Top 10 Schools in MoCo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:college admissions can be influenced by the wealth of the parents who donate to alma mater. Legacy is not merit, even though in this country you can become a POTUS without any merit.

Doesn't matter where your kid goes to school. If their AP/IB scores and SAT scores are less than that of someone from a lesser rated school then they are not higher achieving. What are you going to do with the school ranking? Bake it in a pie?

What is your own kid's ranking and how do they stack up against other students?

As a Churchill parent, I agree with the above post. I only know our cluster and if Churchill is considered to be a top school in MCPS then all of MCPS is crap.

Kids at Churchill will always do well as a whole because parents are engaged and they can afford to supplement. Parents pay $2,000 for SAT or ACT test prep. Obviously that influences scores. When teachers struggle to teach a class they do not have the basic knowledge to teach (ie Math Department) parents hire tutors. If I had to do it all over again, I would have bought a house in a cheaper area and sent my kids to private school especially when the 2.0 disaster was rolled out.

Don't fool yourself if you think the quality of the education is better at W schools than the rest of the county.

We did just that.

Bought in ganglandia, supplemented heavily, did private in very early years, send them to magnet(sorry, they got selected because they are so precious).....and realized that magnet curriculum as taught by mcps teachers was above average only by MCPS standards. So we continued to teach them, supplement and enrich at home.

The one critical advantage of the magnet programs is that it brings talented students and dedicated parents together in one place. If you have good teachers then they can make a significant impact. Unfortunately, in the magnet programs and in the top W schools - there is no dearth of substandard teachers who are cruising by because the parents will make up for the teachers deficiencies by teaching at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Most people joke that North Potomac is really just South Gaithersburg. Just like North Bethesda is really just South Rockville. These are not real town names. They don't actually exist on maps. They were invented by real estate agents...

They are not real town names, but then neither are Bethesda or Silver Spring. (In contrast, "Chevy Chase, Village of, Section 3" and "Chevy Chase, Village of, Section 5" are real town names.) And they do actually exist on maps. They are Census-designated places.

You can read about North Bethesda here: http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bethesda-Beat/Web-2016/Since-You-Asked-Where-Exactly-Is-North-Bethesda/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:college admissions can be influenced by the wealth of the parents who donate to alma mater. Legacy is not merit, even though in this country you can become a POTUS without any merit.

Doesn't matter where your kid goes to school. If their AP/IB scores and SAT scores are less than that of someone from a lesser rated school then they are not higher achieving. What are you going to do with the school ranking? Bake it in a pie?

What is your own kid's ranking and how do they stack up against other students?

As a Churchill parent, I agree with the above post. I only know our cluster and if Churchill is considered to be a top school in MCPS then all of MCPS is crap.

Kids at Churchill will always do well as a whole because parents are engaged and they can afford to supplement. Parents pay $2,000 for SAT or ACT test prep. Obviously that influences scores. When teachers struggle to teach a class they do not have the basic knowledge to teach (ie Math Department) parents hire tutors. If I had to do it all over again, I would have bought a house in a cheaper area and sent my kids to private school especially when the 2.0 disaster was rolled out.

Don't fool yourself if you think the quality of the education is better at W schools than the rest of the county.

We did just that.

Bought in ganglandia, supplemented heavily, did private in very early years, send them to magnet(sorry, they got selected because they are so precious).....and realized that magnet curriculum as taught by mcps teachers was above average only by MCPS standards. So we continued to teach them, supplement and enrich at home.

The one critical advantage of the magnet programs is that it brings talented students and dedicated parents together in one place. If you have good teachers then they can make a significant impact. Unfortunately, in the magnet programs and in the top W schools - there is no dearth of substandard teachers who are cruising by because the parents will make up for the teachers deficiencies by teaching at home.

I don’t doubt private is great in the early years, but if the magnet programs are so mediocre, why is the college matriculation so excellent from them? It rivals the matriculation from any private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

These are census designated unincorporated places. Towns and cities have to be incorporated. A census designated, unincorporated place has no official legal status. While they might not be real estate agent creations, they don’t count as the official place you live in.

