Diamond Elementary

[Anonymous]

Does anyone here have first-hand experience with Diamond Elementary?

It almost looks too good to be true on paper. Excellent academics and a small achievement gap. Relatively affordable housing, diverse, close to amenities we use. Great neighborhoods, pools, parks. Parents I asked uniformly praise the school and the teachers.

If you are willing to share, I would love some first-hand stories, both good and bad.

Also, do you know whether the placement rate from Diamond to a local CES center been affected by the "peer group" measures? What about Lakelands to Clemente? Northwest to Poolesville?

[Anonymous]

Lakelands and NW have not been impacted by the changes.

I can’t speak to the regional CES.

Elitist people on dcum will look down on it because it’s upcounty, but the reality is it’s a great school in a great area.

[Anonymous]

We are Diamond, Ridgeview, Quince Orchard. Moved out from close in for more house. Very content with Diamond. Our neighborhood is amazing, could not have asked for more for our family.

[Anonymous]

My daughter spent K-5 at Diamond (she is headed to Lakelands in the Fall) and we have had a great experience. She has an IEP and I felt the school was very responsive and relatively easy to work with in that regard. We chose it for the diversity, affordable housing and academics. No regrets, although I am still on the fence about NW high school. I am hoping to learn more about NW as we get closer to her attending HS.

[Anonymous]

This is PP -- the only negative we have encountered is somewhat large class sizes and overcrowding. They recently completed an addition which is great because its provided more classrooms. However the common areas did not get any larger so lunch starts quite early for some kids and is quite late for others.

[Anonymous]

Generally, key issues to examine when investigating an elementary school are: quality of teacher, tuition cost, campus facilities, odds of admission to top middle schools, drug use, and strength of PTA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Generally, key issues to examine when investigating an elementary school are: quality of teacher, tuition cost, campus facilities, odds of admission to top middle schools, drug use, and strength of PTA.

I think that you're posting on the wrong forum. This is the Maryland Public Schools forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter spent K-5 at Diamond (she is headed to Lakelands in the Fall) and we have had a great experience. She has an IEP and I felt the school was very responsive and relatively easy to work with in that regard. We chose it for the diversity, affordable housing and academics. No regrets, although I am still on the fence about NW high school. I am hoping to learn more about NW as we get closer to her attending HS.

Wouldn’t she go to Ridgeview? Why Lakelands?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Generally, key issues to examine when investigating an elementary school are: quality of teacher, tuition cost, campus facilities, odds of admission to top middle schools, drug use, and strength of PTA.

OP here.

It is a public school, so I will have to modify a bit.
* quality of teacher - actually, one of the primary reasons I wrote on DCUM, as I do not have any obvious way to access that from the outside.
* Tuition cost - very reasonable, housing ranges $350k-$750k, school is included. Very hard to find any 9/10 school in that area for under $500k per townhouse.
* Campus facilities - renovation and addition completed spring 2018.
* Odds of admission to top middle school - Lakelands is great. Top middle would be Clemente. Not clear whether that option will exist.
* Drug use - among parents? Otherwise we are talking elementary school here.
* Strength of PTA - hmmm, good question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are Diamond, Ridgeview, Quince Orchard. Moved out from close in for more house. Very content with Diamond. Our neighborhood is amazing, could not have asked for more for our family.

Great thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter spent K-5 at Diamond (she is headed to Lakelands in the Fall) and we have had a great experience. She has an IEP and I felt the school was very responsive and relatively easy to work with in that regard. We chose it for the diversity, affordable housing and academics. No regrets, although I am still on the fence about NW high school. I am hoping to learn more about NW as we get closer to her attending HS.[/quote

Thank you! Same misgivings re: Northwest.

[Anonymous]

What’s your concern about NW?

[Anonymous]

I'm not understanding the apprehension with Northwest either. It's an 8 in Great Schools and is rated pretty high in other places. Maybe because as one PP said, it's upcounty? It's diverse? Seems to me that in almost every thread in DCUM where NW is mentioned, at least 1 poster mentions something about how NW is questionable. I feel like if this school was in downcounty it would be a different story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s your concern about NW?

OP here.

I would like to see the availability of a full AP panel and a peer group to pursue it. I need to get a sense how the grades in NW correspond with the standards of a national exam that APs are. Weaker schools are famous for giving out A's that are equivalent to a 3 on an AP. That is worthless. The overall state test results in NW are weak.

I think it is AWESOME that NW does well for students who come from disadvantaged bckgrounds. That, and not the raw test scores, is what drives its Greatschools ratings. "Disadvantaged" does not describe my kid, but it describes me when I was a teen. I appreciate that.

That said, top students also need an outlet, a "school within a school" that makes the overall test results irrelevant. There is some kind of Ulysses program that has been described to me as busywork.

That said, my child is young and may never need that kind of accommodation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s your concern about NW?

OP here.

I would like to see the availability of a full AP panel and a peer group to pursue it. I need to get a sense how the grades in NW correspond with the standards of a national exam that APs are. Weaker schools are famous for giving out A's that are equivalent to a 3 on an AP. That is worthless. The overall state test results in NW are weak.

I think it is AWESOME that NW does well for students who come from disadvantaged bckgrounds. That, and not the raw test scores, is what drives its Greatschools ratings. "Disadvantaged" does not describe my kid, but it describes me when I was a teen. I appreciate that.

That said, top students also need an outlet, a "school within a school" that makes the overat mll test results irrelevant. There is some kind of Ulysses program that has been described to me as busywork.

That said, my child is young and may never need that kind of accommodation.

My kids aren't in NW or are zoned for NW but what makes you think that there isn't a peer group that would pursue AP classes there? THere already are AP classes and obviously kids taking those classes. I'm also perplexed by your reasoning that NW is rated high only because of its ability to serve disadvantaged students. You seem to presume that it's not doing that for kids who aren't in that category.