Top 10 Schools in MoCo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It does not matter where your kid goes. It matters what courses your kid takes in HS and how well they do in these courses. Being Asian/White or going to W schools do not make you high achievers. The school may be top ranked but your kid could still be low performing.

Don't tell that to the W school parents! They believe their kids are smarter and that they care about education more than the upcounty parents.

LOL Yes we could have afforded churchill or whitman(house now is $1.1) but ended up choosing QO because of how well-rounded it was. We didn't want our kids to be the bottom of their school and feel dumb. We also didn't want our kids to think they were poor compared to their peers or think they were better because they went to a top school. It's important to push kids but not too much like in some of the W's. And to find a nice and active community. Doesn't matter how "good" your school is as long as the school isn't gang-infested and has enough for a good student to succeed.

Agreed! Of course, the W school parents think QO is part of Ganglandia

Really? Have you talked to many, or any, W parents about this? Or are you just peddling in random stereotypes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It does not matter where your kid goes. It matters what courses your kid takes in HS and how well they do in these courses. Being Asian/White or going to W schools do not make you high achievers. The school may be top ranked but your kid could still be low performing.

Don't tell that to the W school parents! They believe their kids are smarter and that they care about education more than the upcounty parents.

LOL Yes we could have afforded churchill or whitman(house now is $1.1) but ended up choosing QO because of how well-rounded it was. We didn't want our kids to be the bottom of their school and feel dumb. We also didn't want our kids to think they were poor compared to their peers or think they were better because they went to a top school. It's important to push kids but not too much like in some of the W's. And to find a nice and active community. Doesn't matter how "good" your school is as long as the school isn't gang-infested and has enough for a good student to succeed.

I would want my kid to be surrounded by a good amount of high performing classmates so they would get an enriched interaction with their peers in the classroom and also not be lulled into thinking that they are the smartest. Why would they be at the bottom of their school? Why would you not intervene if they were at the bottom of their school? Do you think they are getting a good education in QO if they would be at the bottom of a W school?

Your good student is not really succeeding in QO if he would be at the bottom of a W school. The kid who succeeds in QO would succeed in any W school. W schools are not selection test based magnet HS programs. I can imagine struggling in a magnet program because of sheer amount of work, but I cannot even imagine struggling in a W school or any other mcps school.

[Anonymous]

High performing students in any school - W or ganglandia- will end up in mostly AP classes. You could be in W or QO or Watkins Mill HS and not take AP classes and the chances would be that you were mediocre or below. There is a reason that colleges look for mostly A's in the hardest courses that your school offers. Hardest classes currently are either AP or IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It does not matter where your kid goes. It matters what courses your kid takes in HS and how well they do in these courses. Being Asian/White or going to W schools do not make you high achievers. The school may be top ranked but your kid could still be low performing.

Don't tell that to the W school parents! They believe their kids are smarter and that they care about education more than the upcounty parents.

LOL Yes we could have afforded churchill or whitman(house now is $1.1) but ended up choosing QO because of how well-rounded it was. We didn't want our kids to be the bottom of their school and feel dumb. We also didn't want our kids to think they were poor compared to their peers or think they were better because they went to a top school. It's important to push kids but not too much like in some of the W's. And to find a nice and active community. Doesn't matter how "good" your school is as long as the school isn't gang-infested and has enough for a good student to succeed.

Agreed! Of course, the W school parents think QO is part of Ganglandia

Really? Have you talked to many, or any, W parents about this? Or are you just peddling in random stereotypes?

none will admit it in person, but it's all over this board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It does not matter where your kid goes. It matters what courses your kid takes in HS and how well they do in these courses. Being Asian/White or going to W schools do not make you high achievers. The school may be top ranked but your kid could still be low performing.

This. I’d rather my kid be the top non-Magnet kid at Blair than the bottom kid at a W.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It does not matter where your kid goes. It matters what courses your kid takes in HS and how well they do in these courses. Being Asian/White or going to W schools do not make you high achievers. The school may be top ranked but your kid could still be low performing.

Don't tell that to the W school parents! They believe their kids are smarter and that they care about education more than the upcounty parents.

LOL Yes we could have afforded churchill or whitman(house now is $1.1) but ended up choosing QO because of how well-rounded it was. We didn't want our kids to be the bottom of their school and feel dumb. We also didn't want our kids to think they were poor compared to their peers or think they were better because they went to a top school. It's important to push kids but not too much like in some of the W's. And to find a nice and active community. Doesn't matter how "good" your school is as long as the school isn't gang-infested and has enough for a good student to succeed.

Agreed! Of course, the W school parents think QO is part of Ganglandia

Really? Have you talked to many, or any, W parents about this? Or are you just peddling in random stereotypes?

none will admit it in person, but it's all over this board.

Or people don't "admit" because they don't feel that way. It's crazy to take this board as gospel, particularly for derogatory pot stirring posts. Many of those posts could easily be posts from QO (or other school) parents trying to rile people up and/or project how they assume (or wish) W parents are like.

