Reply to What are differences between MoCo and DC public schools?

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[quote=Anonymous]I have 3 kids in an upper NWDC public elementary and 1 will go to our DCPS middle school next year.  We've been very, very happy with our kids' experience.  I have a large number of friends with kids in Mont. Co. elementary schools (Westbrook, Wood Acres, Rosemary Hills, etc) and my kids' class sizes in DCPS have all been smaller, sometimes impressively so (for example 18 kids vs. 29).  Our PARCC scores are higher than in these schools as well (and I've never noticed any teaching to the test).  My kids have never done worksheets or busy work.  One recently took the private school admissions test for middle school (SSAT) and did extremely well which again assures me that he/she learned what she/he was supposed to be learning all along (this test tests vocabulary, reading comprehension and math).   We ended up deciding not to apply to private middle school because we honestly haven't heard anything but great things about our public middle school.

The kids in our public school are all bright, inquisitive, well-rounded kids.  Exactly what you'd expect from a cohort of NW DC overachievers.  The parents are doctors, law partners, journalists, professors, educators, etc.   My kids play travel sports with many NWDC private school kids and there isn't much if any difference between the parents of those kids and the parents at our public school (minus a few extreme wealth outliers at the private schools).  We all went to the same colleges, have the same careers and want the best for our kids.  I often feel like the only thing that differentiates us is that half of us chose private and half chose public.  The rest of our lives are the same.

As to gifted kids--I have ver bright kids.  I don't have phenoms.  But honestly, I don't know any of these kids aside from the child of a coworker who lives in Indiana (who was in Calc 2 in 4th grade!..... but I digress).  My kids have been very, very well served in our local public.  If we were to move to Montgomery County, I very highly doubt that my kids would applying to the math/science magnet high schools at Blair or Poolesville.  They're not kids who are doing Algebra in 4th grade and need Calculus by 7th.  They don't like math that much.  They're not doing it in their spare time for fun.   If you have a kid like that then you will probably be better served in Mont. Co. than in DCPS.  Shy of that, you'll be okay.  Your child will be surrounded by many very bright kids with every resources available to them since birth.  
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