Wootton currently rated a 10 and Gaithersburg HS currently rated a 3…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do these ratings come from? Specify the source.

Usually those are derived from test scores which are correlated with parent affluence.

So a lower rating will just mean you have a more demographically mixed school.

Colleges look at SAT and GPA. Affluent children at a demographically poorer school can still get high SATs. Maybe they will need more private tutoring.

A lower rating is based on test scores. Which is student performance. and yes, is directly impacted by family influence/involvement. The less family involvement in a school-the lower the score.

Niche/Great schools. everyone wants to say the ratings don’t matter but again-colleges DO in fact look at them.

Colleges do look at them, but not in the way you are insinuating. Attending a higher-ranked school does not improve your chances of admission, and a lower-ranked school does not lower them. If anything, it is the opposite. A kid coming out of a less-segregated school, with strong grades, extracurriculars, and test scores, is going to be prioritized over the 50th kid in the same cohort from a high ranked school, applying to the same schools, with the same course load, test scores, and extracurriculars.

This. What a dummy the OP is

I had a colleague claim college degrees didn't matter either (he didn't have one). Of course he left the job long ago. Also knew a PhD who got his degree from a no-name college in the middle of nowhere. It's embarrassing when he meets a real PhD from a good school and can't hold an intelligent conversation.

School rankings drive prosperity. Educated parents or parents who care about their children's education are drawn towards highly-ranked schools. Similarly, elite colleges keep an eye on high school rankings since schools that don't groom elite academic programs don't prepare their students well. Top schools don't want to waste their time teaching basics that a mediocre college can teach.

But that's not the MCPS CO. I've met a few MCPS Central Office staff that are pure prima donnas. They push their own personal social agendas into school politics and honestly are ruining the school system for all parents. Most of them are part of the "equity over equality" crowd that senior administration is afraid to fire. In my opinion, these folks push their personal agendas over their professional responsibilities as educators. They're dangerous and harmful to children's' futures.

I think this anti-academic attitude will spell the end of MCPS as a national-level school system. It will go the way of other public schools as "where poor people send their kids to keep them out of jail". Private schools will fill the void once that happens and, like many other public school districts, will likely never recover.

It's sad no one will stand up and fire these folks. It is what it is I guess.

I don't think they are pushing equity at all. They barely invest any money to support kids from low income families. They just create policies that use an equality framework - like the lack of discipline in schools or grade inflation - to act like they care about equity. They don't even know what equity means.

I've been saying this for a little while now.

The policy at MCPS has been lowering the bar instead of raising the bottom. And they use more lax standards and discipline so numbers that people would be concerned about won't be high. But they're not doing anyone favors and/or preparing them for life after high school. What's some of the narratives they give? Oh these families will only go so far. So don't add additional burden to them by making their kids do homework at home. Or teach them a trade job, instead of preparing them for college.

Whereas other nearby school systems actually focus on the quality of education. They have special groups and initiatives for Black and Brown students to celebrate and encourage their academic achievements. For students that struggle in math classes, they offer an extra period of math for them. Then you see their results two or three years later, where they're doing fine in math without needing these extra classes anymore. True, maybe these other school systems are smaller and have the resources for these kind of things now and would struggle once they run into the same issues as MCPS. But in the near future, those school systems would serve my family better and when they need it more.

It's apparent too, where MCPS is declining in rankings when compared to other local school systems in several factors. State test scores, absences, chronic absence, wealth, etc.

The challenge is the incorrect idea that these same things don't exist at MCPS when they do. There are groups like the Black & Brown coalition, Identity, NAACP parent's council, Minority scholars program, etc. Plenty of student have resource classes, or pull out from reading and math specialist. There are actually some EML students that move through the levels and exit the language program.

Yes MCPS has things that need to be improved and need to change. It also has things that the other school systems don't like a huge array of special programs and magnets. Ask people if they are willing to give those up to get more of the things you speak of? However, they will go to a new school system and just accept that those things don't exist.

