Einstein vs. Northwood, and how does school choice in the DCC work?

[Anonymous]

Clearly by better I mean more compelling of understanding. I didn’t mean to imply that there is anything good about needing asylum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm sorry that I misread your previous statement about 9th grade classes. My worry for a student taking Algebra 1 and Foreign Language 1 in 9th grade in MCPS would be that your student may be in classes with a lot of students who are academic strugglers, troublemakers, or very new to the English language. This might be non-PC of me to say. My DC started a new language in 9th grade and was really disappointed. It's not like Foreign Language 1 in any private school I know of. The strong MCPS students already took Foreign Language 1 in 6th or 7th grade. The weaker students wait to take it in 9th. Some older students are retaking Foreign Language 1 for the 2nd or 3rd time in order to pass. I am not making this up. The exception would be Japanese 1, which will have motivated 9th graders who haven't studied it before.

It will likely be a similar situation in Algebra 1, which is not available as an honors class. The worst math students in the entire high school are going to be in Algebra 1. Likely, some are retaking it in order to pass.

I have known students who were behind in math, with other academic strengths. I have known students who were behind in foreign language (often with learning disabilities), who had other academic strengths. I would worry about a former private school student who has to take the lower level offerings in both.

Have you considered Duke Ellington in DC (costs less than a private) or DeMatha in Hyattsville? At both schools, there should be a strong work ethic demanded of academically average students while providing an excellent music education.

I'd love to see the Einstein band gain your son, but I would want to make sure that he is going to get the academic atmosphere that you are looking for.

I think it's odd that, without knowing anything about my kid other than that his parent thinks he's fantastic and he plays an instrument you assume that other kids on his level are terrible, but he's not and should be rescued from them.

This person is just giving you a heads up that your child's peers (we are assuming college bound students) will likely be in APUSH, Geometry or higher, and World Language 2 or higher. You also want to put your kid in Pre-IB English. On level and honors classes (because MCPS mixes honors and on level at most schools) are going to be filled with kids who are not college bound (maybe you don't care, I get it), and there are more likely to be disruptive kids (you should care, teachers have no ability to discipline kids under current mcps disciplinary policies, it's a problem).

I still don’t get why you assume that my kid must be “peers” with kids in APUSH. You clearly have this view of the kids in Algebra 1, but I don’t understand why, since you clearly don’t give them any benefit of the doubt, I am not sure why my kid gets it. Because he plays an instrument? Because the fact that I managed to pay for Catholic school means I must be middle class and therefore my kid must be somehow superior?

I really don’t mean to be obtuse. Clearly, my kid hasn’t moved fast academically. There are reasons, but lots of low income kids have the same reasons apply to them. And others have some better reasons, like the fact that their whole life got turned upside down by the need to flee to a new country. Why do you assume my kid’s reasons are legit?

Maybe the question is, OP, who do you want your kids' peers to be? Maybe you think that being in public school will be a great wakeup call for him. There are wonderful immigrant students at Einstein. My DC has friends among them. There are also the kids who get in fights in hallways. In my time at Einstein, there has been a stabbing in the woods, a kid who brought had a stolen gun in a stolen car, and another child who decided to brandish a gun on Zoom. I honestly would prefer for my child not to be in class with these kids. I would probably be even more careful if I had a son.

[Anonymous]

Public school is worth a try, but you might find that after a year of on-level/honors classes, if your child wants to go back to a private, he may be even farther behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm sorry that I misread your previous statement about 9th grade classes. My worry for a student taking Algebra 1 and Foreign Language 1 in 9th grade in MCPS would be that your student may be in classes with a lot of students who are academic strugglers, troublemakers, or very new to the English language. This might be non-PC of me to say. My DC started a new language in 9th grade and was really disappointed. It's not like Foreign Language 1 in any private school I know of. The strong MCPS students already took Foreign Language 1 in 6th or 7th grade. The weaker students wait to take it in 9th. Some older students are retaking Foreign Language 1 for the 2nd or 3rd time in order to pass. I am not making this up. The exception would be Japanese 1, which will have motivated 9th graders who haven't studied it before.

It will likely be a similar situation in Algebra 1, which is not available as an honors class. The worst math students in the entire high school are going to be in Algebra 1. Likely, some are retaking it in order to pass.

