Janey in DC vs. Rosemary Hills in MD

[Anonymous]

We are thinking about buying a house in Montgomery Co for the elementary schools. We currently live in DC in the Janey district but are looking at a house in MD that would be in the Rosemary Hills school district. Do you think we are really moving into a better school system??? We would like to send out kids to private school for middle and upper so, while I know BCC is awesome, I am only concerned about elementary schools right now. Any thoughts? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

We're still a year away from RH but I hear lots of positive things from my neighbors and feedback here as well as on the listserv has always been very positive. The PTA is extremely active from what I can tell. The parents who led the tour we took awhile back (when we deciding on whether to go private for preK) were all very enthusiastic, and though I was concerned about the size of the school, the tour basically alleviated those concerns - it seemed like a bright, happy neighborhood school with lots of personalized attention.

Can't speak to Janney obviously, but one of the things that makes us happy to be in Mont Co now is that we don't have to worry about what comes next... judging from this board, the private school thing is pretty nutty. I hope we'll eventually upgrade house-wise, but we don't feel any pressure to move by some educational milestone because the schools here are all so good. If your future plans include private schools irrespective of your location, I would make my decision based on house, neighborhood, commute and other factors, rather than schools.

[Anonymous]

Also, MD test scores are universally better than DC's...even with recent improvements on DC's part, they don't nearly compare. I think MoCo is a superior school system, no matter the school.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I moved to DC when I was in middle school (in 1984) but back then RH wasn't that great. It is good ot hear that parents like it now. I have always heard Janey is good but I hear now it is really overcrowded. I like the idea of MD b.c, while I hope to send my kids to private school when they are older, you never know what your financial situation is or if your kids will get into a private school. It is nice to have BCC as a backup.

[Anonymous]

Also, MD test scores are universally better than DC's...even with recent improvements on DC's part, they don't nearly compare.

Not true. There are a few DC elementary schools in which the students who do not receive subsidized lunch score as "high" as the typical lower MoCo elementary school students do. (at Mann, that's something like 97 percent of students; at Janney, that's a somewhat smaller percentage). But these elementary students are not all taking the same test, are they?

Obviously, looking system-wide, MoCo students do better than DCPS students do on tests. And it's not all about tests. But the OP was asking about two specific schools and the quote above isn't accurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, MD test scores are universally better than DC's...even with recent improvements on DC's part, they don't nearly compare. I think MoCo is a superior school system, no matter the school.

You obviously have no clue wht you have talking about.
"Universally better test scores"???

[Anonymous]

typo there. I meant "ARE" Talking about.

[Anonymous]

rosemary hills only goes thru 2nd grade. what elem school will have have after that?

[Anonymous]

Bethesda Elementary would be after RH - does anyone know anything about BE? I hear good things.

[Anonymous]

Overall MoCo's math scores and reading scores are in the 80s (both just published in the Post) and DC's while up 10 or so points are still way below that in both subjects. I am just pointing out the difference overall in the two school systems. By "universally" I meant when one compares the two systems as a whole. Obviously there are differences when you compare school by school.

[Anonymous]

BE is a good school, but note that it is a K-5 school. My understanding is that about 5-10 kids each year enter BE in third grade having attended Rosemary Hills.

In theory, if you are looking at the E. Bethesda neighborhood, you may be able to start at BE in K (on a space available basis), but I would not count on it. On the other hand, my understanding is that it is easier to switch after RH to Chevy Chase elem. or N. Chevy Chase elem. instead of BE and a number of E. Bethesda families do that because they are both 3-6 schools (one less year of middle school) and because those schools take most of RH kids.

phew...

[Anonymous]

FWIW, North CC elementary gets great reviews everywhere. I'd imagine the same is true for both CC and Bethesda elementaries. Check out the Montgomery County public schools website to find out which neighborhoods are zoned for which schools - they have lots of maps as well as a feature that will list all the schools (k-12) for any given address.

[Anonymous]

Folks, these are all informative posts but the OP is looking at exactly two schools: Janney in DC, where she live now and Rosemary Hills in Md.

Janney's numbers that were just published = 87% proficient/advanced for reading and 89% for math.

[Anonymous]

The reason that PPs are bringing up other schools is that it is not a straightforward comparison - RH only goes K through 2, Janney is PK through grade 6. The tests differ between grades, and obviously MD uses different testing programs than DC does. SO it is not a question of putting test scores side by side, and the quality of the other schools is relevant. All the schools in question have websites and listservs, so it's possible to get a lot of information on each one individually. The hard part is determining which is "better" - and unless you find someone who's switched from one school to the other, it's probably going to be hard to get a direct comparison.

[Anonymous]

PP - you nailed it!