Is anyone happy with MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

Regardless of anything else going on a good, skilled responsive teacher makes a world of difference.

[Anonymous]

Most parents with kids in MCPS “have to” say they are happy. Because it was their decision to send their kids there. They want to validate their decision was the right one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most parents with kids in MCPS “have to” say they are happy. Because it was their decision to send their kids there. They want to validate their decision was the right one.

To the extent this is true (and I don’t think it’s mostly true) the same is true for any parent or any school.

Anyway OP I had issues with MCPS but I realized that I would have issues with any school. The perfect school doesn’t exist in reality. In the end I feel really lucky my kid got a good education (even if it could have been better in some ways probably).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Education everywhere, nationwide, is a disaster. Teachers are leaving in droves, new teachers usually burn out in less than 5 years. There aren't enough new teachers to replace them, because, who in there right mind would become a teacher?

Special Ed is in worse shape than Gen Ed, because it's a much harder job than the already hard job of a gen ed teacher. Not only is the job physically harder, there's a lot more paperwork and meetings (A LOT more).

ES is usually fine - warm fuzzy, and you have small issues that a counselor can usually resolve. Sometimes bigger problems emerge, if you have a good administration, it'll get worked out

MS is awful everywhere. Hormones raging, lousy curriculum, kids are mean (especially girls)

HS - depends on the school (administration and teachers), your kid, and, more importantly their peers. Your kid could rise to the top, become involved with drugs and drop out of life, or float along fine, oblivious to all the nonsense around them. The new changes proposed, if passed, could mix things up a bit for 27-28 and 28-29, but then things will settle, people will move, and the new programs will thrive or die

The reality is that MCPS has gone downhill in the 25 years we've lived here (since Jerry Weast left, and I know some hated him, but test scores were better and he didn't put up with nonsense). And/but, the demographics, and I'm referring to income levels, not race, have changed in the county since he left, and incomes for the vast majority, have not gone up

In the schools, there are no consequences for kids these days, and they know it at all ages. You can sell drugs in HS and have the police come in and arrest you, and be back the next day, selling more drugs. A MS kid can tell his teacher to Eff Off, they get sent to the office and are back in the classroom the next day. In ES, they are learning they can get away with whatever they want.

Between the covid kids and SM/internet, kids have no attention span, can't read a book (too long), can't do basic math, and cannot pay attention to a teacher for a 45 minute lesson plan to learn anything (too long for them to pay attention, teachers don't blast music or change colors or switch images).

Our future does not look good

I'm in the same boat, looking at kindergarten with worry as a potential MCPS parent. I'm especially concerned about screens and the way it is used at MCPS.

[Anonymous]

The answer to this question depends on which school you belong to.

My rough math says about 60-70 percent of MCPS schools are good or even great.

But 30-40 percent are mediocre or bad.

So the only to know if you should be worried is if you tell us which schools you’re targeting.

[Anonymous]

OP I am not sure why you wouldn’t just try the public school before jumping to private

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an avid reader of this forum as I try to figure out where to send our kids to school for kindergarten.

But reading these threads are really starting to seriously worry me.

Our neighborhood is about 50/50 public private. Nearly all the public parents are happy with their kids’ ES and HS experiences (mixed on MS), and all the private parents are happy with their kids’ schools, too.

Are the public school parents in my neighborhood just settling, or is this forum wildly anti-public school and not reflective of how most people feel about MCPS?

While this forum can be extra, I actually disagree that it’s anti-public school. From my experience, there are a lot of legitimate complaints voiced here. However, if you’re in a neighborhood where half of families send their kids to private, you’ll probably be fine because your public school demographics will reflect the benefits of high household incomes.

My child is in upper elementary that is a step right below Title I (focus school, I think?). The teachers have been caring and the school administration seems responsive and organized, but it’s clear that more resources are needed to support all students and different needs. Many students are not on grade level. On the other end, my kid is regularly bored with reading in class, but I don’t think the school has the capacity to differentiate and has to stick to the provided curriculum.

Meanwhile the central administration has spent the whole academic year talking about this regional plan (which in my opinion, favors the already successful, resourced high schools) without a peep about how to address gaps and be more innovative in earlier grades, where an academic foundation is built.

I’m happy with my kid’s education 50-75% of the time but hoping to expand our options in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most parents with kids in MCPS “have to” say they are happy. Because it was their decision to send their kids there. They want to validate their decision was the right one.

To the extent this is true (and I don’t think it’s mostly true) the same is true for any parent or any school.

Anyway OP I had issues with MCPS but I realized that I would have issues with any school. The perfect school doesn’t exist in reality. In the end I feel really lucky my kid got a good education (even if it could have been better in some ways probably).

I think it"s most true for families that pay more for their kids to attend a certain school

[Anonymous]

I have three very different kids and MCPS (northeast consortium schools) served all well. One has low IQ and MCPS prepared him for the workforce through the Vo tech program and he’s successfully employed. Another has very high IQ but learning disabilities and MH issues. MCPS got him through against all odds and he’s also doing well working and attending college. Both had IEPs and the second had a non mainstream public placement. Third is a great student and into sports. That one had a great experience. All received excellent, but very different, educations and were well prepared for the next stage of life. Absolutely no regrets here about our decision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The answer to this question depends on which school you belong to.

My rough math says about 60-70 percent of MCPS schools are good or even great.

But 30-40 percent are mediocre or bad.

So the only to know if you should be worried is if you tell us which schools you’re targeting.

There are over 200 schools in MCPS— my guess is there isn’t a single person who knows all of them well enough to make this judgement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am an avid reader of this forum as I try to figure out where to send our kids to school for kindergarten.

But reading these threads are really starting to seriously worry me.