I have known students who were behind in math, with other academic strengths. I have known students who were behind in foreign language (often with learning disabilities), who had other academic strengths. I would worry about a former private school student who has to take the lower level offerings in both.

Have you considered Duke Ellington in DC (costs less than a private) or DeMatha in Hyattsville? At both schools, there should be a strong work ethic demanded of academically average students while providing an excellent music education.

I'd love to see the Einstein band gain your son, but I would want to make sure that he is going to get the academic atmosphere that you are looking for.

I think it's odd that, without knowing anything about my kid other than that his parent thinks he's fantastic and he plays an instrument you assume that other kids on his level are terrible, but he's not and should be rescued from them.

This person is just giving you a heads up that your child's peers (we are assuming college bound students) will likely be in APUSH, Geometry or higher, and World Language 2 or higher. You also want to put your kid in Pre-IB English. On level and honors classes (because MCPS mixes honors and on level at most schools) are going to be filled with kids who are not college bound (maybe you don't care, I get it), and there are more likely to be disruptive kids (you should care, teachers have no ability to discipline kids under current mcps disciplinary policies, it's a problem).

I still don’t get why you assume that my kid must be “peers” with kids in APUSH. You clearly have this view of the kids in Algebra 1, but I don’t understand why, since you clearly don’t give them any benefit of the doubt, I am not sure why my kid gets it. Because he plays an instrument? Because the fact that I managed to pay for Catholic school means I must be middle class and therefore my kid must be somehow superior?

I really don’t mean to be obtuse. Clearly, my kid hasn’t moved fast academically. There are reasons, but lots of low income kids have the same reasons apply to them. And others have some better reasons, like the fact that their whole life got turned upside down by the need to flee to a new country. Why do you assume my kid’s reasons are legit?

Maybe the question is, OP, who do you want your kids' peers to be? Maybe you think that being in public school will be a great wakeup call for him. There are wonderful immigrant students at Einstein. My DC has friends among them. There are also the kids who get in fights in hallways. In my time at Einstein, there has been a stabbing in the woods, a kid who brought had a stolen gun in a stolen car, and another child who decided to brandish a gun on Zoom. I honestly would prefer for my child not to be in class with these kids. I would probably be even more careful if I had a son.

I want my kid to view all of humanity as his peers. He doesn’t need a wake up call, his values reflect mine. I teach in an urban school in DC, so I am not naive about the imperfections of youth, especially those who face adversity.

[Anonymous]

Go for it, OP. You sound informed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm sorry that I misread your previous statement about 9th grade classes. My worry for a student taking Algebra 1 and Foreign Language 1 in 9th grade in MCPS would be that your student may be in classes with a lot of students who are academic strugglers, troublemakers, or very new to the English language. This might be non-PC of me to say. My DC started a new language in 9th grade and was really disappointed. It's not like Foreign Language 1 in any private school I know of. The strong MCPS students already took Foreign Language 1 in 6th or 7th grade. The weaker students wait to take it in 9th. Some older students are retaking Foreign Language 1 for the 2nd or 3rd time in order to pass. I am not making this up. The exception would be Japanese 1, which will have motivated 9th graders who haven't studied it before.

It will likely be a similar situation in Algebra 1, which is not available as an honors class. The worst math students in the entire high school are going to be in Algebra 1. Likely, some are retaking it in order to pass.

I have known students who were behind in math, with other academic strengths. I have known students who were behind in foreign language (often with learning disabilities), who had other academic strengths. I would worry about a former private school student who has to take the lower level offerings in both.

Have you considered Duke Ellington in DC (costs less than a private) or DeMatha in Hyattsville? At both schools, there should be a strong work ethic demanded of academically average students while providing an excellent music education.

I'd love to see the Einstein band gain your son, but I would want to make sure that he is going to get the academic atmosphere that you are looking for.

I think it's odd that, without knowing anything about my kid other than that his parent thinks he's fantastic and he plays an instrument you assume that other kids on his level are terrible, but he's not and should be rescued from them.

