Rockville HS vs. Richard Montgomery HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

My original concern still applies...why does Rockville only have 36% of kids that meet Univ. of Maryland entry requirements and RM have 64%? Looking into all the Rockville elementary feeder schools it appears that only one of them (Barnesley) offers compacted 4/5 and compacted 5/6 math. It seems like all the feeder elementary schools at RM do offer those. Is that a big factor? Again, my kids are still in lower elementary but are doing quite well in math and I expect at least 1 of them to need access to the higher levels of math.

Probably because the percentage of kids at Rockville HS who are poor is higher than the percentage of kids at Richard Montgomery HS who are poor.

Here are the math courses offered at Rockville HS: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/rockvillehs/academics/math.aspx

[Anonymous]

OP, RM is basically twice as big. Even once you take out the magnet, the extra 600 or so kids give RM a larger population to fill upper level classes like Calc 3D and AP Literature. It matters in lower level courses like Alg II double period. Both schools have Alg II double but RM might have two classes so taking it won't cut you off from an elective that is only offered at one time. This also matters in sports. The RM teams are usually better because of the larger population.

If your DC are not likely to need services as part of an outlying population Rockville, being smaller, would give them a more personal experience in the middle since it would feel more like everyone knows them.

[Anonymous]

Also, keep in mind, colleges will pick from the top kids to bottom kids. RM's top kids are IB kids so unless your DC is in IB, well...

[Anonymous]

PP is wrong - best kids from RM do very well based on strength of school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, RM is basically twice as big. Even once you take out the magnet, the extra 600 or so kids give RM a larger population to fill upper level classes like Calc 3D and AP Literature. It matters in lower level courses like Alg II double period. Both schools have Alg II double but RM might have two classes so taking it won't cut you off from an elective that is only offered at one time. This also matters in sports. The RM teams are usually better because of the larger population.

If your DC are not likely to need services as part of an outlying population Rockville, being smaller, would give them a more personal experience in the middle since it would feel more like everyone knows them.

I will give a different take on that. My child is a non-IB senior. I feel that since many top RM kids are in IB or take IB classes (some are open to non-IB kids) there are actually fewer choices than there might be. For example, this year there is no APUSH or AP CHem. My stem focused kid had to ask his guidance counselor to be sure to mention he did not have the opportunity to take AP Chem this year on his college rec as that is probably not what is expected from a large MCPS high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RM is overcrowded. They are masked by the IB program.

I would pick Rockville.

Yea because all those kids from JW are terrible.

Twinbrook is the pits.

lol.. so you are focusing on 1 out of the 4 ESs that has bad test scores. OK, I'll apply the same logic. Barnsely test scores are only high because of HGC/CES. The rest of the ESs aren't good, look at Maryvale and Meadow Hall. Oh, look, it's near Twinbrook ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, RM is basically twice as big. Even once you take out the magnet, the extra 600 or so kids give RM a larger population to fill upper level classes like Calc 3D and AP Literature. It matters in lower level courses like Alg II double period. Both schools have Alg II double but RM might have two classes so taking it won't cut you off from an elective that is only offered at one time. This also matters in sports. The RM teams are usually better because of the larger population.

If your DC are not likely to need services as part of an outlying population Rockville, being smaller, would give them a more personal experience in the middle since it would feel more like everyone knows them.

I will give a different take on that. My child is a non-IB senior. I feel that since many top RM kids are in IB or take IB classes (some are open to non-IB kids) there are actually fewer choices than there might be. For example, this year there is no APUSH or AP CHem. My stem focused kid had to ask his guidance counselor to be sure to mention he did not have the opportunity to take AP Chem this year on his college rec as that is probably not what is expected from a large MCPS high school.

Right. This can go both ways. Then the question needs to be asked: Does IB == AP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

My original concern still applies...why does Rockville only have 36% of kids that meet Univ. of Maryland entry requirements and RM have 64%? Looking into all the Rockville elementary feeder schools it appears that only one of them (Barnesley) offers compacted 4/5 and compacted 5/6 math. It seems like all the feeder elementary schools at RM do offer those. Is that a big factor? Again, my kids are still in lower elementary but are doing quite well in math and I expect at least 1 of them to need access to the higher levels of math.

