MCPS versus Northern Virginia

[Anonymous]

For a highly advanced kid, which school system is better? We are trying to make a decision where to buy.

[Anonymous]

advanced in what? mathematics, science, languages?

Moco has many magnet programs that don't require you to be in that school district; you do need to apply.

I knew a woman who lived in Moco whose high school aged daughter applied to Duke Ellington in DC.

[Anonymous]

IF your child is really THAT advanced, then one local school is tops. THomas Jefferson in Virginia. Children come from all the surrounding jurisdictions (Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church City, Loudoun, PW County, etc.). It is THE best school in the area of the super gifted. You can't go to TJ unless you live in Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Go to Northern Virginia. Montgomery County Public Schools is going down the tubes, no question. Also, down the pike for college, Virginia has a lot more great state schools than Maryland.

[Anonymous]

Easy one: Live in Virginia.

Maryland and MoCo are catering to low-income immigrants and ESL classes. G&T children are increasingly getting shafted.

Not to mention MD and MoCo's unsustainable taxes and social programs/experiments.

[Anonymous]

No brainer - Virginia. MoCo is sliding downhill with its now curriculum that has brought ultra low standards. Bored kids, little learning, high taxes, speed cameras galore, and yeah, those bizzaro social programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No brainer - Virginia. MoCo is sliding downhill with its now curriculum that has brought ultra low standards. Bored kids, little learning, high taxes, speed cameras galore, and yeah, those bizzaro social programs.

Well would you invite the people that voted for those things down to va?

[Anonymous]

Obviously the Va. trolls have found this thread.

One thing I would say is that MoCo is one big school system, so I think there is a lot less variation from school to school, particularly for ES, than in NoVa (which can be both good and bad).

[Anonymous]

Maybe you should disregard the school district, buy a less expensive house, and spend your money on an elite private school if you child is really that advanced.

I have come to think that choosing a home based on the reputation of a school district too often leads to living somewhere you don't want to live so a child can go to a school that's not right for them anyway.

[Anonymous]

I have not heard that there is the same aversion to adequately supporting advanced (but not truly gifted) learners in NoVa that there seems to be now in MoCo - at least in areas of MoCo where those above grade level kids don't comprise most of the class (i.e. red zone).

[Anonymous]

Have taught in both systems- they both think they are superior, they both think they're fabulous. Neither seems to have the high standards of NYS and CA. School is what your child makes of it.

[Anonymous]

If your kid is in the 99th pctile, the MoCo magnets are terrific (our kids are in them). If your kids are in the 95th pctile, they will probably be at the very top of their class and insufficiently challenged, to a greater or lesser degree depending on which MoCo school. I've heard Virginia gifted programs take a larger share of students.

[Anonymous]

The high standards of CA? No one I know in CA will send their kids to public schools.

[Anonymous]

Yes VA takes a larger share..but that just means it is geared towards "smart" (top 18%) rather than gifted (top 2%). If you can get a spot in MD it is a stronger program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you should disregard the school district, buy a less expensive house, and spend your money on an elite private school if you child is really that advanced.

I have come to think that choosing a home based on the reputation of a school district too often leads to living somewhere you don't want to live so a child can go to a school that's not right for them anyway.

Elite private schools do not, by and large, serve the needs of the highly gifted very well.