This person is just giving you a heads up that your child's peers (we are assuming college bound students) will likely be in APUSH, Geometry or higher, and World Language 2 or higher. You also want to put your kid in Pre-IB English. On level and honors classes (because MCPS mixes honors and on level at most schools) are going to be filled with kids who are not college bound (maybe you don't care, I get it), and there are more likely to be disruptive kids (you should care, teachers have no ability to discipline kids under current mcps disciplinary policies, it's a problem).

I still don’t get why you assume that my kid must be “peers” with kids in APUSH. You clearly have this view of the kids in Algebra 1, but I don’t understand why, since you clearly don’t give them any benefit of the doubt, I am not sure why my kid gets it. Because he plays an instrument? Because the fact that I managed to pay for Catholic school means I must be middle class and therefore my kid must be somehow superior?

I really don’t mean to be obtuse. Clearly, my kid hasn’t moved fast academically. There are reasons, but lots of low income kids have the same reasons apply to them. And others have some better reasons, like the fact that their whole life got turned upside down by the need to flee to a new country. Why do you assume my kid’s reasons are legit?

Maybe the question is, OP, who do you want your kids' peers to be? Maybe you think that being in public school will be a great wakeup call for him. There are wonderful immigrant students at Einstein. My DC has friends among them. There are also the kids who get in fights in hallways. In my time at Einstein, there has been a stabbing in the woods, a kid who brought had a stolen gun in a stolen car, and another child who decided to brandish a gun on Zoom. I honestly would prefer for my child not to be in class with these kids. I would probably be even more careful if I had a son.

These things happen at every school and at other schools far worse. Why are your kids there if you are so unhappy and racist.

The academics will be an issue but mcps early on is painfully slow too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public school is worth a try, but you might find that after a year of on-level/honors classes, if your child wants to go back to a private, he may be even farther behind.

If OP’s kid is arguably behind from his years in private school, why would a year or two in public (which would have to be farther advanced for him to be behind coming from private) leave him further behind at private?

That doesn’t make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm sorry that I misread your previous statement about 9th grade classes. My worry for a student taking Algebra 1 and Foreign Language 1 in 9th grade in MCPS would be that your student may be in classes with a lot of students who are academic strugglers, troublemakers, or very new to the English language. This might be non-PC of me to say. My DC started a new language in 9th grade and was really disappointed. It's not like Foreign Language 1 in any private school I know of. The strong MCPS students already took Foreign Language 1 in 6th or 7th grade. The weaker students wait to take it in 9th. Some older students are retaking Foreign Language 1 for the 2nd or 3rd time in order to pass. I am not making this up. The exception would be Japanese 1, which will have motivated 9th graders who haven't studied it before.

It will likely be a similar situation in Algebra 1, which is not available as an honors class. The worst math students in the entire high school are going to be in Algebra 1. Likely, some are retaking it in order to pass.

I have known students who were behind in math, with other academic strengths. I have known students who were behind in foreign language (often with learning disabilities), who had other academic strengths. I would worry about a former private school student who has to take the lower level offerings in both.

Have you considered Duke Ellington in DC (costs less than a private) or DeMatha in Hyattsville? At both schools, there should be a strong work ethic demanded of academically average students while providing an excellent music education.

I'd love to see the Einstein band gain your son, but I would want to make sure that he is going to get the academic atmosphere that you are looking for.

I think it's odd that, without knowing anything about my kid other than that his parent thinks he's fantastic and he plays an instrument you assume that other kids on his level are terrible, but he's not and should be rescued from them.

This person is just giving you a heads up that your child's peers (we are assuming college bound students) will likely be in APUSH, Geometry or higher, and World Language 2 or higher. You also want to put your kid in Pre-IB English. On level and honors classes (because MCPS mixes honors and on level at most schools) are going to be filled with kids who are not college bound (maybe you don't care, I get it), and there are more likely to be disruptive kids (you should care, teachers have no ability to discipline kids under current mcps disciplinary policies, it's a problem).

I still don’t get why you assume that my kid must be “peers” with kids in APUSH. You clearly have this view of the kids in Algebra 1, but I don’t understand why, since you clearly don’t give them any benefit of the doubt, I am not sure why my kid gets it. Because he plays an instrument? Because the fact that I managed to pay for Catholic school means I must be middle class and therefore my kid must be somehow superior?

