for those who left DCPS for MoCo...

[Anonymous]

when would you recommend doing so? We've stayed in DC for short commutes and good PS/PK, now are in a language immersion charter so don't want to leave until at least 2nd or 3rd grade so our DC gets at least a few years out of it. Frankly we'd rather stay through 5th but it seems like there is a lot of tracking/testing/differentiation that goes on in the suburbs in 3rd grade. Does that mean we have to leave by 2nd grade so DC is appropriate tested, etc.?

Any advice here most welcome. We don't leave in a part of the city with a viable middle or high school and i'm not willing to take my chances on still unproven charters. (Plus hoping one day to actually have a house, not just a 2BR apt.)

[Anonymous]

Very simply: NO.

[Anonymous]

N

[Anonymous]

NP, can you expand on this sentiment?

[Anonymous]

Go when you feel it's right for you. Your child will be assessed if he comes late to the party.

[Anonymous]

Anyone else have thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Do what you want to do.

[Anonymous]

If you like your school choices, stay. Move when you don't like your school choices anymore.

[Anonymous]

Not the OP here, Is there anyone who has made the move from dcps that can comment on their experience? Thanks to all the PP! That seems like good all around advice.

[Anonymous]

bump

[Anonymous]

We went from JLKM, to a well regarded DC Charter (not immersion), and then to MCPS in 6th. I have no regrets about the move, and would absolutely do it again. The MCPS system is far better organized, the curriculum is both more logical and more rigorous, and there's twice as much PE and twice as much arts in our MCPS middle school relative to Deal or the charter we were in (note: there are a few MCPS middle schools set up with a block schedule that gives them even more arts). In addition, as a parent of child of color, we encountered racist low expectations over again in both DCPS and Charter, whereas in MCPS the expectations for him have been consistently high. Finally, at least in a close in a suburb, my commute is actually substantially shorter because instead of having to travel across town to drop kid off, he simply gets on the school bus.

Waiting until 6th to move wasn't a problem in any subject but math, where the majority of MCPS kids, at least in our school, are 1 - 2 years ahead and he was barely at grade level. But the school was happy to work with us to get him up to that one year above level, they offered him summer classes, afterschool classes, and the option of taking 2 years of math in one if he wanted to get ahead. We took advantage of some but not all of them, and they were high quality and effective. In retrospect though, I wish we'd done tutoring or Kumon or something in the last years in DC to get ready for the move, or simply moved earlier.

As far as testing for differentiation, MCPS does have some test in programs like the magnet at Takoma Park, but they are for a very small segment of the very top students, truly "gifted" kids, not the bright, top reading group, kids who DCPS often labels as "gifted". If you think your child is in that category it might be worth moving into MCPS in 5th to allow them to be tested. Otherwise, MCPS's policy seems to be to allow parents a lot of input into their child's levels, and to allow you to try things and move around. My child had no problem moving from "on level" to "gifted" classes (note: middle school "gifted" classes are not just for gifted kids, they serve any child whose parent asks who would benefit from the challenge. In some schools the majority of kids are in them) midyear.

[Anonymous]

Thanks 14:06, this sort of detailed feedback is super helpful!

signed, parent of 2nd grader anxious wringing hands and trying to figure out whether to not to move to the burbs and get ensnared in the AAP/G&T/other acronyms vortex.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks 14:06, this sort of detailed feedback is super helpful!

signed, parent of 2nd grader anxious wringing hands and trying to figure out whether to not to move to the burbs and get ensnared in the AAP/G&T/other acronyms vortex.

bump, there are many of us out there in DC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks 14:06, this sort of detailed feedback is super helpful!

signed, parent of 2nd grader anxious wringing hands and trying to figure out whether to not to move to the burbs and get ensnared in the AAP/G&T/other acronyms vortex.

I'm 14:06, and I would say that that vortex seems to be in VA. In my neighborhood, pretty much everyone sends their kid to the local public school. The GT programs in MCPS are very small and serve a handful of kids. In fact one of the things I like best about MoCo, is that the kids in all neighborhood all attend the same local public. It makes things like carpools or finding someone to hang with afterschool very easy. On our block in DC there were something like 12 kids and they went to 11 different schools. The only 2 that went to the same school were siblings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We went from JLKM, to a well regarded DC Charter (not immersion), and then to MCPS in 6th. I have no regrets about the move, and would absolutely do it again. The MCPS system is far better organized, the curriculum is both more logical and more rigorous, and there's twice as much PE and twice as much arts in our MCPS middle school relative to Deal or the charter we were in (note: there are a few MCPS middle schools set up with a block schedule that gives them even more arts). In addition, as a parent of child of color, we encountered racist low expectations over again in both DCPS and Charter, whereas in MCPS the expectations for him have been consistently high. Finally, at least in a close in a suburb, my commute is actually substantially shorter because instead of having to travel across town to drop kid off, he simply gets on the school bus.

PP, where are you in the MCPS system; do you mind naming the city. I did a a little research on the schools in Takoma Park and close-in Silver Spring and the scores were really not impressive for black and brown elementary kids. Some were just downright problematic.