As someone at a W school, I know next to nothing about QO, or most other schools other than my own and to some degree the adjacent schools.

I wouldn't want tone zoned for QO because I don't want that long a commute. It's has nothing to do with my (non-existent) perception that it is gang filled.

[Anonymous]

There are just too many posts disparaging upcounty parents for me to think it's all upcounty parents trying to stir the pot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are just too many posts disparaging upcounty parents for me to think it's all upcounty parents trying to stir the pot.

Or its other people, including some W parents, stirring the pot. Especially on stuff like this, this board is not the real world. Even the small number folks who may hold that view, aren't really representative of the community as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Poolesville is obviously a top school but take out the magnets then what do you have? I'm saying the whole school as a whole including local students. Overall still a top 10 school in the county.

Whitman is obviously a top school but take out the affluent kids then what do you have?

[Anonymous]

Northwood high school #1 go gladiators everyone else suxxx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Don't tell that to the W school parents! They believe their kids are smarter and that they care about education more than the upcounty parents.

I don't think it's that W school parents think Quince Orchard HS is Ganglandia. It's that Quince Orchard HS is in Gaithersburg, and there are people who think that all of Gaithersburg is Ganglandia. (They also probably think that all of Gaithersburg is east of 270...) Germantown is Ganglandia too, of course. And Clarksburg - after all, rapper Shy Glizzy came up in Clarksburg's gritty, mean, urban streets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High performing students in any school - W or ganglandia- will end up in mostly AP classes. You could be in W or QO or Watkins Mill HS and not take AP classes and the chances would be that you were mediocre or below. There is a reason that colleges look for mostly A's in the hardest courses that your school offers. Hardest classes currently are either AP or IB.

The AP courses at these schools are not at the same level. Look at the test results (just a selection of schools):

2017 AP Pass Rates (3 or above):
Kennedy - 36.2
Watkins Mill - 34.1
Rockville - 54.9
QO - 57.2
Einstein - 61.9
Clarksburg - 69.1
RM - 79.9
B-CC - 80.4
Churchill - 85.3
Blair - 86.3
WJ - 87.1
Poolesville - 87.7
Whitman - 88.2
Wootton - 89.2

These pass rates also don't show the wide disparity between schools on scores between 3 and 5. The schools at the low end do not provide the same quality of education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High performing students in any school - W or ganglandia- will end up in mostly AP classes. You could be in W or QO or Watkins Mill HS and not take AP classes and the chances would be that you were mediocre or below. There is a reason that colleges look for mostly A's in the hardest courses that your school offers. Hardest classes currently are either AP or IB.

The AP courses at these schools are not at the same level. Look at the test results (just a selection of schools):

2017 AP Pass Rates (3 or above):
Kennedy - 36.2
Watkins Mill - 34.1
Rockville - 54.9
QO - 57.2
Einstein - 61.9
Clarksburg - 69.1
RM - 79.9
B-CC - 80.4
Churchill - 85.3
Blair - 86.3
WJ - 87.1
Poolesville - 87.7
Whitman - 88.2
Wootton - 89.2

These pass rates also don't show the wide disparity between schools on scores between 3 and 5. The schools at the low end do not provide the same quality of education.

Do they not provide the same level of education, or they educating students from differing backgrounds with different starting points? A kid from a two lawyer family in Whitman is (on the whole) going to be exposed to a lot more in terms of education at home than the kid of a first generation parent (who may not speak English as a first language) working a blue collar job.

Getting the latter kid caught up to the point of getting a 3 may take a better education than getting the Whitman kid a 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Don't tell that to the W school parents! They believe their kids are smarter and that they care about education more than the upcounty parents.

I don't think it's that W school parents think Quince Orchard HS is Ganglandia. It's that Quince Orchard HS is in Gaithersburg, and there are people who think that all of Gaithersburg is Ganglandia. (They also probably think that all of Gaithersburg is east of 270...) Germantown is Ganglandia too, of course. And Clarksburg - after all, rapper Shy Glizzy came up in Clarksburg's gritty, mean, urban streets.

Ok, so just say it a different way: Gaithersburg is Ganglandia. QO is in Gaithersburg. Therefore, QO is gang-filled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Don't tell that to the W school parents! They believe their kids are smarter and that they care about education more than the upcounty parents.

I don't think it's that W school parents think Quince Orchard HS is Ganglandia. It's that Quince Orchard HS is in Gaithersburg, and there are people who think that all of Gaithersburg is Ganglandia. (They also probably think that all of Gaithersburg is east of 270...) Germantown is Ganglandia too, of course. And Clarksburg - after all, rapper Shy Glizzy came up in Clarksburg's gritty, mean, urban streets.

Ok, so just say it a different way: Gaithersburg is Ganglandia. QO is in Gaithersburg. Therefore, QO is gang-filled.

QO isn't in Gaithersburg though. It is in North Potomac. It draws from some areas of Gaithersburg though. Look on a map. It is pretty far from Gaithersburg and on the opposite side of the highway as well. It also draws from North Potomac and Darnestown.