I really don’t mean to be obtuse. Clearly, my kid hasn’t moved fast academically. There are reasons, but lots of low income kids have the same reasons apply to them. And others have some better reasons, like the fact that their whole life got turned upside down by the need to flee to a new country. Why do you assume my kid’s reasons are legit?

Maybe the question is, OP, who do you want your kids' peers to be? Maybe you think that being in public school will be a great wakeup call for him. There are wonderful immigrant students at Einstein. My DC has friends among them. There are also the kids who get in fights in hallways. In my time at Einstein, there has been a stabbing in the woods, a kid who brought had a stolen gun in a stolen car, and another child who decided to brandish a gun on Zoom. I honestly would prefer for my child not to be in class with these kids. I would probably be even more careful if I had a son.

These things happen at every school and at other schools far worse. Why are your kids there if you are so unhappy and racist.

The academics will be an issue but mcps early on is painfully slow too.

How can I be a racist if I recommended two schools that are minority-majority: Duke Ellington and DeMatha? I just honestly don’t know any high school parents in MCPS who rave about the on-level academics. My firiends whose kids are “average” tend to choose private. If OP could see her son doing well in on-level or below-level classes in her own DCPS school, then she knows what she’s getting into.

[Anonymous]

friends

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public school is worth a try, but you might find that after a year of on-level/honors classes, if your child wants to go back to a private, he may be even farther behind.

If OP’s kid is arguably behind from his years in private school, why would a year or two in public (which would have to be farther advanced for him to be behind coming from private) leave him further behind at private?

That doesn’t make sense.

I don’t think OP’s kid is behind coming from private school. Private school courses are more rigorous than on-level MCPS courses. I know this from personal experience. Spanish 1 at a private is going to cover more material and have much more homework than Spanish 1 in an MCPS high school. There have been teachers on dcurbanmoms who have confirmed this. A private school student could be well prepared to take AP Spanish by the 4th or 5th year. In MCPS, this would be very unusual. In private school, many 9th grade Algebra students are planning to go to 4 year universities. They plan to complete a rigorous Pre-Calculus class in 12th grade. In MCPS, many of the 9th grade Algebra students are going to take Math Applications in 12th grade instead of Pre-Calc. Even those getting to Honors PreCalc will be covering concepts that would be covered in Algebra2/Trig in private school. The math sequence and the foreign language sequence progress more slowly in MCPS. Of course, all of humanity are our peers, but OP’s son would have a stronger academic peer group and greater homework expectations in private school.

[Anonymous]

It’s not the on-level coursework that’s more advanced in MCPS, it’s the sequence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm sorry that I misread your previous statement about 9th grade classes. My worry for a student taking Algebra 1 and Foreign Language 1 in 9th grade in MCPS would be that your student may be in classes with a lot of students who are academic strugglers, troublemakers, or very new to the English language. This might be non-PC of me to say. My DC started a new language in 9th grade and was really disappointed. It's not like Foreign Language 1 in any private school I know of. The strong MCPS students already took Foreign Language 1 in 6th or 7th grade. The weaker students wait to take it in 9th. Some older students are retaking Foreign Language 1 for the 2nd or 3rd time in order to pass. I am not making this up. The exception would be Japanese 1, which will have motivated 9th graders who haven't studied it before.

It will likely be a similar situation in Algebra 1, which is not available as an honors class. The worst math students in the entire high school are going to be in Algebra 1. Likely, some are retaking it in order to pass.

I have known students who were behind in math, with other academic strengths. I have known students who were behind in foreign language (often with learning disabilities), who had other academic strengths. I would worry about a former private school student who has to take the lower level offerings in both.

Have you considered Duke Ellington in DC (costs less than a private) or DeMatha in Hyattsville? At both schools, there should be a strong work ethic demanded of academically average students while providing an excellent music education.

I'd love to see the Einstein band gain your son, but I would want to make sure that he is going to get the academic atmosphere that you are looking for.

I think it's odd that, without knowing anything about my kid other than that his parent thinks he's fantastic and he plays an instrument you assume that other kids on his level are terrible, but he's not and should be rescued from them.

