Thoughts on Brent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I would not choose Brent over L-T, Maury, Payne, SWS, or Chisolm.

Wide ranging group here, though I guess relatively close geographically. Any reason for this particular selection? I know some are on the rise but surprised to see a couple of these ranked above Brent.

[Anonymous]

its because Brent will be in swing space. although chisholm has a renovation coming up too.

[Anonymous]

OP you need to adjust your expectations. You are not going to get a rigorous academic experience at any DCPS elementary school and should not have that expectation of a DCPS school. Your child's teachers are going to be supporting a diverse classroom of learners, including some who may have disruptive behavioral issues or be way behind the grade level, and that one teacher will not be able, even if they wanted to, have the time or capacity to challenge children who are working beyond grade level. But this does not mean your child won't be prepared for a school like Basis.

Not only that, be prepared for your child to be taught by multiple underqualified subs in a given year, especially if you have a teacher who goes on parental leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP you need to adjust your expectations. You are not going to get a rigorous academic experience at any DCPS elementary school and should not have that expectation of a DCPS school. Your child's teachers are going to be supporting a diverse classroom of learners, including some who may have disruptive behavioral issues or be way behind the grade level, and that one teacher will not be able, even if they wanted to, have the time or capacity to challenge children who are working beyond grade level. But this does not mean your child won't be prepared for a school like Basis.

Not only that, be prepared for your child to be taught by multiple underqualified subs in a given year, especially if you have a teacher who goes on parental leave.

Not at Brent but at a demographically similar school and I disagree.

I don't think OP is being unrealistic. Where do you think there are rigorous classes, PP? Only privates? Fancy suburbs? I would assume Brent and similar schools here aren't that much different from elementary schools in Bethesda.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you need to adjust your expectations. You are not going to get a rigorous academic experience at any DCPS elementary school and should not have that expectation of a DCPS school. Your child's teachers are going to be supporting a diverse classroom of learners, including some who may have disruptive behavioral issues or be way behind the grade level, and that one teacher will not be able, even if they wanted to, have the time or capacity to challenge children who are working beyond grade level. But this does not mean your child won't be prepared for a school like Basis.

Not only that, be prepared for your child to be taught by multiple underqualified subs in a given year, especially if you have a teacher who goes on parental leave.

Not at Brent but at a demographically similar school and I disagree.

I don't think OP is being unrealistic. Where do you think there are rigorous classes, PP? Only privates? Fancy suburbs? I would assume Brent and similar schools here aren't that much different from elementary schools in Bethesda.

Also not at Brent but our DCPS Title 1 elementary has been very academically rigorous (to the point of parents complaining).

Teachers go on parental leave at all schools everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you need to adjust your expectations. You are not going to get a rigorous academic experience at any DCPS elementary school and should not have that expectation of a DCPS school. Your child's teachers are going to be supporting a diverse classroom of learners, including some who may have disruptive behavioral issues or be way behind the grade level, and that one teacher will not be able, even if they wanted to, have the time or capacity to challenge children who are working beyond grade level. But this does not mean your child won't be prepared for a school like Basis.

Not only that, be prepared for your child to be taught by multiple underqualified subs in a given year, especially if you have a teacher who goes on parental leave.

Not at Brent but at a demographically similar school and I disagree.

I don't think OP is being unrealistic. Where do you think there are rigorous classes, PP? Only privates? Fancy suburbs? I would assume Brent and similar schools here aren't that much different from elementary schools in Bethesda.

Bethesda? Oh, those public schools are different alright. The key difference is that MD has a law on Gifted & Talented education, mandating elementary school programming, while DC doesn't.

In MoCo, public school 4th and 5th graders can take advantaged "compacted" math. They're bused to nearby schools offering it. The math at Brent was too easy for my kids all the way up (our youngest finished last year). We stayed because Brent was pleasant and a 2-min walk from our house, not because we were convinced that the program matched what you get in...Bethesda.

More than two-thirds of DCPS elementary school students are on free on reduced meals. The system caters to needy kids for political reasons. MCPS is a fairly well-run school system with test-in middle school programs. You can't test into a magnet middle school in DCPS, a chaotic system by comparison where hard-driving principals like Brent's enjoy outsized power. She has her good points but is dictatorial.

[Anonymous]

Agree.

