Are the non "W" schools really that bad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

Cohort matters. Teachers set the stage, but students bring a school to life. Teachers can't remove bad influences from the classroom.

And there is post after post here telling you they’d prefer a non-W cohort for their children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

This is only partially true. When the majority of the student body performs at a lower level the teachers and administrators supports and expectations follow. The same is true when the majority of the student body is higher achieving. The PTA matters, too. I can not enumerate the extras provided by a strong PTA. Our W provides college prep seminars for both parents and students on a regular basis. Paid college advisors are clamoring to hold free sessions at our school because they understand that enough of our parents will follow up with paid services. You will not get that in the poorly perfor.ing schools. Furthermore, our strong parental presence keeps pressure on administrators to retain teachers who go above and beyond in the classroom.

Those who would have you believe it is as simple as what happens at home must be unaware of what they are missing.

We have that at RM, too.

These happen at other HS’s in the county as well. Not sure why W folks thinks these are happening solely for them. Heck there are ones going on during the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

Cohort matters. Teachers set the stage, but students bring a school to life. Teachers can't remove bad influences from the classroom.

Yes, and there are strong, high-performing cohorts at all of the schools I mention above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

This is only partially true. When the majority of the student body performs at a lower level the teachers and administrators supports and expectations follow. The same is true when the majority of the student body is higher achieving. The PTA matters, too. I can not enumerate the extras provided by a strong PTA. Our W provides college prep seminars for both parents and students on a regular basis. Paid college advisors are clamoring to hold free sessions at our school because they understand that enough of our parents will follow up with paid services. You will not get that in the poorly perfor.ing schools. Furthermore, our strong parental presence keeps pressure on administrators to retain teachers who go above and beyond in the classroom.

Those who would have you believe it is as simple as what happens at home must be unaware of what they are missing.

Citation please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in Poolesville, which is non-W and I love it! There is a little diversity with the magnets at the high school as our child is in SMCS. But, the ES and MS have a little splash of diversity which is fine. Everyone is nice and we like the slow, country atmosphere and we love to hike and kayak at C&O. Also, some areas of Damascus and Brookeville and Olney have very little diversity like the W schools and are high performing as well. Visit the different areas OP and decide what you like.

Poolesville is ranked above the W tier. It's barely an mcps school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

This is only partially true. When the majority of the student body performs at a lower level the teachers and administrators supports and expectations follow. The same is true when the majority of the student body is higher achieving. The PTA matters, too. I can not enumerate the extras provided by a strong PTA. Our W provides college prep seminars for both parents and students on a regular basis. Paid college advisors are clamoring to hold free sessions at our school because they understand that enough of our parents will follow up with paid services. You will not get that in the poorly perfor.ing schools. Furthermore, our strong parental presence keeps pressure on administrators to retain teachers who go above and beyond in the classroom.

Those who would have you believe it is as simple as what happens at home must be unaware of what they are missing.

Huh??
My non-W school has that and I'm pretty sure most, if not all MCPS school, provides that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

This is only partially true. When the majority of the student body performs at a lower level the teachers and administrators supports and expectations follow. The same is true when the majority of the student body is higher achieving. The PTA matters, too. I can not enumerate the extras provided by a strong PTA. Our W provides college prep seminars for both parents and students on a regular basis. Paid college advisors are clamoring to hold free sessions at our school because they understand that enough of our parents will follow up with paid services. You will not get that in the poorly perfor.ing schools. Furthermore, our strong parental presence keeps pressure on administrators to retain teachers who go above and beyond in the classroom.

Those who would have you believe it is as simple as what happens at home must be unaware of what they are missing.

We have that at RM, too.

These happen at other HS’s in the county as well. Not sure why W folks thinks these are happening solely for them. Heck there are ones going on during the summer.

Makes them feel special. Don't burst their bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

This is only partially true. When the majority of the student body performs at a lower level the teachers and administrators supports and expectations follow. The same is true when the majority of the student body is higher achieving. The PTA matters, too. I can not enumerate the extras provided by a strong PTA. Our W provides college prep seminars for both parents and students on a regular basis. Paid college advisors are clamoring to hold free sessions at our school because they understand that enough of our parents will follow up with paid services. You will not get that in the poorly perfor.ing schools. Furthermore, our strong parental presence keeps pressure on administrators to retain teachers who go above and beyond in the classroom.

