusters. Every time a question is asked about schools outside this cluster someone has to pipe in that the W schools are sooooo much better. It's annoying, and I'm not sure what the point is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:VMES amazes me- they continue to defy the stereotype every year!

To the PP advising the OP move to the Wooten cluster instead, good grief, use your head. Not everyone can afford to live in the W clusters. Every time a question is asked about schools outside this cluster someone has to pipe in that the W schools are sooooo much better. It's annoying, and I'm not sure what the point is.

Please look at the OP's original question. Wootton and Quince Orchard are her other options. No one is telling her to go there. Pay attention before you blab away. It is not wrong to say that Wootton is better than Rockville High.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:'For instance, how does a high percentatge of hispanic students in Rockville HS affect the overall school? And then does a high number of Asian students at Wootton have the same effect or is that better (are there for instance less gangs, more studious kids or more academic competition)?"

OP..you may not have meant it but your post sounds like you have some pretty big stereotypes to work through...

So did you look for a school that had a high percentage of Hispanics or move to SE DC just to be politically correct? We all know EVERYONE looks at schools and gets concerned if some red flags are there. Why does everyone have to be so tactful here. Geez! Just look at the "at a glance" at the schools. It is a fact (not opinion) that schools with high Hispanics have poor test scores compared to others - which equals more help needed in class, which equals your kids gets the shaft.

You know I just looked at "at a glance" for Potomac Elementary which is 30% Asian and 60% white and the MSA grades for All students in 3rd grade Math and reading is >= 95%

Now Forest Knolls, which is 41% Hispanic the MSA grades for All students in 3rd grade are 90.7 and 93.5, 4th grade about the same, 5th grade a little lower. Please tell me how having high Hispanics is failing the students. These students are doing fine and FARMs is 40% at Forest Knolls as compared to Potomac < 5%.

Where is the FACT you are talking about?

also: Viers Mill ES 63% Hispanic (48% resource-sucking ESOL students, 70+% FARMs) >95% MSA proficient across the board in all categories, including those dumb Hispanic kids.
Darnestown ES 5% Hispanic, 80% White could only manage 80-90% MSA proficient for white kids, the only category with enough kids to count.

Bonus: VMES average class sizes: K-16.6, Grades 1-3- 28.5, Grades 4-5-28.7. Overall staff/student ratio: 1/8.4
DES average class sizes: K-25.5, Grades 1-3-34.8 (!), Grades 4-5-30.4. Overall staff/student ratio: 1/14.6

So which kids are really getting the shaft?

Fact-finding PP apparently doesn't understand that ESOL/FARMs kids bring additional staff allocations (that are much more protected by staffing cuts) and additional resources which benefit all students. There are many Title I schools that have it down. There are many affluent schools that do not.

I would argue that the makeup of the school, both in racial categories and socio-economic status, affects the overall school climate. We want our children to attend schools in which they will not be outsiders. Nobody wants their child to be the only white student, or Hispanic student in the class. But to automatically attribute "more undesirable brown students" to "bad school for white/Asian kids" is offensive, and unsupported by the actual facts.

So more ESOL teachers and free breakfast? How does it help the other students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:'For instance, how does a high percentatge of hispanic students in Rockville HS affect the overall school? And then does a high number of Asian students at Wootton have the same effect or is that better (are there for instance less gangs, more studious kids or more academic competition)?"

OP..you may not have meant it but your post sounds like you have some pretty big stereotypes to work through...

So did you look for a school that had a high percentage of Hispanics or move to SE DC just to be politically correct? We all know EVERYONE looks at schools and gets concerned if some red flags are there. Why does everyone have to be so tactful here. Geez! Just look at the "at a glance" at the schools. It is a fact (not opinion) that schools with high Hispanics have poor test scores compared to others - which equals more help needed in class, which equals your kids gets the shaft.

You know I just looked at "at a glance" for Potomac Elementary which is 30% Asian and 60% white and the MSA grades for All students in 3rd grade Math and reading is >= 95%

Now Forest Knolls, which is 41% Hispanic the MSA grades for All students in 3rd grade are 90.7 and 93.5, 4th grade about the same, 5th grade a little lower. Please tell me how having high Hispanics is failing the students. These students are doing fine and FARMs is 40% at Forest Knolls as compared to Potomac < 5%.

Where is the FACT you are talking about?

also: Viers Mill ES 63% Hispanic (48% resource-sucking ESOL students, 70+% FARMs) >95% MSA proficient across the board in all categories, including those dumb Hispanic kids.
Darnestown ES 5% Hispanic, 80% White could only manage 80-90% MSA proficient for white kids, the only category with enough kids to count.

Bonus: VMES average class sizes: K-16.6, Grades 1-3- 28.5, Grades 4-5-28.7. Overall staff/student ratio: 1/8.4
DES average class sizes: K-25.5, Grades 1-3-34.8 (!), Grades 4-5-30.4. Overall staff/student ratio: 1/14.6

So which kids are really getting the shaft?

