Howard County or Montgomery County for sharp kids?

[Anonymous]

We are currently renting in Howard County and looking to buy a house in the 700k-850k range. I commute to DC downtown on Red Line, 3 days a week. My husband works in Columbia but can easily find a job in Rockville, DC, or NoVa. Given our budget and commute, we are focusing on River Hill district in South Howard County, and Churchill and Wootton in Montgomery County.

Between MoCo and HoCo, which school system serves the needs of gifted children better? It looks like MoCo has more options, like immersion programs, gifted centers, and magnet schools, but class size is larger and many schools are crowded. HoCo system is smaller and said to be well-managed, but I have seen little discussion of its G/T programs.

We have two bright preschoolers. DD is 4 and 8 months, already reading at grade 1 or 2 level (and English is her second language) and developing math concepts like multiplication on her own. I'm concerned that she'll get bored at school if we don't find the right one for her...

[Anonymous]

Please go to MoCo.

-Howard County resident.

[Anonymous]

Both counties have good reputations in general but also a wide range of schools. Your child will not be the only strong reader in K. I am not sure if you will find mulitplication explicit taught in K but there is much to learn even if every skill presented is not new to your child. I will visit different areas and see what best suits your family.

[Anonymous]

OP, your older child (I assume) is not even 5 yet. Your younger child is even younger. It is far too early to tell what your children will need in school. And no, your older child won't be bored in kindergarten, because

1. she won't be the only one who can read (at least not in Montgomery County; I don't know about Howard County but presumably not there either)
2. there's lots of other stuff going on in kindergarten.

My advice is to find a neighborhood you like, with a house you like and can afford, and a commute that works for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, your older child (I assume) is not even 5 yet. Your younger child is even younger. It is far too early to tell what your children will need in school. And no, your older child won't be bored in kindergarten, because

1. she won't be the only one who can read (at least not in Montgomery County; I don't know about Howard County but presumably not there either)
2. there's lots of other stuff going on in kindergarten.

My advice is to find a neighborhood you like, with a house you like and can afford, and a commute that works for you.

I live in MoCo and work in HoCo with a lot of parents who send their kids to HoCo schools. IMO, if your kind is super smart and driven, MoCo offers a better school pipeline than HoCo. The magnet option from 4th grade on are really good if you're willing to put up with longer bus rides and not going to the neighborhood school. HoCo offers G&T services in each school, and the criteria for inclusion aren't nearly as difficult, but it serves a much wider swath of smart kids, not just the top 1-2% in the county.

Your kids are young, there's no way to tell at this point which of the programs would be appreciate, but the odds for inclusion are much higher in HoCo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, your older child (I assume) is not even 5 yet. Your younger child is even younger. It is far too early to tell what your children will need in school. And no, your older child won't be bored in kindergarten, because

1. she won't be the only one who can read (at least not in Montgomery County; I don't know about Howard County but presumably not there either)
2. there's lots of other stuff going on in kindergarten.

My advice is to find a neighborhood you like, with a house you like and can afford, and a commute that works for you.

I live in MoCo and work in HoCo with a lot of parents who send their kids to HoCo schools. IMO, if your kind is super smart and driven, MoCo offers a better school pipeline than HoCo. The magnet option from 4th grade on are really good if you're willing to put up with longer bus rides and not going to the neighborhood school. HoCo offers G&T services in each school, and the criteria for inclusion aren't nearly as difficult, but it serves a much wider swath of smart kids, not just the top 1-2% in the county.

Your kids are young, there's no way to tell at this point which of the programs would be appreciate, but the odds for inclusion are much higher in HoCo.

Conversely, if your kid is smart, but not quite smart enough to get into a MCPS HGC, there is basically no GT services anymore. So, maybe HoCo is a better choice.

BTW, "smart" means "tests well" in MCPS. If your kid doesn't score high on the entrance exam they will not get in, no matter how smart in other ways.

IMO, the elementary HGC was wonderful, but the MS magnet has more problems. There are definite pros and cons. By high school, there are plenty of AP classes and some schools with special programs like IB, so finding "challenge" is less of a problem in MCPS by HS. But of course, bright kids who didn't get the challenge early on may already have established patterns that make them lost by HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

BTW, "smart" means "tests well" in MCPS. If your kid doesn't score high on the entrance exam they will not get in, no matter how smart in other ways.

