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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If you want facts, you can look up FARMS rates at MoCo high schools here:  http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04406.pdf.  Here are stats for some of the &quot;richest&quot; MoCo high schools mentioned earlier:

BCC 11% FARMS, 9.3% special ed,
Walter Johnson 7.8% FARMS, 11.7% special ed
Churchill &lt;5% FARMs, 11.2% special ed
Whitman &lt;5% FARMs, 11.9% special ed
Richard Montgomery   20.6% FARMS, 7.7% special ed
Wootton 5.5% FARMs, 7.5 special ed
(You don't want to even ask about the downcounty schools, trust me)

Another important fact to keep in mind: the FARMS income cutoff is LOW. This source (http://febp.newamerica.net/background-analysis/federal-school-nutrition-programs) says the federal subsidized lunch program cutoff is 130% of the poverty line, or [b]$21,000 for a family of four. [/b]

So between FARMS and special ed programs, maybe 13-20% of kids at the &quot;richest&quot; public high schools we've been discussing are either (a) very poor or (b) on special ed. And certainly many more kids in these 6 &quot;richest&quot; public high schools have family incomes just above $21,000 but below $50,000.

It's truly difficult to understand how you could expect identical percents of a Sidwell graduating class, and a graduating class at one of these &quot;richest&quot; MoCo high schools, to be applying to the same Ivy League Colleges. Given that 10-30% kids in even the &quot;richest&quot; MoCo high schools live in families with less than $21,000 income, or are in special ed, and many more will have incomes not much above $21,000.
[/quote]

Apart from these documentable facts on parents' income and kids' special needs rates, here are some other likely differences between these MoCo high schools and elite private schools, that we'd expect to lead to difference in Ivy matriculations.
(1) Parents' education. Have the parents been to grad school, or even to college?
(2) Legacy status. I know Harvard parents who send their kids to Blair, but some elite privates ask this question (we were asked 5-6 years ago on one application) and may be selecting for it.
(3) Interest in a school's status. Let's be honest here, some percent of private school parents choose elite privates for the status, and would choose a college for the same reason. Maybe it's a small percent, but it's there.
(4) Private schools select in part based on test scores. This may not be so reliable for kids accepted in K, but for middle school and high school the high SSAT scores are more of a predictor for high SAT scores.[/quote]

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