Mont Co Schools vs Fairfax Co Schools- opinions?

[Anonymous]

My husband and I are starting the process of purchasing a home in MD or VA. At the top of our priority list is finding a great public education system for our pre-school aged kids. Originally, looking in Maryland, we found such wide variation of school quality. For example, one of the "best" Montgomery Co. high schools.. fed by what appears to be low-performing grade/middle schools. What is up with that?
I went to high school in Fairfax, VA for a while and did not think we'd go to VA, but in researching school systems, we feel that FCPS just look "generally" better...looks more like we aren't going to be surprised by the quality of the schools if we buy within high school boundary we are looking for.
Does anyone share this view? Is the disparity of wealth, education and class so much more snuggly approximated in MD than in VA? VA has similar demographics, but seems better "blended in"...like it just assimilated better or something.
Or is this just a difference in the way Montgomery and Fairfax Co. test their schools/post findings to their websites.
Thanks so much in advance for any feedback!

[Anonymous]

I read the responses from the other post. Agree that Rockville HS is not ranked at the top in MoCo. The better highschools are Walt Whitman, BCC, Churchhill, Wooten, Walter Johnson, Damascus, and perhaps Richard Montgomery and Quince Orchard.

[Anonymous]

Having lived in both, I would agree that in Fairfax County, it would be easier to find more consistency in school quality. MoCo schools "are" some of the best in the nation, but have faced some challenges along the way. I'm not thrilled with how No Child Left Behind has negatively impacted on MoCo schools. I don't know enough about Fairfax to say whether it's had the same effect there, but it wouldn't surprise me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Having lived in both, I would agree that in Fairfax County, it would be easier to find more consistency in school quality. MoCo schools "are" some of the best in the nation, but have faced some challenges along the way. I'm not thrilled with how No Child Left Behind has negatively impacted on MoCo schools. I don't know enough about Fairfax to say whether it's had the same effect there, but it wouldn't surprise me.

FCPS has bizarrely high class sizes and the school board members do not care unless your child is in:

- a politically preferred program like Foreign Language Immersion
-a school with extra funding via programs and staffing ratios because the school has a high percentage of free and reduced price meal students or ESL

FCPS also has schools in deplorable condition and still spends it's bond money [and more] making some schools into sites that are architectural wonders while others are junk.
There is a history of going far beyond what any reasonable person considers a renovation which has diverted funding from other schools having basics renovated or improved. Even in this dire budget cycle the administration and school board pushed for another new administrative headquarters , are building a new middle school to accomodate an extra 200 students , etc.

Stick with Montco.

[Anonymous]

Agree that Fairfax County is a better option. I base this on the kids I have seen come out of Fairfax schools. They are polite, kind, and tend to be less uppity. The school system has many options for all interest/ability levels and kids tend to be respected for whatever choices they make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree that Fairfax County is a better option. I base this on the kids I have seen come out of Fairfax schools. They are polite, kind, and tend to be less uppity. The school system has many options for all interest/ability levels and kids tend to be respected for whatever choices they make.

Wouldn't that be a reflection of parenting more so than schooling?

[Anonymous]

Another vote for Fairfax and/or Arlington. When I was at Duke in the '90s it seemed like the NoVa suburbs were among the best-represented regions in the country. Locally, the only others I remember were St. Albans, NCS, and I think Holton. I'm sure there must have been a few from MoCo, but they just didn't stand out.

(I'm from Texas, btw so it's not like this was anything personal for me, just an observation I remember making at the time.)

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Mont. Co. (went to Whitman).

I now reside in Fairfax Co, and my kids will go to Madison.

Honestly? If you're comparing the entire school system? I'd say its too close to call as to which is better. I agree with someone who said I think Mont Co has a wider range on schools (some that are worse than any in Fairfax, and frankly, some that are better than any in Fairfax). That's just my perception/opinion. I think Fairfax has more consistency from school to school... but I think the "top" schools are better in Mont Co by a little (excluding T. Jefferson from that analysis).

[Anonymous]

I taught in Fairfax county for many years but now live in Maryland. If we could afford to, I'd prefer to live in VA in general because I believe the VA state curriculum is more rigorous and consistent throughout the state. I very much liked that the VA SOLs (Standards of Learning) were assessed in Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies, and student's tests were cumulative -- in 3rd grade, they were tested on objectives that they were supposed to have learned in 1st and 2nd grade. Teachers had to really talk with each other up and down the grade levels, and hold each other accountable for how well students were doing in their schools. In addition, because Science and Social Studies tests caried equal weight with Math and Language Arts, teachers were really forced to be sure children were learning all the subjects. It is a sad fact that topics which are not tested and reported to outsiders, are easy to glass over and pay less attention to. Students in VA schools learn a solid base of history, civics, ecnomics and geography. I think in Maryland, they have only just begun to test and report science on the MSAs, and only in 5th grade, which is a shame; and they aren't testing and reporting Social Studies at all.

[Anonymous]

Realistically, there are two or even three Montgomery Counties, and it's best to decide which one interests you.