Probably because the percentage of kids at Rockville HS who are poor is higher than the percentage of kids at Richard Montgomery HS who are poor.

Here are the math courses offered at Rockville HS: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/rockvillehs/academics/math.aspx

This is accurate. RMHS FARMs rate is just under 20%. RHS FARMs rate is over 35%. Also, of note (though not for the statistics mentioned above), RMHS is roughly 50:50 male:female, but RHS is 45:55!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

My original concern still applies...why does Rockville only have 36% of kids that meet Univ. of Maryland entry requirements and RM have 64%? Looking into all the Rockville elementary feeder schools it appears that only one of them (Barnesley) offers compacted 4/5 and compacted 5/6 math. It seems like all the feeder elementary schools at RM do offer those. Is that a big factor? Again, my kids are still in lower elementary but are doing quite well in math and I expect at least 1 of them to need access to the higher levels of math.

where are you getting this from? keep in mind RM's number is probably misleading because it includes 100-120 IB kids. The % will be much lower if you take out IB kids and make it more apples-to-apples comparison with Rockville High.

The 400 IB kids who are not already in bounds of RM make up only 1/6 of the population, which still gives the school better numbers when removed

If it weren't for all the wealthy Asian/white students at Wootton, they'd have bad numbers, too. This is ridiculous. RMIB students make up RM, just as those wealthy white/Asian students make up a lot of the W schools. So, why wouldn't you include those numbers? Rockville HS also has IB. Should we exclude the test stats of those students who take IB classes in Rockville?

You are insinuating that if your DC is not in RMIB magnet then they will get a so so education at RM. Based on that logic, if your DC is not wealthy white/Asian, then they will not do well at W schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

My original concern still applies...why does Rockville only have 36% of kids that meet Univ. of Maryland entry requirements and RM have 64%? Looking into all the Rockville elementary feeder schools it appears that only one of them (Barnesley) offers compacted 4/5 and compacted 5/6 math. It seems like all the feeder elementary schools at RM do offer those. Is that a big factor? Again, my kids are still in lower elementary but are doing quite well in math and I expect at least 1 of them to need access to the higher levels of math.

where are you getting this from? keep in mind RM's number is probably misleading because it includes 100-120 IB kids. The % will be much lower if you take out IB kids and make it more apples-to-apples comparison with Rockville High.

The 400 IB kids who are not already in bounds of RM make up only 1/6 of the population, which still gives the school better numbers when removed

If it weren't for all the wealthy Asian/white students at Wootton, they'd have bad numbers, too. This is ridiculous. RMIB students make up RM, just as those wealthy white/Asian students make up a lot of the W schools. So, why wouldn't you include those numbers? Rockville HS also has IB. Should we exclude the test stats of those students who take IB classes in Rockville?

You are insinuating that if your DC is not in RMIB magnet then they will get a so so education at RM. Based on that logic, if your DC is not wealthy white/Asian, then they will not do well at W schools.

I don’t even know where to begin. My post was as direct rejection of the false statement that the other person made that RM is only 64% because of the IB, whereas RHS is 30 something percent. I proved that wrong by showing hat even with the magnet IB students removed, RM stays with a higher number of college-ready kids. I made no suggestion that the magnet students should not count in the overall tallies—let alone that all IB should be removed. You flew off the handle for nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

My original concern still applies...why does Rockville only have 36% of kids that meet Univ. of Maryland entry requirements and RM have 64%? Looking into all the Rockville elementary feeder schools it appears that only one of them (Barnesley) offers compacted 4/5 and compacted 5/6 math. It seems like all the feeder elementary schools at RM do offer those. Is that a big factor? Again, my kids are still in lower elementary but are doing quite well in math and I expect at least 1 of them to need access to the higher levels of math.

where are you getting this from? keep in mind RM's number is probably misleading because it includes 100-120 IB kids. The % will be much lower if you take out IB kids and make it more apples-to-apples comparison with Rockville High.