Our neighborhood is about 50/50 public private. Nearly all the public parents are happy with their kids’ ES and HS experiences (mixed on MS), and all the private parents are happy with their kids’ schools, too.

Are the public school parents in my neighborhood just settling, or is this forum wildly anti-public school and not reflective of how most people feel about MCPS?

The vast majority of MoCo parents are happy with MCPS.
DCUM is not real life MoCo. The MCPS forum is full of trolls and private schools parents trying to justify paying for their inferior product.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The answer to this question depends on which school you belong to.

My rough math says about 60-70 percent of MCPS schools are good or even great.

But 30-40 percent are mediocre or bad.

So the only to know if you should be worried is if you tell us which schools you’re targeting.

There are over 200 schools in MCPS— my guess is there isn’t a single person who knows all of them well enough to make this judgement.

To make what judgement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Education everywhere, nationwide, is a disaster. Teachers are leaving in droves, new teachers usually burn out in less than 5 years. There aren't enough new teachers to replace them, because, who in there right mind would become a teacher?

Special Ed is in worse shape than Gen Ed, because it's a much harder job than the already hard job of a gen ed teacher. Not only is the job physically harder, there's a lot more paperwork and meetings (A LOT more).

ES is usually fine - warm fuzzy, and you have small issues that a counselor can usually resolve. Sometimes bigger problems emerge, if you have a good administration, it'll get worked out

MS is awful everywhere. Hormones raging, lousy curriculum, kids are mean (especially girls)

HS - depends on the school (administration and teachers), your kid, and, more importantly their peers. Your kid could rise to the top, become involved with drugs and drop out of life, or float along fine, oblivious to all the nonsense around them. The new changes proposed, if passed, could mix things up a bit for 27-28 and 28-29, but then things will settle, people will move, and the new programs will thrive or die

The reality is that MCPS has gone downhill in the 25 years we've lived here (since Jerry Weast left, and I know some hated him, but test scores were better and he didn't put up with nonsense). And/but, the demographics, and I'm referring to income levels, not race, have changed in the county since he left, and incomes for the vast majority, have not gone up

In the schools, there are no consequences for kids these days, and they know it at all ages. You can sell drugs in HS and have the police come in and arrest you, and be back the next day, selling more drugs. A MS kid can tell his teacher to Eff Off, they get sent to the office and are back in the classroom the next day. In ES, they are learning they can get away with whatever they want.

Between the covid kids and SM/internet, kids have no attention span, can't read a book (too long), can't do basic math, and cannot pay attention to a teacher for a 45 minute lesson plan to learn anything (too long for them to pay attention, teachers don't blast music or change colors or switch images).

Our future does not look good

There is a lot of truth in this post.

I was at my kid's MS and witnessed another kid telling a teacher to Eff Off. I know I'm naive, but it was shocking to hear. Why would someone go into a profession where they are treated like this? I know there are drug deals (with essentially no consequences) in our HS. The MCPS staff safety survey was definitely interesting at the MS/HS level.

I don't think it's an MCPS-only problem, but I don't think MCPS is all that great at this point. But where to go? That is the question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher and a parent of two in MCPS, I am generally happy with MCPS. I do think we provided a better product 20 years ago, but I'd say that's a national trend rather than a local. I do believe there is some correction going on that's going to take time to shake out. Someone mentioned how many parents are happy with their teachers, but would like to see more educational rigor and accountability for their children. I'd say that's accurate for the teachers too. But there are a lot of policies put in place over the last decade that have to be undone. Still, my experience is that there are good teachers teaching good students.
Of course, the biggest factor to your child's education success is you. Keeping them exposed to reading, music, physical activity, and limiting their use of screens (especially at an early age) is going to do so much more for their educational outcomes than any policy from central office.

Regardless of anything else going on a good, skilled responsive teacher makes a world of difference.

+1. We're decently happy with MCPS, but year to year it all depends on teachers. I've got bigger problems with the schools, but they're almost all problems with all of American education in 2026, so they're not really issues with MCPS. I'd still have those issues if we were in pretty much any other system in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do the half of the neighborhood that send their kids to private school do so because it's just part of the lifestyle (ie it's a richer area and a normal thing for them) or do they do so because they don't like the local schools?

At one point to a certain degree, I think everyone is happy at their local schools and appreciate the teacher and staff at their schools. I do think a lot of it is that they don't know what they don't know. ie some differences in how schools do things and offer.

Although more recently I do hear some people point out (when we talk to each other in person) issues with their school.

I think one of the key things is that with the MCPS schools that our kids go/went to you really have to stay on top of things and make sure to advocate for your kids. Otherwise MCPS will automatically try to default things by denying additional services or other paths for your kids. In some ways looking back, this has always been the case even when we were in school. In our point of view, if you just leave things in MCPS's hands, your kid might move through the grades and graduate but I'm not sure if your child would be at a level that you're okay with. We do know some families where they have no issues with it.

If our family was just starting out school now, I would most likely look elsewhere outside of Montgomery County. But a lot of it is due to Montgomery County in general and what you're getting for for the money. If we were staying in the same home/place and contemplating between our local MCPS school and private school, we'd probably be inclined to stick with the local public school. Although being in one of the areas potentially affected by the proposed boundary changes, private school has crossed my mind recently. For public vs private, a lot of it would depend on what are your local schools.

My neighborhood is maybe 75% MCPS. Of the private school parents I speak to, none of them are doing it for lifestyle. It’s all because MCPS is subpar.

For us, we have a high IQ kid with dyslexia and ADHD. We spoke with her neuropsychologist and an MCPS special Ed professional. Both urged private school. We’ve been very happy but wish we could’ve made public school work.

Wow, it surprised me that MCPS SPED staffer would urge private. That sounds disturbing and possibly illegal … they aren’t allowed to sough off their responsibility to provide services.