best school in Maryland

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Sorry I was much too vague. My job placement is not known at this point but will most likely be in montgomery county, but possibly pg or howard. I am not interested in an alll-white school. My child is not white. She has some academic challenges--slower to read, math is hard --and would benefit from a school where SN families feel supported in case in comes to an IEP or 504 plan in her future.

I would say look at the bowie area, or Woodmore area both in PG county. Majority Black but still somewhat diverse, very good schools. Also the Tag Centers in PG like Glenarden Woods & Heather Hills have the best scores in the entire state of MD.

You mean African American.

Not necessarily. The DC area has a large Ethiopian and Eritrean population, and other smaller African and Caribbean populations. There are many schools that are majority black, but don't have a majority of any specific culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Sorry I was much too vague. My job placement is not known at this point but will most likely be in montgomery county, but possibly pg or howard. I am not interested in an alll-white school. My child is not white. She has some academic challenges--slower to read, math is hard --and would benefit from a school where SN families feel supported in case in comes to an IEP or 504 plan in her future.

I would say look at the bowie area, or Woodmore area both in PG county. Majority Black but still somewhat diverse, very good schools. Also the Tag Centers in PG like Glenarden Woods & Heather Hills have the best scores in the entire state of MD.

You mean African American.

Not necessarily. The DC area has a large Ethiopian and Eritrean population, and other smaller African and Caribbean populations. There are many schools that are majority black, but don't have a majority of any specific culture.

Nope not in Pg those areas are Black American, middle class with good school/scores

[Anonymous]

We like Takoma Park schools!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What high schools are stellar in Howard county?

River Hill, Centennial, Atholton, Mt. Hebron.

OP, HoCo has great support services for SN kids. Depending on where you work, it's a long commute. We moved out of Montgomery County to HoCo because of the schools and we're happy where we are (not in one of the high schools above). Our elementary and middle school are fantastic and our high school is steadily improving.

OP said she didn't want a school that was all white. HoCo is mostly white/asian. Someone I know moved from hoco to mcps because they wanted more diversity for their non white kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you afford private or is Arlington, Falls Church, Fairfax or Howard an option?

If you are interested in academics, MCPS is no longer the place to be. If you are not looking for academics then look for a school that is under enrolled rather than putting kids out in trailers. They do exist in both lower and high income areas but further out.

That will surely come as news to the many, many academic-minded parents in MCPS, most of whom (though not me) have better things to do than hang out on an anonymous internet message board.

I'm an academic-minded parent with a graduate degree. Quite frankly I think the instruction in MCPS is sub-par. MCPS is highly ranked because it has a large number of smart, well educated parents who beget smart children who score highly on standardized tests. The only year that I felt my child was well taught was 4th grade at an HGC.

[Anonymous]

Churchill , Wootton , Whitman , WJ, Poolesville , are higher ranked than any Howard county school,

QO, BCC and RM are equal to all but Centennial and RiverHill in Howard .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you afford private or is Arlington, Falls Church, Fairfax or Howard an option?

If you are interested in academics, MCPS is no longer the place to be. If you are not looking for academics then look for a school that is under enrolled rather than putting kids out in trailers. They do exist in both lower and high income areas but further out.

That will surely come as news to the many, many academic-minded parents in MCPS, most of whom (though not me) have better things to do than hang out on an anonymous internet message board.

I'm an academic-minded parent with a graduate degree. Quite frankly I think the instruction in MCPS is sub-par. MCPS is highly ranked because it has a large number of smart, well educated parents who beget smart children who score highly on standardized tests. The only year that I felt my child was well taught was 4th grade at an HGC.

Most well ranked schools have a large number of smart middle class.at least parents and high scoring students...

[Anonymous]

I agree with PP who mentioned Flora Singer. That was the first school that came to mind for me. Do not go to Highland View. I had a friend who had an extremely difficult time getting special ed resources there and ended up moving to Howard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What high schools are stellar in Howard county?

