Anyone trying to decide between Green Acres and Lowell?

[Anonymous]

We're trying to decide between the two. If you're in the same boat, please share your thoughts. Or if you are a current parent and can share how you think the two schools are similar and different that would be very helpful. Is one school better suited for one type of child than another? Or are the two schools really very similar just in different locations?

If you had to choose which would you say has the stronger academics in the upper grades?

Lower attrition?

Better exmissions?

Any other things we should be thinking about in trying to decide?

TIA

[Anonymous]

i dont; think they are in the same tier.. GA obviously better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're trying to decide between the two. If you're in the same boat, please share your thoughts. Or if you are a current parent and can share how you think the two schools are similar and different that would be very helpful. Is one school better suited for one type of child than another? Or are the two schools really very similar just in different locations?

If you had to choose which would you say has the stronger academics in the upper grades?

Lower attrition?

Better exmissions?

Any other things we should be thinking about in trying to decide?

TIA

I don't have any information about GA. However, we had a child at Lowell. There is quite a bit of attrition from pre-primary to kindergarten. Some staying past kindergarten leave at 3rd. Others stay through to 6th. Exmissions are okay. As an alumni family, we still receive the Lowell Ledger which includes a list of where the 6th graders go. For the most recent class (2007), most went to Field and Edmund Burke -- perhaps one to Sidwell, one to Maret, one to St. Andrews, one to Lab, one to Holton, several to public schools. I didn't see any go to St. Albans, NCS, GDS or Landon.

Upper grade academics are iffy, particularly at 3rd and higher. There is a new head of school. I suspect that many of the deficiencies we saw/experienced at Lowell will be addressed by this new head. She's supposed to be excellent, and comes from a well-regarded independent school in the Bay Area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i dont; think they are in the same tier.. GA obviously better.

Can you elaborate?

[Anonymous]

Current Lowell parent here. Though I pay very close attention to the academics, a school like Lowell is not all about that. It should be no surprise that Lowell grads do not head off to St. Albans, NCS and Landon! Those three are very traditional schools which does not seem a logical choice after a progressive elementary education.

THough it may be that no kid in last year's graduating class went to GDS, they do send kids there most years as well as to Sidwell and several usually to Maret. Field and Burke share similar philosophies so they naturally gt many applicants. It should be noted that a typical graduating class has ~25 kids, so one or two kids at any given school is 10% of a graduating class!

I think that GA attracts similar students but from a geographically different area.

I love the new head of Lowell, I think she will be making a lot of very positive changes as her tenure continues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:THough it may be that no kid in last year's graduating class went to GDS, they do send kids there most years

Sorry PP. You're right. There was one student in the previous year (2006) who went to GDS.

[Anonymous]

On a previous board someone noted that lowell has a weak science and math program. Can anyone comment on Green Acres's science and math programs?

[Anonymous]

bump

[Anonymous]

Another current Lowell parent here. We love the school and as the above poster said, love the new head. In response to a couple of points, on math and science, Lowell uses the same Everyday Math program that all the other major private schools seem to use. I understand that they are adding some additional upper grade science work as well next year. I certainly agree with the previous poster about school placement: many kids go to Field and Burke (both very good schools by the way) because of the fit and relationships between the schools; a smaller number but still a significant percentage go to "big name" schools. Of course, if you counted the people who transfer at earlier grades, it is higher because people sometimes make the switch (particularly for younger siblings) to those schools before sixth grade. So if you looked at the percentage of all kids who move from Lowell to those schools at grade three or later it is significantly higher. There are certainly kids who go to GDS. I've never met anyone who has applied to St. Albans, NCS or Landon but that does not surprise me based on the difference in the philosophies. I would be surprised to see someone make that transition. I also think that the previous poster is wrong about attrition from PP to K. I know in the past few years there have been almost no K slots available because of the lack of attrition from PP. Most of the folks who have made that change that I know have been personal reasons (ie., moving or deciding to not do private school any more). I also have friends at GA and they seem very similar. I have not seen anything to suggest that the program there is any "stronger" or anything like that. I think the main distinctions are geographic, Lowell is more diverse, the transition year is different because GA goes through 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

Re: attrition at Lowell -- during our last year there a little over 20% of the school left. This of course included the 25+ kids who graduated from 6th grade. But, this also included an additional 40+ or so kids who left "early". Many were those who decided not to go from preprimary to kindergarten. I don't know if that was a "normal year" for Lowell. In general, the pre-primary is bigger than the kindergarten because I think Lowell expects that some families won't continue on.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know if GA is still taking apps?

[Anonymous]

One more thing about attrition from PP to K at Lowell. MoCo does not have preK and Lowell is located on the DC/MD line. Most families that we knew who left, went because they were headed to public school or moved out of state. I don't know of one family who went to another private school from the PP.

Also, I have no problem with the comments of the PP who had kids at Lowell a few years ago, but with all due respect, that was a few years ago and things change and evolve with schools every year. Next year Lowell is hiring a dedicated science coordinator/teacher, has a great math and curriculum coordinator and is really working hard on improving any areas of weakness that have been identified.

I attended a parent panel on "schools after Lowell" and former Lowell parents who had kids at Maret, Sidwell and GDS came and said that they felt that the concern over math and science was "overworried" and that their kids had no problems with the transition; and that was for kids who graduated in the past few years before they have even implemented any of these improvements.