Yikes..
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Anonymous
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You may not care where your kid goes to college (or if they go at all), but I do. it's clear that academics seem to no longer be a concern for the Montgomery County parents and MCPS staff commenting on this board?
If that's the case, I question why I'm paying such high taxes? Seems that the school system was the biggest draw to reside here? Does anyone know if anyone on the County Council is in support of school vouchers? Or Charter schools such as those in DC? Where does that stand? |
Anonymous
More back-door private recruiting. Y'all must be desperate to fill seats! |
Anonymous
Huh? Watkins Mill is over 80% FARMS and still had 48% college ready. Kennedy is 80% FARMS as well, but had 23% college ready. That's a huge difference and doesn't line up with your comment. Why is Seneca Valley 70% FARMS and only 38% college ready and Blair is 63% FARMS but 63% college ready? Walter Johnson up the street from Blair has 19.9% FARMS and 69% college ready - so about the same as Blair. If all kids are getting the same education, why is that? What accounts for the difference? There are several other examples that don't line up, if you really want them all listed. Your comments are a nice storyline, but it's fiction if you say "the same kid will get the same education at any of these schools". Go fish. |
Anonymous
Where did you get those numbers from? Watkins Mill: 68% FARMs/78% ever-FARMs Kennedy: 69% FARMs/80% ever-FARMs Seneca Valley: 49% FARMs/62% ever-FARMs Blair: 42% FARMs/51% ever-FARMs Walter Johnson: 13% FARMs/19% ever-FARMs Also, "Walter Johnson up the street from Blair" lol |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
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[quote=Anonymous]You may not care where your kid goes to college (or if they go at all), but I do. it's clear that academics seem to no longer be a concern for the Montgomery County parents and MCPS staff commenting on this board?
If that's the case, I question why I'm paying such high taxes? Seems that the school system was the biggest draw to reside here? Does anyone know if anyone on the County Council is in support of school vouchers? Or Charter schools such as those in DC? Where does that stand?[/quote] No. The politics in Montgomery County do not support school vouchers or charters. This is a staunchly Democrat-run county and vouchers/school choice is an idea mostly supported by Republicans. Montgomery County voters strongly despise Republicans candidates, so school choice will never be an option. |
Anonymous
| Churchill has had a revolving door of administrators that has taken it from #1 to #5. It’s definitely not the school that it used to be. |
Anonymous
Some misinformation being posted here... Top colleges have admissions committees composed of something like 40 regional admissions officers who are responsible for understanding their region's socioeconomic context and individual school context. If your kid goes to Phillips Andover or Exeter you might get a white-glove process but the reality is one person likely supervises all of MD, DC (including St. Albans, Sidwell, GDS, etc.), and VA. This person's recommendation is what the full committee votes on and they tend to be highly deferential to regional officers' recommendations. Guess which schools the officer is going to be most familiar with? The expensive DC private schools which have a regular pipeline of admitted students every year. These schools' counselors have built 10-year relationships with Ivy adcoms and they put real care into each student's college recommendation. At RM IB you've got 10 counselors writing 400 recommendations every year for kids they've never met before. Whitman is consistently ranked highly because their counselors understand the process and there are a lot of Ivy alums who live in Bethesda whose kids understand the process. |
Anonymous
PP here. Wow, you are passionate about wanting to somehow sound superior, but you didn't really grasp what I was saying and went off the deep end to Lord-knows-where. I never said anything about colleges "loving" or "favoring" MCPS, just that it was a known entity. I also suggested checking your school for previous admissions to see if the AO is familiar with the school. Then, you have to consider how many competitive candidates from that school will be applying and if your kid will have the means to stand out (eg are there a lot of legacies or kids with same ECs that have same or higher merits or does your kid fit same stats/ECs profile as several others?). That's where being at a top HS can be a disadvantage. Yes, more students typically get in, but far more apply. I based my statements on Naviance data, Jeff Selingo, CDSs for several Ivies/top LACs, BBs, and anecdotes from CC and college forum here. Did all this last year to help kid figure out how to approach reach/target apps. But, nothing you said really addresses anything I said. Maybe you should craft your own statement or pick a fight with someone your rant actually addresses. Either way, hope you enjoyed pouring over the years of BBs! |
Anonymous
Full endorse all the college app tips here. It all comes down to the AO and your kid's ability to stand out relative to the local and national pool that year. FWIW, I think the concept of "rigor" being debated here pertains to within a school rather than between schools. AOs care that your kid has maxed out APs etc. relative to their peers and parental socioeconomic status not whether your kid is at a higher ranked school according to US News. Your kid is more likely to attend a school that an AO is familiar with if they're at a "rigorous" school with a history of sending kids to a top school but that's about the only benefit. Very few public schools at MoCo's level of counselor-to-student ratio have the resources to actually write a decent counselor recommendation so standing out within a school is even more important. |
Anonymous
PP here. Totally agree with this. |
Anonymous
I never understood why people make a big deal about these ratings. The education and curriculum are the same regardless of which MCPS HS your child attends. If my kid goes to Seneca and she's doing brilliantly there, why would I care about anything else? Why should I care about the other kids who attend the same school but don't test well? Chances are that the same students (for a number of reasons beyond MCPS) are going to test terribly at Churchill too. Seriously, why would I give AF and why should you? Is your kid not able to do well unless a certain percentage of students test well? |
Anonymous
 Oh. Well. Happy you're happy!
For some of us who do care about academics and ratings, these charts show the disturbing trend. Kids in these school districts aren't seeking out academics as a means to improve their income. https://www.business2community.com/us-news/the-20-us-cities-with-the-worst-educational-progress-charts-01250158 The reality is that the attitudes that this person, most likely an MCPS employee based upon what was written, are rubbing off on the kids. That's a trend that will further increase (not offset) the social inequity that MCPS claims to be so passionate about? |
Anonymous
You're right - Northwood is closer to Blair. It's 47.6% FARMS and 48% college-ready compared to Blair's 69%, but Northwood also has a 16% dropout rate compared to Blair's 9%. The information is from the official MCPS school profiles. They're all posted. The point was that there are extreme variations between schools, so no, they're not all the same. |
Anonymous
As MCPS becomes more black and Hispanic the performance of the student body WRT the criteria to assess “good” schools will decline. |