MoCo vs Nova?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i would pick VA as it has more public universities

Yes, it has more public universities, but College and University Board indicates that NoVA kids are at a distinct disadvantage in admission, so ...

So are you saying MoCo kids waltz into UMCP, which is the only public university of any note in Maryland and one most NoVa families would find less attractive than UVA, VT, W&M and even JMU?

[Anonymous]

Pick based on where you work, not schools

[Anonymous]

There are better public clusters in FCPS and MCPS. I bet affordability is the better deciding factor. MD income tax is roughly 3% higher - whats 3% of your income. Compare that extra cost to price differentials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i would pick VA as it has more public universities

Yes, it has more public universities, but College and University Board indicates that NoVA kids are at a distinct disadvantage in admission, so ...

So are you saying MoCo kids waltz into UMCP, which is the only public university of any note in Maryland and one most NoVa families would find less attractive than UVA, VT, W&M and even JMU?

MCPS students and parents aim for ivies and top schools, while FCPS students and parents aim for public state schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MoCo in general and MCPS in particular peaked decades ago. I’d go with one of the strong pyramids in FCPS, of which there are more and at different price points than can be said of MCPS: for example, Langley, McLean, Oakton, Chantilly, Madison, Woodson, Marshall, Lake Braddock, Robinson, or West Springfield.

It's TJ or bust in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh MCPS has absolutely declined. Don’t move here for the schools.

And it is still the big dog in the area. No one can compete with MCPS in the area.

Laughable. Maryland ranks below Florida on NAEP. MCPS is the largest district in Maryland. The state ranks MCPS 5th in the state. Q.E.D. This is just an overpaid MCPS employee hoping the con lasts until they get their pension. Don’t blame them.

dp.. laughable. The NAEP for MD numbers were from Baltimore, not MCPS. This is an MCPS forum, and OP asked about MCPS, not Baltimore.

Not an MCPS employee. I've got my fair share of MCPS gripe, but the NAEP score for MD is not one of them since it didn't include MCPS.

Not sure why you believe this. NAEP gets a representative sample from across the school systems in the state. It’s not just from Baltimore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with schools in both MoCo and Nova (FFX or North Arlington)? Our experience is that Arlington has substantially declined across the board and that both districts are so huge that kids sorta sink or swim unless there is significant parental involvement. I know MoCo is huge but we are focused primarily on Silver Spring area schools for context (those higher than 6 on GS).

Should we expect the same in Maryland? Anything they do better? I assume they are more Covid maniacal than Virginia so that’s been a big reason we haven’t wanted to move previously.

I live in MoCo (kid went to public school here) and I have relatives and friends that teach in FCPS, and have had a lot of conversations about both systems. I also went to HS in Fairfax, so I have firsthand, albeit very dated, experience with FCPS. I don’t think there’s a real difference in the school systems; all the complaints I hear from the FCPS teachers echo the same issues I see in MCPS. In some ways MCPS is worse; it seems to have quite a bit more grade inflation (honors classes weighted the same as AP, even though honors classes are essentially on-level classes, no +/-, very helpful rounding rules etc). IMO, Blair is a better HS magnet than TJ is now, but that’s not relevant for the vast majority of kids. I certainly wouldn’t move for the school system, but if living in MD makes a lot more sense for your family the school systems won’t differ much. I will echo what others have said; the public college situation in VA is night and day better than MD. UMD is the only really excellent public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh MCPS has absolutely declined. Don’t move here for the schools.

And it is still the big dog in the area. No one can compete with MCPS in the area.

Laughable. Maryland ranks below Florida on NAEP. MCPS is the largest district in Maryland. The state ranks MCPS 5th in the state. Q.E.D. This is just an overpaid MCPS employee hoping the con lasts until they get their pension. Don’t blame them.

dp.. laughable. The NAEP for MD numbers were from Baltimore, not MCPS. This is an MCPS forum, and OP asked about MCPS, not Baltimore.

Not an MCPS employee. I've got my fair share of MCPS gripe, but the NAEP score for MD is not one of them since it didn't include MCPS.

Not sure why you believe this. NAEP gets a representative sample from across the school systems in the state. It’s not just from Baltimore.

