Diamond Elementary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But Northwest's average SAT scores are higher, and they both have an 8 on Great Schools.

Yes this was my point, NW and QO are not far apart in scores BUT there is a BIG premium on being in QO over NW. Its weird. There is a big gap between Wootton and QO but not QO and NW.

Some of it is historical but its also that out in this area everything gets measured against Wootton and Churchill. There's still a 100K premium to be in Wootton over QO. However, QO is a very nice school and everyone from Wootton hangs out in QO areas -like the Kentlands etc. Many people years ago who would have held out for Wootton only moved into QO and like it. Kentlands and Lakelands is very popular. So at some point QO became acceptable but NW did not.

People think that Quince Orchard is great and Northwest is Ganglandia, because Quince Orchard is next to Wootton?

There's a simpler explanation.

Yup. This is it.

No, actually, that's the complicated explanation. The simpler explanation is that it's because Northwest is less white than Quince Orchard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But Northwest's average SAT scores are higher, and they both have an 8 on Great Schools.

Yes this was my point, NW and QO are not far apart in scores BUT there is a BIG premium on being in QO over NW. Its weird. There is a big gap between Wootton and QO but not QO and NW.

Some of it is historical but its also that out in this area everything gets measured against Wootton and Churchill. There's still a 100K premium to be in Wootton over QO. However, QO is a very nice school and everyone from Wootton hangs out in QO areas -like the Kentlands etc. Many people years ago who would have held out for Wootton only moved into QO and like it. Kentlands and Lakelands is very popular. So at some point QO became acceptable but NW did not.

1. What data do you have to substantiate this “big gap” between QO and Wootton? QO is 243 in US News and Wootton is 178. Given how many high schools there are in the US, that’s barely a difference. GS ratings are different because QO has more minority kids. Test scores among white and Asian kids are virtually the same at each school.

2. You’re wrong about the real estate premium. Plenty of homes in QO district that are just as expensive, if not more, than Wootton homes.

NP here and I just want to point out that the reason why people prefer QO to NW is the minority factor. Far less white kids in Northwest. Just being honest here. White families like to be in neighborhoods where there are lots of other white families. NW has this reputation of being a bad school because lots of brown kids attend that school. No one will admit this in real life but let's be real. People even go as far in describing it as a rough school with gangs (even without proof).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

But Northwest's average SAT scores are higher, and they both have an 8 on Great Schools.

Yes this was my point, NW and QO are not far apart in scores BUT there is a BIG premium on being in QO over NW. Its weird. There is a big gap between Wootton and QO but not QO and NW.

Some of it is historical but its also that out in this area everything gets measured against Wootton and Churchill. There's still a 100K premium to be in Wootton over QO. However, QO is a very nice school and everyone from Wootton hangs out in QO areas -like the Kentlands etc. Many people years ago who would have held out for Wootton only moved into QO and like it. Kentlands and Lakelands is very popular. So at some point QO became acceptable but NW did not.

People think that Quince Orchard is great and Northwest is Ganglandia, because Quince Orchard is next to Wootton?

There's a simpler explanation.

Yup. This is it.

No, actually, that's the complicated explanation. The simpler explanation is that it's because Northwest is less white than Quince Orchard.

This is what I was thinking. What else could it be? NW actually has very little ESOL rate. FARMS rate is similar to QO.

[Anonymous]

No one in the Wootton cluster would argue that Wooton is superior or equal to Churchill in terms of wealth. In fact many Wootton parents are relieved not to have deal with their kids feeling poorer/wanting more expensive things that others can more easily afford.

No one in the Quince Orchard cluster would argue that QO is superior or equal in terms of academics to Wootton. In fact, many QO parents are relieved not to have to deal with their kids being lower ranked because there are so many other super smart kids or feeling insecure that they don't score as high as others.

All three places are good schools with different strengths and advantages depending on your vantage point. If you are not one to compare yourself to others and easily self motivated then any of the three schools would be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No one in the Wootton cluster would argue that Wooton is superior or equal to Churchill in terms of wealth. In fact many Wootton parents are relieved not to have deal with their kids feeling poorer/wanting more expensive things that others can more easily afford.

No one in the Quince Orchard cluster would argue that QO is superior or equal in terms of academics to Wootton. In fact, many QO parents are relieved not to have to deal with their kids being lower ranked because there are so many other super smart kids or feeling insecure that they don't score as high as others.

All three places are good schools with different strengths and advantages depending on your vantage point. If you are not one to compare yourself to others and easily self motivated then any of the three schools would be fine.

What evidence do you have that the academics at QO are inferior to those at Wootton?

[Anonymous]

Good grief what planet are you from? Yeah a difference of 65 spaces in the national rankings is a substantive number.

You'd be kindred spirits with the person who started the is GMU as good as Stanford thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good grief what planet are you from? Yeah a difference of 65 spaces in the national rankings is a substantive number.

You'd be kindred spirits with the person who started the is GMU as good as Stanford thread.

