How much juggling and stress MCPS parents have to go through to provide for their kids appropriate education! Would not it be nice if the required GT services were available in all the home school in MCPS, so that parents did not have to uproot families and move in search of a better school?

Plan to show up at the GT forum on March 22 at Magruder HS. See thread http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/221871.page for details.

Post your comments and questions at GTA site http://www.gtamc.org/2012-gt-forum before hand.

I would pick by middle school, and buy a house that is right next door to that middle school, so when redistricting occurs you don't get shifted over to a new middle school.

the middle school years generally are the hardest. Find a middle school that is really well liked and has lots of afterschool activities, seems vibrant, has a good PTA, nice community.

I would narrow down by commute also.

I would suggest you find a few neigborhoods that you like and can afford and then take a look at the schools.
Most of the schools in North Potomac area are good. I would agree with PP. Take a look at the highschool that the elementary
school feeds into.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, not really up on the acronyms (SES? FARMS?) but appreciate the reply. We're looking for highly-rated elem schools without serious overcrowding problems, with a community feel and good parental involvement.

I'm not even familiar with what the different clusters are except for hearing people alternately say stay the hell away from Wootton or don't buy anywhere else. So confusing!

If you love Asians then buy a house in the Wootton cluster. If you don't care then any cluster on the west side of the county will do fine. This nit picking over elementary schools is ridiculous.

Unless you're sure you're going to move again, I'd start by looking at high schools for two reasons. One is that there are fewer of them, so your choice will be narrowed down faster, and the other is that I don't think there are huge variations between elementary schools in the same cluster.

Once you picked a couple of clusters, the MCPS schools at a glance will give you a sense of the schools. To me, it's more important to compare test scores demographic by demographic than overall, and this lets you do so.

If you scroll down on the school at a glance thing, you can see how many portables the school has (look under facilities data for "relocatable classrooms"). If you look at the number of "core teaching stations" for Kindergarten, and divide that into the total number of Kindergarteners (under enrollment by grade) you'll know the class size.

Once you have this data, and other data that was important to you (racial composition, and the performance of African American kids was important to me since that's what my kid is) you can make comparisons, and pick a handful of schools, then drive around those neighborhoods, look at real estate ads, and narrow it further. Then call the school and ask for a tour.

I've been renting here 5 years trying to figure out the same thing. I'm over thinking it for sure.

Take a look at College Gardens Elementary in Rockville.

Anonymous wrote:SES = socio-economic status
FARMS - Free and reduced price lunch

Both are ways to talk about familiy income. In general, the traditional high ratings in MCPS are in schools wiith a relatively low percentage of kids on FARMS. That would correspond to the Wootton cluster.

FWIW I live in Silver Spring and my kids don't go to any of those schools so I'm not necessarily agreeing that they are the best options, just that this is what people generally advise

OP again, thank you! Very helpful. To me, a variety of socio-economic backgrounds at a school is far less of a deal-breaker than 35 children to a class with children stuffed into overheating portable classrooms. I know there are some elem schools in great areas with serious overcrowding problems.

SES = socio-economic status
FARMS - Free and reduced price lunch

Both are ways to talk about familiy income. In general, the traditional high ratings in MCPS are in schools wiith a relatively low percentage of kids on FARMS. That would correspond to the Wootton cluster.

FWIW I live in Silver Spring and my kids don't go to any of those schools so I'm not necessarily agreeing that they are the best options, just that this is what people generally advise

OP here, not really up on the acronyms (SES? FARMS?) but appreciate the reply. We're looking for highly-rated elem schools without serious overcrowding problems, with a community feel and good parental involvement.

I'm not even familiar with what the different clusters are except for hearing people alternately say stay the hell away from Wootton or don't buy anywhere else. So confusing!

Just remember that among the top third of schools, there really isn't that much difference -- they are all MCPS, same curriculum, etc. So people tend to choose based on things like FARMS rate -- you may or may not think this is objectionable but really, SES level and racial/ethnic makeup are the difference. Of course, principals set a tone but principals move a lot so you can't count on that.

Some schools have more active PTAs and some less, but again, in the top tier, not too much difference.

In high school, there are some differences in terms of pressure among the highest tier of high schools, and there are differences like IB programs, a bigger emphasis on performing arts, etc., but again, you are going to get pretty much the same education.

So I would narrow it down to two or three clusters and then pick a house and neighborhood that works for you for other reasons -- affordability, proximity to stores, walkability, parks, commute, etc.

We currently live in Germantown but are looking to move closer in(Rockville/N Potomac) in the near future so my DD will be in a better school area by the time she's ready for K (2 years). Totally overwhelmed by the sheer number of schools. Top priority is living near good elem schools for now. How do you go about researching which are good schools and narrowing it down??