The Black and Brown Coalition is two people that meet with nonprofits to advocate for Black and Brown students but they don't provide direct services. MCPS does fund some services provided by nonprofits but services specifically targeting Black students are few and far between. A lot are focused on Latino students. Services for EML students are primarily funded by federal and state dollars. MCPS like every other school system is required to provide these services. MCPS does provide pull out interventions but IME these are limited and we had to hire a tutor because my kid is below grade level but not getting an intervention.

Being required by law to provide specific services is not the same as having the resources (monetary or personnel) to provide said services.

A lot are focused on Latino students because that is a growing population of students and amount of students who need interventions and supports. Is MCPS supposed to ignore this? If Black students want more supports they should become a very loud voice. Brenda Wolfe is on the BOE, there is the NAACP Parent's Council, there are groups in schools. There are people advocating on their behalf of black and minority students on the county council.

Everyone wants to take their ball and go somewhere else instead of digging in where needed.

Huh? First of all what's with the term "minority"? That term is nonsensical on Montgomery County because every racial group is a "minority" including White students.

Also, if.you are suggesting it is Black students' fault or the Black community's fault their scores are atrocious and have few resources to get support, you can go f&ck yourself you racist f&ck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where do these ratings come from? Specify the source.

Usually those are derived from test scores which are correlated with parent affluence.

So a lower rating will just mean you have a more demographically mixed school.

Colleges look at SAT and GPA. Affluent children at a demographically poorer school can still get high SATs. Maybe they will need more private tutoring.

A lower rating is based on test scores. Which is student performance. and yes, is directly impacted by family influence/involvement. The less family involvement in a school-the lower the score.

Niche/Great schools. everyone wants to say the ratings don’t matter but again-colleges DO in fact look at them.

Colleges do look at them, but not in the way you are insinuating. Attending a higher-ranked school does not improve your chances of admission, and a lower-ranked school does not lower them. If anything, it is the opposite. A kid coming out of a less-segregated school, with strong grades, extracurriculars, and test scores, is going to be prioritized over the 50th kid in the same cohort from a high ranked school, applying to the same schools, with the same course load, test scores, and extracurriculars.

This. What a dummy the OP is

I had a colleague claim college degrees didn't matter either (he didn't have one). Of course he left the job long ago. Also knew a PhD who got his degree from a no-name college in the middle of nowhere. It's embarrassing when he meets a real PhD from a good school and can't hold an intelligent conversation.

School rankings drive prosperity. Educated parents or parents who care about their children's education are drawn towards highly-ranked schools. Similarly, elite colleges keep an eye on high school rankings since schools that don't groom elite academic programs don't prepare their students well. Top schools don't want to waste their time teaching basics that a mediocre college can teach.

But that's not the MCPS CO. I've met a few MCPS Central Office staff that are pure prima donnas. They push their own personal social agendas into school politics and honestly are ruining the school system for all parents. Most of them are part of the "equity over equality" crowd that senior administration is afraid to fire. In my opinion, these folks push their personal agendas over their professional responsibilities as educators. They're dangerous and harmful to children's' futures.

I think this anti-academic attitude will spell the end of MCPS as a national-level school system. It will go the way of other public schools as "where poor people send their kids to keep them out of jail". Private schools will fill the void once that happens and, like many other public school districts, will likely never recover.

It's sad no one will stand up and fire these folks. It is what it is I guess.

I don't think they are pushing equity at all. They barely invest any money to support kids from low income families. They just create policies that use an equality framework - like the lack of discipline in schools or grade inflation - to act like they care about equity. They don't even know what equity means.

I've been saying this for a little while now.

The policy at MCPS has been lowering the bar instead of raising the bottom. And they use more lax standards and discipline so numbers that people would be concerned about won't be high. But they're not doing anyone favors and/or preparing them for life after high school. What's some of the narratives they give? Oh these families will only go so far. So don't add additional burden to them by making their kids do homework at home. Or teach them a trade job, instead of preparing them for college.

