FCPS - Which middle and high school pyramid has the best math program?

[Anonymous]

My children, currently 7 and 9, are both good at and love mathematics. I would like to know if there are any middle and high schools apart from TJ in FCPS that have great math teachers and tradition.

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My children, currently 7 and 9, are both good at and love mathematics. I would like to know if there are any middle and high schools apart from TJ in FCPS that have great math teachers and tradition.

Thanks

The word on the street is that Longfellow Middle school is where many really strong math kids go (they are fantastic in math competitions, sometimes even rivaling area high schools). Longfellow used to have the legendary Vern Williams, considered the greatest math teacher in the whole area, but he left for Basis in Mclean about two years back.

Carson, Kilmer, and Rocky Run middle schools probably also have strong math teams and also do well in competitions, given that they are the other major TJ feeder middle schools in the area. But in terms of excellent results at the top middle school competitions, as well as the AMC 10 competition, Longfellow seems to be head and shoulders above the rest in terms of sheer number of students who excel. I did a quick comparison of AMC 10 statistics a few months back and noticed that Longfellow had the same # of kids doing just as well or even better than Takoma Park middle school, which is the math/science magnet school in Maryland that sends a lot of kids to Blair. So that tells me to the strength of the program at Longfellow (although arguably I assume a lot of the great results come from the kids doing extra at home/enrichment, and not necessarily the math classes at school).

Still, even without Vern Williams, I would say Longfellow is a pretty safe bet for your kids, if they love math, want to be challenged in class, and want to potentially compete in a strong peer group.

[Anonymous]

My children were extremely well prepared for college and were able to leap frog over the freshman math courses with impunity thanks to the math department at McLean HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My children, currently 7 and 9, are both good at and love mathematics. I would like to know if there are any middle and high schools apart from TJ in FCPS that have great math teachers and tradition.

Thanks

The word on the street is that Longfellow Middle school is where many really strong math kids go (they are fantastic in math competitions, sometimes even rivaling area high schools). Longfellow used to have the legendary Vern Williams, considered the greatest math teacher in the whole area, but he left for Basis in Mclean about two years back.

Carson, Kilmer, and Rocky Run middle schools probably also have strong math teams and also do well in competitions, given that they are the other major TJ feeder middle schools in the area. But in terms of excellent results at the top middle school competitions, as well as the AMC 10 competition, Longfellow seems to be head and shoulders above the rest in terms of sheer number of students who excel. I did a quick comparison of AMC 10 statistics a few months back and noticed that Longfellow had the same # of kids doing just as well or even better than Takoma Park middle school, which is the math/science magnet school in Maryland that sends a lot of kids to Blair. So that tells me to the strength of the program at Longfellow (although arguably I assume a lot of the great results come from the kids doing extra at home/enrichment, and not necessarily the math classes at school).

Still, even without Vern Williams, I would say Longfellow is a pretty safe bet for your kids, if they love math, want to be challenged in class, and want to potentially compete in a strong peer group.

Thank you so much! These are exactly what I want them to have - strong peers, being challenged in school in mathematics. We currently don’t live in any of the MS pyramid that you mentioned above. I’m willing to move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My children, currently 7 and 9, are both good at and love mathematics. I would like to know if there are any middle and high schools apart from TJ in FCPS that have great math teachers and tradition.

Thanks

The word on the street is that Longfellow Middle school is where many really strong math kids go (they are fantastic in math competitions, sometimes even rivaling area high schools). Longfellow used to have the legendary Vern Williams, considered the greatest math teacher in the whole area, but he left for Basis in Mclean about two years back.

Carson, Kilmer, and Rocky Run middle schools probably also have strong math teams and also do well in competitions, given that they are the other major TJ feeder middle schools in the area. But in terms of excellent results at the top middle school competitions, as well as the AMC 10 competition, Longfellow seems to be head and shoulders above the rest in terms of sheer number of students who excel. I did a quick comparison of AMC 10 statistics a few months back and noticed that Longfellow had the same # of kids doing just as well or even better than Takoma Park middle school, which is the math/science magnet school in Maryland that sends a lot of kids to Blair. So that tells me to the strength of the program at Longfellow (although arguably I assume a lot of the great results come from the kids doing extra at home/enrichment, and not necessarily the math classes at school).

Still, even without Vern Williams, I would say Longfellow is a pretty safe bet for your kids, if they love math, want to be challenged in class, and want to potentially compete in a strong peer group.

Kilmer won’t really be a major feeder to TJ now that the Langley kids have moved back to Cooper. It will be Carson, Longfellow, Rocky Run, and Cooper.