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How bad are Montgomery County Schools?
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Anonymous
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We moved out to Montgomery County for the great schools and we are in one of the top clusters. I keep hearing from more and more parents though about how unhappy they are with the public schools. If your child does not enter K reading extremely well, or is unable to sit down, shut up, and do exactly what they teacher wants then s/he will have a horrible experience. The focus is only reading, writing, and math. Very little if any real art, music, outdoor time, science or any true conceptual learning and its all about teaching to the test. I hear about bad administrations and teachers trying to manage large classes.
We are very disappointed because we moved out here for the schools. If we need to go private, we may have well have stayed in the city 
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Anonymous
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It's excellent for a public school system. NCLB has damaged them all, IMO. But that doesn't mean many kids don't thrive there, because they do.
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Anonymous
| Plus it really depends on the individual school. Try not to get too upset about "Montgomery County Schools" as a whole, and focus on your individual school. Make sure that your school has recess or arts, or after or before school options for both. Look at the parent-child ratio in your school, not in the system as a whole. All things are local, and this is the most local you can get. Get involved in your PTA and make sure that your kids get the best public school education they can get - which is pretty darn near what Montgomery Cty Schools offers. |
Anonymous
It is. It's regularly rated the best in the State, and Maryland has been rated as best in the nation this year by two different educational organizations. |
Anonymous
To a point, I agree with a PP that some things are local to the individual school--e.g. some principals allow teachers to have a bit more leeway on outdoor time. But by and large, the observation highlighted in bold above is, sadly, correct. We are in a top B/CC cluster and our ES is excellent by reputation, but we were very disappointed by the lack of anything but reading and math. Our neighbors' kids bring home nothing but worksheets, literally. We left to go private and know two neighbors who did the same. Although the tuition is a serious hardship, we are so pleased by the private school and how it contrasts to the public school that it is worth it. That being said, MoCo schools aren't "bad" in the sens that they won't teach your child to read and write--they can just be soul-deadening in little ways; death by a thousand cuts. |
Anonymous
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Re: the lack of arts focus. If you are sending your kids to public school, can you not use the money saved by not having $30,000 a year in tuition after taxes to put towards arts camp, going to plays, concerts, piano lessons etc? If you are strapped because of tuition all that other stuff goes right out the window. As for outdoor time, i think tat does vary from school to school.
In the end it is a Public School education - not a private school education for free. As such, there are some trade-offs - you won't get a private school education by going to a public school (i.e. small classes, lots of enrichment activities, lots of arts, more handholding), but you will get an excellent educational grounding - it's just more rote - it has to be - the system is serving thousands of students with various needs - not the 400 or so that a private school serves. The parents need to fill in the gaps. |
Anonymous
| This thread pretty much sums up why people from DC and Montgomery County (and to a lesser extent, NoVa) shell out to attend private schools. |
Anonymous
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"It is. It's regularly rated the best in the State, and Maryland has been rated as best in the nation this year by two different educational organizations. "
The best at "what" may be the question. Don't these ratings simply reflect how well the kids do on the standardized tests given to rate the school. |
Anonymous
| Given that the SAT, ACT, and AP are all "standardized tests" upon which many colleges base their acceptance decisions, I do not believe that entirely discounting national ratings of public school systems because they rate based on how well children do on standardized tests is entirely logical. What methodology would you apply to vast school systems across the country to be able to come to an understanding of which school system does the best at teaching and preparing kids to go onto higher education? |
Anonymous
Yep. Totally agree. We moved to Montgomery County for the schools too. Lasted through Kindergarten and pulled our kids out for private school. Doesn't have to be $30,000 per year. We pay $12. Among other things, we were worried the teaching to the test and lack of any conceptual learning would kill our son's love for learning. |
Anonymous
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OP, do you have a child in MC schools?
Your post sort of implies that you don't. |
Anonymous
Where is it $12? |
Anonymous
We are at Jefferson Montessori. It's $12k per year. We have friends at various parochial schools, and it is even less, between $9k and $11k. Also, there is Seneca Academy, Barnesville, etc. etc. Private does not necessarily mean the $30k plus schools in DC. |
Anonymous
Not all public school systems are like Montgomery County though. I have friends with kids in Montgomery, Arlington, and Fairfax, but the folks in Arlington are quite happy with most aspects of their chid's schooling, Fairfax somewhat, and Montgomery County parents are least happy. |
Anonymous
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"OP, do you have a child in MC schools?
Your post sort of implies that you don't. " We are starting next year but I'm so disappointed and worried based on what I hear from parents who are in the schools or parents who have decided to leave. A few did so when paying for private was never in their plans or their finances. When we moved to Montgomery County we had only heard all the general great school talk and the high ratings. Now, we know people with school aged kids. |