Whereas other nearby school systems actually focus on the quality of education. They have special groups and initiatives for Black and Brown students to celebrate and encourage their academic achievements. For students that struggle in math classes, they offer an extra period of math for them. Then you see their results two or three years later, where they're doing fine in math without needing these extra classes anymore. True, maybe these other school systems are smaller and have the resources for these kind of things now and would struggle once they run into the same issues as MCPS. But in the near future, those school systems would serve my family better and when they need it more.

It's apparent too, where MCPS is declining in rankings when compared to other local school systems in several factors. State test scores, absences, chronic absence, wealth, etc.

The challenge is the incorrect idea that these same things don't exist at MCPS when they do. There are groups like the Black & Brown coalition, Identity, NAACP parent's council, Minority scholars program, etc. Plenty of student have resource classes, or pull out from reading and math specialist. There are actually some EML students that move through the levels and exit the language program.

Yes MCPS has things that need to be improved and need to change. It also has things that the other school systems don't like a huge array of special programs and magnets. Ask people if they are willing to give those up to get more of the things you speak of? However, they will go to a new school system and just accept that those things don't exist.

The Black and Brown Coalition is two people that meet with nonprofits to advocate for Black and Brown students but they don't provide direct services. MCPS does fund some services provided by nonprofits but services specifically targeting Black students are few and far between. A lot are focused on Latino students. Services for EML students are primarily funded by federal and state dollars. MCPS like every other school system is required to provide these services. MCPS does provide pull out interventions but IME these are limited and we had to hire a tutor because my kid is below grade level but not getting an intervention.

Being required by law to provide specific services is not the same as having the resources (monetary or personnel) to provide said services.

A lot are focused on Latino students because that is a growing population of students and amount of students who need interventions and supports. Is MCPS supposed to ignore this? If Black students want more supports they should become a very loud voice. Brenda Wolfe is on the BOE, there is the NAACP Parent's Council, there are groups in schools. There are people advocating on their behalf of black and minority students on the county council.

Everyone wants to take their ball and go somewhere else instead of digging in where needed.

This is true, but the problem is somewhat structural. In that Maryland mandates that schools, be run at the county level which means in Montgomery County you've got this bizarre mix of suburban, quasi-urban and exurban. Where there are several towns that aren't of insignificant size who can't really govern their high schools as they need and there are issues in other towns that aren't really relevant, but never-the-less mandate policy for other towns.

This Wootton vs Crown is a clear example. MCPS has decided to try to transcend Gaithersburg, Rockville, Potomac as if the different cities with different tax bases and different demographics didn't exist.

The county model works in rural areas. Some rural areas will have one high school for the whole county for example, or a few rural high schools that are basically demographically homogenous.

MCPS just adds another layer so now Rockville High School has to fight with Potomac or Silver Spring to get special programs, which they have clearly lost out on.

So, I think it's valid to pick up and leave. The only other option I can realistically see is Maryland State institutions stepping in and forcing all boundaries to be redrawn and special programs and funding be local to the schools that pay the taxes for them.

Maryland did somewhat force the hand when they required counties to normalize for demographics and MCPS suddenly didn't look like it was doing so well despite having one or two 10 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be simialr to RM.

RM as it is today with the county-wide IB program or the RM of the future without it?

It's hard to say till we see new boudaries. But somewhere in the range. RM will still have a great IB magnet program. A bit diluted but it will have a strong one.

RM pulls from neighborhoods with strong working class families who care very much about their kids’ education. I would choose to be sent here way before I would choose to be sent to Crown.
-Current Wootton Parent

Working class families like those who have homes in Woodley Gardens, College Gardens, King Farm and Fallsgrove?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be simialr to RM.