River Hill, Centennial, Atholton, Mt. Hebron.

OP, HoCo has great support services for SN kids. Depending on where you work, it's a long commute. We moved out of Montgomery County to HoCo because of the schools and we're happy where we are (not in one of the high schools above). Our elementary and middle school are fantastic and our high school is steadily improving.

OP said she didn't want a school that was all white. HoCo is mostly white/asian. Someone I know moved from hoco to mcps because they wanted more diversity for their non white kids.

OP said this almost 2 years ago so chances are she's figured it out by now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have read these forums at all, you should know that what works for one child and family is very different from what works for others.

The county is very segregated- not necessarily by race (though that is true, too), but by SES. Many feel that you should be in the richest areas (known as the W clusters), but those tend to have low diversity and very large class sizes. Others feel it is best to go into a mid SES school, that has reduced class sizes in K-2, more teachers at each school, and more diversity. Few want their children in Title 1 schools due to social challenges even though those schools do tend to have low class sizes and lots of resources.

Where are you going to work? What can you afford to pay? These are some big questions that you need to answer before you can select a school.

(I am soooo happy with my DS's 1st grade experience currently, and I hope you find a school that provides the same for your child! His class is 21 students and he has recess plus an extra recess called brain break daily. They also have a counselor lesson twice monthly which is great. I am very into the "whole" child and not pushing academics too hard in the early years, so this is great for me.)

What are mid SES schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What high schools are stellar in Howard county?

River Hill, Centennial, Atholton, Mt. Hebron.

OP, HoCo has great support services for SN kids. Depending on where you work, it's a long commute. We moved out of Montgomery County to HoCo because of the schools and we're happy where we are (not in one of the high schools above). Our elementary and middle school are fantastic and our high school is steadily improving.

OP said she didn't want a school that was all white. HoCo is mostly white/asian. Someone I know moved from hoco to mcps because they wanted more diversity for their non white kids.

OP said this almost 2 years ago so chances are she's figured it out by now.

Darn I hate it when I miss an old thread coming back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What high schools are stellar in Howard county?

River Hill, Centennial, Atholton, Mt. Hebron.

OP, HoCo has great support services for SN kids. Depending on where you work, it's a long commute. We moved out of Montgomery County to HoCo because of the schools and we're happy where we are (not in one of the high schools above). Our elementary and middle school are fantastic and our high school is steadily improving.

OP said she didn't want a school that was all white. HoCo is mostly white/asian. Someone I know moved from hoco to mcps because they wanted more diversity for their non white kids.

OP said this almost 2 years ago so chances are she's figured it out by now.

Darn I hate it when I miss an old thread coming back.

Same here. I was reading the thread and was going to comment and then I noticed the date. Why do old threads with specific questions that have likely been resolved come back???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - now is not a good time to be moving into MCPS with a special needs child. There are four things that seem to be either unique or especially bad in MCPS that make it a poor choice for special needs kids.

1. MCPS always cuts support staff - special ed, para educators in budget cuts and then cuts teachers. Another big cut is looming. Other school districts have budget woes but MCPS seems to always be in a worse state and cut teaching/support staff first.

2. There is no accountability in MCPS for staff that illegally do not follow the IEPs. MCPS is like the tobacco company and will throw huge legal resources against fighting families. The BOE has been actively fighting proposed legislation for Burden of Proof which would require schools to provide proof that IEP services were met. Right now, the burden of proof is on you to prove that they didn't, yet you have no access to records. You may not end up down this road but the overall stance toward special needs is hostile in MCPS unless the local school, on its own wants to do something for your child.

3. Whether a local school wants to do something for your child, is inherently unequal and unfair. At every school and for everyone, it comes down to where a principal wants to spend her resources. Its a little kingdom mentality. Minorities and lower income families suffer the most. Families who can afford outside testing and know how to advocate for their legal rights do far better in not letting them get away with this. Its awful but teachers and administrators do have biases against minority children and their performance. You are more likely to run into teachers who believe that your child just isn't smart not that she has a learning disability. The burden is on you to prove otherwise and identify what services she needs to succeed.

