there is only one Montgomery County School District

[Anonymous]

Those of us in the "red" zone by economic necessity beg to differ on it being one district. Yes, there are smaller classes in elementary, but in high school it's up to 30-33 students per class.

By the time you get to middle/high school, you have fewer class choices than those in the green. For example, many down county middle and high schools only offer two foreign language choices: Spanish and French. Chinese? Sign language? Not at my daughters' schools.

There are also far fewer extra curricular choices beyond sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The 'high performing child' gets minimal attention and my relative freely admits this. She is frustrated because she spend a huge amount of time on classroom management and behavior and less time than is needed on instruction.

Not to mention, when 14 of the 15 kids need to learn at a slow pace during oral instruction -- again, for a variety of understandable reasons -- the 15th kid must necessarily learn at a slow pace.

We've had a similiar experience, though not at this school. When we asked why she hadn't met with our child for reading in three weeks, the teacher told us that she was required to meet with the "at risk" kids on a daily basis, and she fits the other groups in as often as she can. While I understand the need for this, I still feel like our DC gets short changed.

[Anonymous]

Our three children attended a BCC cluster elementary school. The godmother of our oldest teaches 3rd grade at a high-FARMs school in another part of the county. When each of our kids went through 3rd grade, we often marvelled at how closely aligned our child's class was with the our friend's class. (E.g., -- "Oh, you're doing fractions this week too. What's a good way to help kids learn how to reduce fractions?")

Our friend would often note, however, that even with the same curriculum, the classroom experience was very different from school to school. Most of these differences were related to the students' socio-economic status. One example really stands out in my memory: she told me that if she got 25% of parents attending at Back-to-School Night, that was a big showing; whereas at our school, it was unusual for a child not to have either parent attend, and, in many cases, both parents attended. My friend wasn't in any way criticizing the parents of her students. She understood completely that they were often working at night or couldn't afford a babysitter to allow them to attend BTS Night; rather, she was trying to help me understand that her students didn't have the same benefits of parent involvement that my kids did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I do hear this fear from parents that you mention too, but I don't know if it's real. Can anyone chime in if they have a high-performing child in a lower-performing school, and how it has affected them?

np here. I have no kids yet in MoCo but I have a very close relative who teaches at New Hampshire Estates, a title I school. Sbe tells us things that she's really contractually or ethically forbidden to discuss. In her classes of ~15, there's always one child who isn't FARM + ESL. The other 14 are always poor to dirt poor recent immigrants with parents who are entirely uninvested in the kids' education -- for a variety of reasons. ie, they don't speak English, it's not culturally common to engage with teachers, they work 3 jobs, they live in another country and the kid is staying in a counsin's basement ... whatever.

Bottom line, my teacher-relative spends 98% of her time focusing on the 14 students described above because she must. The 'high performing child' gets minimal attention and my relative freely admits this. She is frustrated because she spend a huge amount of time on classroom management and behavior and less time than is needed on instruction.

Not to mention, when 14 of the 15 kids need to learn at a slow pace during oral instruction -- again, for a variety of understandable reasons -- the 15th kid must necessarily learn at a slow pace. Do a DCUM search for 'new hampshire estates' and you'll find other posts of hers and mine with more concrete examples of what I'm talking about.

I'm not discrediting everything you've said here, but who is or is not a FARMS student is confidential information. Not even the administrators know this in a school. I guarantee your relative does not know who the FARMS students in her class are. She may guess based upon what she knows of their families, but she doesn't know for sure about anyone.

[Anonymous]

My child attends a "focus school" and I think they have done a good job of addressing the needs of both the kids who came in not speaking English and those who came in reading chapter books. In addition to reading groups in the classroom, the kids who are reading at a higher level are taken out 3 times a week to work in groups of 3 with another teacher on higher level reading and writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
np here. I have no kids yet in MoCo but I have a very close relative who teaches at New Hampshire Estates, a title I school. Sbe tells us things that she's really contractually or ethically forbidden to discuss. In her classes of ~15, there's always one child who isn't FARM + ESL. The other 14 are always poor to dirt poor recent immigrants with parents who are entirely uninvested in the kids' education -- for a variety of reasons. ie, they don't speak English, it's not culturally common to engage with teachers, they work 3 jobs, they live in another country and the kid is staying in a counsin's basement ... whatever.
Bottom line, my teacher-relative spends 98% of her time focusing on the 14 students described above because she must. The 'high performing child' gets minimal attention and my relative freely admits this. She is frustrated because she spend a huge amount of time on classroom management and behavior and less time than is needed on instruction.
Not to mention, when 14 of the 15 kids need to learn at a slow pace during oral instruction -- again, for a variety of understandable reasons -- the 15th kid must necessarily learn at a slow pace. Do a DCUM search for 'new hampshire estates' and you'll find other posts of hers and mine with more concrete examples of what I'm talking about.

