Anonymous wrote:OP here. Cheverly schools fell from 6 to 4 this year. Before that we thought it was a maybe. But with Cheverly's bad school and high tax rates I don't think it'll work for us. Bowie might be worth looking at.

Test scores will vary each year; I wouldn't be concerned unless there were a downward trend two years in a row, if the school has otherwise been on an upward trend.

If test scores are what are important to you, you should at least check mdreportcard. You can see not just overall school data but data broken down by different subgroups.

http://www.mdreportcard.org

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It drives me nuts when parents make decisions about schools based on MSA test scores. This is why there's so much "teach to the test" craziness.

Parents say they don't want teachers to prep kids like crazy for the test, but then look at what you are basing your decision on. Test scores and nothing but!

As an example, Capitol Heights Elementary School in PG County currently has a GreatSchools score of 8, but the parent comments aren't really that great. They are a TAG school but if you buy in the neighborhood you can send your child there.

Well, Greatschools should really just be a starting point. You should check whatever other sources you can, like DCUM, citydata, and the comments on greatschools and other websites. You could also try the PGParents listserv. If you ask a question someone there might have good insight. But if a school has a score of say, 2 or 3, you can't really have high hopes for it.

Anonymous wrote:It drives me nuts when parents make decisions about schools based on MSA test scores. This is why there's so much "teach to the test" craziness.

Parents say they don't want teachers to prep kids like crazy for the test, but then look at what you are basing your decision on. Test scores and nothing but!

As an example, Capitol Heights Elementary School in PG County currently has a GreatSchools score of 8, but the parent comments aren't really that great. They are a TAG school but if you buy in the neighborhood you can send your child there.

It drives me nuts when parents make decisions about schools based on MSA test scores. This is why there's so much "teach to the test" craziness.

Parents say they don't want teachers to prep kids like crazy for the test, but then look at what you are basing your decision on. Test scores and nothing but!

The charter schools don't seem as difficult as the magnets, those are lottery.

The new charter in CP is only middle school up, so that doesn't help OP much since it sounds like OP may leave the area after K-6.

OP here. The Charter in College Park does look good, but the charter/tag schools in PG are really hard to get in to. I can't assume our kids would get in any of them. We will look closer at Greenbelt and Bowie again. Greenbelt is a great community, although the homes are really small and close together. We appreciate all the suggestions so far.

as a cluster, greenbelt is pretty good (and the middle school with new TAG program is much improved). There's a few very good bowie elementary schools in addition to Bond Mill in Laurel. I might pick Bowie over Laurel as a high school. Berwyn heights parents seem happy with the elementary school but I think they feed parkdale HS. The new charter starting in college park looks intriguing, too.

Bond Mill Elementary in 20707. It is farther out than the others mentioned, though.

OP here. Cheverly schools fell from 6 to 4 this year. Before that we thought it was a maybe. But with Cheverly's bad school and high tax rates I don't think it'll work for us. Bowie might be worth looking at.

I would recommend going to greatschools.org and looking at the list of schools in PG County from highest rating to lowest rating. You'll find most of the good elementary schools are in Bowie, with a few here and there in other communities. We ended up in Lanham-Seabrook because the elementary school is rated 6 (last year it was 7), it was close to many commuter routes, and we could afford the type of home we wanted there. YMMV.

University Park has a good reputation but the homes are pricier there than in much of PG (especially the communities you listed). The French Immersion and Montessori programs also have good reputations but are lottery only.

OP, we are in the same boat exactly. I would really be interested in finding a good ES. We are looing at a few private options just in case, though.

Because we work in NW and can't afford what most houses are going for in DC, we're looking in PG county. We've found good communities (Cheverly, Greenbelt, Hyattsville, etc) that we really like but most have pretty awful schools. Can anyone steer us towards towns within or, close to the Beltway that have good public schools? We're mostly concerned with K-6 right now because we don't plan to stay in the DMV for more than 5 years. We can only afford to live in PG and don't have enough for private schools.