4. The new curriculum is making it worse for special ed students. There is a new grading system is basically pass fail and harmful for special needs kids. NT students who are brilliant get all Ps and special needs students who are performing way below their abilities and their grade get all Ps. My DS who has dysgraphia and other language based LD received all Ps for writing even though all his assignments were blank. The teacher reasoned that he was proficient in the concept because he could verbally answer questions about the writing process. This makes it impossible to use class work or grades to support the need for special ed and gives you no indication of how far below your child is in comparison to his grade. You need outside testing to find this out. The teachers are overwhelmed with the bad roll out of the curriculum so more support time goes into developing materials, training and dealing with the mess. This takes time away from special needs.

Gee, mine got half I's, and they still didn't think it meant anything because it "averaged out" to a P in writing. I agree that the grading system is totally worthless, totally non-transparent to the kids and parents, and hides real problems. I do think MCPS has some GREAT teachers, though it can be a little hit or miss. The implementation of curriculum 2.0 is also a little less than ideal (but I think something that school districts around the country are struggling with, trying to figure out what common core really is and how to implement it.) But given that good/great teachers are 90% of the academic experience, I'm willing to put up with some of the County stupidity. I do hope they continue to treat the teachers well, so that they don't all get frustrated and flee to the privates/outer suburbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We like Takoma Park schools!

There are several good options in the county. Takoma schools seem terrific. They're also diverse and inclusive which at a time of rampant hate crime at many other schools is to its credit.

The elementary schools is a focus school that is they have reduced class sizes. The STEM magnet program provides additional enrichment. Because of the size of the grades of roughly 200 children they are able to provide differentiated and enriched math and reading above and beyond most other schools.

The middle school has a GS rating of 10. It also houses one of the county's STEM middle school magnets. Presently, in boundary students have a slight advantage since a few seats are reserved.

The high-school, Blair, as someone stated in another thread, has many of the county's top performers but also has its share of low performers. This impacts its GS rating, but it also has more students admitted to top universities than any other high-school in the county according to the data published in Bethesda magazine. Blair also has about 3X the number of national merit kids than any W.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/press/index.aspx?page=showrelease&id=4964
http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/September-October-2016/The-College-Chart/index.php?cparticle=3&siarticle=2#artanc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We like Takoma Park schools!

There are several good options in the county. Takoma schools seem terrific. They're also diverse and inclusive which at a time of rampant hate crime at many other schools is to its credit.

The elementary schools is a focus school that is they have reduced class sizes. The STEM magnet program provides additional enrichment. Because of the size of the grades of roughly 200 children they are able to provide differentiated and enriched math and reading above and beyond most other schools.

The middle school has a GS rating of 10. It also houses one of the county's STEM middle school magnets. Presently, in boundary students have a slight advantage since a few seats are reserved.

The high-school, Blair, as someone stated in another thread, has many of the county's top performers but also has its share of low performers. This impacts its GS rating, but it also has more students admitted to top universities than any other high-school in the county according to the data published in Bethesda magazine. Blair also has about 3X the number of national merit kids than any W.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/press/index.aspx?page=showrelease&id=4964
http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Magazine/September-October-2016/The-College-Chart/index.php?cparticle=3&siarticle=2#artanc

We're in-bounds for ESS, TPMS, and Blair and having a good experience at both ESS and TPMS. I can't speak to Blair but can say that the vast majority of our neighbors with older kids use the school and all of the kids seem to be doing fine. Some are in the magnets, but even the kids in the non-magnet high school seem to be challenged, doing well on AP exams, and gaining admission to great colleges. I know we've lost a couple of babysitters to college over the years, and all of them have been admitted to great schools.