MoCo vs NW DC Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was less than impressed with MCPS and we were in the BCC cluster.

I feel that unless you have a super star academic child, your kid will get educated at the bare minimum.

For example - an on level 6th grade class in social studies and/or science would have assignments that are full in the blank because they give you sentence starters. I’m just not sure how that helps a child get ready for high school writing. English was fine but mostly creative writing. Math homework is never reviewed and they just push through with no cohesion, IMO, of grace to grade standards. Plus, class sizes are too big. In the end, we left for private.

Right-- but contrast around DCPS.

These conversations are just so ridiculous to me. Everyone gives their own personal experience and some weird extreme case. Look at test scores, look at metrics that matter to you as a family or for the unique circumstance with your child.


Lol okay. Take a look at the list of AP classes, sports, and extras at close in Arlington or maryland. They’re not comparable. Multiple people just posted on ot
Regardless of what people think here-- MOCO high schools are some of the highest ranked in the COUNTRY. Bethesda Magazine publishes every year where these students at all moco counties applied for college and acceptances, it's very impressive so those kids are learning. Is this important to you or the top issue for your family? If so maybe check it out. Wilson is fine. We left DC bc I wanted my kids to have a more traditional HS experience with dances, schools, parent involvement in a tighter knit community.

My experience as a DC parent is that not a week goes by without friends in my kids classes moving, going private, playing the lotto again to switch schools so it never feels like there is a strong cohort that is actually going to stay until the end.

I tried to not focus on elementary-- that can be great anywhere, middle and high is where the rubber hits the road, and I don't think you can compare Pyle and the academics there with Macfarland or even Deal. Again- not trying to crap on those schools but it wasn't what we wanted based on what was most important to us.

What do you think is happening at Wilson, exactly?

Not traditional sports and activities and cohorts of kids that that stay long term. As i said in prior posts/ good for you not for me. Wilson is fine and our kids would have been fine attending but we want our kids attending better schools than we did and having more opportunities and for us that wasn’t Wilson.

Um, what? Of course there are “traditional sports and activities and cohorts of kids that stay long term” at Wilson. My kids have (many) friends at Wilson they’ve been with since ES. They participate in what I assume you’d define as “traditional activities”—sports, theater, etc.—and do so with consistent groups of kids (although of course those groups get bigger as they go from ES to MS to HS).

Like, what are you even talking about?

It’s great that you found what you were looking for, truly. But you can’t just make stuff up.

It’s not the experience i wanted. Take a look at APs offered, sports, extras, clubs, etc and for me it’s a no brainer. A posted literally just started another thread asking for charted alternatives for their 11/12th grade kids bc Wilson wasn’t viable and this happens way more than the other schools i explored elsewhere. Glad your choice is working for your kid. Wilson is over crowded and the only viable hs in all of dc that’s public and not application based- seems like a gamble for me and I’m quite happy with my choice.

NP. If you were truly happy with your choice, you wouldn't be here justifying it in this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think sometimes you have to sit back and think about your end goal. People have different goals- and I am not judging anyone for their goals. That being said, my family goals include raising our kids with a lot of diversity, helping them pursue a variety of interests, ensuring academics are a healthy priority, and sending them to a 4 year public college. Considering those goals- we think DC is sufficient. Our kids are neurotypical, advanced but not dramatically so, athletic but not bound for college play, etc. Essentially, we think they are wonderful but also fairly average for upper middle class white children. Priorities for you will be different based on your children and your family goals/values.

Bottom line- your individual needs, goals, and values are extremely important to this decision making process- and without knowing all that, it is hard to say what school would best fit. If your family is similar to mine, fairly average with fairly average goals- you are probably fine wherever you choose.

Just wanted to say, I love this comment! Thank you! Such a great perspective

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think sometimes you have to sit back and think about your end goal. People have different goals- and I am not judging anyone for their goals. That being said, my family goals include raising our kids with a lot of diversity, helping them pursue a variety of interests, ensuring academics are a healthy priority, and sending them to a 4 year public college. Considering those goals- we think DC is sufficient. Our kids are neurotypical, advanced but not dramatically so, athletic but not bound for college play, etc. Essentially, we think they are wonderful but also fairly average for upper middle class white children. Priorities for you will be different based on your children and your family goals/values.

Bottom line- your individual needs, goals, and values are extremely important to this decision making process- and without knowing all that, it is hard to say what school would best fit. If your family is similar to mine, fairly average with fairly average goals- you are probably fine wherever you choose.

Just wanted to say, I love this comment! Thank you! Such a great perspective

+1.

I’m another who went to a W school and kid at Wilson. I know the world has changed a lot. But valuing diversity and caring about my kids liking high school as much as how good things seem on paper. Wilson offers most of the same things or supplementing but less of the sense of everything you do is geared toward thinking about how it looks for college or taking xx many APs as everyone else. And with the grade inflation and devaluation of legacy hooks, a majority of the W kids look the same on paper anyway.

