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[quote=Anonymous]My 2 kids started at Kemp Mill ES, but my oldest got into the Pine Crest CES, and the younger one followed to the lower elementary at Montgomery Knolls.  We have been told by parents of students who came from both Arcola and Glenallan that both schools were terrible, and that the were glad to be out of there and at the CES.  Kemp Mill was even worse than the others.  All of those parents who were mapped to Lee MS have either gotten their kids into a magnet middle school or have made other arrangements for middle school.  I can't stress enough how much you should [u]avoid[/u] being in the Lee MS zone!

Kemp Mill was so awful, we couldn't wait for our oldest to get out.  It's 100% dual language, with &gt; 70% being native Spanish speakers, and they switched to follow a system in which one week is entirely in one language, then the next week continues in the other language.  While we were there, all but 1 of the native Spanish speakers in my oldest's grade was fluent with spoken English, so they lost nothing in the switch.  All of the native English speakers were lost for the Spanish week, but they were such a small minority that the teachers ignored it - just chalking it up to the students generally being less capable.   My youngest spent one year there in kindergarten and was quickly lost, and was a semester behind in reading, which we were told was about normal for Kemp Mill students.  We were allowed to move him to MKES on a COSA to avoid the dual language because his brother was going to Pine Crest (the usual English option is Glen Haven ES).  Within a quarter, with all-English instruction and reading focus help, he was a semester [i]ahead[/i] (and stopped the focus help after the first quarter), and is more than a year ahead in reading now.  Kemp Mill would not have helped at all, as they consider a semester behind to be &quot;normal.&quot;

Here's what I wish I'd known before moving to this area:

I would really recommend that you look at the middle school you want, then pick an elementary school in that zone.  There are not many options for middle school magnets or special programs, but lots for high school.

If your child (or family) is very STEM-oriented, then go to the Takoma Park ES zone, which is the lower elementary that feeds into the Piney Branch upper elementary, which feed to Takoma Park MS.  1/2 of the 2nd and 3rd graders are in a science magnet, then Piney Branch has a local CES for that school only, then TPMS has 25 seats reserved in their magnet for students in their local feeders, but those seats generally go to the Piney Branch CES students.  It's less competitive than the 6000 MCPS students/year competing for the 100 other magnet seats.  (We were lucky enough to get one of the 100 seats.)

Similarly, if your child (or family) is very Humanities-oriented, then go to the Montgomery Knolls ES zone (which is the lower elementary that feeds into the Pine Crest upper elementary) or the New Hampshire Estates ES zone (which is the lower elementary that feeds into the Oak View upper elementary), both of which feed to Eastern MS.  Both CES schools draw more students from their 3rd grade than is represented by any other school in the CES area, then Eastern has 10-20 seats reserved in their magnet for students in Pine Crest and Oak View (living in that zone, not bussing in as CES students).  It's less competitive than the 6000 MCPS students/year competing for the 100 other magnet seats.  Warning about these elementary pairs - the lower elementary is not located near the upper elementary, so if you're considering living near the school to walk to/from, you have to pick one, and if you're within a mile radius of the other school, you will not have a bus.

Both TPMS and Eastern MS feed into Montgomery Blair HS, which is arguably the most desirable (if the most crowded) high school in the downcounty consortium (DCC).  While there is a lottery for placement among the 5 DCC schools, it's generally not possible to get into Blair if you're not already in the feeder zone.  There are a few magnet programs at Blair, including the highly-regarded STEM magnet, which is unrelated to the lottery.

Alternatively, there's the middle school magnet consortium, which is an area in Wheaton in which, if your child attends any of the elementary schools in any of the 3 middle school areas, they can choose which middle school they want to attend and a bus will be provided.  &gt; 90% of students get their first choice.  Our of consortium students can enter a lottery for &lt; 100 spots in each school, with no transportation provided.  Each school has a magnet focus:  Loiederman = theater and arts, Parkland = aerospace engineering, Argyle = computer programming.

There are other middle schools in the Silver Spring area that are considered very good by the CES parents we know. Sligo has recently improved significantly and is making a real effort at keeping the smart kids in their area, and Silver Spring International (also a magnet for dual language) similarly has a good reputation.  The non-magnet programs at TPMS and Eastern are less well-regarded, and there is no magnet-level math class at Eastern or magnet-level world studies at TPMS, both of which are available at other middle schools.  Any of them is better than Lee, though.

Forest Knolls ES has issues in that new boundaries are being drawn, and many will be bussed over to Montgomery Knolls and Pine Crest.  They're still trying to decide what the boundaries will be, and trying to decide to which middle school those students will be mapped:  Easter and/or SSIMS, with possible split articulation.[/quote]

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