This person is just giving you a heads up that your child's peers (we are assuming college bound students) will likely be in APUSH, Geometry or higher, and World Language 2 or higher. You also want to put your kid in Pre-IB English. On level and honors classes (because MCPS mixes honors and on level at most schools) are going to be filled with kids who are not college bound (maybe you don't care, I get it), and there are more likely to be disruptive kids (you should care, teachers have no ability to discipline kids under current mcps disciplinary policies, it's a problem).

I still don’t get why you assume that my kid must be “peers” with kids in APUSH. You clearly have this view of the kids in Algebra 1, but I don’t understand why, since you clearly don’t give them any benefit of the doubt, I am not sure why my kid gets it. Because he plays an instrument? Because the fact that I managed to pay for Catholic school means I must be middle class and therefore my kid must be somehow superior?

I really don’t mean to be obtuse. Clearly, my kid hasn’t moved fast academically. There are reasons, but lots of low income kids have the same reasons apply to them. And others have some better reasons, like the fact that their whole life got turned upside down by the need to flee to a new country. Why do you assume my kid’s reasons are legit?

Maybe the question is, OP, who do you want your kids' peers to be? Maybe you think that being in public school will be a great wakeup call for him. There are wonderful immigrant students at Einstein. My DC has friends among them. There are also the kids who get in fights in hallways. In my time at Einstein, there has been a stabbing in the woods, a kid who brought had a stolen gun in a stolen car, and another child who decided to brandish a gun on Zoom. I honestly would prefer for my child not to be in class with these kids. I would probably be even more careful if I had a son.

These things happen at every school and at other schools far worse. Why are your kids there if you are so unhappy and racist.

The academics will be an issue but mcps early on is painfully slow too.

How can I be a racist if I recommended two schools that are minority-majority: Duke Ellington and DeMatha? I just honestly don’t know any high school parents in MCPS who rave about the on-level academics. My firiends whose kids are “average” tend to choose private. If OP could see her son doing well in on-level or below-level classes in her own DCPS school, then she knows what she’s getting into.

I'm not OP. I am going to say that using the term "peers" for some kids and not for others really rubs me the wrong way. I am not going to go so far as to say racist, but it's a way of referring to someone that makes me very uncomfortable.

And I still am unclear about why, if you feel that certain kids aren't worthy of the term "peer", why you seem to extend that term to mine? If keeping your kid away from kids who aren't their "peers" is so important, then why are you providing me hints for getting my kid into classes that your kid is in? Is it because you imagined him as middle class when I first posted (before I mentioned that I'm a teacher)? Is it because you buy into the really racist/classist narrative that certain categories parents don't care about their kid, and therefore because I clearly do you judge my kid differently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in bounds for one of those two, but really live pretty equidistant between them. My kid is a 7th grader in a K-8 private, so most of what I hear chatter about is private, but I think public will work better.

He's very musical kid. He likes singing, and playing a brass instrument, and doing musical theater. Any thoughts on how to choose which one to rank first?

Also, I know that if he ranks the one that is in bounds for us first, he's guaranteed a slot. If he ranks it second, and doesn't get his first choice, is he also guaranteed a slot?

Are there other schools we should be considering?

Personally, I would stick with private It may not be the best fit but, Montgomery county is really not a great place right now! My kid was in bounds for Blair but, we asked for Northwood so she got that. Then she got into private and based on her experience in middle school we decided that we would go private and for us it was a better decision. We have friends who sent kids to both Einstein, Northwood and Blair and have heard that while some kids do well there are others that fall though the crack and have horrible experiences. Think heavy drug use.

If I were you I would think long and hard before I sent my loved one to any Montgomery county public school!

[Anonymous]

I am a little confused now about which responses have come from OP. Perhaps a better word than peers is “cohort.” All of humanity are our peers, but for the time being, we get to choose our kids’ cohort. This has nothing to do with race; there are students of color in the IB and AP classes. Many of them are first-generation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Blair has an excellent orchestra. The musicals are okay, but usually double-cast for roles, which results in weaker overall performances, even though twice as many kids get to say that they have leads.

Are you kidding me? Blair musicals are fantastic! My kids didn't go to Blair but, we live in the neighborhood and went to their shows frequently. They all are extremely talented, both casts! They have double casts so more kids can participate but, all are really good. I also saw shows at other high schools and Blair is one of the best. Now, their schools have other problems but, this isn't one of them.