[Anonymous]

It is sad but public schools are a mess these days. Lack of leadership and values is a problem. Lack of resources and capacity for all of the issues Covid has brought is another. What I do think is that neighborhood friends are the best - families and community are what is needed. I don’t have much faith in any public system these days - but the value is in the people next door and the kids your children bind with. Good luck to you and your family!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd recommend you read the MoCo thread. DCPS certainly has it's issues. But MoCo is in chaos right now and has a lot of uncertainty. If your kid gets into the magnet program, MoCo is head and shoulders above anything DC offers. Just don't be one of the geniuses that spends $1.5M for a house in MoCo district and still ends up at a private school...

+1 I used to be very fixated on moving to MoCo, mostly for a larger home that we can afford but also for the schools, so I loosely followed the MoCo Schools thread over a year or two. They … kind of dissuaded me from moving. And that was before all the Covid-times and test-in-school-change craziness!

[Anonymous]

I’m concerned that these districts have very different approaches to COVID. MCPS has an increasing number of schools that have gone virtual. It seems (now… not a month ago) that DCPS is leaning more toward staying open. I live in MoCo and teach in DC. I generally think of MCPS schools as better, but I hate virtual learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m concerned that these districts have very different approaches to COVID. MCPS has an increasing number of schools that have gone virtual. It seems (now… not a month ago) that DCPS is leaning more toward staying open. I live in MoCo and teach in DC. I generally think of MCPS schools as better, but I hate virtual learning.

From the educators perspective, would you say MCPS is better across the board? What about Einstein or Blair compared to Wilson or somewhere like DCI? I feel like often DCUM treats MoCo as synonymous with western MoCo (Bethesda, CC, etc). But what about the other parts of close in MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m concerned that these districts have very different approaches to COVID. MCPS has an increasing number of schools that have gone virtual. It seems (now… not a month ago) that DCPS is leaning more toward staying open. I live in MoCo and teach in DC. I generally think of MCPS schools as better, but I hate virtual learning.

From the educators perspective, would you say MCPS is better across the board? What about Einstein or Blair compared to Wilson or somewhere like DCI? I feel like often DCUM treats MoCo as synonymous with western MoCo (Bethesda, CC, etc). But what about the other parts of close in MCPS?

Part of the problem is ranks like Great schools sort of just report on the SES mix of a school's kids compared locally and one has to know the nuances to understand. A 10 most often means very and completely rich and a 1 mean almost completely poor.

That said you can have a middle score like an Einstein that is punished because is it so much poorer than its peers to the west that it is compared to but for the most part the kids are not very poor or very rich. Mostly just lower middle and middle class kids. Then another lower scoring school like blair is a mix of a few affluent kids (local and bussed in) and lots of poor kids. While similar rankings they will have different experiences. Einstein is smaller with less differentiation where Blair is very much the sheltered kids and the rest of the school creating an us vs them dynamic. Even when the kids don't manifest it many of the parents have track insecurities. Got to be on enrichment/magnet track or slide back to the unwashed masses. They rarely use those words (on the record) but the pressure to be above the cut line comes from the fear of the general population and it can be insufferable with some parents. A similar anxiety happens in DC for affluent parents who live in undesirable school zones. They worry about enrichment but that is because they see the masses who are not enriched.

Western MoCo provides a stress free track for those who can pay for it with almost no need for differentiation as most of the kids 90%+ are on college track with the expectation that they will go and can afford it. That isn't close to the reality for most DC and eastern MoCO schools. Even Wilson only recently started graduating a respectable % of it's students and it is unclear if that was students doing better or DC just lowering the bar like it did in the lower ward HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m concerned that these districts have very different approaches to COVID. MCPS has an increasing number of schools that have gone virtual. It seems (now… not a month ago) that DCPS is leaning more toward staying open. I live in MoCo and teach in DC. I generally think of MCPS schools as better, but I hate virtual learning.

From the educators perspective, would you say MCPS is better across the board? What about Einstein or Blair compared to Wilson or somewhere like DCI? I feel like often DCUM treats MoCo as synonymous with western MoCo (Bethesda, CC, etc). But what about the other parts of close in MCPS?

MCPS is better across the board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m concerned that these districts have very different approaches to COVID. MCPS has an increasing number of schools that have gone virtual. It seems (now… not a month ago) that DCPS is leaning more toward staying open. I live in MoCo and teach in DC. I generally think of MCPS schools as better, but I hate virtual learning.

Yes, this recent development has certainly made me very glad that we are in DC. I also don't think that the Ward 3 elementary schools are any worse than MoCo elementary schools. I'll withhold my judgment for the middle and high school level, as we aren't there yet and don't have friends with kids at that level in MoCo. But if we were decide to move for middle or high school (I really don't want to), it would be to VA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think sometimes you have to sit back and think about your end goal. People have different goals- and I am not judging anyone for their goals. That being said, my family goals include raising our kids with a lot of diversity, helping them pursue a variety of interests, ensuring academics are a healthy priority, and sending them to a 4 year public college. Considering those goals- we think DC is sufficient. Our kids are neurotypical, advanced but not dramatically so, athletic but not bound for college play, etc. Essentially, we think they are wonderful but also fairly average for upper middle class white children. Priorities for you will be different based on your children and your family goals/values.

