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[quote=Anonymous]"I am the second poster with kids who've gone to school in MoCo and DC. I don't agree that the middle and high schools named are not as good. SWW and Banneker are absolutely as good. Again, the difference is demographics. Therefore, if you look at SAT scores, they are going to be lower. However, if you look at where the students attend college, the lists look about the same."

PPs think this is true, but it isn't, at least not when you compare the best suburban test-in academic magnets to the best DCPS selective admissions high schools.  I used to work on the admissions committee at an Ivy and stay in the loop with former colleagues.  SWW and Banneker get very few into Ivies, Little Ivies like Amherst and Williams, top technical schools like MIT, and the US military academies compared to suburban magnets like TJ and Blair.

The diffrence isn't just demographics, it's weaker teaching and lack of accelerated/GT programs, and serious differentiation, before the AP level.  Top DCPS, and now Washington Latin, high school kids tend to take a handful of AP classes, scoring 3s and maybe 4s, and get 600s on SATs, vs. suburban kids who take double the number of AP classes, score mostly 5s and 700s, or even perfect 800s, on SATs.  There are always a few exceptions but not nearly as many as parents tend to think.  For example, Harvard usually takes 1-2 per year DCPS wide, vs. half a dozen from some suburban schools.  Banneker's SAT scores aren't just a little bit lower, they're below or near the national average, in the low 500s.  I did a lot of interviewing there until recently and burned out on the weak prep.  A real disgrace.

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