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[quote=Anonymous]We went from JLKM, to a well regarded DC Charter (not immersion), and then to MCPS in 6th.  I have no regrets about the move, and would absolutely do it again.  The MCPS system is far better organized, the curriculum is both more logical and more rigorous, and there's twice as much PE and twice as much arts in our MCPS middle school relative to Deal or the charter we were in (note: there are a few MCPS middle schools set up with a block schedule that gives them even more arts).  In addition, as a parent of child of color, we encountered racist low expectations over again in both DCPS and Charter, whereas in MCPS the expectations for him have been consistently high.  Finally, at least in a close in a suburb, my commute is actually substantially shorter because instead of having to travel across town to drop kid off, he simply gets on the school bus.

Waiting until 6th to move wasn't a problem in any subject but math, where the majority of MCPS kids, at least in our school, are 1 - 2 years ahead and he was barely at grade level.  But the school was happy to work with us to get him up to that one year above level, they offered him summer classes, afterschool classes, and the option of taking 2 years of math in one if he wanted to get ahead.  We took advantage of some but not all of them, and they were high quality and effective.  In retrospect though, I wish we'd done tutoring or Kumon or something in the last years in DC to get ready for the move, or simply moved earlier.

As far as testing for differentiation, MCPS does have some test in programs like the magnet at Takoma Park, but they are for a very small segment of the very top students, truly "gifted" kids, not the bright, top reading group, kids who DCPS often labels as "gifted".  If you think your child is in that category it might be worth moving into MCPS in 5th to allow them to be tested.  Otherwise, MCPS's policy seems to be to allow parents a lot of input into their child's levels, and to allow you to try things and move around.  My child had no problem moving from "on level" to "gifted" classes (note: middle school "gifted" classes are not just for gifted kids, they serve any child whose parent asks who would benefit from the challenge.  In some schools the majority of kids are in them) midyear.  [/quote]

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