By that definition, most of the population of Montgomery County officially lives in...Montgomery County. Bethesda isn't incorporated, Silver Spring isn't incorporated, Potomac isn't incorporated, parts of Rockville and Gaithersburg aren't incorporated, Germantown isn't incorporated, Clarksburg isn't incorporated, Montgomery Village isn't incorporated, Wheaton isn't incorporated, parts of Kensington aren't incorporated... But probably, when people who live in Montgomery County ask you where you live, you don't answer, "In Montgomery County."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Yeah and for some reason people who don’t even seem to live in Gaithersburg can’t accept that good schools like QO or nice neighborhoods like Kentlands could possibly exist in Gaithersburg, so they say those places are actually in North Potomac or at least not in the “main part” of Gaithersburg. I live in Kentlands and am perfectly happy saying I live in Gaithersburg.

It would be ridiculous to say otherwise! Kentlands is within the boundaries of the City of Gaithersburg.

I am still wondering where the "main part" of Gaithersburg is, but PP hasn't been back to explain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are my top 10 excluding schools with test in magnets:
1. WJ
2. Whitman
3. BCC
4. Wootton
5. Churchill
6. Quince Orchard
7. Sherwood
8. Northwest
9. Clarksburg
10. Damascus

This is not bad - at least I'd agree with top 5 (but not in that order). QO is a good school but not in the same class as first 5 on your list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are my top 10 excluding schools with test in magnets:
1. WJ
2. Whitman
3. BCC
4. Wootton
5. Churchill
6. Quince Orchard
7. Sherwood
8. Northwest
9. Clarksburg
10. Damascus

This is not bad - at least I'd agree with top 5 (but not in that order). QO is a good school but not in the same class as first 5 on your list.

Data to back up your assertion about QO?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:college admissions can be influenced by the wealth of the parents who donate to alma mater. Legacy is not merit, even though in this country you can become a POTUS without any merit.

Doesn't matter where your kid goes to school. If their AP/IB scores and SAT scores are less than that of someone from a lesser rated school then they are not higher achieving. What are you going to do with the school ranking? Bake it in a pie?

What is your own kid's ranking and how do they stack up against other students?

As a Churchill parent, I agree with the above post. I only know our cluster and if Churchill is considered to be a top school in MCPS then all of MCPS is crap.

Kids at Churchill will always do well as a whole because parents are engaged and they can afford to supplement. Parents pay $2,000 for SAT or ACT test prep. Obviously that influences scores. When teachers struggle to teach a class they do not have the basic knowledge to teach (ie Math Department) parents hire tutors. If I had to do it all over again, I would have bought a house in a cheaper area and sent my kids to private school especially when the 2.0 disaster was rolled out.

Don't fool yourself if you think the quality of the education is better at W schools than the rest of the county.

We did just that.

Bought in ganglandia, supplemented heavily, did private in very early years, send them to magnet(sorry, they got selected because they are so precious).....and realized that magnet curriculum as taught by mcps teachers was above average only by MCPS standards. So we continued to teach them, supplement and enrich at home.

The one critical advantage of the magnet programs is that it brings talented students and dedicated parents together in one place. If you have good teachers then they can make a significant impact. Unfortunately, in the magnet programs and in the top W schools - there is no dearth of substandard teachers who are cruising by because the parents will make up for the teachers deficiencies by teaching at home.

I don’t doubt private is great in the early years, but if the magnet programs are so mediocre, why is the college matriculation so excellent from them? It rivals the matriculation from any private school.

Yeah
Don't listen pp, the privates cannot even touch MCPS magnets. Way above any private in the area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:college admissions can be influenced by the wealth of the parents who donate to alma mater. Legacy is not merit, even though in this country you can become a POTUS without any merit.

Doesn't matter where your kid goes to school. If their AP/IB scores and SAT scores are less than that of someone from a lesser rated school then they are not higher achieving. What are you going to do with the school ranking? Bake it in a pie?

What is your own kid's ranking and how do they stack up against other students?

As a Churchill parent, I agree with the above post. I only know our cluster and if Churchill is considered to be a top school in MCPS then all of MCPS is crap.