PP here, if you’re really interested this is an article talking about the state scores relative to the scores in Baltimore. The Baltimore scores are drastically lower than the state scores.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/education/bs-md-naep-score-release-20191030-vyfuhrsfq5egviee35g42e2fxq-story.html

[Anonymous]

OP - If your children are middle school or older, then you need to also be considering the aspect that Virginia has a much wider range of strong state universities across all disciplines for high school graduates to consider with in-state tuition. This can be an important factor if graduate or professional school is likely in the picture, and you would like to help them avoid horrendous graduate school debt. We have daughters in both NOVA and MOCO and one issue is that there seems to not only be a "dumbing down" of the high school curriculum by having "everybody" in the same class with supposed differentiation of work to some degree. But at least in the magnets in middle school in MOCO, one can retake a test for a higher grade even if it is a low A, which is crazy. In Arlington Public Schools, there seems to be little or no acknowledgement of the efforts of the outstanding ES students when they do perform exceedingly well. I do hear very good things about high school in MOCO that your child with a learning disability or mild Autism social skills deficits can still find their "own tribe." From general experience, besides looking at grade inflation or deflation, it is important to learn about the activities that interest your child as an individual and to see how these might be met in school activities and sports OR in community activities outside of school. So that if one does find school hard academically and or socially, you have had other options for one to develop interests and friendships as through a strong church youth program, a community rec. sports program, a community program such as Scouting, theater group etc. Also, in middle school starting an activity that would carry over into high school can help one have at least a circle of general friends with the same interest such as being a member of band, orchestra, choir, a sports team (management possibly) or a service group. If the MS or HS student can feel good about himself/herself in some framework, there is a very good chance the school piece will fall into place over time. Make sure if your child needs supportive services that you do not let them just be dropped going up to middle school as it is an entirely different game moving among classes and learning to handle different schedule of classes with independent and group work. And middle school is not too late to request identification for a 504 or IEP because again what one was able to hold together in elementary school with some challenges may not be true in the new environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i would pick VA as it has more public universities

Yes, it has more public universities, but College and University Board indicates that NoVA kids are at a distinct disadvantage in admission, so ...

So are you saying MoCo kids waltz into UMCP, which is the only public university of any note in Maryland and one most NoVa families would find less attractive than UVA, VT, W&M and even JMU?

MCPS students and parents aim for ivies and top schools, while FCPS students and parents aim for public state schools

All roughly 11,500 seniors in MCPS? Wow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh MCPS has absolutely declined. Don’t move here for the schools.

And it is still the big dog in the area. No one can compete with MCPS in the area.

Laughable. Maryland ranks below Florida on NAEP. MCPS is the largest district in Maryland. The state ranks MCPS 5th in the state. Q.E.D. This is just an overpaid MCPS employee hoping the con lasts until they get their pension. Don’t blame them.

dp.. laughable. The NAEP for MD numbers were from Baltimore, not MCPS. This is an MCPS forum, and OP asked about MCPS, not Baltimore.

Not an MCPS employee. I've got my fair share of MCPS gripe, but the NAEP score for MD is not one of them since it didn't include MCPS.

Not sure why you believe this. NAEP gets a representative sample from across the school systems in the state. It’s not just from Baltimore.

Oh this is just what MCPS parents say to themselves to make them feel better about paying 3 billion for sub-optimal. Just ignore. Op if you can afford it, go VA. Much, much better colleges - and very, very few Moco kids attend ivys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh MCPS has absolutely declined. Don’t move here for the schools.

And it is still the big dog in the area. No one can compete with MCPS in the area.

Laughable. Maryland ranks below Florida on NAEP. MCPS is the largest district in Maryland. The state ranks MCPS 5th in the state. Q.E.D. This is just an overpaid MCPS employee hoping the con lasts until they get their pension. Don’t blame them.

dp.. laughable. The NAEP for MD numbers were from Baltimore, not MCPS. This is an MCPS forum, and OP asked about MCPS, not Baltimore.

Not an MCPS employee. I've got my fair share of MCPS gripe, but the NAEP score for MD is not one of them since it didn't include MCPS.

Not sure why you believe this. NAEP gets a representative sample from across the school systems in the state. It’s not just from Baltimore.

Oh this is just what MCPS parents say to themselves to make them feel better about paying 3 billion for sub-optimal. Just ignore. Op if you can afford it, go VA. Much, much better colleges - and very, very few Moco kids attend ivys.