Fact-finding PP apparently doesn't understand that ESOL/FARMs kids bring additional staff allocations (that are much more protected by staffing cuts) and additional resources which benefit all students. There are many Title I schools that have it down. There are many affluent schools that do not.

I would argue that the makeup of the school, both in racial categories and socio-economic status, affects the overall school climate. We want our children to attend schools in which they will not be outsiders. Nobody wants their child to be the only white student, or Hispanic student in the class. But to automatically attribute "more undesirable brown students" to "bad school for white/Asian kids" is offensive, and unsupported by the actual facts.

So more ESOL teachers and free breakfast? How does it help the other students?

There are smaller class sizes in the early years for ALL students in Title I schools, not just the ESOL students.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the responses. Not looking to start a discussion on race. We live here, we like living here, the diversity is all part of that.

But, regarding test scores check the SAT scores (1800 at Wootton but only 1500+ at Rockville), see the % that go to college, etc. I can read this stuff online. But I want to know about the other stuff -- the test scores only tell part of the story. As one PP pointed out, "It is a fact (not opinion) that schools with high Hispanics have poor test scores compared to others - which equals more help needed in class, which equals your kids gets the shaft." Another posted talked about how more FARMS students brings more resources. These are both the types of things I want to know about. What kinds of resources? The student to teacher ratios are very similar in just about all the schools I looked give or take one or two students. Also, thoughts on the specific schools are especially appreciated too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the responses. Not looking to start a discussion on race. We live here, we like living here, the diversity is all part of that.

But, regarding test scores check the SAT scores (1800 at Wootton but only 1500+ at Rockville), see the % that go to college, etc. I can read this stuff online. But I want to know about the other stuff -- the test scores only tell part of the story. As one PP pointed out, "It is a fact (not opinion) that schools with high Hispanics have poor test scores compared to others - which equals more help needed in class, which equals your kids gets the shaft." Another posted talked about how more FARMS students brings more resources. These are both the types of things I want to know about. What kinds of resources? The student to teacher ratios are very similar in just about all the schools I looked give or take one or two students. Also, thoughts on the specific schools are especially appreciated too!

I don't have a dog in this fight (I don't live in MOCO), but I do find the discussion interesting. The thing about SAT scores is that in wealthy areas, a lot of parents pay for SAT prep classes. So the difference in SAT scores may have to do with SES, but not in the way some are arguing. It's not that greater SES makes the quality of instruction at the school better, but that scores are higher because people with money are paying for instruction and classes and prep classes for their kids so that they perform better on the tests.

I found in college that student friends of mine who paid for LSAT prep classes performed better than those who did not. We all went to the same college, took the same college courses, but for tests like the SATs or the graduate tests or the LSATs, et cetera, those prep classes do give students an advantage.

I wouldn't draw conclusions about the school based on SAT scores. Just thought I'd mention that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the responses. Not looking to start a discussion on race. We live here, we like living here, the diversity is all part of that.

But, regarding test scores check the SAT scores (1800 at Wootton but only 1500+ at Rockville), see the % that go to college, etc. I can read this stuff online. But I want to know about the other stuff -- the test scores only tell part of the story. As one PP pointed out, "It is a fact (not opinion) that schools with high Hispanics have poor test scores compared to others - which equals more help needed in class, which equals your kids gets the shaft." Another posted talked about how more FARMS students brings more resources. These are both the types of things I want to know about. What kinds of resources? The student to teacher ratios are very similar in just about all the schools I looked give or take one or two students. Also, thoughts on the specific schools are especially appreciated too!

I'm looking for info on this cluster too. Also Meadow Hall ES- I know it doesn't get as good test scores as Barnsley, but class sizes are small, which I like. Anyone have personal experience there? Most of our friends with kids are in Silver Spring or NoVA, don't really know anyone in Rockville.

[Anonymous]

Bars key has the gifted and talented program so many of their students aren't even in that cluster. They pull G&T programs into the schools that need the most help increasing their scores.

[Anonymous]

^^Barnsley

[Anonymous]

What is the G&T program for ES in Barnsley? How do they know if your kindergartner is G&T?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is the G&T program for ES in Barnsley? How do they know if your kindergartner is G&T?

I'm assuming they're talking about the Highly Gifted Centers which start in 4th grade. No G&T in K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the G&T program for ES in Barnsley? How do they know if your kindergartner is G&T?

I'm assuming they're talking about the Highly Gifted Centers which start in 4th grade. No G&T in K.

that's right. The HGC at Barnsley has around 75 kids pulled from 4 high school clusters so roughly two dozen elementary schools. there are three classes in fourth and fifth grade. I don't believe home school (Barnsley) kids get any kind of preference to get into the HGC program.
It is a great school with a wonderful administration and teaching staff. dc has been really happy and we like the atmosphere - academics are imp. but the principal really emphasizes the emotional and social development of the kids.

[Anonymous]

PP, what does imp. mean?