Best Montgomery County Public Schools

[Anonymous]

Which elementary schools are considered better than the others? We're particuarly interested in schools that have a large number of neighborhood kids attending.

[Anonymous]

The curriculum is the same in ALL Montgomery County public schools. A first grade student in Germantown is receiving the same curriculum as a first grade student in Potomac. Everything is data driven, and there is a push to accelerate students from "proficient" to "advanced" (this is in regards to 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade scores on the MSA...Maryland State Assessments...you can access MSA scores from individual elementary schools throughout the county). What you are really comparing are demographics.

~An MCPS teacher

[Anonymous]

To MCPS teacher:

Curriculum might be the same, officially, but isn't implementation different? Individual teachers and principals have leeway, always.

And even things like funding do vary across the county. For example, some schools get more funding to keep class sizes lower in order to raise test scores, right?

Demographics of the families attending would play a role, I'm sure, but the dynamics of any institution (and the people in charge) are different, even if they are all officially following the same curriculum...

[Anonymous]

I used to work at the poorest school in MCPS and we had 17 to 1 ratios since we got funding. Our test scores sky rocketed in two years. I would have sent my kids to this school over any school in Potomac anyday! The MCPS teacher is right- the curriculum is the same and any other teacher would be offended to hear someone say that one school in MCPS is better than another. ( At least I am) Of course every teacher and principal is different. So is every kid and how they test.
Besides there is more to consider in a a school than test scores- I would hope
Former MCPS teacher

[Anonymous]

OK, all official stats aside...

We live in the Somerset Elementary district. We have heard it is the best elementary in the state, although I know there are probably a million different ways to determine "best" and each probably has a different answer.

Most kids in my neighborhood go there, although there are some families who opt for private school for religious or other reasons. It's a brand-new facility and the little that I've seen (just for voting, my kids aren't old enough yet) is very nice.

The school feeds into BCC high school, which is very good, but probably not the "best" in Montgomery by whatever standards schools are rated on.

[Anonymous]

I went to Whitman, Pyle, Burning Tree. I will say that the best part of my education was the influence of the other students, not the staff. I think that if anything, that cluster gets the worst resources from the county because kids test so well there. The thing that made a difference was our peers who were quite driven. That said, I found that we were a bit narrow minded. But from an academic perspective, the standards that the students set were high.

[Anonymous]

Another perspective from an MCPS teacher....While the curriculum is the same in all parts of the County, it is unrealistic to think that every school in the County is "equal". In an ideal world, I will send my children to the Whitman cluster. My children aren't of school age yet and it may not be a financial option, but I would consider those schools to be in the top tier. That being said, there are many options in Mont County for children to receive an outstanding education.

[Anonymous]

To anyone who claims that all schools within a county are the same, read this article in today's Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/25/AR2008022502735.html?hpid=topnews

The poorest elementary school in the county has money and programs lavished on it, and it is overcoming hurdles. But you would be a fool to say it was the same as schools in more affluent MoCo neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

To the PP: Again, you are talking about demographics -- both racial and socioeconomic -- which obviously have an impact on test scores -- which says nothing about the quality of the teachers and the education. Put those same kids in schools in Bethesda and Potomac and they would still have low scores. Or, put your middle-to-upper class native English speaker in a Title I school and he/she would still excel.

[Anonymous]

Speaking from a teacher's perspective (I've taught in MCPS and FCPS) -- all schools in a public school system are NOT the same. While the curriculum in a district's public schools is the same, the ways that the teachers approach that curriculum vary a lot, and mostly based on the demographics of the school. In a more affluent school, where (in general) students arrive at school prepared and with plenty of prior exposure to literacy, a teacher will be able to spend less time focusing on remediating the basics of the curriculum, and more time on enrichment and extension activities. In Title I schools, where (in general) many students have had limited exposure to literacy, and arrive at school with less of the basics, a teacher would be forced to spend more time on remediating the basics, and thus have less time to spend enriching. No matter how strong a teacher or the curriculum is, the school must meet the students where they are, which is not always where the curriculum says they should be. There are great teachers in both "good" and "bad" schools -- what makes a difference in a school is usually the population of students.

[Anonymous]

I am 16:03 poster. We had teachers at Whitman who just sat there and did nothing aaalll day long. Any school can have bad teachers.

[Anonymous]

Related to this -

We are a newly married DC couple looking to buy a single family home and start trying to get pregnant. We've narrowed down our search to the Silver Spring area and was wondering if anyone can give me specific information about the elementary schools in SS. Which schools are generally considered the best and what neighborhoods (Zip codes would be helpful) feed into those schools?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

An easy place to start is www.greatschools.net. Sorting Silver Spring elementary schools by their ranking (which uses standardized test scores), here are the best Silver Spring elementary schools. (Obviously, take this with a big grain of salt. Ratings are relative to test scores at others schools in the state.)

Viers Mill Elementary School (9 rating out of 10)
Oakland Terrace Elementary School (8)
Westover Elementary School (8)
Stonegate Elementary School (8)
Cloverly Elementary School (8)
(then 7's and below)

Greatschools.net also has some parent reviews, and if you do a search for a particular school in the archives of the DCUM list (as well as these forums) you might get some good info.

For finding Montgomery County school boundaries, see http://gis.mcps.k12.md.us/gis/PublicLocator.asp. You can look up particular addresses or see the area for a particular school (it can be a bit tricky to see those areas clearly on a map, but it gives you an idea).

A good realtor should be able to help you, too. We talked with one who didn't say much when we said we were focusing on school quality, while the second one was much more enthusiastic and recommended online tools she had, etc.

[Anonymous]

9:33 here. Oops, all the faces are supposed to be 8's.

[Anonymous]

We are a family that is at crossroad of private vs. public. Both of our kids, middle schooler soon to be high schooler and grade schooler, have attended private schools since PP. We are now looking for a possible change in regards to sending them both to public schools. Can someone with experience provide us with some insight on a good MC high school?