there is only one Montgomery County School District

[Anonymous]

I just want to put this out there. I see people referring to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase district or the Rockville district, etc. But with the exception of the magnet schools, the curriculum is the same across the county, from K to 12. The teachers are very good across the county. The only difference among schools is who your kid is sitting next to in class. People on this board look at the average scores of the kids in the school and then tend to consider a school "good" if that kid sitting next to your kid is relatively wealthy and usually white or asian. They tend to consider a school "bad" if that kid is relatively less wealthy and usually hispanic or black. But Montgomery County schools are among the best in the nation, whoever is sitting next to your kid. We have great teachers and lots of resources. If you are looking for a place to live, please don't believe the scare tactics. These are all good schools.

[Anonymous]

I agree and would only add that no one pays "higher property taxes" (a comment that typically goes hand-in-hand with, "and therefore we pay for better schools."). We all pay the same tax rate.

The point of a county-based school system (as opposed to a town-based one) is uniformity of resources/opportunities/education county-wide. There are no "higher property taxes" districts. There is ONE school district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just want to put this out there. I see people referring to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase district or the Rockville district, etc. But with the exception of the magnet schools, the curriculum is the same across the county, from K to 12. The teachers are very good across the county. The only difference among schools is who your kid is sitting next to in class. People on this board look at the average scores of the kids in the school and then tend to consider a school "good" if that kid sitting next to your kid is relatively wealthy and usually white or asian. They tend to consider a school "bad" if that kid is relatively less wealthy and usually hispanic or black. But Montgomery County schools are among the best in the nation, whoever is sitting next to your kid. We have great teachers and lots of resources. If you are looking for a place to live, please don't believe the scare tactics. These are all good schools.

The curriculum is not implemented the same way from school to school. This was pointed out in Star's transition report. There is wide variability in the calibur, organization, and implementation of instruction as well as the rigor from school to school. For example, some schools re-group into homogeneous ability leveled classrooms for math (in ES) while other's do not. Some schools fully implement the William & Mary and Jacobs ladder curriculum in Language Arts (which MCPS says is available to all); however some schools do not. These are just two examples, but there are plenty more. The schools are not interchangeable, and for that matter the classrooms within a particular school can vary widely too. You are kidding yourself and drinking the Kool-aid if you think it is all the same.

[Anonymous]

If you live in a more expensive house you pay more..and though there is one curriculm, it is implemented differently at different schools. At one school, coming in to K with no reading skills is the norm. At another one, many children are already reading. The teacher will teach differently as they should. The thing that poster here need to remember is that both can be excallant schools..even if one has lower scores etc.

[Anonymous]

Maybe. The County itself has broken down the County into the Red Zone and Green Zone, to help it address historically underperforming schools. I wonder if Starr will continue with those designations.

[Anonymous]

This is a good point, DS goes to a great school, but it has a big socioeconomic mix. Really mixed racially too, and we couldn't be happier.
There are really poor kids in the class, and I am so impressed with them. They are incredibly hard workers and really sweet.
At least we don't have to worry about a bunch of entitled brats

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you live in a more expensive house you pay more..and though there is one curriculm, it is implemented differently at different schools. At one school, coming in to K with no reading skills is the norm. At another one, many children are already reading. The teacher will teach differently as they should. The thing that poster here need to remember is that both can be excallant schools..even if one has lower scores etc.

You pay more for the house. You pay the same tax rate. You do not pay "higher taxes."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a good point, DS goes to a great school, but it has a big socioeconomic mix. Really mixed racially too, and we couldn't be happier.
There are really poor kids in the class, and I am so impressed with them. They are incredibly hard workers and really sweet.
At least we don't have to worry about a bunch of entitled brats

Ha. Generalizing much?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe. The County itself has broken down the County into the Red Zone and Green Zone, to help it address historically underperforming schools. I wonder if Starr will continue with those designations.

I thought that those designations had not been used for several years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just want to put this out there. I see people referring to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase district or the Rockville district, etc. But with the exception of the magnet schools, the curriculum is the same across the county, from K to 12. The teachers are very good across the county. The only difference among schools is who your kid is sitting next to in class. People on this board look at the average scores of the kids in the school and then tend to consider a school "good" if that kid sitting next to your kid is relatively wealthy and usually white or asian. They tend to consider a school "bad" if that kid is relatively less wealthy and usually hispanic or black. But Montgomery County schools are among the best in the nation, whoever is sitting next to your kid. We have great teachers and lots of resources. If you are looking for a place to live, please don't believe the scare tactics. These are all good schools.

We like that our kids are in a "focus" school because the class sizes are so small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe. The County itself has broken down the County into the Red Zone and Green Zone, to help it address historically underperforming schools. I wonder if Starr will continue with those designations.

Please provide a link to this breakdown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just want to put this out there. I see people referring to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase district or the Rockville district, etc. But with the exception of the magnet schools, the curriculum is the same across the county, from K to 12. The teachers are very good across the county. The only difference among schools is who your kid is sitting next to in class. People on this board look at the average scores of the kids in the school and then tend to consider a school "good" if that kid sitting next to your kid is relatively wealthy and usually white or asian. They tend to consider a school "bad" if that kid is relatively less wealthy and usually hispanic or black. But Montgomery County schools are among the best in the nation, whoever is sitting next to your kid. We have great teachers and lots of resources. If you are looking for a place to live, please don't believe the scare tactics. These are all good schools.

You are stupid, most people go to http://www.greatschools.net and look at the SOL scores and FARMS. If by chance they are lower due to race then so be it. They will definitely be lower with FARMS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you live in a more expensive house you pay more..and though there is one curriculm, it is implemented differently at different schools. At one school, coming in to K with no reading skills is the norm. At another one, many children are already reading. The teacher will teach differently as they should. The thing that poster here need to remember is that both can be excallant schools..even if one has lower scores etc.

You pay more for the house. You pay the same tax rate. You do not pay "higher taxes."

You pay the same tax rate but HIGHER for your house. I would love a flat tax on real estate.

[Anonymous]

They are referring to the clusters. Each high school has a cluster and the big topic right now in the B-CC cluster has to do with a new middle school. But take a look at the % of students that go to college from the down county high schools vs the other areas of the county

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree and would only add that no one pays "higher property taxes" (a comment that typically goes hand-in-hand with, "and therefore we pay for better schools."). We all pay the same tax rate.

The point of a county-based school system (as opposed to a town-based one) is uniformity of resources/opportunities/education county-wide. There are no "higher property taxes" districts. There is ONE school district.

I agree, and to this point, people often say that they pay more for their house so they should get better schools. Well, if the housing downturn has taught anything it's that the market is not always "right." It's possible you paid more for your house and your child's school is not in fact "better" than a nearby one where houses cost less. Or, it's possible you paid more for your house because people pay a premium to send their children to schools with more white children because they are more comfortable with that. There are no guarantees your housing choice was correct, or that the price of your house will not go down in the future.