I think that this is not necessarily true for the HGC, but it is true for the middle school magnet.

[Anonymous]

I live in moco, relatives live in hoco. Both good school systems, but big difference is that in moco AP classes are open to anyone who wants the challenge. In hoco, teachers are the gatekeepers to AP classes.

Hoco relatives got shut out of all AP classes because of limited space and teachers not thinking they could handle the pace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

BTW, "smart" means "tests well" in MCPS. If your kid doesn't score high on the entrance exam they will not get in, no matter how smart in other ways.

I think that this is not necessarily true for the HGC, but it is true for the middle school magnet.

I think it applies to HGC as well....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, your older child (I assume) is not even 5 yet. Your younger child is even younger. It is far too early to tell what your children will need in school. And no, your older child won't be bored in kindergarten, because

1. she won't be the only one who can read (at least not in Montgomery County; I don't know about Howard County but presumably not there either)
2. there's lots of other stuff going on in kindergarten.

My advice is to find a neighborhood you like, with a house you like and can afford, and a commute that works for you.

I live in MoCo and work in HoCo with a lot of parents who send their kids to HoCo schools. IMO, if your kind is super smart and driven, MoCo offers a better school pipeline than HoCo. The magnet option from 4th grade on are really good if you're willing to put up with longer bus rides and not going to the neighborhood school. HoCo offers G&T services in each school, and the criteria for inclusion aren't nearly as difficult, but it serves a much wider swath of smart kids, not just the top 1-2% in the county.

Your kids are young, there's no way to tell at this point which of the programs would be appreciate, but the odds for inclusion are much higher in HoCo.

Conversely, if your kid is smart, but not quite smart enough to get into a MCPS HGC, there is basically no GT services anymore. So, maybe HoCo is a better choice.

BTW, "smart" means "tests well" in MCPS. If your kid doesn't score high on the entrance exam they will not get in, no matter how smart in other ways.

IMO, the elementary HGC was wonderful, but the MS magnet has more problems. There are definite pros and cons. By high school, there are plenty of AP classes and some schools with special programs like IB, so finding "challenge" is less of a problem in MCPS by HS. But of course, bright kids who didn't get the challenge early on may already have established patterns that make them lost by HS.

Yes, I'm the PP and I agree. FWIW, all things like commute being equal I'd probably opt for HoCo schools. My child is very smart, went to an HGC, but isn't driven enough to want to put in the time/effort to do TPMS or Blair IMO. She isn't one of the brilliant kids who would do well in those programs w/o a decent amount of effort and dedication. HoCo would probably offer a better set of resources for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

BTW, "smart" means "tests well" in MCPS. If your kid doesn't score high on the entrance exam they will not get in, no matter how smart in other ways.

I think that this is not necessarily true for the HGC, but it is true for the middle school magnet.

Nope, for HGC as well. By definition, kids scoring below the median of accepted students will get in, but I know stand out students who did not get in because of poor test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in moco, relatives live in hoco. Both good school systems, but big difference is that in moco AP classes are open to anyone who wants the challenge. In hoco, teachers are the gatekeepers to AP classes.

Hoco relatives got shut out of all AP classes because of limited space and teachers not thinking they could handle the pace.

Wow that sucks. I was a late bloomer in academics. Wasn't a stand out student until 10th grade. I had to practically beg the AP history teacher to let me take the class. I took a few AP classes and ended up with A's in all of them and graduated with Highest Honors. This was not in MD. If the teachers were the gatekeepers for me I wouldn't have done as well in HS.

[Anonymous]

If your kid doesn't score high on the entrance exam they will not get in, no matter how smart in other ways.


So it should be totally discretionary who gets in? I would rather have clear cut off then see the HGC filled with PTA presidents kids and teachers pets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

BTW, "smart" means "tests well" in MCPS. If your kid doesn't score high on the entrance exam they will not get in, no matter how smart in other ways.

I think that this is not necessarily true for the HGC, but it is true for the middle school magnet.

Nope, for HGC as well. By definition, kids scoring below the median of accepted students will get in, but I know stand out students who did not get in because of poor test scores.

And I know stand-out students who got in despite poor test scores.

[Anonymous]

Everybody's a genius.