Kids at Churchill will always do well as a whole because parents are engaged and they can afford to supplement. Parents pay $2,000 for SAT or ACT test prep. Obviously that influences scores. When teachers struggle to teach a class they do not have the basic knowledge to teach (ie Math Department) parents hire tutors. If I had to do it all over again, I would have bought a house in a cheaper area and sent my kids to private school especially when the 2.0 disaster was rolled out.

Don't fool yourself if you think the quality of the education is better at W schools than the rest of the county.

We did just that.

Bought in ganglandia, supplemented heavily, did private in very early years, send them to magnet(sorry, they got selected because they are so precious).....and realized that magnet curriculum as taught by mcps teachers was above average only by MCPS standards. So we continued to teach them, supplement and enrich at home.

The one critical advantage of the magnet programs is that it brings talented students and dedicated parents together in one place. If you have good teachers then they can make a significant impact. Unfortunately, in the magnet programs and in the top W schools - there is no dearth of substandard teachers who are cruising by because the parents will make up for the teachers deficiencies by teaching at home.

I don’t doubt private is great in the early years, but if the magnet programs are so mediocre, why is the college matriculation so excellent from them? It rivals the matriculation from any private school.

My friend recently went on a college tour with his daughter, and the info session leader (at an Ivy) actually mentioned Montgomery County Public Schools by name. The official (an admissions guy) first asked if anyone on the tour was from this county. When no one was (my friend lives in CT) they said this: In some places, AP classes don’t mean as much as others, and we expect your child to take the most rigorous schedule available for that reason. They mentioned MCPS as an example, because they know that the students in our county take way more AP classes than kids do in other places, and also that as a result they’re not as indicative of ability as they would be elsewhere. In other words, they now expect MCPS students to take a huge number of APs because they’re not really harder than average classes would be elsewhere. The teachers in MCPS are told to teach to the middle/bottom of their clssses, even in AP courses. I think that’s pretty telling. In a county of this size with so many educated families, it stands to follow that we’ll still send a good number of students to top colleges, but that doesn’t mean MCPS schools will continue to be viewed as the most rigorous by universities. I’d argue that the county is damaging its reputation with its approach to educating kids who need extra challenge, and in the meantime piling unnecessary pressure on everyone else for no reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

My friend recently went on a college tour with his daughter, and the info session leader (at an Ivy) actually mentioned Montgomery County Public Schools by name. The official (an admissions guy) first asked if anyone on the tour was from this county. When no one was (my friend lives in CT) they said this: In some places, AP classes don’t mean as much as others, and we expect your child to take the most rigorous schedule available for that reason. They mentioned MCPS as an example, because they know that the students in our county take way more AP classes than kids do in other places, and also that as a result they’re not as indicative of ability as they would be elsewhere. In other words, they now expect MCPS students to take a huge number of APs because they’re not really harder than average classes would be elsewhere. The teachers in MCPS are told to teach to the middle/bottom of their clssses, even in AP courses. I think that’s pretty telling. In a county of this size with so many educated families, it stands to follow that we’ll still send a good number of students to top colleges, but that doesn’t mean MCPS schools will continue to be viewed as the most rigorous by universities. I’d argue that the county is damaging its reputation with its approach to educating kids who need extra challenge, and in the meantime piling unnecessary pressure on everyone else for no reason.

AP classes are only indicative of ability (or, more accurately, perceived ability) in schools that only allow certain students to take AP classes. There is no such barrier in MCPS -- nor should there be, in my opinion. If a college has to rely on high schools to sort college applicants by ability, that doesn't say much about that college's admissions process. (Not to mention, doesn't the college get the AP test scores?) And it further argues for allowing all students to take AP classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:college admissions can be influenced by the wealth of the parents who donate to alma mater. Legacy is not merit, even though in this country you can become a POTUS without any merit.

Doesn't matter where your kid goes to school. If their AP/IB scores and SAT scores are less than that of someone from a lesser rated school then they are not higher achieving. What are you going to do with the school ranking? Bake it in a pie?

What is your own kid's ranking and how do they stack up against other students?

As a Churchill parent, I agree with the above post. I only know our cluster and if Churchill is considered to be a top school in MCPS then all of MCPS is crap.

