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[quote=Anonymous]
OP,

The Bethesda elementary school in downtown Bethesda has been known for years for its ability to work with all kinds of students. It has a wonderful ESOL program as well as a particularly competent and experienced special needs team. There is an excellent reading specialist as well.

We moved from downtown Silver Spring to downtown Bethesda to place our eldest son with learning disabilities at Bethesda ES. The speech therapist there was the best we had ever encountered and far better than all the private ones we had paid for. 
The school has also done its best to accommodate my younger son, who is advanced for his age. There is an assistant in every classroom, who guides the children while the teacher leads a levelled reading or math group. Parents are involved in all kinds of cultural and educational enrichment.

Downtown Bethesda is much more culturally and slightly more economically diverse than the rest of wealthy Bethesda. It has many international families coming from all over the world (there are between 40 and 50 countries represented at school every year). Many families live in the apartments in the downtown, and others live in the (expensive) single family homes nearby. There is a significant amount of turn-over, since many international families are here for 2-4 year stints at the World Bank, etc. These families are usually extremely well-educated and care about the quality of their children's education.

Now the bad news concerning MCPS: there has been a demographic explosion in recent years, and most schools in southern Montgomery County are overcrowded. Bethesda ES completed an addition last year and it turns out it's too small for the influx of children this year. That is because of the stupidity of the predictors used by the public school system. MCPS refuses to acknowledge that high rises and condo buildings accommodate a significant number of families with school-aged children. Since there is construction in every city center of MoCo, you can see what a problem this is. Unfortunately, there are no checks and balances in this kind of system. My friend's DD goes to a school in Silver Spring where despite the 5 or so portable classrooms that have occupied the playground for years, they are not even on the waiting list for an addition.

As for Title 1 schools.
I have two friends who tried them, lured by smaller class sizes and the promise of additional resources and attention from teachers. Neither lasted long, because it became socially very awkward to make deep friendships with children who had so much less, whose families had very significant issues, where parents could not be involved in school, or for whom education was not a priority.

I hope this gives you a helpful snapshot, OP. Of course, your little corner of heaven will depend HEAVILY on your commute, house availabilities (spring season is brutal! get all your mortgage ducks in a row) and what kind of neighborhood you want.

Best of luck.[/quote]

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