RM as it is today with the county-wide IB program or the RM of the future without it?

It's hard to say till we see new boudaries. But somewhere in the range. RM will still have a great IB magnet program. A bit diluted but it will have a strong one.

RM pulls from neighborhoods with strong working class families who care very much about their kids’ education. I would choose to be sent here way before I would choose to be sent to Crown.
-Current Wootton Parent

Working class families like those who have homes in Woodley Gardens, College Gardens, King Farm and Fallsgrove?

Clearly you think you are being sarcastic but yeah-the people who live in those neighborhoods are not “rich”. And you forgot to mention all the neighborhoods it pulls from in downtown rockville.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be simialr to RM.

RM as it is today with the county-wide IB program or the RM of the future without it?

It's hard to say till we see new boudaries. But somewhere in the range. RM will still have a great IB magnet program. A bit diluted but it will have a strong one.

RM pulls from neighborhoods with strong working class families who care very much about their kids’ education. I would choose to be sent here way before I would choose to be sent to Crown.
-Current Wootton Parent

Working class families like those who have homes in Woodley Gardens, College Gardens, King Farm and Fallsgrove?

Clearly you think you are being sarcastic but yeah-the people who live in those neighborhoods are not “rich”. And you forgot to mention all the neighborhoods it pulls from in downtown rockville.

There is a difference between "not rich" and working class. They may not be rich but many are highly educated. These neighborhoods contain a lot of scientists who may not make a lot of money.

[Anonymous]

Ratings don't matter per se but they reflect something 'real' and that 'real' thing does matter -- if perhaps only because kids surrounded by high performers will be nudged to perform well. (And also because high performing schools have a lot of AP/IB offerings.)

But the impact on college admissions is almost the opposite of what OP is suggesting. AOs compare kids with the other kids in their same school. It's easier to stand out at a lower performing school. There's a bias *against* taking kids from high performing schools because universities don't want to stack their class with a bunch of kids from the same school. Spend some time on the universities forum here and you'll see all kinds of lamenting about how hard it is for W school kids to get admitted to UMD, for instance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ratings don't matter per se but they reflect something 'real' and that 'real' thing does matter -- if perhaps only because kids surrounded by high performers will be nudged to perform well. (And also because high performing schools have a lot of AP/IB offerings.)

But the impact on college admissions is almost the opposite of what OP is suggesting. AOs compare kids with the other kids in their same school. It's easier to stand out at a lower performing school. There's a bias *against* taking kids from high performing schools because universities don't want to stack their class with a bunch of kids from the same school. Spend some time on the universities forum here and you'll see all kinds of lamenting about how hard it is for W school kids to get admitted to UMD, for instance.

+1.

Since they are moving all of Wootton, these kids will still be surrounded by high performers and there will be a rich offering of AP classes. Ratings do matter when they are exceptionally low because it means the high performers are isolated. This will not be the case here.

[Anonymous]

Wootton at old Wootton is not a safe environment for humans. I'm glad there is an option to get students and staff out of that building.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It will be simialr to RM.

RM as it is today with the county-wide IB program or the RM of the future without it?

It's hard to say till we see new boudaries. But somewhere in the range. RM will still have a great IB magnet program. A bit diluted but it will have a strong one.

RM pulls from neighborhoods with strong working class families who care very much about their kids’ education. I would choose to be sent here way before I would choose to be sent to Crown.
-Current Wootton Parent

Working class families like those who have homes in Woodley Gardens, College Gardens, King Farm and Fallsgrove?

Clearly you think you are being sarcastic but yeah-the people who live in those neighborhoods are not “rich”. And you forgot to mention all the neighborhoods it pulls from in downtown rockville.

There is a difference between "not rich" and working class. They may not be rich but many are highly educated. These neighborhoods contain a lot of scientists who may not make a lot of money.

Working class aren't scientists and they using it as an insult to pretend they are better than someone else. If they want to be elitist, go private