Kids at Churchill will always do well as a whole because parents are engaged and they can afford to supplement. Parents pay $2,000 for SAT or ACT test prep. Obviously that influences scores. When teachers struggle to teach a class they do not have the basic knowledge to teach (ie Math Department) parents hire tutors. If I had to do it all over again, I would have bought a house in a cheaper area and sent my kids to private school especially when the 2.0 disaster was rolled out.

Don't fool yourself if you think the quality of the education is better at W schools than the rest of the county.

We did just that.

Bought in ganglandia, supplemented heavily, did private in very early years, send them to magnet(sorry, they got selected because they are so precious).....and realized that magnet curriculum as taught by mcps teachers was above average only by MCPS standards. So we continued to teach them, supplement and enrich at home.

The one critical advantage of the magnet programs is that it brings talented students and dedicated parents together in one place. If you have good teachers then they can make a significant impact. Unfortunately, in the magnet programs and in the top W schools - there is no dearth of substandard teachers who are cruising by because the parents will make up for the teachers deficiencies by teaching at home.

I don’t doubt private is great in the early years, but if the magnet programs are so mediocre, why is the college matriculation so excellent from them? It rivals the matriculation from any private school.

My friend recently went on a college tour with his daughter, and the info session leader (at an Ivy) actually mentioned Montgomery County Public Schools by name. The official (an admissions guy) first asked if anyone on the tour was from this county. When no one was (my friend lives in CT) they said this: In some places, AP classes don’t mean as much as others, and we expect your child to take the most rigorous schedule available for that reason. They mentioned MCPS as an example, because they know that the students in our county take way more AP classes than kids do in other places, and also that as a result they’re not as indicative of ability as they would be elsewhere. In other words, they now expect MCPS students to take a huge number of APs because they’re not really harder than average classes would be elsewhere. The teachers in MCPS are told to teach to the middle/bottom of their clssses, even in AP courses. I think that’s pretty telling. In a county of this size with so many educated families, it stands to follow that we’ll still send a good number of students to top colleges, but that doesn’t mean MCPS schools will continue to be viewed as the most rigorous by universities. I’d argue that the county is damaging its reputation with its approach to educating kids who need extra challenge, and in the meantime piling unnecessary pressure on everyone else for no reason.

AP is a standardized curriculum with a standardized test at the end. How can it be dumbed down without poor results on the exams? The syllabus has to be approved by the AP Board. I believe that colleges know which large districts offer lots of AP and which have fewer with an application process (mine did) and judge course selection accordingly...but I don't believe the ivy tour guide was slamming MCPS for letting too many kids take APs. You either do or do not get a score high enough for schools to give you credit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:college admissions can be influenced by the wealth of the parents who donate to alma mater. Legacy is not merit, even though in this country you can become a POTUS without any merit.

Doesn't matter where your kid goes to school. If their AP/IB scores and SAT scores are less than that of someone from a lesser rated school then they are not higher achieving. What are you going to do with the school ranking? Bake it in a pie?

What is your own kid's ranking and how do they stack up against other students?

As a Churchill parent, I agree with the above post. I only know our cluster and if Churchill is considered to be a top school in MCPS then all of MCPS is crap.

Kids at Churchill will always do well as a whole because parents are engaged and they can afford to supplement. Parents pay $2,000 for SAT or ACT test prep. Obviously that influences scores. When teachers struggle to teach a class they do not have the basic knowledge to teach (ie Math Department) parents hire tutors. If I had to do it all over again, I would have bought a house in a cheaper area and sent my kids to private school especially when the 2.0 disaster was rolled out.

Don't fool yourself if you think the quality of the education is better at W schools than the rest of the county.

We did just that.

Bought in ganglandia, supplemented heavily, did private in very early years, send them to magnet(sorry, they got selected because they are so precious).....and realized that magnet curriculum as taught by mcps teachers was above average only by MCPS standards. So we continued to teach them, supplement and enrich at home.

The one critical advantage of the magnet programs is that it brings talented students and dedicated parents together in one place. If you have good teachers then they can make a significant impact. Unfortunately, in the magnet programs and in the top W schools - there is no dearth of substandard teachers who are cruising by because the parents will make up for the teachers deficiencies by teaching at home.

