JLKM Elementary vs. Bethesda or Chevy Chase Elementary

[Anonymous]

Moot point for MCPS immersion or SN or even G&T. None of those centers or special schools are around Bethesda, they are v long commutes. You’d physically have to move house 20-40 mins both or east. MCPS our such programs in gentrifying areas in order to boost demographics and real estate. Doesn’t work well for downtown or virg commutes.

Plus, does MCPS serve only 1% of its g&t population and fair fair fax or Mclean do over 5%? The magnitude is lacking in MCPS, and if you list to the superintendent it’s not a focus are: the east county achievement gap is and that’s where time, attention and resources continue to go.

[Anonymous]

Did you check out MYSA micro school in Bethesda? I've seen a lot of press coverage about their education techniques, but not sure about class-size or achievement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Moot point for MCPS immersion or SN or even G&T. None of those centers or special schools are around Bethesda, they are v long commutes. You’d physically have to move house 20-40 mins both or east. MCPS our such programs in gentrifying areas in order to boost demographics and real estate. Doesn’t work well for downtown or virg commutes.

Plus, does MCPS serve only 1% of its g&t population and fair fair fax or Mclean do over 5%? The magnitude is lacking in MCPS, and if you list to the superintendent it’s not a focus are: the east county achievement gap is and that’s where time, attention and resources continue to go.

Not true. The Center for Enriched Studies (previously known as the Highly Gifted Center) is located AT Chevy Chase Elementary School, one of the schools OP is asking about. Last I checked Chevy Chase is pretty near Bethesda. And if you look on the umpteen threads in the Maryland school forums, MoCo is trying to expand its enrichment (aka gifted) programs to serve kids at their local schools. Some are happy about that (like me, as I would not like my kid bused to another school). Some are not. DCPS doesn't have this at all, and some DC parents prefer the lack of differentiation (others do not.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former DCPS teacher here, DCPS does have foreign language in elementary but it's not really learning anything other than hola and adios. MCPS does dual language immersion very well for Mandarin, Spanish, and French by capturing actual strong native teachers and students. Students are immersed all day in the language and therefore are able to pick up on the language much faster and become partially fluent after about two years. MCPS is stronger in supporting special needs and gifted/talented students by creating enriching experiences. But even if you chose to APS, Fairfax, Loudon or Howard Co. they also have strong advanced academic or Gifted/Talented programs, this is where DCPS fails. They don't have anything for GT students or 2E (Twice Exceptional) students whose scores on CogAt or Inview show they are genius smart but struggle with organization or ADHD. The suburbans do these programs well because they have been doing it well for a long time and the parents have generally held them accountable much longer. DCPS is just starting to get families who hold them accountable, hence the school scandals cycle in and out of the news every 4 weeks. The latest scandals over a one year period: The DC chancellor used his position to have his daughter moved from one highly regarded school to another highly sought after school. Unfortunately, the chancellor had signed a bill prior which revoked DC personnel from making such moves. The chancellor resigned after much public outcry. (2) It was found DCPS Central Office was threatening principals and teachers to pass students who could barely read and pushing them to apply for college. It was found many of the students barely came to school with absences as high as 50 days. Such as Ballou where the reading proficiency and math is abysmal yet they had 100% college acceptance rate. (3) DC spent hundreds of millions to renovate Duke Ellington a school for arts for DC students yet many of the students come from MD. (4) Many of DCPS's students are in fact Maryland residents. It was found DCPS principals and police officers and some central office workers enrolled their children in DCPS for convience (4) DCPS admits to the rampant residency fraud but says it only has one residency fraud personnel worker for tens of thousands of students in DC. DC also admits many of the students formerly lived in DC but can no longer afford to do so and thereby have connections to their old community. Essentially telling homeowners of DC tough cookies because we have no intention of getting rid of MD students. This is likely because if DCPS really went after these MD students their enrollment numbers would sharply fall and so would funding. There aren't enough upper middle class families to carry DCPS. (5) DCPS claimed to have revised a policy that would not punish principals and teachers for failing a student who did not do the work or show up to school. WashPo discovered DCPS was deleting some of the absences of the students who missed a lot of school days. DCPS revised its policy again to say students who missed more than 30 days during the second semester of school would not graduate.

The school year has not yet ended so I expect another two scandals before summer break.

Yes, there are a lot of scandals in DCPS, but to be fair, these don't really affect JKLMs, or other popular schools. There might be a few MD kids there, but not rampant like at Duke Ellington, where it was found that at least 30% of the kids there are there illegally since false paperwork was submitted, and they actually live in MD or VA.

[Anonymous]

Plus it’s the DC Gov’t and federal worker kids who live elsewhere, so insider job.

[Anonymous]

When you have two teachers per classroom you can indeed differentiate in eS.
When you have one teacher and 25+ students you have DIY rotating centers all day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all -- to clarify, I'm just talking in terms of elementary to elementary, not taking into account anything about the later grades.

Well, if you're renting that's fine. But most people ask these types of questions because they're buying a homes. We probably would have preferred DC for proximity to work, but chose MoCo so our kids would have good schools through HS.

I understand you wanting that certainty, but we operate a little differently. Who knows where we will be or what our situation will be 7 years from now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all -- to clarify, I'm just talking in terms of elementary to elementary, not taking into account anything about the later grades.

Well, if you're renting that's fine. But most people ask these types of questions because they're buying a homes. We probably would have preferred DC for proximity to work, but chose MoCo so our kids would have good schools through HS.

I understand you wanting that certainty, but we operate a little differently. Who knows where we will be or what our situation will be 7 years from now.

Sure, if you're doing a short-term decision, both sets of schools are good. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all -- to clarify, I'm just talking in terms of elementary to elementary, not taking into account anything about the later grades.

Well, if you're renting that's fine. But most people ask these types of questions because they're buying a homes. We probably would have preferred DC for proximity to work, but chose MoCo so our kids would have good schools through HS.

I understand you wanting that certainty, but we operate a little differently. Who knows where we will be or what our situation will be 7 years from now.

Sure, if you're doing a short-term decision, both sets of schools are good. Problem solved.

Yeah, and you get the added benefit of being walkable to metro and shops... and being a tad closer to work. Depending on what your alternative would have been in Maryland, it could mean more time with your kids since it takes you less time to get to/from home.