Reply to High school shutouts-- what's the plan?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We have close friends and relatives with teens in schools in Fairfax, Arlington and MoCo. The friends became our pals in our DCPS ES. It's clear to me that there really isn't any comparison between dysfunctional, low-capacity, ambition challenged DCPS and the high-capacity school systems in the burbs. For starters, those counties support advanced programs for ES and MS. [b]They track academically in middle school in all core subjects by 7th grade.[/b] They also run serious test-in HS programs, mostly the school-within-a-school type. Parents in those school systems grumble on these threads because it's all relative - they haven't experienced DCPS middle or high school chaos and ad hocery.   [/quote]

The bolded is not true for MCPS. MCPS MS offer advanced math class (generally taking algebra in 7th grade) and advanced social studies. There is no advanced English or science. For languages, you take high school classes in middle school. For my kid, those have been the most challenging. The advanced social studies class has some more work than the regular one, but it's not especially challenging. The advanced math class is probably similar to what DCPS does for kids who take algebra in 7th.

MCPS has been fine for us, but we also liked the upper NW DCPS we were in before and think our kid would have been fine with Deal/J-R for high school. I know a lot of people in DC don't have those choices -- but if you play the lottery and have no luck and find yourselves having to move, I would put Deal/J-R just as high on the neighborhoods to consider as the MCPS schools.

- Former DC resident, now MoCo resident, again[/quote]

Thank you to this.  Due to some circumstances we find ourselves in, moving to Moco for High School is no longer an option we are likely to take.  I was wondering if this was creating a catastrophic loss in learning potential for my son, and it sounds like the difference is not quite so stark between "good" DC schools and "good" MoCo schools.[/quote]

That is correct. MCPS is fine, but it’s far from perfect and people complain all the time about problems with the system and with specific schools. It is triple the size of DCPS and is very focused on equity, with many schools using an “honors for all” system that provides very little differentiation. The average MCPS school is surely better than the average DCPS, but when you are looking at schools like Deal and Jackson-Reed, the differences are not that great. [/quote]

The magnets in MCPS is the place to be.[/quote]

Sure, if you get in. For middle school magnets (and the gifted and talented ES programs), they are a lottery among eligible students. And the criteria for eligibility are pretty broad, varying by the income level of the school. There are many, many more people in the lottery than their are spots, and some very disappointed parents.

For HS there is an application process where they consider grades (very easy to get all As in MCPS because of how they calculate GPA), test scores, and a very short essay -- no interview like in DCPS. Some kids have lots of choices while others have very few, and some who have the test scores to get in nevertheless choose to stay at their home school to be with their friends and avoid the sometimes lengthy travel that would be required. (This is a large county, and school starts earlier here than in DCPS.)

So yeah, the magnets are great if you can get your kid in and if they are willing to go, but most strong students go to their home school. And again, the quality of the difference in program because MCPS and a high-quality DC school (Deal, Wilson) is not that great. So, for people who are unhappy with their lottery results in DC, MCPS is certainly an option, but it's not he only one, and it's not some nirvana where kids are getting a spectacular education. It's on par with good DCPS. People could move to MoCo or to upper NW and have a similar experience. [/quote]

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