Private school to Janney

[Anonymous]

I'm a Janney and Deal parent with cousins with kids in two MoCo elementary schools, so I have some chance to compare. Generally, many aspects are very similar. Teacher quality, class size, extracurriculars etc. I do think Janney has significantly more parental involvement, probably due to the legacy of DCPS problems requiring more help from parents. Also, Janney's lunch and after-school programs are higher in quality than The MoCo's aftercare programs. The place where Janney lags a bit behind is math technology and science. The math program at Janney is not differentiated, so the top half the class is behind the MoCo kids by fourth and fifth grade. Not terribly so but a bit. Also, the MoCo kids I know had more opportunities for exposure to science labs and computer programming. This may be specific to the two MoCo schools I am aware of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Janney and Deal parent with cousins with kids in two MoCo elementary schools, so I have some chance to compare. Generally, many aspects are very similar. Teacher quality, class size, extracurriculars etc. I do think Janney has significantly more parental involvement, probably due to the legacy of DCPS problems requiring more help from parents. Also, Janney's lunch and after-school programs are higher in quality than The MoCo's aftercare programs. The place where Janney lags a bit behind is math technology and science. The math program at Janney is not differentiated, so the top half the class is behind the MoCo kids by fourth and fifth grade. Not terribly so but a bit. Also, the MoCo kids I know had more opportunities for exposure to science labs and computer programming. This may be specific to the two MoCo schools I am aware of.

I have a cousin whose kids are in a school that feeds into Churchill who is now looking into privates due to lack of academic rigor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Janney and Deal parent with cousins with kids in two MoCo elementary schools, so I have some chance to compare. Generally, many aspects are very similar. Teacher quality, class size, extracurriculars etc. I do think Janney has significantly more parental involvement, probably due to the legacy of DCPS problems requiring more help from parents. Also, Janney's lunch and after-school programs are higher in quality than The MoCo's aftercare programs. The place where Janney lags a bit behind is math technology and science. The math program at Janney is not differentiated, so the top half the class is behind the MoCo kids by fourth and fifth grade. Not terribly so but a bit. Also, the MoCo kids I know had more opportunities for exposure to science labs and computer programming. This may be specific to the two MoCo schools I am aware of.

I, too, am a Janney/Deal parent with lots of MoCo connections. I largely agree with the PP's assessment. However, as I understand it, under 2.0 Montgomery County is using far less math differentiation in the classroom. In fact, they have moved to a system that more closely resembles Janney's in that kids are put into small leveled groups and advanced students are challenged to explore the topic at hand more deeply rather than just moving on to the next. In addition, despite the lack of differentiation, most of Janney's graduates move on to the algebra track at Deal. The comments about the science instruction surprise me a bit given that Janney has its own dedicated science teacher and lab but I actually don't know a whole lot about what happens there. In my assessment, Janney's great strength lies in the areas of writing and language arts. Using readers and writers workshop, the school consistently turns out kids with excellent writing and literary analysis skills. In terms of shortcomings, MoCo schools offer free music instruction complete with strings. Janney has a band but it costs extra doesn't offer strings instruction. In addition, MoCo does a better job of having school pyramids (i.e. elementary, middle and high schools) work together to create an articulated path. DCPS is just starting (!!!) to do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Janney and Deal parent with cousins with kids in two MoCo elementary schools, so I have some chance to compare. Generally, many aspects are very similar. Teacher quality, class size, extracurriculars etc. I do think Janney has significantly more parental involvement, probably due to the legacy of DCPS problems requiring more help from parents. Also, Janney's lunch and after-school programs are higher in quality than The MoCo's aftercare programs. The place where Janney lags a bit behind is math technology and science. The math program at Janney is not differentiated, so the top half the class is behind the MoCo kids by fourth and fifth grade. Not terribly so but a bit. Also, the MoCo kids I know had more opportunities for exposure to science labs and computer programming. This may be specific to the two MoCo schools I am aware of.

I, too, am a Janney/Deal parent with lots of MoCo connections. I largely agree with the PP's assessment. However, as I understand it, under 2.0 Montgomery County is using far less math differentiation in the classroom. In fact, they have moved to a system that more closely resembles Janney's in that kids are put into small leveled groups and advanced students are challenged to explore the topic at hand more deeply rather than just moving on to the next. In addition, despite the lack of differentiation, most of Janney's graduates move on to the algebra track at Deal. The comments about the science instruction surprise me a bit given that Janney has its own dedicated science teacher and lab but I actually don't know a whole lot about what happens there. In my assessment, Janney's great strength lies in the areas of writing and language arts. Using readers and writers workshop, the school consistently turns out kids with excellent writing and literary analysis skills. In terms of shortcomings, MoCo schools offer free music instruction complete with strings. Janney has a band but it costs extra doesn't offer strings instruction. In addition, MoCo does a better job of having school pyramids (i.e. elementary, middle and high schools) work together to create an articulated path. DCPS is just starting (!!!) to do this.

Janney science has been improving over the last few years. The big issue is that the Specials teachers are stretched thin, so kids get the science/PE/music/art teacher/social studies/media once every six days (I think).

The Janney (I'm assuming it's from DCPS) "Media" curriculum is poor. Learning Powerpoint is not worth time in school. Many schools are doing basic programming in elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they are truly accelerated, you could move just across MoCo border and get a better education. Kids not in school yet, but if my kid was really above grade level, I'd do it in a heartbeat no natter how much I love DC and city living.

Not true they do not accelerate in bethesda public elems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they are truly accelerated, you could move just across MoCo border and get a better education. Kids not in school yet, but if my kid was really above grade level, I'd do it in a heartbeat no natter how much I love DC and city living.

Not true they do not accelerate in bethesda public elems.

but they have GT and overall a more challenging curriculum, no? and they "get" middle and high school?

[Anonymous]

Parent here with "advanced kids". Meaning that they score advanced and they read and do math at advanced levels. I have been very happy with Janney. We have been there through 4 Principals, a new building and many new staff. It only gets better. My 2 cents on class sizes is that in DC there is no official limit on class sizes as there is in MoCo, so you will never have the Maret sized 12 in a classroom. We have had classes at Janney with 18-29 students. All were handled well by the teachers.

There is definitely differentiation used in the teaching at ALL grade levels. Janney has sunk resources into helping teachers develop this skill, and it is a trained skill. In addition they pull kids out in small groups at the low and high levels to both help and offer extra challenge. These small groups have inspired my child to come home and learn, to take on extra research at school, and to help others who are not as far along. This last point is very important to me because it is one thing to be good at math, it is another to be able to explain your reasoning aloud, formulate alternative ways of doing a problem, write down your reasoning, and be patient enough to work with someone who thinks differently than you do. All are skills my child has been forced to develop, even after he had the answer right.

All this being said, I looked at private schools for my youngest child, who corrects my 15 year old's spelling and math homework, and decided that for my kid, what they were getting at Janney was preferable. I have never regretted this decision. I do supplement the learning at Janney by having my child take language (at Janney after school), participate in on-line computer programming classes (in addition to the robotics and computer programming clubs offered at Janney), and read, read, read. But the quality of the education he is getting is great and I would encourage anyone to come to the school and see it and try to become part of it.

[Anonymous]

^^do you send your kids on to deal and Wilson? Thx!