Pls tell me about the Rockville HS cluster (with Wood MS, Barnsley ES, Flower Valley ES)

[Anonymous]

important

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, what does imp. mean?

sorry - important

[Anonymous]

I have heard there is a lot of cheating at Wooton and that many of the parents really push their kids to excell and BE THE BEST. I hate to stereotype, but have heard this is especially true for the Chinese students or other Asian students and there is about 35% Asian students at Wootton. Is there any truth to this? How does being around such a large population of students that are constantly pushed to excel academically affect the other students? Of course I want my kids to excel but not at all costs -- it will not be the end of the world if they don't make it into an IB program or get A in every single class. So I wonder if the culture is such that if they are not in the very top of their class if they will feel like they are failing or not as good or other negative feelings about themselves? Without having the parents pushing, pushing, pushing their kids the way I have heard some of the other parents do, will they be able to compete? To keep up? Please tell me more about the culture at Wootton. Thanks

[Anonymous]

I hope the original poster couldn't find a $600,000 house in Montgomery County that was in a white enough area for them and kept their racism out of MOCO. Crikey, says the white guy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have heard there is a lot of cheating at Wooton and that many of the parents really push their kids to excell and BE THE BEST. I hate to stereotype, but have heard this is especially true for the Chinese students or other Asian students and there is about 35% Asian students at Wootton. Is there any truth to this? How does being around such a large population of students that are constantly pushed to excel academically affect the other students? Of course I want my kids to excel but not at all costs -- it will not be the end of the world if they don't make it into an IB program or get A in every single class. So I wonder if the culture is such that if they are not in the very top of their class if they will feel like they are failing or not as good or other negative feelings about themselves? Without having the parents pushing, pushing, pushing their kids the way I have heard some of the other parents do, will they be able to compete? To keep up? Please tell me more about the culture at Wootton. Thanks

Some parents I know who are Asian have kids in the Wootton cluster. The kids are only in ES now, but the parents are a bit worried about the academic pressures. Some is good. Too much, not good.

Also, there's a whole thread about Wootton and how so many of the HS kids there drive expensive cars. That's something to think about, too, the materialistic pressure.

We are from out of state and knew nothing about any of the schools before moving here. I only went by what I saw on greatschools.net (org). I didn't even think to check the MCPS website. But I already knew about the impact to my kids of being in a wealthy area in regards to material things. We moved from a wealthy area. We were looking for good programs, not necessarily high test scores in a school, and diversity, both SES and race.

OP - if you are not just after test scores, then maybe some of the above is some food for thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:'For instance, how does a high percentatge of hispanic students in Rockville HS affect the overall school? And then does a high number of Asian students at Wootton have the same effect or is that better (are there for instance less gangs, more studious kids or more academic competition)?"

OP..you may not have meant it but your post sounds like you have some pretty big stereotypes to work through...

So did you look for a school that had a high percentage of Hispanics or move to SE DC just to be politically correct? We all know EVERYONE looks at schools and gets concerned if some red flags are there. Why does everyone have to be so tactful here. Geez! Just look at the "at a glance" at the schools. It is a fact (not opinion) that schools with high Hispanics have poor test scores compared to others - which equals more help needed in class, which equals your kids gets the shaft.

You know I just looked at "at a glance" for Potomac Elementary which is 30% Asian and 60% white and the MSA grades for All students in 3rd grade Math and reading is >= 95%

Now Forest Knolls, which is 41% Hispanic the MSA grades for All students in 3rd grade are 90.7 and 93.5, 4th grade about the same, 5th grade a little lower. Please tell me how having high Hispanics is failing the students. These students are doing fine and FARMs is 40% at Forest Knolls as compared to Potomac < 5%.

Where is the FACT you are talking about?

also: Viers Mill ES 63% Hispanic (48% resource-sucking ESOL students, 70+% FARMs) >95% MSA proficient across the board in all categories, including those dumb Hispanic kids.
Darnestown ES 5% Hispanic, 80% White could only manage 80-90% MSA proficient for white kids, the only category with enough kids to count.

Bonus: VMES average class sizes: K-16.6, Grades 1-3- 28.5, Grades 4-5-28.7. Overall staff/student ratio: 1/8.4
DES average class sizes: K-25.5, Grades 1-3-34.8 (!), Grades 4-5-30.4. Overall staff/student ratio: 1/14.6

So which kids are really getting the shaft?

Fact-finding PP apparently doesn't understand that ESOL/FARMs kids bring additional staff allocations (that are much more protected by staffing cuts) and additional resources which benefit all students. There are many Title I schools that have it down. There are many affluent schools that do not.

I would argue that the makeup of the school, both in racial categories and socio-economic status, affects the overall school climate. We want our children to attend schools in which they will not be outsiders. Nobody wants their child to be the only white student, or Hispanic student in the class. But to automatically attribute "more undesirable brown students" to "bad school for white/Asian kids" is offensive, and unsupported by the actual facts.

So more ESOL teachers and free breakfast? How does it help the other students?

There are smaller class sizes in the early years for ALL students in Title I schools, not just the ESOL students.

Because they don't speak English, which should be a requirement before attending school. That would certainly help the teachers, scores, and limit the droves of illegals who want free education without being a citizen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope the original poster couldn't find a $600,000 house in Montgomery County that was in a white enough area for them and kept their racism out of MOCO. Crikey, says the white guy.

Facts are facts. People like you want to shame people for telling it like it is.