Close-in Western Montgomery County (Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Potomac) is as good a school system as you'll find anywhere.
Close-in Eastern Montgomery County (Lower silver spring) has spotty elementary schools, moderate middle schools, and the school-within-a-school at Blair. Magnet is great, high school is okay.
Northern Montgomery County (Rockville, Gaithersburg) is a very strong system, though so inconvenient to DC that it's not the place to be unless your jobs are in the suburbs or you want to spend all of your time in the car.

For the NOVA poster who went to Duke: yes, the NOVA schools are good, but Duke is a southern school and it makes sense that Virginia would be well represented there. I went to Brown (in Rhode Island) in the 90s and it felt like 1/2 of my class went to Churchill (in MoCo).

Which brings up another question for OP: are you more of a "Maryland Person" or a "Virginia Person?" You can find a great education in either place, but they are different places, even though Nova is not the "real Virginia."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the NOVA poster who went to Duke: yes, the NOVA schools are good, but Duke is a southern school and it makes sense that Virginia would be well represented there.

I am the Duke poster, and like I said, I am not from NoVa - I'm from Texas. (If it matters, I now live in the District and my DC does not go to public school.) Furthermore, I am not in real estate. I really have no dog in this fight.

Duke is a national school. We can debate the particulars of the U.S. News methodology, but not whether it's a regional vs. national school. Long Island and Greater New York were probably better represented than NoVa, but from there the competition was pretty hot with affluent suburbs of Chicago, Houston, areas of California and Florida, and of course New England, etc. There were well-educated students from all over the country and the world.

My observation was merely that of the DC area, at this particular competitive school, the students from private schools in DC and well-regarded public schools in Virginia tended to really shine. I know there were students from MoCo too. They merely weren't as numerous, or as visible as excellent students. My conclusion, based on my experience is that if you can stand out in the Fairfax and/or Arlington schools you can probably stand out among the brightest students in the country, if not the world.

[Anonymous]

How would you define a "Maryland person" VS a "Virgina person"?

[Anonymous]

I am a teacher at a high school in Fairfax Co. As far as high schools go in the county, I think they are all well above average. Yes, there are differences in demographics, size, course offerings, sports, activities etc., but all of them offer an excellent education if your child is motivated to do well. Most high schools have either AP or IB (International Baccalaureate) classes and there is also the Academy which is at 4-5 schools in the County, but is available to all students. The Academy offers such classes as Network Engineering, Auto Tech, Hospitality Management, Chinese, Arabic, Nursing, Fashion Design, etc, etc. My school is one of the more diverse schools in the county, but it seems as though most students get along and interact with each other and there are many minorities represented in the higher level classes. Of course every school is going to have its good and bad teachers, but I would not have a problem sending my kids to any of the public high schools in NOVA as long as my child was a good, motivated student. Students who are not that motivated or struggle with school are a whole different story and in those cases there might be a reason to look for something more specific that would help motivate that child to do well. Of course it is difficult to know how kids will turn out when they are not even in school yet, but IMO you really can't go wrong with FCPS. As for MOCO, I am sure they have excellent schools, too. I just don't know anything about them!

[Anonymous]

Hi- OP here--

First-- I want to thank the NoVa teacher for your response because that is truly valuable to me. In terms of affordability, someone else asked me to state the range of house we are looking for: We are lucky to be buying in a buyer's market, but our range is $350-$425K and we hope to stay where we land for at least 10 years (if not longer)- I have 2 kids and plan a 3rd, so we'd like at least a 4 bedroom house (or 3 with a full basement). My husband and I both grew up in suburbs and we sort of chuckled as we drove through the NoVa suburbs about how "great" it seemed there after we'd sworn them off completely not 5 years ago (when we lived in DC and had no kids and thought we were more urban than we are!).
My husband works downtown, so the commute is an issue. I have more flexible employment, so it shouldn't really matter where we end up.

All that said- we cannot afford the type of house we'd like to live in with the more notable "top schools" in either place (Close-in Mont Co) or the Langley/Madison/Oakton area of NoVa.. no- i'd say we have to go a little further out. We are seeing things pop up in Gaithersburg and Silver Spring.. but these are places where I feel the education is less "reliable" in terms of all levels-- grade school through high school and it's harder to narrow in our house search by location because two schools quite near to each other are drastically different based on test scores published by MCPS alone. We feel better about the Robinson, Woodson, Lake Braddock area around Fairfax at this point in terms of what we can afford, the space we'd like and the reason for my post- quality of education. This was a very broad question, I realize-- and maybe a touchy subject for those who feel passionately about MD vs VA in general (my husband and I are both outsiders, so we don't really notice). I really was hoping to gain some insight based on personal experience or other people's research. Thanks a lot for your responses! I'm feeling equipped with a little more direction already!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How would you define a "Maryland person" VS a "Virgina person"?

Marylanders are more liberal, Virginians more conservative. But I liked the true diversity of Northern Virginia better than the clumpy diversity of Montgomery County.