Those who would have you believe it is as simple as what happens at home must be unaware of what they are missing.

We have that at RM, too.

These happen at other HS’s in the county as well. Not sure why W folks thinks these are happening solely for them. Heck there are ones going on during the summer.

Parents like to justify their choices. W parents need to justify the massive premium they paid for their houses. Non W parents need to justify choosing lower ranked schools for their kids to save money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

This is only partially true. When the majority of the student body performs at a lower level the teachers and administrators supports and expectations follow. The same is true when the majority of the student body is higher achieving. The PTA matters, too. I can not enumerate the extras provided by a strong PTA. Our W provides college prep seminars for both parents and students on a regular basis. Paid college advisors are clamoring to hold free sessions at our school because they understand that enough of our parents will follow up with paid services. You will not get that in the poorly perfor.ing schools. Furthermore, our strong parental presence keeps pressure on administrators to retain teachers who go above and beyond in the classroom.

Those who would have you believe it is as simple as what happens at home must be unaware of what they are missing.

Huh??
My non-W school has that and I'm pretty sure most, if not all MCPS school, provides that.

DP - exactly, because NO high school in MCPS would be considered "poorly performing" in any reasonable definition of the term. It's comical, to the point of being pathetic, that people don't understand that. That speaks volumes about their lack of perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

This is only partially true. When the majority of the student body performs at a lower level the teachers and administrators supports and expectations follow. The same is true when the majority of the student body is higher achieving. The PTA matters, too. I can not enumerate the extras provided by a strong PTA. Our W provides college prep seminars for both parents and students on a regular basis. Paid college advisors are clamoring to hold free sessions at our school because they understand that enough of our parents will follow up with paid services. You will not get that in the poorly perfor.ing schools. Furthermore, our strong parental presence keeps pressure on administrators to retain teachers who go above and beyond in the classroom.

Those who would have you believe it is as simple as what happens at home must be unaware of what they are missing.

Huh??
My non-W school has that and I'm pretty sure most, if not all MCPS school, provides that.

DP - exactly, because NO high school in MCPS would be considered "poorly performing" in any reasonable definition of the term. It's comical, to the point of being pathetic, that people don't understand that. That speaks volumes about their lack of perspective.

Test scores look pretty bad to me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

This is only partially true. When the majority of the student body performs at a lower level the teachers and administrators supports and expectations follow. The same is true when the majority of the student body is higher achieving. The PTA matters, too. I can not enumerate the extras provided by a strong PTA. Our W provides college prep seminars for both parents and students on a regular basis. Paid college advisors are clamoring to hold free sessions at our school because they understand that enough of our parents will follow up with paid services. You will not get that in the poorly perfor.ing schools. Furthermore, our strong parental presence keeps pressure on administrators to retain teachers who go above and beyond in the classroom.

Those who would have you believe it is as simple as what happens at home must be unaware of what they are missing.

Huh??
My non-W school has that and I'm pretty sure most, if not all MCPS school, provides that.

DP - exactly, because NO high school in MCPS would be considered "poorly performing" in any reasonable definition of the term. It's comical, to the point of being pathetic, that people don't understand that. That speaks volumes about their lack of perspective.

Test scores look pretty bad to me[/

🙄 is this how you justify your decision to not mix with the poor, working class people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

Cohort matters. Teachers set the stage, but students bring a school to life. Teachers can't remove bad influences from the classroom.

Yes, and there are strong, high-performing cohorts at all of the schools I mention above.

Our kid goes to a ES that feeds into Einstein. I'd say there are a constant handful of disruptive kids in his class, and about 1/3 of the class are English Language Learners. For 4th and 5th grade if your kid is higher achieving, they can be selected for the Enriched Language Curriculum and Compacted Math so that they're in more classes with their "cohort." However, if your kid is average or slightly above average, they may fall through the cracks/coast because the teacher is focused on the most needy kids.

Compared with an ES that feeds into a W where our friends live, it seemed like their teacher was more rigorous and expected a higher level of achievement from the class/ I don't know how many disruptive kids there were but I imagine they exist at W schools too. There are definitely fewer english language learners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

Cohort matters. Teachers set the stage, but students bring a school to life. Teachers can't remove bad influences from the classroom.

