Why are the middle schools so bad?

[Anonymous]

Despite PG County school reputation, there are plenty of good elementary schools to send your kids to. Why aren't there comparable middle schools? Do the kids with the best academic potential go to private or are the standards higher/different in middle school.

[Anonymous]

that's because ES are localized. MS are less so... HS even worse.

[Anonymous]

PP is right - but I'm kind of curious sometimes re: where people who live in the good ES catchment areas do choose to send their kid to MS. The two good non-TAG elementary schools in Bowie, or University Park ES for e.g. - are all those kids going to the local MS, or elsewhere? I found this really hard to navigate when we bought a house, because it seems like all the privates are K-8, and as much as it was appealing to save the $$ on private school for K-5, I didn't want my kid being put into a pre-existing peer group for private grade 6. Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Lots of UP kids go private for middle school. Some go into the middle school TAG programs, but a lot switch to private. We know a few families who have gone with College Park Academy after UP, but they seem pretty unhappy and are riding it out this year with an eye on private or Sci/Tech at Roosevelt for high school.

[Anonymous]

I've heard good things about the CPA program at Hyattsville Middle.

[Anonymous]

15:06 here. So if the kids are going private (like you I've heard back things about CPA), are they just entering pre-existing K-8 peer groups for their grades 6-8 years? I wonder how that goes. It just seems hard, when most of the other kids in your 6th grade class have known each other since kindergarten. Or are there 6-8 private schools I'm overlooking? Thanks for the suggestions and feedback!

[Anonymous]

what is CPA at Hyattsville Middle? What is UP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:15:06 here. So if the kids are going private (like you I've heard back things about CPA), are they just entering pre-existing K-8 peer groups for their grades 6-8 years? I wonder how that goes. It just seems hard, when most of the other kids in your 6th grade class have known each other since kindergarten. Or are there 6-8 private schools I'm overlooking? Thanks for the suggestions and feedback!

Yes. Many of the K-8s expand at 6th grade because of the influx from parents who are willing to go with the neighborhood school but aren't willing to stick out middle school in PGCPS. The Catholic school in our neighborhood adds something like 10 seats at 6th grade according to our neighbors who switched their child to it in 6th to avoid non-TAG at Greenbelt Middle. Many of the private schools use either 6th or 7th (or both) as expansion years. My daughter is at Holton and they add a full class (15 seats) at 6th grade and I think perhaps another full class at 7th. So the kids entering these schools then are really not the only outsider or new kid - they come in with a cohort of new kids and I think groups shift.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:15:06 here. So if the kids are going private (like you I've heard back things about CPA), are they just entering pre-existing K-8 peer groups for their grades 6-8 years? I wonder how that goes. It just seems hard, when most of the other kids in your 6th grade class have known each other since kindergarten. Or are there 6-8 private schools I'm overlooking? Thanks for the suggestions and feedback!

Yes. Many of the K-8s expand at 6th grade because of the influx from parents who are willing to go with the neighborhood school but aren't willing to stick out middle school in PGCPS. The Catholic school in our neighborhood adds something like 10 seats at 6th grade according to our neighbors who switched their child to it in 6th to avoid non-TAG at Greenbelt Middle. Many of the private schools use either 6th or 7th (or both) as expansion years. My daughter is at Holton and they add a full class (15 seats) at 6th grade and I think perhaps another full class at 7th. So the kids entering these schools then are really not the only outsider or new kid - they come in with a cohort of new kids and I think groups shift.

15:06 again. This is FASCINATING. Thank you for sharing your experiences! I saw our kid being left alone or isolated but clearly that is far from the case.

[Anonymous]

Often boys from University Park (UP) go to St. Anselm's Abbey School. It is not far away and is a nice an all-boys independent school that starts in middle school.