How to choose a neighborhood in light of HGC/magnet programs?

[Anonymous]

We live in DC and are considering a move to MoCo (most likely Rockville or Gaithersburg, maybe Silver Spring). We don't have a ton of housing money (under 500K), so are walking the fine line of finding affordable housing in a decent school district. Obviously I know the usual ways of evaluating schools, but I'm confused by the extra wrinkle of programs like HGC and magnets. So far, when I check out a listing, I basically just look at the GreatSchools number of the assigned schools -- flawed but easy. But if schools have both regular and special programs, do averaged numbers give a falsely inflated picture of the "regular" program? Also, our kid is only in K, so who knows how she'll turn out, but there's a chance she'll end up in the test-in programs. I'd want to pick a neighborhood with both decent "regular" options and a short commute to special programs if necessary. Is there an easy way to calculate all that without a crazy-person wall map full of strings? Sorry for asking something that's probably very basic to you who are already living it. But from the outside, it's confusing!

[Anonymous]

Well you can look up which schools have the HGC here:
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/elementary/highly-gifted-centers.aspx
In addition to the schools rating you should also look at the numbers in that at a glance section:
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/glance/
Many schools look good on paper but are severely overcrowded.

As for transportation to the HGC, only way to be close to home school and HGC is for the HGC to be the home school. There are buses from most home schools to the HGC so if you are within walking distance to your home school that can be a real bonus.

I certainly wouldn't do any planning based on HGC logistics, its really hard to get into.

[Anonymous]

When you read the "at a glance" reports...you should pay special attention to the racial composition, ESOL and FARMS. Basically a school skewed towards mainly minorities (AA and Hispanics) will be underperforming and the school skewed towards Whites will be high performing and associated with very expensive housing. This is the trend at least in Mcps.

If I had to give you a suggestion - I would start with working backwards - pick a good balanced HS (Quince Orchard would be top of my list) and figure out what MSs and ESs are in that cluster feeding into QO. Then you have a more narrowed down list of neighborhoods to work with.

W schools are also great but the prices are way beyond your budget.

The other PPs are correct that you should not base your search on where the HGC and magnets are because that is a "test in" program. It does not really help the kids within that school. My kids are going to HGC and magnets. We are not zoned in these area and neither are we zoned in a great school cluster. If we ever had to rent an apartment zoned for a particular school we would not choose HGC and magnet schools, we would actually choose a high performing school in a more expensive area.

[Anonymous]

Keep in mind both test in middle schools are in the silver spring area..and they focus on the top 3ish percent of kids..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind both test in middle schools are in the silver spring area..and they focus on the top 3ish percent of kids..

That is incorrect. The downcounty test-in middle school programs are at Takoma Park MS and Eastern MS. But there are also the same programs for the upcounty at Roberto Clemente MS in Germantown, for the following high school clusters:

•Clarksburg
•Damascus
•Gaithersburg
•Magruder
•Northwest
•Poolesville
•Quince Orchard
•Seneca Valley
•Watkins Mill

[Anonymous]

The smart move would be Silver Spring, specifically the area of East Silver Spring that abuts Takoma Park and is within the Takoma Park Middle School boundary area.

Here's why:

There are two HGCs that serve those neighborhoods. The competition to get a slot in either is not as great as it is in other corners of the county where seemingly every kid is a super-achiever.

Takoma Park Middle School reserves 25 slots in its vaunted math magnet for in-boundary kids. If your daughter turns out to be an advanced math student, she'll have a far better than average chance at getting one of those slots. And even if she doesn't, TPMS is one of the best middle schools in the county by any metric.

And if it turns out that Humanities are her thing and she were to land a spot in the Eastern Middle School magnet, it would be a 5-10 minute bus ride from home, rather than an hour.

If you just do what the PP suggests and look at minority percentages on the At A Glance sheets, you'll miss the forest for the trees.

[Anonymous]

Takoma MS boundaries are here:

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/TakomaParkMS.pdf

Elementary schools are East Silver Spring, Piney Branch, and Takoma Park.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Takoma MS boundaries are here:

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/TakomaParkMS.pdf

Elementary schools are East Silver Spring, Piney Branch, and Takoma Park.[/quote]

Correct, but Takoma Park (K-2) and Piney Branch (3-5) are paired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The smart move would be Silver Spring, specifically the area of East Silver Spring that abuts Takoma Park and is within the Takoma Park Middle School boundary area.