I guess I can understand this frustration, but we do go to school with other people in our community in this country. Their children need to learn English and the schools are doing an excellent job teaching them. Is this 15th kid really losing so much that it's worth it for his wealthier family to pull him out, like all the other wealthier families have pulled their kids out, so there are literally no highly involved parents left? It seems like we've made that bargain in this country. That we keep our own kid completely safe, surrounded by other wealthy kids, while draining all the parental resources out of the schools we leave.

[Anonymous]

I'm the OP and I just want to thank you for this civilized discussion. (Only one person called me stupid!)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
np here. I have no kids yet in MoCo but I have a very close relative who teaches at New Hampshire Estates, a title I school. Sbe tells us things that she's really contractually or ethically forbidden to discuss. In her classes of ~15, there's always one child who isn't FARM + ESL. The other 14 are always poor to dirt poor recent immigrants with parents who are entirely uninvested in the kids' education -- for a variety of reasons. ie, they don't speak English, it's not culturally common to engage with teachers, they work 3 jobs, they live in another country and the kid is staying in a counsin's basement ... whatever.
Bottom line, my teacher-relative spends 98% of her time focusing on the 14 students described above because she must. The 'high performing child' gets minimal attention and my relative freely admits this. She is frustrated because she spend a huge amount of time on classroom management and behavior and less time than is needed on instruction.
Not to mention, when 14 of the 15 kids need to learn at a slow pace during oral instruction -- again, for a variety of understandable reasons -- the 15th kid must necessarily learn at a slow pace. Do a DCUM search for 'new hampshire estates' and you'll find other posts of hers and mine with more concrete examples of what I'm talking about.

I guess I can understand this frustration, but we do go to school with other people in our community in this country. Their children need to learn English and the schools are doing an excellent job teaching them. Is this 15th kid really losing so much that it's worth it for his wealthier family to pull him out, like all the other wealthier families have pulled their kids out, so there are literally no highly involved parents left? It seems like we've made that bargain in this country. That we keep our own kid completely safe, surrounded by other wealthy kids, while draining all the parental resources out of the schools we leave.

There are few elementary schools on MCPS as heavily skewed towards FARMS and ESOL as New Hampshire Estates. Our kids go to a focus school that while having a substantial FARMS and ESOL percentage, is more balanced with involved, active parents and an active PTA We love our school. It is possible to have diversity of background and experience without going as far as NHE. Another problem with NHE is that the few affluent kids who go there do not live anywhere near the school. So, there is no sense of joint community. They are bused in, away from two schools that are much closer to their neighborhood. So their parents often end up sending them to private or parochial school.
There is a broad spectrum within MCPS between a Bradley Hills and New Hampshire Estates. The problem comes when parents assume that any school that isn't a Bradley Hills or Somerset is a New Hampshire Estates.

[Anonymous]

OP, the only person who called you stupid also referred to SOL scores (which are Virginia's standardized tests) in a discussion about Montgomery County, MARYLAND'S public schools. So, I wouldn't even count that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a broad spectrum within MCPS between a Bradley Hills and New Hampshire Estates. The problem comes when parents assume that any school that isn't a Bradley Hills or Somerset is a New Hampshire Estates.

Amen to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just want to put this out there. I see people referring to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase district or the Rockville district, etc. But with the exception of the magnet schools, the curriculum is the same across the county, from K to 12. The teachers are very good across the county. The only difference among schools is who your kid is sitting next to in class. People on this board look at the average scores of the kids in the school and then tend to consider a school "good" if that kid sitting next to your kid is relatively wealthy and usually white or asian. They tend to consider a school "bad" if that kid is relatively less wealthy and usually hispanic or black. But Montgomery County schools are among the best in the nation, whoever is sitting next to your kid. We have great teachers and lots of resources. If you are looking for a place to live, please don't believe the scare tactics. These are all good schools.

