Where do you consider MCPS high schools on a scale of good-bad

[Anonymous]

NOTHING MAGICAL is happening at the W Schools. We have the same problems as the rest of the county: the curriculum is a joke, there are no textbooks and there is rampant grade inflation. Does anyone understand what the kids are even learning in high school and how they could possibly be studying in a meaningful way with random handouts and little substantive feedback from teachers?
Children in the W clusters (and I presume other clusters?) have tutors to fill in the gaps. There is a reason why individual tutors, Kumon and Mathnasium are making money hand over fist. Families are trying to find a way to make up for MCPS's poor instruction.
And, of course, there are fantastic MCPS teachers. There is little they can do in the face of central office's policies and all of the required standardized testing. Throw in overcrowded classrooms, Chromebooks and cell phones and it is no wonder very little learning is going on. Mind you there is a lot of academic stress, but that's not the same as learning.

[Anonymous]

It’s funny bc svhs and NW are basically within a mile of each other on 118 (ish) yet 3 greatschool SES levels apart.

SO FAR YET SO CLOSE!

[Anonymous]

Is Watkins mill considered a W school, too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tier 1

Poolesville HS.

Demographics, 3 magnet programs, strong non-magnet, lack of disciplinary issues, accelerated/magnet curriculum for most, not a pressure cooker, chilled parents, teachers and students.

Tier 2

Everything else

I love that PHS flies under the radar and does so well. Much like BCC and Walter Johnson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny bc svhs and NW are basically within a mile of each other on 118 (ish) yet 3 greatschool SES levels apart.

SO FAR YET SO CLOSE!

Northwest gets the kids from Darnestown and Boyds, the nicer part of Germantown. SVHS pulls from the rough neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny bc svhs and NW are basically within a mile of each other on 118 (ish) yet 3 greatschool SES levels apart.

SO FAR YET SO CLOSE!

Northwest gets the kids from Darnestown and Boyds, the nicer part of Germantown. SVHS pulls from the rough neighborhoods.

I live in the "nicer" part of Germantown and if we stay where we are (we are renting), our kids will attend Northwest. From what I can tell, it is a good school. We would like to stay in the area and specifically in our current neighborhood (we are buying next year), but we are also considering neighborhoods zoned for Clarksburg and Quince Orchard.

I find it funny that so many people on this site denigrate Northwest as if it is ganglandia. Yet I see so many accolades for QO. When you look at the demographics of the school, the primary difference is that QO has a higher percentage of white students. The FARMS percentage for these schools are not far apart:

Quince Orchard: 21.3%
Northwest: 22.5%

Also, Northwest had a higher average for SAT scores for the 2017-2018 school year, 1145 to QO's 1134.

I think Seneca Valley has the potential to be a great school. Yes, it currently pulls from areas in Germantown that are densely populated (lots of apartments), but the upcoming boundary study will hopefully create 3 wonderful schools between Clarksburg and Germantown.

Here are the "At A Glance" Reports for both schools if you want to look for yourself:
Northwest: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04246.pdf
Quince Orchard: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04125.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny bc svhs and NW are basically within a mile of each other on 118 (ish) yet 3 greatschool SES levels apart.

SO FAR YET SO CLOSE!

Northwest gets the kids from Darnestown and Boyds, the nicer part of Germantown. SVHS pulls from the rough neighborhoods.

I.e., more of the poor kids from Germantown currently go to Seneca Valley HS than to Northwest HS (Seneca Valley HS 37% FARMs, Northwest HS 23% FARMs). That's all.

I hope that the Clarksburg-Seneca Valley-Northwest rezoning will help, and that the voices of the minority of Clarksburg and Northwest parents who think that poor kids should go to NOT-their-kid's-high-school will not be listened to.

(Also, there is no such thing as "Boyds, the nicer part of Germantown." The part of Germantown that has a Boyds zip code is: Germantown.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is Watkins mill considered a W school, too?

I

It should be. And Wheaton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well this is fun!

Tier 1
Churchill
Whitman
BCC
WJ

Tier 2
Wootton
Poolesville
QO
Sherwood

Tier 3
Damascus
RM
Blair
Clarksburg

Tier 4
Northwest
Magruder
Rockville
Blake

Tier 5
All other schools.

I would send my kids to any school in tiers 1-3. We need more posts like this!!!

I'm a Sherwood parent; I don't think the school is at all good. If it's one of the better schools in MCPS, then MCPS is in trouble.

What specifically about Sherwood do you think is not good?

Teachers who don't know the material, no feedback on homework/exams, massive emphasis on sports, poor guidance on course availability and sequence. This is for a kid in all honors and APs. Some of the teachers are good, but overall not impressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny bc svhs and NW are basically within a mile of each other on 118 (ish) yet 3 greatschool SES levels apart.

SO FAR YET SO CLOSE!

Northwest gets the kids from Darnestown and Boyds, the nicer part of Germantown. SVHS pulls from the rough neighborhoods.

I.e., more of the poor kids from Germantown currently go to Seneca Valley HS than to Northwest HS (Seneca Valley HS 37% FARMs, Northwest HS 23% FARMs). That's all.

