Takoma Park ES & MS - Great Schools?

[Anonymous]

Hello! Wondering if anyone has/has had any children enrolled at Takoma Park Elementary on Holly Ave, and if you could tell me if you think are the curriculums challenging, is it safe, what are the school's strengths & weaknesses, are the teachers experienced and highly qualified?

I'm also interested in learning information on Takoma Park Middle School.

Thank you so much for any help!!

[Anonymous]

Also interested in impressions/insight, particularly regarding TPMS (regular programs, advanced classes). Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Bump.

[Anonymous]

There's this nifty thing called a "search"...

[Anonymous]

The test scores for white children at tpes are great but there is a big disparity in with Black and Hispanic kids. The difference is almost 40 points in some areas. I know this might be partially due to low SES but it is problematic if all the kids of color are scoring way below thier whitr peers. There should be more pk3 slots and more tutoring.

Check out the tpes scores,it is really shocking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The test scores for white children at tpes are great but there is a big disparity in with Black and Hispanic kids. The difference is almost 40 points in some areas. I know this might be partially due to low SES but it is problematic if all the kids of color are scoring way below thier whitr peers. There should be more pk3 slots and more tutoring.

Check out the tpes scores,it is really shocking.

Scores on what tests? TPES is a k-2 school. They don't take MSA, and the county doesn't do terra nova anymore.

[Anonymous]

Pull up the Maryland at a Glance profile for the school. They are measuring something and, as I said the picture is pretty bleak.

[Anonymous]

The test is terra nova on the mcps site. If they are not taking the terra nova for this school year, what have they replaced it with? What is the school doing to address the disparity. How have the numbers changed since they have gotten rid of the test.

[Anonymous]

Takoma Park is overrated in so many ways. Calling them great is a stretch, especially if you're comparing them to the rest of MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The test is terra nova on the mcps site. If they are not taking the terra nova for this school year, what have they replaced it with? What is the school doing to address the disparity. How have the numbers changed since they have gotten rid of the test.

That must be old data, from 2011-2012. First, make sure you understand what the scores mean. I have not looked at the scores for tpes (that is not our school), but for example, 65% means 65% of students scored above the mean (or something like that). It is not the same as seeing 65% for MSA scores. And the county has not replaced terra nova with anything. They decided it was a waste of time and money to give standardized tests to second graders.

[Anonymous]

16:38 again, I think it would be more informative for OP to look at the test scores for Piney Branch ES, the 3-5 school that TPES feeds into. SES differences that can impact school performance, like preschool attendance, parents who are literate enough in their native language to read to their kids, etc can have a huge impact in the primary grades of k-2. I would expect disadvantaged kids to have a much larger achievement gap in the earliest grades than they might have in later elementary school.