The 400 IB kids who are not already in bounds of RM make up only 1/6 of the population, which still gives the school better numbers when removed

If it weren't for all the wealthy Asian/white students at Wootton, they'd have bad numbers, too. This is ridiculous. RMIB students make up RM, just as those wealthy white/Asian students make up a lot of the W schools. So, why wouldn't you include those numbers? Rockville HS also has IB. Should we exclude the test stats of those students who take IB classes in Rockville?

You are insinuating that if your DC is not in RMIB magnet then they will get a so so education at RM. Based on that logic, if your DC is not wealthy white/Asian, then they will not do well at W schools.

I don’t even know where to begin. My post was as direct rejection of the false statement that the other person made that RM is only 64% because of the IB, whereas RHS is 30 something percent. I proved that wrong by showing hat even with the magnet IB students removed, RM stays with a higher number of college-ready kids. I made no suggestion that the magnet students should not count in the overall tallies—let alone that all IB should be removed. You flew off the handle for nothing.

Apologies I read your post incorrectly, but there are certainly people on here who have stated that without IB, RM would be terrible. My point was just that this would apply to any school, even including Rockville HS - take away that one element that makes the school have high test scores, and that school would be like any other school.

However, I agree with you. Part of the IB program includes RM cluster students, and it's not like the rest of the students are dummies. Look at JW rating.

[Anonymous]

This thread is getting out of hand. I think the OP needs to look at her housing budget and figure out where she can buy. She also needs to figure out what amenities she wants. I live near Rockville Town Square and it’s really nice. It’s also close to the Rockville Swim Center which has a really nice outdoor area for summer fun. The Swim Center is also where the RMHS swim team does it’s practice so if my kids are on the swim team when they are in HS, they can walk home. Oh and of course there’s Metro access. The area is very kid friendly and Beall is a good elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here.

My original concern still applies...why does Rockville only have 36% of kids that meet Univ. of Maryland entry requirements and RM have 64%? Looking into all the Rockville elementary feeder schools it appears that only one of them (Barnesley) offers compacted 4/5 and compacted 5/6 math. It seems like all the feeder elementary schools at RM do offer those. Is that a big factor? Again, my kids are still in lower elementary but are doing quite well in math and I expect at least 1 of them to need access to the higher levels of math.

where are you getting this from? keep in mind RM's number is probably misleading because it includes 100-120 IB kids. The % will be much lower if you take out IB kids and make it more apples-to-apples comparison with Rockville High.

The 400 IB kids who are not already in bounds of RM make up only 1/6 of the population, which still gives the school better numbers when removed

If it weren't for all the wealthy Asian/white students at Wootton, they'd have bad numbers, too. This is ridiculous. RMIB students make up RM, just as those wealthy white/Asian students make up a lot of the W schools. So, why wouldn't you include those numbers? Rockville HS also has IB. Should we exclude the test stats of those students who take IB classes in Rockville?

You are insinuating that if your DC is not in RMIB magnet then they will get a so so education at RM. Based on that logic, if your DC is not wealthy white/Asian, then they will not do well at W schools.

I don’t even know where to begin. My post was as direct rejection of the false statement that the other person made that RM is only 64% because of the IB, whereas RHS is 30 something percent. I proved that wrong by showing hat even with the magnet IB students removed, RM stays with a higher number of college-ready kids. I made no suggestion that the magnet students should not count in the overall tallies—let alone that all IB should be removed. You flew off the handle for nothing.

Apologies I read your post incorrectly, but there are certainly people on here who have stated that without IB, RM would be terrible. My point was just that this would apply to any school, even including Rockville HS - take away that one element that makes the school have high test scores, and that school would be like any other school.

However, I agree with you. Part of the IB program includes RM cluster students, and it's not like the rest of the students are dummies. Look at JW rating.

No worries... this place gets crazy sometimes. I bought in the RM cluster because I like it! I would have been comfortable with the RHS cluster, too, but location was inconvenient.

[Anonymous]

People get way, way too caught up in school ratings. Pick a place you like, and then provide support and enrichment opportunities to your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Believe me, the families at Churchill are better than either school, for many, many reasons. Everyone wants to attend Churchill.

Seriously? What makes a family "better"?
I have a doctorate degree making six figures and work in a highly respectable field. I live in the Rockville cluster. What makes your family better than mine? I wouldn't want to live near you if you paid me.