how far out do we have to go

[Anonymous]

to find a good school that offers strong math (at least BC Calc and ideally one year beyond) and some other strong APs--but isn't 500-plus kids a class? Poolesville? Gaithersburg?

does such a place even exist?

[Anonymous]

Are you looking for a high school?

Blake HS has 1,700. Damascus HS has 1,200. Einstein HS has 1,700. Kennedy HS has 1,600. Magruder HS has 1,600. Northwood HS has 1,500. Poolesville HS has 1,200. Rockville HS has 1,300.Seneca Valley HS has 1,300. Springbrook HS has 1,800. Watkins Mill HS has 1,500. Wheaton HS has 1,300.

So there are plenty of high schools in MCPS that are less than 500 kids a class.

[Anonymous]

Watkins Mill and Seneca Valley also offer the IB diploma, and any student in the school can take the IB classes (not just those going doing the full IB program).

[Anonymous]

thanks this is helpful!

[Anonymous]

Einstein meets these criteria. 1700 kids, full IB, strong math.

[Anonymous]

You can use the sports divisions as a quick proxy for size statewide. The 4A schools are the largest, 1A the smallest. Most MCPS schools are 4A (Poolesville is I think the only 2A school, several 3A schools as the PP listed). Once you get out of MoCo the school sizes drop considerably and there are lots of 1A/2A schools. Howard County might be a good bet for what you are looking for.

[Anonymous]

Gaithersburg High School is not considered a highly desirable school, their test scores are consistently low, graduation rates are low, etc. Poolesville is a very good school. You can access student enrollment/ class sizes for all high schools on the MCPS website; I'm not sure what you mean by "how far" you have to go, what is your starting point/ what is far to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gaithersburg High School is not considered a highly desirable school, their test scores are consistently low, graduation rates are low, etc. Poolesville is a very good school. You can access student enrollment/ class sizes for all high schools on the MCPS website; I'm not sure what you mean by "how far" you have to go, what is your starting point/ what is far to you?

PP, have you known any children who have gone to Gaithersburg High? I have, and they have gone on to attend universities and to have successful careers. Perhaps Gaithersburg doesn't meet the high standards of DCUM, but it shares the same curriculum as other MCPS schools, and has brand new building (whereas Poolesville is in major need of updating).

I think people on this board fail to realize that not everyone can afford to spend $500k + on a home in closer-in MoCo, nor do they want to live all the way out in Poolesville, but that doesn't mean that your child can't still receive a fine education and become a productive member of society. Even the schools which are not "highly desirable" are better than schools in the majority of this country.

[Anonymous]

The new Gaithersburg High School building looks gorgeous from the outside. I haven't been inside. And it's a lot more centrally-located than Poolesville.

Also, Gaithersburg High School has a program where seniors can earn college credits through Montgomery College on-campus at the high school:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/gaithersburghs/college/index.aspx

That's in addition to the AP classes.

But yes, it's not a W school, unlike Whitman, Wootton, Walter Johnson, Wheaton, and Watkins Mill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can use the sports divisions as a quick proxy for size statewide. The 4A schools are the largest, 1A the smallest. Most MCPS schools are 4A (Poolesville is I think the only 2A school, several 3A schools as the PP listed). Once you get out of MoCo the school sizes drop considerably and there are lots of 1A/2A schools. Howard County might be a good bet for what you are looking for.

Rockville and Poolesville are both 2A.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new Gaithersburg High School building looks gorgeous from the outside. I haven't been inside. And it's a lot more centrally-located than Poolesville.

Also, Gaithersburg High School has a program where seniors can earn college credits through Montgomery College on-campus at the high school:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/gaithersburghs/college/index.aspx

That's in addition to the AP classes.

But yes, it's not a W school, unlike Whitman, Wootton, Walter Johnson, Wheaton, and Watkins Mill.

Whitman, Wootton, Walter Johnson and Winston Churchill are the 'W schools'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The new Gaithersburg High School building looks gorgeous from the outside. I haven't been inside. And it's a lot more centrally-located than Poolesville.

Also, Gaithersburg High School has a program where seniors can earn college credits through Montgomery College on-campus at the high school:

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/gaithersburghs/college/index.aspx

That's in addition to the AP classes.

But yes, it's not a W school, unlike Whitman, Wootton, Walter Johnson, Wheaton, and Watkins Mill.

Whitman, Wootton, Walter Johnson and Winston Churchill are the 'W schools'.

Did you miss the smile at the end of the post?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can use the sports divisions as a quick proxy for size statewide. The 4A schools are the largest, 1A the smallest. Most MCPS schools are 4A (Poolesville is I think the only 2A school, several 3A schools as the PP listed). Once you get out of MoCo the school sizes drop considerably and there are lots of 1A/2A schools. Howard County might be a good bet for what you are looking for.

Rockville and Poolesville are both 2A.

Pretty sure that Rockville is 3A this year, at least in the sports I've seen them in.

Here's the statewide list, organized by county so OP can see what the options are. Each division is supposed to have 25% of the MD schools, based on size. I don't know what the smallest 4A school is - my guess is around 1800 students. So you will want to focus on 2A/3A schools.

http://www.mpssaa.org/assets/publications/Member%20School%20Directory%2013-14.pdf

Howard County has only one 4A school, the rest are 2A and 3A. Frederick County is also primarily smaller schools. MoCo is mostly 4A schools.

All that being said my DC is at a 2000 student school and has no trouble with the size. What are your specific concerns about a class of 500? Are you sure it will be solved in a class of 300-400?

[Anonymous]

OP here, thanks for posting the list--good idea to look at the divisions by sports so I get a sense of the size.

I guess 500 seems huge to me. I went to a large school by the standards of where I grew up in a semi-rural/suburban area, with about 300 kids a class, I thought that was big but I knew almost everyone in my class because we had all been in school together all the way through at least 6th grade, many from 1st grade.

I just find it intimidating that my child might go to school with literally two thousand people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for posting the list--good idea to look at the divisions by sports so I get a sense of the size.

I guess 500 seems huge to me. I went to a large school by the standards of where I grew up in a semi-rural/suburban area, with about 300 kids a class, I thought that was big but I knew almost everyone in my class because we had all been in school together all the way through at least 6th grade, many from 1st grade.

I just find it intimidating that my child might go to school with literally two thousand people.

I think it depends on the person. I know people who said, "I refused to go to a college that was smaller than my high school." I also know people who said, "I insisted on going to a college that was smaller than my high school."