Bottom line- your individual needs, goals, and values are extremely important to this decision making process- and without knowing all that, it is hard to say what school would best fit. If your family is similar to mine, fairly average with fairly average goals- you are probably fine wherever you choose.

Just wanted to say, I love this comment! Thank you! Such a great perspective

MoCo schools are incredibly diverse. I don’t disagree with your general sentiment, but DC is not as racially diverse as MoCo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m concerned that these districts have very different approaches to COVID. MCPS has an increasing number of schools that have gone virtual. It seems (now… not a month ago) that DCPS is leaning more toward staying open. I live in MoCo and teach in DC. I generally think of MCPS schools as better, but I hate virtual learning.

From the educators perspective, would you say MCPS is better across the board? What about Einstein or Blair compared to Wilson or somewhere like DCI? I feel like often DCUM treats MoCo as synonymous with western MoCo (Bethesda, CC, etc). But what about the other parts of close in MCPS?

PP. By standard measurements, MCPS is better across the board. However, OP isn’t really comparing a Gaithersburg HS to Ballou or Roosevelt. The comparison is Wilson and Blair/Einstein/Northwood if OP is UMC or BCC if OP is wealthy.

FWIW, I am in the Blair/Einstein/Northwood area for my kid but I would feel fine sending DC to Wilson, Walls, or Banneker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd recommend you read the MoCo thread. DCPS certainly has it's issues. But MoCo is in chaos right now and has a lot of uncertainty. If your kid gets into the magnet program, MoCo is head and shoulders above anything DC offers. Just don't be one of the geniuses that spends $1.5M for a house in MoCo district and still ends up at a private school...

+1 I used to be very fixated on moving to MoCo, mostly for a larger home that we can afford but also for the schools, so I loosely followed the MoCo Schools thread over a year or two. They … kind of dissuaded me from moving. And that was before all the Covid-times and test-in-school-change craziness!

this. there are handful of amazing schools in MoCo-mainly in Bethesda and Chevy Chase. But the growing poverty and needs of ESL population is putting a huge strain on most schools. the redistricting process is total chaos as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think sometimes you have to sit back and think about your end goal. People have different goals- and I am not judging anyone for their goals. That being said, my family goals include raising our kids with a lot of diversity, helping them pursue a variety of interests, ensuring academics are a healthy priority, and sending them to a 4 year public college. Considering those goals- we think DC is sufficient. Our kids are neurotypical, advanced but not dramatically so, athletic but not bound for college play, etc. Essentially, we think they are wonderful but also fairly average for upper middle class white children. Priorities for you will be different based on your children and your family goals/values.

Bottom line- your individual needs, goals, and values are extremely important to this decision making process- and without knowing all that, it is hard to say what school would best fit. If your family is similar to mine, fairly average with fairly average goals- you are probably fine wherever you choose.

Just wanted to say, I love this comment! Thank you! Such a great perspective

+1.

I think the comments re DC neighbors regularly moving for schools and trying to lottery into a better path year after year are about parts of DC outside the Deal/Hardy/Wilson boundary and that is a separate set of issues. There are also families that go private after ES or MS but I think that would happen in either jurisdiction as well.

As parent of two very bright, mostly neurotypical kids I would agree with the above, we are in the Deal/Wilson boundary. I have one at SWW and a Deal 8th grader that may or may not go to Wilson next year but will be going to a DC public and I will be fine with Wilson if that is what happens. My high schooler is on track for a top 10-30 school (National University or SLAC, we do not know which type of school she will choose) if that is what she wants. Probably not top 10/Ivy because they are reaches for everyone, I am not sure they are the right fit for her, and she has not put in the extra extra curreiculars that appear to be necessary for that but she would not have at a MoCo high school or a private either.

DH and I have lived in DC since before we were married. We moved to our current house when I was first pregnant for the schools. I expected at the time that we would move by middle school. We love our nieghborhood and our neighbors. Some of their kids go to public, some go to private and some even make different choices with different kids within the same family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd recommend you read the MoCo thread. DCPS certainly has it's issues. But MoCo is in chaos right now and has a lot of uncertainty. If your kid gets into the magnet program, MoCo is head and shoulders above anything DC offers. Just don't be one of the geniuses that spends $1.5M for a house in MoCo district and still ends up at a private school...

+1 I used to be very fixated on moving to MoCo, mostly for a larger home that we can afford but also for the schools, so I loosely followed the MoCo Schools thread over a year or two. They … kind of dissuaded me from moving. And that was before all the Covid-times and test-in-school-change craziness!

I am not going to argue that MCPS is clearly better than DCPS but I think it would be at least as big a mistake to take what you read on these boards as evidence that MCPS is falling apart.