Brent academics nowhere near the best of the burbs and the leadership doesn’t impress for upper grades

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP you need to adjust your expectations. You are not going to get a rigorous academic experience at any DCPS elementary school and should not have that expectation of a DCPS school. Your child's teachers are going to be supporting a diverse classroom of learners, including some who may have disruptive behavioral issues or be way behind the grade level, and that one teacher will not be able, even if they wanted to, have the time or capacity to challenge children who are working beyond grade level. But this does not mean your child won't be prepared for a school like Basis.

Not only that, be prepared for your child to be taught by multiple underqualified subs in a given year, especially if you have a teacher who goes on parental leave.

Not at Brent but at a demographically similar school and I disagree.

I don't think OP is being unrealistic. Where do you think there are rigorous classes, PP? Only privates? Fancy suburbs? I would assume Brent and similar schools here aren't that much different from elementary schools in Bethesda.

Bethesda? Oh, those public schools are different alright. The key difference is that MD has a law on Gifted & Talented education, mandating elementary school programming, while DC doesn't.

In MoCo, public school 4th and 5th graders can take advantaged "compacted" math. They're bused to nearby schools offering it. The math at Brent was too easy for my kids all the way up (our youngest finished last year). We stayed because Brent was pleasant and a 2-min walk from our house, not because we were convinced that the program matched what you get in...Bethesda.

More than two-thirds of DCPS elementary school students are on free on reduced meals. The system caters to needy kids for political reasons. MCPS is a fairly well-run school system with test-in middle school programs. You can't test into a magnet middle school in DCPS, a chaotic system by comparison where hard-driving principals like Brent's enjoy outsized power. She has her good points but is dictatorial.

Talk to friends in MoCo or even just head over to those forums and see if you still think this...

Also, OP is asking about Brent. Not magnet middles.

[Anonymous]

Brent ROCKS!

[Anonymous]

When there are urban magnet middles to test into, high-performing neighborhood elementary schools like Brent need to up their game to satisfy stakeholders. My siblings send their kids to magnet middle schools in MCPS. They even sent some of their kids to all GT 4th and 5th grade public schools in MoCo.

We thought that Brent rocked through second grade. 3rd grade was OK. 4th was adequate. 5th wasn’t worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When there are urban magnet middles to test into, high-performing neighborhood elementary schools like Brent need to up their game to satisfy stakeholders. My siblings send their kids to magnet middle schools in MCPS. They even sent some of their kids to all GT 4th and 5th grade public schools in MoCo.

We thought that Brent rocked through second grade. 3rd grade was OK. 4th was adequate. 5th wasn’t worth it.

I know the poster said Bethesda, but this doesn't seem to be happening for my many friends with kids in eastern MoCo. Those are solid elementaries but Brent sounds as good or better than any of them, though I'm going on friends' experiences not my own, in both cases. To be sure, Brent is also a lot less diverse than many eastern MoCo schools.

OP...I think it sounds like Brent is solid overall especially in the early grades and there's room for improvement later on. If that's better than your current school, probably worth switching if you're not looking to move.

[Anonymous]

All students in MoCo elementaries can try to clear the bar for the counties' Centers for Enriched Studies all-gifted 4th and 5th grade programs. They can also try to test into half a dozen middle school magnets. Even if they don't clear the bar, they're eligible to take more advanced MS math and foreign language than in DCPS (6th grade algebra, 6th grade language).

It's very easy to claim Brent is "solid." OK, if that's true, why do so many upper grades parents head to Mathnasium, hire writing tutors, use spelling instructional software religiously etc. If you don't get into Latin or BASIS, or don't want to go, better not to kid yourself about how much rigor Brent offers.

The last straw for us was when an upper grades math teacher scolded us for having taught our kid a good year ahead of the curriculum. We're at DCI now, where the math challenge situation is much better.

[Anonymous]

offers in 5th grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I would not choose Brent over L-T, Maury, Payne, SWS, or Chisolm.

Wide ranging group here, though I guess relatively close geographically. Any reason for this particular selection? I know some are on the rise but surprised to see a couple of these ranked above Brent.

PP here and yes I was assuming a parent who lives on or near the Hill, so focusing on Hill elementaries.

All of these schools have solid-to-strong academics and very good, committed parent communities. I personally would not want to deal with the swing space transition, so I'd take the stability of any of these schools over the swing space drama of Brent if I had the option, especially for kids in certain grades and if the commute to these other schools was similar.

I didn't know Chisolm was headed into a swing space in a few years though, that might change things. But Chisolm also has Spanish immersion so it's a different situation.

[Anonymous]

In our experience at 3 different heavily UMC DCPS Hill elementaries, “solid to strong” academics was pushing it. Covid was partly to blame but not most of the problem.