Actually it’s not. Take a stats class, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good grief what planet are you from? Yeah a difference of 65 spaces in the national rankings is a substantive number.

You'd be kindred spirits with the person who started the is GMU as good as Stanford thread.

Actually it’s not. Take a stats class, please.

To put it another way: Wootton is in approximately the top 0.68% of public high schools, while QO is in the top 1.0%. By contrast, Stanford is #5 while GMU is 140. How is that at all an analogous situation?

[Anonymous]

QO is no where even close to the level of Wooton, Whitman, Churchill and Walter Johnson.

Its fine if top academics, scores and rankings do not matter to you. You will enjoy QO as many families do. There's no point in trying to make QO something that it isn't, especially when it isn't even much better than NW.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:QO is no where even close to the level of Wooton, Whitman, Churchill and Walter Johnson.

Its fine if top academics, scores and rankings do not matter to you. You will enjoy QO as many families do. There's no point in trying to make QO something that it isn't, especially when it isn't even much better than NW.

Data please?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:QO is no where even close to the level of Wooton, Whitman, Churchill and Walter Johnson.

Its fine if top academics, scores and rankings do not matter to you. You will enjoy QO as many families do. There's no point in trying to make QO something that it isn't, especially when it isn't even much better than NW.

Everybody has to have somebody to look down on, eh? Churchill looks down on Wootton, Wootton looks down on Quince Orchard, Quince Orchard looks down on Northwest, Northwest looks down on Seneca Valley, and for all I know, Seneca Valley looks down on Watkins Mill (but I have never heard anything to this effect, and probably people at Seneca Valley are much too busy living their own lives to have time for this nonsense).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:QO is no where even close to the level of Wooton, Whitman, Churchill and Walter Johnson.

Its fine if top academics, scores and rankings do not matter to you. You will enjoy QO as many families do. There's no point in trying to make QO something that it isn't, especially when it isn't even much better than NW.

Everybody has to have somebody to look down on, eh? Churchill looks down on Wootton, Wootton looks down on Quince Orchard, Quince Orchard looks down on Northwest, Northwest looks down on Seneca Valley, and for all I know, Seneca Valley looks down on Watkins Mill (but I have never heard anything to this effect, and probably people at Seneca Valley are much too busy living their own lives to have time for this nonsense).

You think people at Seneca Valley are somehow immune to something integral to human nature (aka competition)?

[Anonymous]

Also, do you know whether the placement rate from Diamond to a local CES center been affected by the "peer group" measures? What about Lakelands to Clemente? Northwest to Poolesville?

Nope -only Wootton MS feeders Frost and Cabin John were blocked from the DCC middle school magnets.

NW cluster doesm't have the same number of high scoring students. This is anecdotal only but I have heard that it is easier to get into Poolesville or Richard Montgomery magnet programs. We know several people who live in Darnestown with older kids and all their kids have gone to one of the magnets. Smart kids but not genius level or anything. Wootton families don't apply in high numbers since Wootton already has top students/classes so why bother with a long bus ride. I don't know why more people from QO don't apply. Have heard that Clemente isn't that rigorous so maybe some people don't think the magnets are worth pursuing again in high school. Just a guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Also, do you know whether the placement rate from Diamond to a local CES center been affected by the "peer group" measures? What about Lakelands to Clemente? Northwest to Poolesville?

Nope -only Wootton MS feeders Frost and Cabin John were blocked from the DCC middle school magnets.

NW cluster doesm't have the same number of high scoring students. This is anecdotal only but I have heard that it is easier to get into Poolesville or Richard Montgomery magnet programs. We know several people who live in Darnestown with older kids and all their kids have gone to one of the magnets. Smart kids but not genius level or anything. Wootton families don't apply in high numbers since Wootton already has top students/classes so why bother with a long bus ride. I don't know why more people from QO don't apply. Have heard that Clemente isn't that rigorous so maybe some people don't think the magnets are worth pursuing again in high school. Just a guess.

The magnet application process didn’t change for upcounty because it wasn’t in the pilot program. Also, PP is elitist and racist by saying there are fewer smart kids in upcounty schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Also, do you know whether the placement rate from Diamond to a local CES center been affected by the "peer group" measures? What about Lakelands to Clemente? Northwest to Poolesville?

Nope -only Wootton MS feeders Frost and Cabin John were blocked from the DCC middle school magnets.

NW cluster doesm't have the same number of high scoring students. This is anecdotal only but I have heard that it is easier to get into Poolesville or Richard Montgomery magnet programs. We know several people who live in Darnestown with older kids and all their kids have gone to one of the magnets. Smart kids but not genius level or anything. Wootton families don't apply in high numbers since Wootton already has top students/classes so why bother with a long bus ride. I don't know why more people from QO don't apply. Have heard that Clemente isn't that rigorous so maybe some people don't think the magnets are worth pursuing again in high school. Just a guess.

One hot summer’s day a fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. “Just the things to quench my thirst,” quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: “I am sure they are sour.”