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[quote=Anonymous]Also consider James Hubert Blake High School and Sherwood High School clusters.  The first is in northern Silver Spring, near Ashton, and the second is in Olney.  Both are smaller schools that draw from a number of very nice neighborhoods and they are somewhat off the beaten path.  They tend to retain their teachers and both have a community feel.  Our kids went to Blake but we have plenty of friends whose kids attend(ed) Sherwood.  I teach at a W school and would not have sent my kids to that school over Blake or Sherwood in a million years if given the option.

Our feeder elementary school was also excellent and most in our cluster have great reputations. I would call the middle school experience the weakest link, but having taught middle school in the Bethesda area, I would say this is true throughout the county - middle school is just a difficult time all around.

Two things to keep in mind:

1) The workload was much more rigorous at Blake than what I see at the W school where I teach.  As are a dime a dozen at a W school, where kids can turn things in whenever they want and teachers are expected to pass everyone.  There are still a few expectations at the schools I've mentioned, from our experience.

2) I feel like it is easier for high achieving students to shine at Blake or Sherwood due to the relatively smaller number of students in each grade.  At a larger high school or at a W school, you might have 60 kids in a graduating class with a 4.0 unweighted GPA.  At a smaller school like Blake or Sherwood, there might be 20-25 of those students, allowing them to stand out more.  By the same token, talented musicians, artists, athletes, and scientists have more opportunities to stand out at a smaller school where they are not one of a huge pack with the same talent.  It's easier to be a big fish in a smaller pond, and this definitely benefited our kids.  This can also become important when applying to college.  [/quote]

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