Here's why:

There are two HGCs that serve those neighborhoods. The competition to get a slot in either is not as great as it is in other corners of the county where seemingly every kid is a super-achiever.

Takoma Park Middle School reserves 25 slots in its vaunted math magnet for in-boundary kids. If your daughter turns out to be an advanced math student, she'll have a far better than average chance at getting one of those slots. And even if she doesn't, TPMS is one of the best middle schools in the county by any metric.

And if it turns out that Humanities are her thing and she were to land a spot in the Eastern Middle School magnet, it would be a 5-10 minute bus ride from home, rather than an hour.

If you just do what the PP suggests and look at minority percentages on the At A Glance sheets, you'll miss the forest for the trees.

Agree with above and would add that if you child does not test into a HGC or a magnet middle program, Takoma Park has an excellent ES and MS. However, it feeds into the largest HS in the area - Montgomery Blair so keep that in mind.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how the inclusion of different programs within a single school affects scores, but I will say that with a budget very similar to yours we ended up on the Rock Creek Valley ES neighborhood (Manor Woods, considered Rockville but not within the city). The ES is solid, has good rankings, isn't overcrowded by much (yes, there are trailers, but not a ton), and is served by the HGC center at Barnsley, which is ridiculously close by. I am pretty sure a bus runs between the two for the HGC kids, but if my child ends up there we'll just drive drop/off.
Anyway, just suggesting you might want to look at the Manor Woods neighborhoods. We like it here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The smart move would be Silver Spring, specifically the area of East Silver Spring that abuts Takoma Park and is within the Takoma Park Middle School boundary area.

Here's why:

There are two HGCs that serve those neighborhoods. The competition to get a slot in either is not as great as it is in other corners of the county where seemingly every kid is a super-achiever.

Takoma Park Middle School reserves 25 slots in its vaunted math magnet for in-boundary kids. If your daughter turns out to be an advanced math student, she'll have a far better than average chance at getting one of those slots. And even if she doesn't, TPMS is one of the best middle schools in the county by any metric.

And if it turns out that Humanities are her thing and she were to land a spot in the Eastern Middle School magnet, it would be a 5-10 minute bus ride from home, rather than an hour.

If you just do what the PP suggests and look at minority percentages on the At A Glance sheets, you'll miss the forest for the trees.

I agree with this, but note that there is one HGCS that serves those neighborhoods, housed at two schools. The only reason there is a HGCS at Oak View is that there was no room for a third HGC classroom at Pine Crest. They are one and the same Center.

[Anonymous]

HGCS=*HGC*

[Anonymous]

Appreciate the advice, everyone. Thank you! It is a bit dizzying to figure out so many possibilities over such a large area, but I remember when DCPS seemed hopelessly confusing, and we eventually figured that out....

I know the special school options are highly selective and smart kids are a dime a dozen around here. We're really not invested in Special Snowflake status. It's just that the husband and I were both top-of-the-class kids whose major memory of school is of extreme boredom. My elementary school's small, sporadic G&T program was a godsend and my happiest time in school. Just want to preserve the options in case kiddo ends up in a similar situation. Would hate to get her into HGC or whatever and discover belatedly that the logistics were a nightmare.

[Anonymous]

There's no guarantee your kid will get into an HGC or MS magnet, which tend to be housed in the lower performing clusters.

The curriculum is the same across the board. How it's implemented, however, differs depending upon instructionally focused the principal and his/her crew are.

So even if you get into a "better" cluster, most of those kids do well b/c they have strong family support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The smart move would be Silver Spring, specifically the area of East Silver Spring that abuts Takoma Park and is within the Takoma Park Middle School boundary area.

Here's why:

There are two HGCs that serve those neighborhoods. The competition to get a slot in either is not as great as it is in other corners of the county where seemingly every kid is a super-achiever.[b]

Takoma Park Middle School reserves 25 slots in its vaunted math magnet for in-boundary kids. If your daughter turns out to be an advanced math student, she'll have a far better than average chance at getting one of those slots. And even if she doesn't, TPMS is one of the best middle schools in the county by any metric.

And if it turns out that Humanities are her thing and she were to land a spot in the Eastern Middle School magnet, it would be a 5-10 minute bus ride from home, rather than an hour.

If you just do what the PP suggests and look at minority percentages on the At A Glance sheets, you'll miss the forest for the trees.

I find this hard to believe.