African American parents - which schools in MoCo?

[Anonymous]

We are an AA family planning on staying in DC (Shepherd/Deal/Wilson), but if we were moving to the suburbs, I think I'd look in several areas of Silver Spring/Takoma Park, based on the diversity and the presence of other black educated families we know there. I'm thinking about Forest Glen, Woodside Park, etc.

There was a study featured in the NYT a couple of years ago that looked at earnings in adulthood for black and white boys. It found that black boys, even from middle class or UMC backgrounds, earn less in adulthood relative to white boys from of similar SES backgrounds. This was true in all but a few areas in the country, with one such area being in Silver Spring:


"The authors, including the Stanford economist Raj Chetty and two census researchers, Maggie R. Jones and Sonya R. Porter, tried to identify neighborhoods where poor black boys do well, and as well as whites.

“The problem,” Mr. Chetty said, “is that there are essentially no such neighborhoods in America.”

The few neighborhoods that met this standard were in areas that showed less discrimination in surveys and tests of racial bias. They mostly had low poverty rates. And, intriguingly, these pockets — including parts of the Maryland suburbs of Washington, and corners of Queens and the Bronx — were the places where many lower-income black children had fathers at home. Poor black boys did well in such places, whether their own fathers were present or not."

Here's the original paper, which mentions "Downtown Silver Spring, Woodside Park, Woodside Forest" in Table XV.

http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/assets/documents/race_paper.pdf


If even poor black kids do well in these areas of Silver Spring, that would give me some confidence that my child from a middle/upper middle class background would also do well there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are an AA family planning on staying in DC (Shepherd/Deal/Wilson), but if we were moving to the suburbs, I think I'd look in several areas of Silver Spring/Takoma Park, based on the diversity and the presence of other black educated families we know there. I'm thinking about Forest Glen, Woodside Park, etc.

There was a study featured in the NYT a couple of years ago that looked at earnings in adulthood for black and white boys. It found that black boys, even from middle class or UMC backgrounds, earn less in adulthood relative to white boys from of similar SES backgrounds. This was true in all but a few areas in the country, with one such area being in Silver Spring:


"The authors, including the Stanford economist Raj Chetty and two census researchers, Maggie R. Jones and Sonya R. Porter, tried to identify neighborhoods where poor black boys do well, and as well as whites.

“The problem,” Mr. Chetty said, “is that there are essentially no such neighborhoods in America.”

The few neighborhoods that met this standard were in areas that showed less discrimination in surveys and tests of racial bias. They mostly had low poverty rates. And, intriguingly, these pockets — including parts of the Maryland suburbs of Washington, and corners of Queens and the Bronx — were the places where many lower-income black children had fathers at home. Poor black boys did well in such places, whether their own fathers were present or not."

Here's the original paper, which mentions "Downtown Silver Spring, Woodside Park, Woodside Forest" in Table XV.

http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/assets/documents/race_paper.pdf


If even poor black kids do well in these areas of Silver Spring, that would give me some confidence that my child from a middle/upper middle class background would also do well there.

Oh, and here's the link to the NYT article that the quoted text is from.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/19/upshot/race-class-white-and-black-men.html

[Anonymous]

any chance you can send them to St. John's in DC?

[Anonymous]

I agree with the recommendation for Takoma Park/Silver Spring. Full transparency - I am a white person raising Black kids, and I know it isn't the same so want to be open about my own thinking.

For me, it was even more important to be in an integrated neighborhood because it wasn't as though I had an extended family that could act as role models for my kids. I had to move someplace where their faith community, parks, swimming pool, daycare, and schools would reflect their background, and where middle class Black families lived and worked.

Being someplace where it is easy to find a Black pediatrician and dentist, and where the school leadership and teachers are also Black, has been incredibly useful as my kids navigate their world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
This is purely anecdotal, but after having spent years in MCPS, and talking to my friends and acquaintances who all have their kids in different MCPS schools than my kids, I have found an interesting thing: it seems to me that AA children have a better experience as minorities in wealthier schools than as the plurality in more average schools. This is because the area is progressive and wealthy/prominent progressives have a stake in at least appearing to defend minorities - and to be honest, most are perfectly sincere in that belief! You can take advantage of that.

Allow me to explain: Whitman HS in Bethesda, the whitest, wealthiest and most high-scoring high school in MCPS, dealt with racist issues last year, the most egregious of which was the case of a white student who was caught with a photo of herself in blackface with the n-word. There was an uproar, and AA parents at the school immediately worked with the administration to engage the community in race conversations. I went to one presentation, and the AA parent and Principal who spoke were both very impressive in their delivery and choice of plans going forward. I felt their voices were heard. MCPS has a team dedicated to facilitating such discussions, but I forget their name. They were also present at the meeting.

On the other hand, most students at the diverse Sligo MS in Silver Spring feel the need to group themselves according to skin color, and my friend's daughter felt excluded from her white friends' group because she was not white. Race is such a constant factor there that the administration doesn't even get involved. I'm not sure that a blackface photo would generate the amount of angst and public debate that it triggered at Whitman. It just seems to be a fact of life there.

