Rockville HS vs. Richard Montgomery HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interestingly enough, if you look at the detailed GS ratings, white kids at Rockville actually have a better test score rating (9) then Richard Montgomery (8).

And? So, what about Asian Am., Black and Hispanic test scores? And what does that exactly tell us?

OP, both schools are decent and very diverse. RM cluster probably has more higher SES than Rockville cluster. The size importance really depends on your DC - some students like small schools because otherwise they get lost in the crowd, so to speak, while others hate to stand out and prefer larger schools.

Location wise, RM is very close to Town Center, while Rockville is in the middle of the 'burbs.

It tells us that a white kid from this area will probably do just as well at RM as they would do at Rockville. Black and Hispanic scores at both schools are in the 3-4 range. People around here tend to hold RM in higher regard than Rockville, but in terms of actual student performance I don't know that there is much of a difference. OP, I would base my decision on what particular neighborhood you like better vs which HS it feeds into. There is quite a difference in neighborhoods even feeding into the same HS.

DCUM gets hysterical when you evaluate a school based on your own demographic, unless your demographic is the overwhelming majority of the school. For example, I was once told that one of the schools in our cluster was awful, and I pointed out that for white students it has a GS rating of 9 so we had no concerns about sending our white child there. I was told that was racist. So to recap, sending your white child to a predominately white school with a high GS rating is noble; to send your child to a racially diverse school with a middling GS rating but that has a high GS rating for your demographic is racist. Only white people who totally avoid minorities aren’t racist. #dcumlogic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the previous post that hanging out with the wrong kids could get them into trouble, but are there more "wrong" kids at Rockville than RM? Given that only 36% of kids at Rockville are meeting the Univ. of Maryland entry requirements, what are the rest of them up to? According to the RM at a glance, 64% of kids are meeting the requirements.

about 120 kids in RMIB. Most of IB kids do apply to UMD and get in. this bumps up the number

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The funny thing is that RHS and RM have always been rivals. RHS has always had a better reputation— hence the purpose of the magnet program.

RMHS *used* to be not so great. The reputation has changed, and yes, part of it was the IB program which draws upper/middle income people to the cluster.

RHS rating = 5; college readiness 6
RMHS rating = 7 college readiness 8

Wood MS rating = 7
JW MS rating = 8

Yes IB magnet at RM raises the test scores, but saying that without IB magnet at RM the school would be only so so is like saying that the W schools would be so so if there were less wealthy people. The school is what it is *because* of the programs and students who attend that school, and that does include the magnet kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the previous post that hanging out with the wrong kids could get them into trouble, but are there more "wrong" kids at Rockville than RM? Given that only 36% of kids at Rockville are meeting the Univ. of Maryland entry requirements, what are the rest of them up to? According to the RM at a glance, 64% of kids are meeting the requirements.

about 120 kids in RMIB. Most of IB kids do apply to UMD and get in. this bumps up the number

100 students are from other clusters. The rest are RMHS cluster students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM without IB is pretty average. It's going to be even more ordinary due to IB program trying to take more students from home school in RM.

Sounds harsh but I think this sums it up pretty well. Without magnet IB, I don't see any significant difference between two.

This is a very lackluster view because it doesn't go into any depth. RM is a very weird dynamic if you break it up by ES. At the ES level, there are currently 3 (soon to be 4) high-performing schools and one average. When they combine at the middle school level, performance is above average. You an draw a lot more conclusions from the JW side than the RM side.

There was a thread to calculate average SAT score without IB for RM. Look it up and see where it puts RM without IB. I am aware of JW doing better and I did ask this to 2 principles of ES in this cluster.

MCPS is still able to push kids when they are young, it falls apart by the time they reach HS. External influence takes over and MCPS is not able to do the same job with HS kids. That's what both told me. I am not sure if it's 100% true, but just repeating whatever I heard.

Yes, I can't remember which thread but I do remember the "estimated" avg for RM (excluding IB) was about 1450 (based on old 2400 SAT) about 700 or so lower than IB avg. No different than typical MCPS HS such as Rockville, GHS and such

[Anonymous]

We love the RM cluster. No knowledge of the Rockville cluster but very happy in RM. Kind, down to earth people, not elitist snobs like over in the Beverly Farms or Wayside neighborhoods full of $2M homes and most high school kids driving brand new Range Rovers and mocking those that do not.

[Anonymous]

Both are good schools. RM is a bit better. Anecdotally, I grew up in the area and went to RM. Pretty much everyone who graduated with me is doing great career wise. The IB kids in particular (I was not one) - many went to Ivy League schools and are now doctors, attorneys, scientists etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both are good schools. RM is a bit better. Anecdotally, I grew up in the area and went to RM. Pretty much everyone who graduated with me is doing great career wise. The IB kids in particular (I was not one) - many went to Ivy League schools and are now doctors, attorneys, scientists etc.