I don’t doubt private is great in the early years, but if the magnet programs are so mediocre, why is the college matriculation so excellent from them? It rivals the matriculation from any private school.

My friend recently went on a college tour with his daughter, and the info session leader (at an Ivy) actually mentioned Montgomery County Public Schools by name. The official (an admissions guy) first asked if anyone on the tour was from this county. When no one was (my friend lives in CT) they said this: In some places, AP classes don’t mean as much as others, and we expect your child to take the most rigorous schedule available for that reason. They mentioned MCPS as an example, because they know that the students in our county take way more AP classes than kids do in other places, and also that as a result they’re not as indicative of ability as they would be elsewhere. In other words, they now expect MCPS students to take a huge number of APs because they’re not really harder than average classes would be elsewhere. The teachers in MCPS are told to teach to the middle/bottom of their clssses, even in AP courses. I think that’s pretty telling. In a county of this size with so many educated families, it stands to follow that we’ll still send a good number of students to top colleges, but that doesn’t mean MCPS schools will continue to be viewed as the most rigorous by universities. I’d argue that the county is damaging its reputation with its approach to educating kids who need extra challenge, and in the meantime piling unnecessary pressure on everyone else for no reason.

AP is a standardized curriculum with a standardized test at the end. How can it be dumbed down without poor results on the exams? The syllabus has to be approved by the AP Board. I believe that colleges know which large districts offer lots of AP and which have fewer with an application process (mine did) and judge course selection accordingly...but I don't believe the ivy tour guide was slamming MCPS for letting too many kids take APs. You either do or do not get a score high enough for schools to give you credit.

Exactly.
If it's dumbed down, they would score poorly on the tests which we know it's not the case. MCPS leads the nation in AP scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here are my top 10 excluding schools with test in magnets:
1. WJ
2. Whitman
3. BCC
4. Wootton
5. Churchill
6. Quince Orchard
7. Sherwood
8. Northwest
9. Clarksburg
10. Damascus

This is not bad - at least I'd agree with top 5 (but not in that order). QO is a good school but not in the same class as first 5 on your list.

In my opinion, any kid with a strong family support system will do well in any school; however the 10 here on this list have the stronger test scores and graduation rates compared to the other schools in the county but some of that is more of a reflection of the demographics. I also think the order of this list is sort of subjective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My friend recently went on a college tour with his daughter, and the info session leader (at an Ivy) actually mentioned Montgomery County Public Schools by name. The official (an admissions guy) first asked if anyone on the tour was from this county. When no one was (my friend lives in CT) they said this: In some places, AP classes don’t mean as much as others, and we expect your child to take the most rigorous schedule available for that reason. They mentioned MCPS as an example, because they know that the students in our county take way more AP classes than kids do in other places, and also that as a result they’re not as indicative of ability as they would be elsewhere. In other words, they now expect MCPS students to take a huge number of APs because they’re not really harder than average classes would be elsewhere. The teachers in MCPS are told to teach to the middle/bottom of their clssses, even in AP courses. I think that’s pretty telling. In a county of this size with so many educated families, it stands to follow that we’ll still send a good number of students to top colleges, but that doesn’t mean MCPS schools will continue to be viewed as the most rigorous by universities. I’d argue that the county is damaging its reputation with its approach to educating kids who need extra challenge, and in the meantime piling unnecessary pressure on everyone else for no reason.

AP classes are only indicative of ability (or, more accurately, perceived ability) in schools that only allow certain students to take AP classes. There is no such barrier in MCPS -- nor should there be, in my opinion. If a college has to rely on high schools to sort college applicants by ability, that doesn't say much about that college's admissions process. (Not to mention, doesn't the college get the AP test scores?) And it further argues for allowing all students to take AP classes.

+1

I would argue that there are a lot of high achieving students in MCPS, and that's why there are so many who take a lot of AP classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why anyone would consider BCC a 7 and Whitman a 4 a top school is beyond reason.

Yes, it's true especially when you look at real-world outcomes like college admissions published by Bethesda Magazine.

+10