Best performing elementary schools in MoCo?
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Anonymous
| How do you find what the best performing elementary schools are in MoCo? |
Anonymous
Anonymous
That is just a promotion tool for Realtors. I won't make decisions based on that sit. Look up schools and their performance by going to the system websites--MCPS, FCPS, HCPS, etc. Dig carefully and look below the self-promotion. |
Anonymous
I agree. MCPS posts a lot of data on line ("schools at a glance"). The difficulty is that high test scores are often a result of high SES, so test scores don't necessarily tell you much about how your kid will do at any given school, or which school is doing a good job teaching. |
Anonymous
| Performance doesn't mean everything. My child attends the top high school in the county according US News and World Report and there is a serious drug problem there. Kids openly have drugs at school and are smoking it at lunch at the picnic tables outside the cafeteria and in the nearby woods. Kids come to school smelling like alcohol or high as a kite. All of this is at school during school hours. What do you think happens at social gatherings at kids houses after school hours? |
Anonymous
| Moot point. Kids do drugs in both wealthy and poor schools. |
Anonymous
I attended one of the not so wealthy high schools in Montgomery County and my children attend one of the wealthiest. Maybe it was a different time and a different place (I was part of the Just Say No generation) but I never saw drugs at my school. Never knew anyone who did drugs outside of school. Frankly, kids just didn't have the disposable income to have access to it. At the wealthy schools, kids have the money to get all sorts of drugs. Often parents either think that is just a part of growing up and turn a blind eye or the parents are so self absorbed in their own lives, they are not paying attention to what is going on with their kids. The ultra rich kids in my children's school also have a sense of entitlement. If they get busted, they know that their family attorney will get them off. |
Anonymous
| BTW - you may be thinking that high school is way off in the future for your kids since your question was about elementary school. My kids were exposed to peers who smoke, drink alcohol, and do drugs as early as 6th grade. Never heard about a problem in elementary school but the middle schools that feed into the wealthy high school is when some of the kids start. |
Anonymous
| I'm sorry, but I attended a wealthy public high school of 2000 children any I can count on my hand how many did drugs. No way was this going on repeatedly at homes or at the school. Alcohol was relatively big once a week at perhaps a couple of homes, but even that was pretty subdued. This is all about parent's expectations. |
Anonymous
| OK. PP. Doesn't happen. I can't see students rolling joints and smoking them from the freaking street. My children are out of their freaking minds when they come home and tell us a child smelled like alcohol in 1st period and another told them where the druggies hang out at school. It's all a figment of my family's imagination. |
Anonymous
| Not to mention the atmosphere in the "best" schools can be oppressive, competitive, not nurturing, etc. How are top scores achieved? Pressure? Do they mean anything? No. "Best" is not always best. |
Anonymous
What school is this, where kids smoke joints in the street without any fear of consequences? Something about this post doesn't seem right. As my downcounty MCPS high school student says, "I'm not gonna lie, there are some kids who do drugs, mostly pot." And I'm sure that's true at every public and private high school in the metro area. But this PP makes it sound like her kid's school is a drug den. So I guess I have 2 questions: what high school is this, and why do you send your kids there if it's really so horrible? |
Anonymous
Do you mean, how are top SAT scores achieved? Not by "pressure," because studying won't help more than 200 points or so. By native smarts, natch. |
Anonymous
The top scores on standardized tests such as the SAT's and ACT's are achieved because many parents at these school pay for private tutoring and preparatory services prior to the students taking these types of tests. Is it any wonder the "top" schools in the county other than the magnet schools are in wealthy areas? Wealthier parents have the disposable income to get their kids the extra help they need to shine. It's not that the teachers are doing a better job at the top schools than the other schools in the county. |
Anonymous
PP here - I send my kids to my local public schools because I can't afford to send them to private school. I moved to the neighborhood thinking the schools were great. Turns out, the schools aren't what they get the press to be. The high school was ranked #1 in the state of Maryland by US News and World Report last year. A drug house was busted by Montgomery County Police right across the street from the school last spring. Someone in the neighborhood was keeping the drug dealer busy enough to be located there. Kids with the issues at school feel entitled. The wealthiest kids are the ones with the biggest problems. They feel like their parents will always bail them out. Many parents are attorneys or know the best in the area. These kids don't live up to the same yardstick as kids across the county. Worse case scenario, they get busted. They might get expelled but their parents will put them in private school. They will never face a judge or do jail time. |