I hope that the Clarksburg-Seneca Valley-Northwest rezoning will help, and that the voices of the minority of Clarksburg and Northwest parents who think that poor kids should go to NOT-their-kid's-high-school will not be listened to.

(Also, there is no such thing as "Boyds, the nicer part of Germantown." The part of Germantown that has a Boyds zip code is: Germantown.)

I don't know how you deduced that PP was implying that Boyds is NOT part of Germantown. Also as a minority parent at one of these schools, I have no issue with poor kids coming to our school. We already have them here. What I do have an issue with is driving kids on 270 or miles away across town to balance FARMS, when there's a school down the street that is closer. I know MCPS doesn't care about that.

[Anonymous]

Northwood! Number one! Northwood! Number one!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny bc svhs and NW are basically within a mile of each other on 118 (ish) yet 3 greatschool SES levels apart.

SO FAR YET SO CLOSE!

Northwest gets the kids from Darnestown and Boyds, the nicer part of Germantown. SVHS pulls from the rough neighborhoods.

I.e., more of the poor kids from Germantown currently go to Seneca Valley HS than to Northwest HS (Seneca Valley HS 37% FARMs, Northwest HS 23% FARMs). That's all.

I hope that the Clarksburg-Seneca Valley-Northwest rezoning will help, and that the voices of the minority of Clarksburg and Northwest parents who think that poor kids should go to NOT-their-kid's-high-school will not be listened to.

(Also, there is no such thing as "Boyds, the nicer part of Germantown." The part of Germantown that has a Boyds zip code is: Germantown.)

I don't know how you deduced that PP was implying that Boyds is NOT part of Germantown. Also as a minority parent at one of these schools, I have no issue with poor kids coming to our school. We already have them here. What I do have an issue with is driving kids on 270 or miles away across town to balance FARMS, when there's a school down the street that is closer. I know MCPS doesn't care about that.

MCPS DOES care about geography...it is one of the factors they use when determining school boundaries, along with demographics, facility utilization and school stability over time.
Here is their policy: http://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/FAA.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s funny bc svhs and NW are basically within a mile of each other on 118 (ish) yet 3 greatschool SES levels apart.

SO FAR YET SO CLOSE!

Northwest gets the kids from Darnestown and Boyds, the nicer part of Germantown. SVHS pulls from the rough neighborhoods.

I.e., more of the poor kids from Germantown currently go to Seneca Valley HS than to Northwest HS (Seneca Valley HS 37% FARMs, Northwest HS 23% FARMs). That's all.

I hope that the Clarksburg-Seneca Valley-Northwest rezoning will help, and that the voices of the minority of Clarksburg and Northwest parents who think that poor kids should go to NOT-their-kid's-high-school will not be listened to.

(Also, there is no such thing as "Boyds, the nicer part of Germantown." The part of Germantown that has a Boyds zip code is: Germantown.)

I don't know how you deduced that PP was implying that Boyds is NOT part of Germantown. Also as a minority parent at one of these schools, I have no issue with poor kids coming to our school. We already have them here. What I do have an issue with is driving kids on 270 or miles away across town to balance FARMS, when there's a school down the street that is closer. I know MCPS doesn't care about that.

PP was implying that Boyds IS part of Germantown. It's not. Northwest HS is in Germantown, and the neighborhoods around Northwest HS are also in Germantown.

Geographic proximity is one of the factors in boundary decisions.

Seneca Valley HS and Northwest HS are less than 2 miles apart - in fact, they're in each other's walk zones - so it's really not an issue of driving kids "miles away across town".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tier 1

Poolesville HS.

Demographics, 3 magnet programs, strong non-magnet, lack of disciplinary issues, accelerated/magnet curriculum for most, not a pressure cooker, chilled parents, teachers and students.

Tier 2

Everything else

I love that PHS flies under the radar and does so well. Much like BCC and Walter Johnson.

This chart clearly indicates that people are confusing quality with its affluence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NOTHING MAGICAL is happening at the W Schools. We have the same problems as the rest of the county: the curriculum is a joke, there are no textbooks and there is rampant grade inflation. Does anyone understand what the kids are even learning in high school and how they could possibly be studying in a meaningful way with random handouts and little substantive feedback from teachers?
Children in the W clusters (and I presume other clusters?) have tutors to fill in the gaps. There is a reason why individual tutors, Kumon and Mathnasium are making money hand over fist. Families are trying to find a way to make up for MCPS's poor instruction.
And, of course, there are fantastic MCPS teachers. There is little they can do in the face of central office's policies and all of the required standardized testing. Throw in overcrowded classrooms, Chromebooks and cell phones and it is no wonder very little learning is going on. Mind you there is a lot of academic stress, but that's not the same as learning.

W schools are just segregated. Their test averages aren't lowered by the poverty that's present elsewhere. There's nothing special about this. It doesn't mean that a high-performed wouldn't find similar opportunities or a strong cohort at any other MCPS school. Further, they might develop a stronger empathy and compassion for others which isn't happening at places like Churchill where bullying and racism are rampant.