What are W schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can back about 25 years for Montgomery County history. The "W school" name came about when the Washingtonian and other magazines used to publish the top schools. This followed the US News and World report rankings. This is before you had zillow and other sites easily providing rankings. The pattern of the top schools having a W in their names created the nick name W school. The "W schools" referred to Churchill. Whitman, WJ and Wootton. WJ and Wootton were originally "provisional members" of the club due to their high test scores. I suspect that if either's scores ever dropped they would have been booted out quickly. Churchill and Whitman had prestige beyond just their ratings, college placements, notable alumni, and desirable areas. Back then MCPS was 60+% white as opposed to 30% white so there were plenty of other white majority white schools in MCPS that just didn't score as well on the various tests.

The 4 W schools have consistently stayed in the top even as MCPS has fallen over all in rankings. Whitman fell out one year because students boycotted PARCC and another year Whitman didn't bother to submit scores. Whitman continued to reign as the most desirable school in the system based on prestige etc. In recent years , Poolesville has consistently been ranked the #1 school in MD and dominates all the charts. Poolesville must lack a PR department though because you never hear anything about its top performance.

In actual W school areas you don't hear anyone using this name or giving a hoot. People moving in now just look at the scores which stand on their own. You only hear the term W school from people who do not live in the W school areas.

BCC was ranked #1 in the US by TIME or US News back in the early 70s and was held in much higher regard than the W's.

Really? I lived in the BCC area in the 70s and had I not gone to private school my parents would have used my grandparents address in order for me to attend Whitman because BCC wasn't seen to be a good option.

In 1960, the school was rated "Best School in America" by Time magazine.
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethesda-Chevy_Chase_High_School

It still is a great school, with many prominent alums who return to the school. It draws from downtown, walkable Bethesda,Chevy Chase and parts of Silver Spring.

Definitely! The teachers and curriculum are standard across schools. There are minor demographic differences that are reflected in bulk averages but any school of 2K kids has a sufficient range of peer cohorts where any kid can find their niche and do well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What excatly are W schools? I moved here from Delaware 2 years ago and just love this school system. My daughter is in 8th grade and picked Einstein for dance and IB! However, I'm hearing so much about W schools but don't know excatly what they are I even try to search it up. Are they magnets? Or private schools?

Schools that parents believe to be better than the other schools in the county. You and your daughter are making a great choice choosing Einstein. One of the few schools that offers a rigorous dance program. Something none of the W's have

My kids don't attend a W, but I think that last statement is just as obnoxious & hypocritical in comparing schools.

Hype up Einstein all you want, the point is don't knock other schools in the process.

[Anonymous]

Oh & it's obvious that almost the entirety of page 19 is one cheerleader parent for Einstein sock-puppeting themselves.

Doesn't exactly lend credibility when you post over & over again, a few minutes after each post saying the same exact thing & pretending to be other people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What excatly are W schools? I moved here from Delaware 2 years ago and just love this school system. My daughter is in 8th grade and picked Einstein for dance and IB! However, I'm hearing so much about W schools but don't know excatly what they are I even try to search it up. Are they magnets? Or private schools?

Schools that parents believe to be better than the other schools in the county. You and your daughter are making a great choice choosing Einstein. One of the few schools that offers a rigorous dance program. Something none of the W's have

My kids don't attend a W, but I think that last statement is just as obnoxious & hypocritical in comparing schools.

Hype up Einstein all you want, the point is don't knock other schools in the process.

Are you kidding? The W's do not have arts on par with Einstein.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are W schools? I moved here from Delaware 2 years ago and just love this school system. My daughter is in 8th grade and picked Einstein for dance and IB! However, I'm hearing so much about W schools but don't know excatly what they are I even try to search it up. Are they magnets? Or private schools?

The W stands for White and Wealth.

in a nutshell yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are W schools? I moved here from Delaware 2 years ago and just love this school system. My daughter is in 8th grade and picked Einstein for dance and IB! However, I'm hearing so much about W schools but don't know excatly what they are I even try to search it up. Are they magnets? Or private schools?

The W stands for White and Wealth.

in a nutshell yes

Yellow and not Mellow

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh & it's obvious that almost the entirety of page 19 is one cheerleader parent for Einstein sock-puppeting themselves.

Doesn't exactly lend credibility when you post over & over again, a few minutes after each post saying the same exact thing & pretending to be other people.

What does cheerleading have to do with Einstein dance program? The OP stated her daughter is going to Einstein for dance. That poster was stating a fact, Einstein does have a rigorous dance program that none of the W's have. I don't get it, W parents can say Einstein is full of "poverty and gangs" and a Einstein booster can't defend the school? The W's don't have everything, why does that upset you?

[Anonymous]

Err, we live in the Einstein cluster and our 3 children graduated from there these past 8 years. Gangs? are you effing nuts? This (Kensington) is a wonderful middle class neighborhood. We moved here from Frederick due to easy DC commute and schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Err, we live in the Einstein cluster and our 3 children graduated from there these past 8 years. Gangs? are you effing nuts? This (Kensington) is a wonderful middle class neighborhood. We moved here from Frederick due to easy DC commute and schools.

What about the 2/3 of the kids at Einstein who aren’t lovely middle class?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Err, we live in the Einstein cluster and our 3 children graduated from there these past 8 years. Gangs? are you effing nuts? This (Kensington) is a wonderful middle class neighborhood. We moved here from Frederick due to easy DC commute and schools.

What about the 2/3 of the kids at Einstein who aren’t lovely middle class?

So you think people whose families have ever qualified for FARMS = gang members?

[Anonymous]

Do you realize that labeling the Ws as you do is just as bad as those labeling the hinterlands and ganglandia? It's offensive. Not everyone at a W school is wealthy and white. When you make those sweeping generalizations, you only make yourself look bad.

[Anonymous]

The grass is always greener...."somewhere else"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you realize that labeling the Ws as you do is just as bad as those labeling the hinterlands and ganglandia? It's offensive. Not everyone at a W school is wealthy and white. When you make those sweeping generalizations, you only make yourself look bad.

No. At Whitman, e.g.: 66.8% are White. 15.2% are Asian. 8.7% Hispanic, <5% Black.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04427.pdf

MCPS, on the other hand, is 29.3% White, 30.1% Hispanic, 21.3% Black, 14.3% Asian (2017 Annual Report data).

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/annualreport/2017/

But you keep telling yourself that Whitman is "diverse."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh & it's obvious that almost the entirety of page 19 is one cheerleader parent for Einstein sock-puppeting themselves.

Doesn't exactly lend credibility when you post over & over again, a few minutes after each post saying the same exact thing & pretending to be other people.

What does cheerleading have to do with Einstein dance program? The OP stated her daughter is going to Einstein for dance. That poster was stating a fact, Einstein does have a rigorous dance program that none of the W's have. I don't get it, W parents can say Einstein is full of "poverty and gangs" and a Einstein booster can't defend the school? The W's don't have everything, why does that upset you?

Einstein may have the best arts program in the county, but so what? If it's not a W, it's terrible. I especially hate Blair because my kid was rejected from SMCS. I really hate them the most, but Einstein too because it's near Blair and has great arts.

[Anonymous]

So now the schools are responsible for economic and housing policies throughout the county? You people are insane.