Diamond Elementary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

OP, think carefully about what price point you plan to buy at and how long you will be in the house. There is a reason why you have more options and prices are lower in Diamond Elementary. Make sure you research comps for sold prices (not list prices) and average days on the market. There is a premium in this area for QO over NW and a bigger premium for Wootton over QO/NW. If you are looking at less expensive but not TH options then you may be fine but avoid being top of market. A 1.2M house will sell fast in the spring market in an area like Lakewood but a 1M house will sit for months in QO or NW. You can't a lot more for your money in Diamond ES but when you go to sell you may not recoup your investment which is fine if you plan for this.

Or if you're like me -- Diamond was the best we could afford and we consider ourselves lucky to be here. I guess its all about perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wootton is 168 nationally, QO is 243. Very similar rankings, plus QO is a better environment. Meanwhile, NW is unranked...

Do you take USNews ranking so seriously? NW is unranked because some wacky reason of a group doesn't have the minimum scores or whatever. WJ is unranked as well. Doesn't mean it is a bad school. QO was unranked a couple years too.


Wootton has higher test scores for every racial/ethnic groups. It could be that the Wootton parents simply have higher SES because FARMS is not a perfect measure for SES, or it could be Wootton is a better school. QO seems to be overly focused on football.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wootton is 168 nationally, QO is 243. Very similar rankings, plus QO is a better environment. Meanwhile, NW is unranked...

Do you take USNews ranking so seriously? NW is unranked because some wacky reason of a group doesn't have the minimum scores or whatever. WJ is unranked as well. Doesn't mean it is a bad school. QO was unranked a couple years too.


Wootton has higher test scores for every racial/ethnic groups. It could be that the Wootton parents simply have higher SES because FARMS is not a perfect measure for SES, or it could be Wootton is a better school. QO seems to be overly focused on football.

Can you provide data proving that Wootton has higher test scores for each racial/ethnic group?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wootton is 168 nationally, QO is 243. Very similar rankings, plus QO is a better environment. Meanwhile, NW is unranked...

Do you take USNews ranking so seriously? NW is unranked because some wacky reason of a group doesn't have the minimum scores or whatever. WJ is unranked as well. Doesn't mean it is a bad school. QO was unranked a couple years too.


Wootton has higher test scores for every racial/ethnic groups. It could be that the Wootton parents simply have higher SES because FARMS is not a perfect measure for SES, or it could be Wootton is a better school. QO seems to be overly focused on football.

Can you provide data proving that Wootton has higher test scores for each racial/ethnic group?

You can go to maryland school report card. http://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/ParccHighTrends.aspx?PV=74:10:15:0125:3:N:6:13:1:2:5:1:1:2:3

Some of the tests don't have detailed breakdowns. But the ones who do showed Wootton has better scores in general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wootton is 168 nationally, QO is 243. Very similar rankings, plus QO is a better environment. Meanwhile, NW is unranked...

Do you take USNews ranking so seriously? NW is unranked because some wacky reason of a group doesn't have the minimum scores or whatever. WJ is unranked as well. Doesn't mean it is a bad school. QO was unranked a couple years too.


Wootton has higher test scores for every racial/ethnic groups. It could be that the Wootton parents simply have higher SES because FARMS is not a perfect measure for SES, or it could be Wootton is a better school. QO seems to be overly focused on football.

Can you provide data proving that Wootton has higher test scores for each racial/ethnic group?

The latest document I can find on SAT scores by race also showed this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wootton is 168 nationally, QO is 243. Very similar rankings, plus QO is a better environment. Meanwhile, NW is unranked...

Do you take USNews ranking so seriously? NW is unranked because some wacky reason of a group doesn't have the minimum scores or whatever. WJ is unranked as well. Doesn't mean it is a bad school. QO was unranked a couple years too.


Wootton has higher test scores for every racial/ethnic groups. It could be that the Wootton parents simply have higher SES because FARMS is not a perfect measure for SES, or it could be Wootton is a better school. QO seems to be overly focused on football.

Can you provide data proving that Wootton has higher test scores for each racial/ethnic group?

The latest document I can find on SAT scores by race also showed this.

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/info/pdf/SATBOEMemo10614.pdf

Here is the link.

[Anonymous]

SAT scores are more a proxy for SES, regardless of race, more than school quality.

[Anonymous]

What you would need, to really compare the scores, are cross tabs. You need FARMS and non-FARMS scores for each race. Aka you need to know how the FARMS white kids at QO vs Wootton did, etc.

[Anonymous]

OP - just looked at houses for sale in DES. They don't look like they would have very good resale. All very small, older or THs in the mid 500s. They look overpriced and this area is not as popular. There are bigger, nicer houses in Jones Lane/QO in the mid to upper 600s but since they've been sitting on the market you probably could get one for 10% or even more offl. They will keep sitting and someone will accept 550 or 575 for one of them. You'll end up with better equity, better school cluster, and better resale value. It doesn't hurt to make a low ball offer at this time of year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP - just looked at houses for sale in DES. They don't look like they would have very good resale. All very small, older or THs in the mid 500s. They look overpriced and this area is not as popular. There are bigger, nicer houses in Jones Lane/QO in the mid to upper 600s but since they've been sitting on the market you probably could get one for 10% or even more offl. They will keep sitting and someone will accept 550 or 575 for one of them. You'll end up with better equity, better school cluster, and better resale value. It doesn't hurt to make a low ball offer at this time of year.

We live in the DES area and homes have appreciated quite a lot since we moved here in 2012.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't look that way from searching through the sold comps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't look that way from searching through the sold comps.

Well I know how much things cost in 2012 when we were searching for a home and I know how much homes are listing for now. Not sure what you are looking at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't look that way from searching through the sold comps.

Well I know how much things cost in 2012 when we were searching for a home and I know how much homes are listing for now. Not sure what you are looking at.

Yes I don't live in the neighborhood but you honestly don't need to hate on other people's neighborhoods. Maybe that was the most they could afford. Sorry they couldn't afford to buy in your neighborhood

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't look that way from searching through the sold comps.

Well I know how much things cost in 2012 when we were searching for a home and I know how much homes are listing for now. Not sure what you are looking at.

Yes I don't live in the neighborhood but you honestly don't need to hate on other people's neighborhoods. Maybe that was the most they could afford. Sorry they couldn't afford to buy in your neighborhood

Yup. Or maybe the richest neighborhoods aren’t always the best ones for everyone to live in. We would personally hate living in Potomac because there are practically no sidewalks. We want to be able to walk places. Different strokes and all that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't look that way from searching through the sold comps.

Well I know how much things cost in 2012 when we were searching for a home and I know how much homes are listing for now. Not sure what you are looking at.

Yes I don't live in the neighborhood but you honestly don't need to hate on other people's neighborhoods. Maybe that was the most they could afford. Sorry they couldn't afford to buy in your neighborhood

Yup. Or maybe the richest neighborhoods aren’t always the best ones for everyone to live in. We would personally hate living in Potomac because there are practically no sidewalks. We want to be able to walk places. Different strokes and all that.

NP here. We live in upcounty and very much care about our child's education, which is why we ended up here. My child is a bright girl who consistently scores high in tests, is in compact math, etc. but we felt that going to a W school would not be ideal for her as she would not do emotionally well in a super competitive, high-pressure environment. We picked this area because the schools felt more normal to me; a child whether they are academically strong, sports oriented, theater buff, etc.. can easily find their tribe and be successful here.