Best HS in MoCo

[Anonymous]

Churchill is the most highly ranked year in and out. Recent violence at BCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is the most highly ranked year in and out. Recent violence at BCC.

You do realize there's negligible difference among, say, the top 10 high schools, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is the most highly ranked year in and out. Recent violence at BCC.

You do realize there's negligible difference among, say, the top 10 high schools, right?

Touched a nerve?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is the most highly ranked year in and out. Recent violence at BCC.

What interesting classes/programs does Churchill have? Why is it "best"? Because it's wealthy and so most of the students come from well educated families and can afford tutors and what not so their kids get into good colleges? If that's the case, then why not Whitman or Wootton? They all have similar stats. And no, Churchill is not highest ranked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is the most highly ranked year in and out. Recent violence at BCC.

You do realize there's negligible difference among, say, the top 10 high schools, right?

Touched a nerve?

Not really. There's just a huge amount of ignorance on this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Churchill is the most highly ranked year in and out. Recent violence at BCC.

What interesting classes/programs does Churchill have? Why is it "best"? Because it's wealthy and so most of the students come from well educated families and can afford tutors and what not so their kids get into good colleges? If that's the case, then why not Whitman or Wootton? They all have similar stats. And no, Churchill is not highest ranked.

Right. Whitman is, and last year it was Poolesville.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Whitman is the best academically but I prefer Walter Johnson which is nearly as good, offers courses that are more in line with what my kids wish to study, and is a little more diverse. BCC is on par with Walter Johnson, but less AP classes because of their IB program, so not what we want.

You really need to look at the course and club offerings, OP. The 3 I mentioned here are the best high schools in the county but have different vibes and classes.

Who would choose a school that is not quite as good for more diversity? What does that fractionally more diverse environment award your kid in practical terms, for attending it? Well, absolutely nothing.

PP you replied to.

We are not wealthy, white or American, so we feel a little more at home at WJ, and academically there isn't a great difference. If there had been, we would obviously have gone with the best school.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look into Einstein. It's been on a very strong upward trajectory while the other schools have been losing ground

Please don't believe this poster. Einstein was one of the deeply problematic school in previous years. Just because it's getting slightly better doesn't mean that it's ***anywhere close*** to the excellent high schools discussed on this thread.

To clarify: the "deeply problematic" part of Einstein HS, for this PP, is that the student population includes a lot of kids who are Latino.

Look, I have a child at Einstein. I would send him elsewhere if I could afford it. A child can still receive a fantastic education and there are many wonderful teachers. Only about 40 percent, however, go directly to a 4 year university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look into Einstein. It's been on a very strong upward trajectory while the other schools have been losing ground

Please don't believe this poster. Einstein was one of the deeply problematic school in previous years. Just because it's getting slightly better doesn't mean that it's ***anywhere close*** to the excellent high schools discussed on this thread.

To clarify: the "deeply problematic" part of Einstein HS, for this PP, is that the student population includes a lot of kids who are Latino.

Look, I have a child at Einstein. I would send him elsewhere if I could afford it. A child can still receive a fantastic education and there are many wonderful teachers. Only about 40 percent, however, go directly to a 4 year university.

How do you think your child's education would be different if they were at a high school where 3 out of 5 (or 4 out of 5, or 5 out of 5) students went directly to a four-year university?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, this thread is so typical of MoCo parents. Welcome if you still plan to come to this land of crazies.

Yup. Lord help them if they admit QO, as a school with some diversity, could be as good as their lily white schools.

Quince Orchard HS isn't much less white than the less-white Wealthy White schools. It is less wealthy, though.

2017-2018 data because I still haven't figured out how to get the more recent data (and MCPS still hasn't updated the at-a-glance data):

Whitman: 67% white, less than 5% FARMs
B-CC: 57% white, 11% FARMs
Walter Johnson: 54% white, 8% FARMs
Churchill: 50% white, less than 5% FARMs
Wootton: 44% white, less than 5% FARMs
Quince Orchard: 40% white, 21% FARMs

Then there's also

Poolesville: 51% white, 6% FARMs (without the magnet programs, it would be like John Poole MS: 72% white, 10% FARMs)
Damascus: 56% white, 15% FARMs
Sherwood: 50% white, 15% FARMs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are moving to the area and are debating where to move for an incoming 9th grader. Very smart, non-athletic. Whitman, BCC, Churchhill, Wooton, Richard Montgomery? He applied to IB at Richard Montgomery but got waitlisted.
What are pros and cons of each. Thank you for your input!

If you need to work in Arlington or downtown DC is pick BCc or Whitman. Everything else adds 30 more minutes to your commute, especially after work.

If you work in Tyson’s life in falls church, VA.

If you work in Montgomery county live in Rockville, MD. You can go further north If you want, but it won’t be a unnoticeable commute.

I would also add that NW DC DCPS PK-5th grade are now better than MCPS ES curriculum, so consider that if you have young children.

[Anonymous]

I'd avoid the schools you listed. There are constant racial issues and hate incidents there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, this thread is so typical of MoCo parents. Welcome if you still plan to come to this land of crazies.

Yup. Lord help them if they admit QO, as a school with some diversity, could be as good as their lily white schools.

Quince Orchard HS isn't much less white than the less-white Wealthy White schools. It is less wealthy, though.

2017-2018 data because I still haven't figured out how to get the more recent data (and MCPS still hasn't updated the at-a-glance data):

Whitman: 67% white, less than 5% FARMs
B-CC: 57% white, 11% FARMs
Walter Johnson: 54% white, 8% FARMs
Churchill: 50% white, less than 5% FARMs
Wootton: 44% white, less than 5% FARMs
Quince Orchard: 40% white, 21% FARMs

Then there's also

Poolesville: 51% white, 6% FARMs (without the magnet programs, it would be like John Poole MS: 72% white, 10% FARMs)
Damascus: 56% white, 15% FARMs
Sherwood: 50% white, 15% FARMs

Whitman is like <5% AA or Hispanic. These numbers are misleading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, this thread is so typical of MoCo parents. Welcome if you still plan to come to this land of crazies.

Yup. Lord help them if they admit QO, as a school with some diversity, could be as good as their lily white schools.

Quince Orchard HS isn't much less white than the less-white Wealthy White schools. It is less wealthy, though.

2017-2018 data because I still haven't figured out how to get the more recent data (and MCPS still hasn't updated the at-a-glance data):

Whitman: 67% white, less than 5% FARMs
B-CC: 57% white, 11% FARMs
Walter Johnson: 54% white, 8% FARMs
Churchill: 50% white, less than 5% FARMs
Wootton: 44% white, less than 5% FARMs
Quince Orchard: 40% white, 21% FARMs

Then there's also

Poolesville: 51% white, 6% FARMs (without the magnet programs, it would be like John Poole MS: 72% white, 10% FARMs)
Damascus: 56% white, 15% FARMs
Sherwood: 50% white, 15% FARMs

Whitman is like <5% AA or Hispanic. These numbers are misleading.

Right, you need to list the number of AA or Hispanic kids to get a sense of what's really going on, SES-wise. The reason QO has such a higher FARMS rate than those other schools is not because the white population is that different; it's because there are a large number of low-income Hispanic kids.

[Anonymous]

Blair not mentioned here? At all?

Especially with folks talking about a shorter commute to DC?

Blair is more diverse than all of the schools discussed here, and even outside of the Magnet programs, kids can get an excellent education.

-Signed, Blair graduate from upcounty who moved to Downtown SS partly so her kid could go to Blair