Yes, and there are strong, high-performing cohorts at all of the schools I mention above.

Our kid goes to a ES that feeds into Einstein. I'd say there are a constant handful of disruptive kids in his class, and about 1/3 of the class are English Language Learners. For 4th and 5th grade if your kid is higher achieving, they can be selected for the Enriched Language Curriculum and Compacted Math so that they're in more classes with their "cohort." However, if your kid is average or slightly above average, they may fall through the cracks/coast because the teacher is focused on the most needy kids.

Compared with an ES that feeds into a W where our friends live, it seemed like their teacher was more rigorous and expected a higher level of achievement from the class/ I don't know how many disruptive kids there were but I imagine they exist at W schools too. There are definitely fewer english language learners.

DP.. we don't live in a W cluster, but I would not choose a cluster that has > 30% FARMs rate and > 20% ESOL rate. Teachers would have to spend too much time dealing with the large number of high needs kids. Above average/average kids would get lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

This is only partially true. When the majority of the student body performs at a lower level the teachers and administrators supports and expectations follow. The same is true when the majority of the student body is higher achieving. The PTA matters, too. I can not enumerate the extras provided by a strong PTA. Our W provides college prep seminars for both parents and students on a regular basis. Paid college advisors are clamoring to hold free sessions at our school because they understand that enough of our parents will follow up with paid services. You will not get that in the poorly perfor.ing schools. Furthermore, our strong parental presence keeps pressure on administrators to retain teachers who go above and beyond in the classroom.

Those who would have you believe it is as simple as what happens at home must be unaware of what they are missing.

Huh??
My non-W school has that and I'm pretty sure most, if not all MCPS school, provides that.

DP - exactly, because NO high school in MCPS would be considered "poorly performing" in any reasonable definition of the term. It's comical, to the point of being pathetic, that people don't understand that. That speaks volumes about their lack of perspective.

Test scores look pretty bad to me[/

🙄 is this how you justify your decision to not mix with the poor, working class people?

Different poster. When your only argument is that people who are concerned with academic rigor must be elitists, you need to go see a therapist. There is a personality disorder associated with this line of thought. Maybe they can help you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good morning OP. The answer to your question is NO. There are plenty of wonderful schools and communities outside of the W’s. There are plenty of engaged families whose kid are thriving and going on to be successful who go to schools outside of the W’s. There are plenty of highly capable teachers outside of the W’s.

The zones outside the W’s are more diverse both racially and socioeconomically. That’s it.

+1

Children of affluent educated people perform well and that's why the perception is that the W schools are the "best." OP, the fact is that your children will do as well at Richard Montgomery or Quince Orchard (or Blair or Einstein) as they would at Whitman or Wooton.

This is only partially true. When the majority of the student body performs at a lower level the teachers and administrators supports and expectations follow. The same is true when the majority of the student body is higher achieving. The PTA matters, too. I can not enumerate the extras provided by a strong PTA. Our W provides college prep seminars for both parents and students on a regular basis. Paid college advisors are clamoring to hold free sessions at our school because they understand that enough of our parents will follow up with paid services. You will not get that in the poorly perfor.ing schools. Furthermore, our strong parental presence keeps pressure on administrators to retain teachers who go above and beyond in the classroom.

Those who would have you believe it is as simple as what happens at home must be unaware of what they are missing.

Huh??
My non-W school has that and I'm pretty sure most, if not all MCPS school, provides that.

DP - exactly, because NO high school in MCPS would be considered "poorly performing" in any reasonable definition of the term. It's comical, to the point of being pathetic, that people don't understand that. That speaks volumes about their lack of perspective.

Test scores look pretty bad to me[/

🙄 is this how you justify your decision to not mix with the poor, working class people?

Different poster. When your only argument is that people who are concerned with academic rigor must be elitists, you need to go see a therapist. There is a personality disorder associated with this line of thought. Maybe they can help you.

Or maybe, just maybe, you can recognize that we all are trying our best for our families. Drop the attitude. NO ONE should ever feel pressure to justify why they are attending the school they are. Otherwise, yes, 100% you are elitist for claiming one school is better than another for a family.