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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't think Marin schools are comparable to FCPS.  They may be the "best" in the SF area, but that's not saying much.[/quote]

It is amazing how convinced DCUM is of extreme DMV educational superiority, and yet kids from around the country seem to do just fine in college and beyond. You would think that college, med school, and law school admissions only come from kids who grew up in the DMV the way that some of you talk.

OP, I don't think you are remotely a fit for California, but understand that DCUM often sounds very provincial when it comes to discussion of education.[/quote]
The vast majority of CA kids go in state, which is great.. they have a great selection of in state univ to choose from.

I speak from experience having gone through CA public school myself and had a child go there for early ES and have friends in CA with kids in public school up to HS.   My friends/family went to great univ in CA, became doctors, engineers, etc.. Obviously, CA public school students can and do do well in life.

But public schools in general in CA are inferior to the DC area.  I knew someone who moved from NJ to CA (Peninsula) and was appalled by the "great" public schools there.

DC area is the opposite of provincial when it comes to education. Coming over from CA to the DC area, I felt provincial in my understand and expectations of public school. [/quote]

NJ has better schools than DC or CA.

[/quote]
PP here.. absolutely, 100% agree.

Generally, "good" schools have lower FARMs rate, and this is true across the board in every state and school district. So, it's not fair to compare test scores, IMO, because a lot of that is dependent on SES and income.

But, I look at the expectations, classes and programs offered, and a lot of the Bay Area  public schools don't have the variety of programs that many of the DC area schools do, and that's in part because of the fact that all of their school districts are small compared to FCPS, MCPS and even DCPS.   Several years ago, Bay Area public schools had to do away with their GATE program (gifted) because of budget cuts. The parents had to fill in the gaps and create a nonprofit coop to provide GATE opportunities for high performing students.  I looked into Cupertino school district (considered one of the top performing in the Bay Area) and was surprised to see how basic their offerings were at the time (may have changed since then).  And every school district there wants parents to donate, and I don't mean your $35 PTA dues.  I'm talking several hundreds to a $1000 per child. And every year, there was a bond measure in our "high performing" expensive school district to raise taxes for the schools.  Maybe things have changed since then (a few years ago), but I had had it with tax increases, "donations", and subpar programming.

Expectations:

CA Graduation requirements:
https://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/gs/hs/cefhsgradreq.asp

Three years of English
Two years of mathematics (including Algebra I)
Three years of social science (including U.S. history and geography; world history, culture, and geography; one semester of American government; and one semester of economics)
Two years of science (including biology and physical science)
Two years of physical education
One year of foreign language or visual and performing arts or commencing with the 2012–13 school year, career technical education. For purpose of satisfying the minimum course requirement, a course in American Sign Language shall be deemed a course in foreign language

And I don't think CA has any SSL type requirements.  WE certainly didn't have any when we (my siblings and I) went to HS in CA.

In VA, 4 years of English and 3 yrs of math is required.  MD requires 4 years in both English and math now, same for DC.

Science: Va and MD requires 3 credits,   DC requires 4.  CA requires 2.

Obviously, there are many students in CA that go beyond the minimum requirement, and there are certainly very very smart kids there.  But, the state's level of expectation and programming is subpar compared to the DC area.

There are some good school districts in CA, of course. But they tend to be in the very expensive areas that OP cannot afford, and they rely heavily on parent donations to offer interesting programs.[/quote]

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