The funny part is TJ is just a big school that consistently looses to MCPS programs like Blair SMCS in any head to head matchup. Overall their programs are kind of mediocre by comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh MCPS has absolutely declined. Don’t move here for the schools.

And it is still the big dog in the area. No one can compete with MCPS in the area.

Laughable. Maryland ranks below Florida on NAEP. MCPS is the largest district in Maryland. The state ranks MCPS 5th in the state. Q.E.D. This is just an overpaid MCPS employee hoping the con lasts until they get their pension. Don’t blame them.

dp.. laughable. The NAEP for MD numbers were from Baltimore, not MCPS. This is an MCPS forum, and OP asked about MCPS, not Baltimore.

Not an MCPS employee. I've got my fair share of MCPS gripe, but the NAEP score for MD is not one of them since it didn't include MCPS.

Not sure why you believe this. NAEP gets a representative sample from across the school systems in the state. It’s not just from Baltimore.

Oh this is just what MCPS parents say to themselves to make them feel better about paying 3 billion for sub-optimal. Just ignore. Op if you can afford it, go VA. Much, much better colleges - and very, very few Moco kids attend ivys.

The funny part is TJ is just a big school that consistently looses to MCPS programs like Blair SMCS in any head to head matchup. Overall their programs are kind of mediocre by comparison.

MCPS gifted programs, at least before the temporary covid changes, were typically in the top 3%-%5 so were actual gifted programs. In contrast, FCPS has AAP, which is top 15%, plus anyone with the resources to appeal. The quality of high-achieving students isn't comparable. This isn't to say there aren't many talented kids at TJ. Many are also average by comparison, so their classes move slowly. I went to TJ shortly after it opened. It's not like I'm not partial, but my kids are getting a much better education from MCPS than would be possible in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh MCPS has absolutely declined. Don’t move here for the schools.

And it is still the big dog in the area. No one can compete with MCPS in the area.

Laughable. Maryland ranks below Florida on NAEP. MCPS is the largest district in Maryland. The state ranks MCPS 5th in the state. Q.E.D. This is just an overpaid MCPS employee hoping the con lasts until they get their pension. Don’t blame them.

dp.. laughable. The NAEP for MD numbers were from Baltimore, not MCPS. This is an MCPS forum, and OP asked about MCPS, not Baltimore.

Not an MCPS employee. I've got my fair share of MCPS gripe, but the NAEP score for MD is not one of them since it didn't include MCPS.

Not sure why you believe this. NAEP gets a representative sample from across the school systems in the state. It’s not just from Baltimore.

PP here, if you’re really interested this is an article talking about the state scores relative to the scores in Baltimore. The Baltimore scores are drastically lower than the state scores.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/education/bs-md-naep-score-release-20191030-vyfuhrsfq5egviee35g42e2fxq-story.html

1. That article is from 2019
2. MD is made up of more than MoCo. Do you have the numbers for MCPS?
3. Additionally, NAEP is optional except for Title 1 schools in order to get federal funding.
4. 2022 numbers for DC, MD, VA. All abysmal.

https://wtop.com/dc/2022/10/sobering-data-naep-scores-in-dc-depict-widening-achievement-gap/

No doubt, there was heavy learning loss, but per the article, URM test scores fell drastically due to the pandemic; whites only a little, and Asian test scores held steady.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh MCPS has absolutely declined. Don’t move here for the schools.

And it is still the big dog in the area. No one can compete with MCPS in the area.

Laughable. Maryland ranks below Florida on NAEP. MCPS is the largest district in Maryland. The state ranks MCPS 5th in the state. Q.E.D. This is just an overpaid MCPS employee hoping the con lasts until they get their pension. Don’t blame them.

dp.. laughable. The NAEP for MD numbers were from Baltimore, not MCPS. This is an MCPS forum, and OP asked about MCPS, not Baltimore.

Not an MCPS employee. I've got my fair share of MCPS gripe, but the NAEP score for MD is not one of them since it didn't include MCPS.

Not sure why you believe this. NAEP gets a representative sample from across the school systems in the state. It’s not just from Baltimore.

Oh this is just what MCPS parents say to themselves to make them feel better about paying 3 billion for sub-optimal. Just ignore. Op if you can afford it, go VA. Much, much better colleges - and very, very few Moco kids attend ivys.

As I said earlier, NoVa aims for state public colleges. Low expectations. It's no wonder they cannot compete with MCPS.
Y'all keep proving it.