Reply to What happened to Quince Orchard's USNews Rankings?

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[quote=Anonymous]My child is at QO now, and is very into sports - the overwhelming amount of school spirit was the biggest draw to attend QO. They attended private school for elementary and middle school, and the other schools they were considering (Good Counsel and St. John’s) seemed similar sports wise to QO.

In my experience, it seems that some teachers are GREAT, others don’t seem to care much…we love the principal (Beth Thomas) but the support staff, attendance secretary, guidance counselors (likely overwhelmed) have been very lackluster, and seem to be disconnected/uninterested in the kids. AP courses are not really taught - kids are expected to memorize material on their own with little time spent going over the material. My older child has taken the same AP classes at a private school and actually learned the material vs quiz after quiz with no real emphasis on understanding the subject matter (of course the expectation is that students will read and prepare independently for AP classes but I think the actual scores the students get on the exams are indicative of the instruction provided). Math classes have not been great for us, and we will likely supplement. Foreign language has been a total bust so far. Overall, my child is happy and in a good place, so I am thankful, but I am concerned about the academics. I also found it disappointing that my child’s MAP scores actually went down over the past year. We were not happy with how QO handled virtual learning and were considering switching back to private but ultimately my child is SO GLAD they stayed.

There are a ton of positives to the school and QO really has something for everyone - theater, music, clubs, sports, and the kids at the school have genuine school spirit.

Like another PP said, your kids are young and a lot can change in 10 years. We do know several families zoned for QO that attend private, so if you are able to have that as a backup plan B, I think it’s a great idea to buy into the QO district - just know that with the redistributing, the boundaries can change unless you are walking distance to the school.

One last comment - people have mentioned the emphasis on sports, but athletics are the main driver for my child to want to go to school. My child has had great, inspirational coaches that really care about the kids and encourage them to do well in school and focus on their academics along with sports practice. My older child who went to private school was very academically driven and intrinsically motivated (would not have been into the rah rah spirit as much) so I’m sure QO would have been a different experience for them.

My biggest concern is with MCPS, and that will be an issue that has little to do with the school your child attends. I am an elem teacher and am fighting to incorporate a curriculum that is aligned with the Science of Reading, but MCPS is determined to stick with Benchmark. Not relevant but just wanted to add that your child will likely be okay with whatever high school they attend, but the direction MCPS is headed is troubling. [/quote]

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