I live in the RM district. I wouldn’t say that RM is better than Rockville. It’s certainly better for me and my family—we have experiencewith both schools. Rockville is much smaller and gives a different feel because of that. Both are very middle class—averaging demographics very close to the averages of MoCo, but RM has more wealthier households and more poorer ones. I think Rockville has more potential for downstairs slip because of the areas it pulls from. Rockville districts are further from jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both are good schools. RM is a bit better. Anecdotally, I grew up in the area and went to RM. Pretty much everyone who graduated with me is doing great career wise. The IB kids in particular (I was not one) - many went to Ivy League schools and are now doctors, attorneys, scientists etc.

How so?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both are good schools. RM is a bit better. Anecdotally, I grew up in the area and went to RM. Pretty much everyone who graduated with me is doing great career wise. The IB kids in particular (I was not one) - many went to Ivy League schools and are now doctors, attorneys, scientists etc.

I can say the same thing about the people I graduated with in Rockville HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The funny thing is that RHS and RM have always been rivals. RHS has always had a better reputation— hence the purpose of the magnet program.

RMHS *used* to be not so great. The reputation has changed, and yes, part of it was the IB program which draws upper/middle income people to the cluster.

RHS rating = 5; college readiness 6
RMHS rating = 7 college readiness 8

Wood MS rating = 7
JW MS rating = 8

Yes IB magnet at RM raises the test scores, but saying that without IB magnet at RM the school would be only so so is like saying that the W schools would be so so if there were less wealthy people. The school is what it is *because* of the programs and students who attend that school, and that does include the magnet kids.

It's also worth pointing out that the demographics of RM have changed a lot since the days when the magnet program was first put there. You've had Fallsgrove, King Farm (most of which is zoned for RM) and Park Potomac built since then, and that's all fairly wealthy housing that feeds into the cluster. Rockville, HS, to my knowledge, hasn't had a similar development boom in the cluster over the last few decades.

[Anonymous]

Believe me, the families at Churchill are better than either school, for many, many reasons. Everyone wants to attend Churchill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The funny thing is that RHS and RM have always been rivals. RHS has always had a better reputation— hence the purpose of the magnet program.

RMHS *used* to be not so great. The reputation has changed, and yes, part of it was the IB program which draws upper/middle income people to the cluster.

RHS rating = 5; college readiness 6
RMHS rating = 7 college readiness 8

Wood MS rating = 7
JW MS rating = 8

Yes IB magnet at RM raises the test scores, but saying that without IB magnet at RM the school would be only so so is like saying that the W schools would be so so if there were less wealthy people. The school is what it is *because* of the programs and students who attend that school, and that does include the magnet kids.

It's also worth pointing out that the demographics of RM have changed a lot since the days when the magnet program was first put there. You've had Fallsgrove, King Farm (most of which is zoned for RM) and Park Potomac built since then, and that's all fairly wealthy housing that feeds into the cluster. Rockville, HS, to my knowledge, hasn't had a similar development boom in the cluster over the last few decades.

It's actually much more than that built since 1987:

Falls Grove
King Farm (lower half)
Rose Hill/Rose Hill Farms
Park Potomac
Tower Oaks


Most of those areas are high SES, with very expensive homes in many of the neighborhoods going to the $1m level or more. Then there are other high-SES neighborhoods that were moved into RM at the onset of the magnet program:

Horizon Hill
Falls Ridge
Potomac Woods
Falls Orchard
Montgomery Square (northern section)

These neighborhoods are pretty much 100% single-family homes build in the 1960s-1980s currently priced between $600k and $900k.

West End and near Town Center have had McMansionization of tear-downs and major renovations putting values above $1m now, too. All of this has caused desirability to increase a lot for other neighborhoods in the district, and so College Gardens has also increased in value and SES.

In other words, the RM district is very different now than it was in 1987.

[Anonymous]

DD attends RM and we have many friends who attend Rockville HS. The families I know from both clusters are happy with the schools, however, one friend of mine who is Asian mentioned feeling alienated at Rockville HS because there are few Asian students there. I think RM is a bit more economically diverse with high SES and low SES students, with more students on the high SES side of the spectrum. I believe Rockville HS has more middle class students overall.

Overall, DD likes RMs competitive environment and while not in the magnet program plans to pursue an IB diploma. She is a high performer, but not at the IB level, and enjoys hanging out and attending classes with students who are so academically talented. RM seems to attract good teachers - at least she has liked all of them so far and they all seem to be well-qualified. RM has a LOT of students - which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your child. DD likes it, but some kids do better in a smaller environment.

Oh, in response to a PPs question, while I can't imagine choosing a high school based on the lunch policy, yes, RM has open lunch. There isn't room for all the kids to eat in the cafeteria at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both are good schools. RM is a bit better. Anecdotally, I grew up in the area and went to RM. Pretty much everyone who graduated with me is doing great career wise. The IB kids in particular (I was not one) - many went to Ivy League schools and are now doctors, attorneys, scientists etc.

I live in the RM district. I wouldn’t say that RM is better than Rockville. It’s certainly better for me and my family—we have experiencewith both schools. Rockville is much smaller and gives a different feel because of that. Both are very middle class—averaging demographics very close to the averages of MoCo, but RM has more wealthier households and more poorer ones. I think Rockville has more potential for downstairs slip because of the areas it pulls from. Rockville districts are further from jobs.

Huh???