I may be viewing this completely wrong, of course. Perhaps your children would prefer to not stand out as one of the very few AA students. I understand that.

In addition, MCPS schools are not created equal in the sense that they do not control the class atmosphere and whether students are more academically motivated or not. This depends entirely on the neighborhood, and not to put too fine a point on it, on the wealth/education of the parents, since these families will be able to emphasize college readiness and support it with tutors or whatever is needed. Education begins at home, so there is no reason that a child cannot be successful in a lower-income school, however they will have to expend some energy in avoiding students who are not college-bound. Wheaton and some Silver Spring schools have gang issues. There are drugs everywhere, of course. But wealthier high schools will have more students who have the means to succeed despite temptations, than the other high schools, and children always benefit from being part of a strong cohort. I am talking about high schools, because ultimately you are choosing a school pyramid and investing in a neighborhood, even if your children are very young.

I agree 100%. Issues at Whitman are publicized and dealt with, as it happens with most wealthy W schools.

I am Asian and my kids go to a very diverse school. The expectation from AA students and the education they get...is frankly, below standard, and parents are pretty complicit in tjis. I cannot understand how they will succeed in life because there is very little going on in their lives that will help them in succeeding.

[Anonymous]

Richard Montgomery Cluster in Rockville. Particularly Beall ES, college gardens ES and Bayard Rustin ES. Great community. Diverse by multiple definitions.

[Anonymous]

We are an AA family in Silver Spring. I try not to get involved in these issues on DCUM, because the conversations are exhausting and always devolve into a Whitman vs Blair pissing match, and lots of insults from people with no first hand experience.
Having said that, DD is in high school, and we have had great experiences so far. DD has done very well, had access to advanced classes, diverse friends and teachers. In contrast to my experience growing up, she is not the only black student in her AP classes.
People will throw generalizations at you about test scores and graduation rates, but you know your family and your expectations and goals for your children. MC and UMC black students with educated and involved parents do just fine in Silver Spring schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I am Asian and my kids go to a very diverse school. The expectation from AA students and the education they get...is frankly, below standard, and parents are pretty complicit in tjis. I cannot understand how they will succeed in life because there is very little going on in their lives that will help them in succeeding.

So, maybe you don’t want her kids to be friends with the kids of this person.

OP is an AA who is posting on this board due to her deep interest in the education of her children, so this is an inappropriate response.

[Anonymous]

NWHS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am Asian and my kids go to a very diverse school. The expectation from AA students and the education they get...is frankly, below standard, and parents are pretty complicit in tjis. I cannot understand how they will succeed in life because there is very little going on in their lives that will help them in succeeding.

So, maybe you don’t want her kids to be friends with the kids of this person.

OP is an AA who is posting on this board due to her deep interest in the education of her children, so this is an inappropriate response.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am Asian and my kids go to a very diverse school. The expectation from AA students and the education they get...is frankly, below standard, and parents are pretty complicit in tjis. I cannot understand how they will succeed in life because there is very little going on in their lives that will help them in succeeding.

So, maybe you don’t want her kids to be friends with the kids of this person.

OP is an AA who is posting on this board due to her deep interest in the education of her children, so this is an inappropriate response.

Exactly.

+2. PP's post wasn't relevant to the OP at all. It seems she just wanted to bash the black families at her kid's school, smh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am Asian and my kids go to a very diverse school. The expectation from AA students and the education they get...is frankly, below standard, and parents are pretty complicit in tjis. I cannot understand how they will succeed in life because there is very little going on in their lives that will help them in succeeding.

So, maybe you don’t want her kids to be friends with the kids of this person.

OP is an AA who is posting on this board due to her deep interest in the education of her children, so this is an inappropriate response.

Exactly.

+2. PP's post wasn't relevant to the OP at all. It seems she just wanted to bash the black families at her kid's school, smh.

+3 I have some specific warnings to AA families at our local school, but they are very specifically about being a Black American in a school where most of the Black kids identify strongly as African. Across the board, though, the Black families are involved and care deeply about their children's educations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whitman pyramid. And private tutoring.

Wasn't Whitman was the school with the N*word cards or was it the one with the blackface incident?

[Anonymous]

Richard Montgomery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I am Asian and my kids go to a very diverse school. The expectation from AA students and the education they get...is frankly, below standard, and parents are pretty complicit in tjis. I cannot understand how they will succeed in life because there is very little going on in their lives that will help them in succeeding.

So, maybe you don’t want her kids to be friends with the kids of this person.

OP is an AA who is posting on this board due to her deep interest in the education of her children, so this is an inappropriate response.

Exactly.

+2. PP's post wasn't relevant to the OP at all. It seems she just wanted to bash the black families at her kid's school, smh.

+3 I have some specific warnings to AA families at our local school, but they are very specifically about being a Black American in a school where most of the Black kids identify strongly as African. Across the board, though, the Black families are involved and care deeply about their children's educations.

This is also why Whitman is a horrible choice. This line of thinking is prevalent, who cares if a principal holds a conference about black face. How about being around people that never needed that conference.