That was nice, OP. As a teacher in a "bad" school, I thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child attends a "focus school" and I think they have done a good job of addressing the needs of both the kids who came in not speaking English and those who came in reading chapter books. In addition to reading groups in the classroom, the kids who are reading at a higher level are taken out 3 times a week to work in groups of 3 with another teacher on higher level reading and writing.

I agree with this, and yes New Hampshire Estates is the far end of the spectrum in Moco

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I do hear this fear from parents that you mention too, but I don't know if it's real. Can anyone chime in if they have a high-performing child in a lower-performing school, and how it has affected them?

np here. I have no kids yet in MoCo but I have a very close relative who teaches at New Hampshire Estates, a title I school. Sbe tells us things that she's really contractually or ethically forbidden to discuss. In her classes of ~15, there's always one child who isn't FARM + ESL. The other 14 are always poor to dirt poor recent immigrants with parents who are entirely uninvested in the kids' education -- for a variety of reasons. ie, they don't speak English, it's not culturally common to engage with teachers, they work 3 jobs, they live in another country and the kid is staying in a counsin's basement ... whatever.

Bottom line, my teacher-relative spends 98% of her time focusing on the 14 students described above because she must. The 'high performing child' gets minimal attention and my relative freely admits this. She is frustrated because she spend a huge amount of time on classroom management and behavior and less time than is needed on instruction.

Not to mention, when 14 of the 15 kids need to learn at a slow pace during oral instruction -- again, for a variety of understandable reasons -- the 15th kid must necessarily learn at a slow pace. Do a DCUM search for 'new hampshire estates' and you'll find other posts of hers and mine with more concrete examples of what I'm talking about.

I'm not discrediting everything you've said here, but who is or is not a FARMS student is confidential information. Not even the administrators know this in a school. I guarantee your relative does not know who the FARMS students in her class are.S She may guess based upon what she knows of their families, but she doesn't know for sure about anyone.

Wouldn't a teacher know who is having free breakfast at school and who isn't?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I do hear this fear from parents that you mention too, but I don't know if it's real. Can anyone chime in if they have a high-performing child in a lower-performing school, and how it has affected them?

np here. I have no kids yet in MoCo but I have a very close relative who teaches at New Hampshire Estates, a title I school. Sbe tells us things that she's really contractually or ethically forbidden to discuss. In her classes of ~15, there's always one child who isn't FARM + ESL. The other 14 are always poor to dirt poor recent immigrants with parents who are entirely uninvested in the kids' education -- for a variety of reasons. ie, they don't speak English, it's not culturally common to engage with teachers, they work 3 jobs, they live in another country and the kid is staying in a counsin's basement ... whatever.

Bottom line, my teacher-relative spends 98% of her time focusing on the 14 students described above because she must. The 'high performing child' gets minimal attention and my relative freely admits this. She is frustrated because she spend a huge amount of time on classroom management and behavior and less time than is needed on instruction.

Not to mention, when 14 of the 15 kids need to learn at a slow pace during oral instruction -- again, for a variety of understandable reasons -- the 15th kid must necessarily learn at a slow pace. Do a DCUM search for 'new hampshire estates' and you'll find other posts of hers and mine with more concrete examples of what I'm talking about.

I'm not discrediting everything you've said here, but who is or is not a FARMS student is confidential information. Not even the administrators know this in a school. I guarantee your relative does not know who the FARMS students in her class are.S She may guess based upon what she knows of their families, but she doesn't know for sure about anyone.

Wouldn't a teacher know who is having free breakfast at school and who isn't?[/quote]

My DH teaches in a school with a large FARMS population and the entire school has breakfast, if they want. He has to poll the kids re: who wants breakfast (so that the right # is delivered to the classroom) but he doesn't know which of the kids is FARMS and which not.

[Anonymous]

I'm also a teacher in a red zone school. While we don't know for certain, it is pretty easy to figure out. Even if a family doesn't exactly qualify for FARMS(or they haven't filled out the forms) it is easy to tell who is struggling. Our school provides a lot of outreach and assistance to families, so I know who is on the list to get presents at Christmas and whose family said they needed food for Thanksgiving.

I agree that the small class sizes are fantastic, but only in effect for grades K-2. Then they can shoot up as high as any other school. Being a Title I school can provide a lot of additional support and benefits, which is great, but know that there are no guarantees that a school will maintain title I status. The county decides how to allocate this federal money based on FARMS percentages at various schools. Several schools lost their title I status this year because they weren't needy enough compared to other schools. This meant that they lost teachers, paraeducators, and other programs.