Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So stop saying it.

I still like MCPS, sorry. Not in denial.

I do too and so does my husband Pablo and our entire family of 7 kids and all their free food and English classes.

I like FCPS. We have those, too.

Anonymous wrote:You hear this all the time from PTA, MCPS, and realtor types but there is zero evidence to back this up. Perhaps it was true once but MCPS is not at the top anywhere anymore. Some people are in terrible denial.

Looking at the earlier thread someone actually thinks the survey must have been rigged where MCPS ES are nowhere in the top 10 for MD and Howard dominates the top position. For the MSA scores when MCPS ended up in the middle with 14 counties outscoring it, the people in denial claimed other counties must not be doing common core which isn't true. When kids all fail the Algebra 2.0 exams at even greater rate than before, it must be because of snow even though other counties and states in the area had the same snow but managed to score much higher.

There is no point in pretending to be something that you are not.

First question - how many elementary schools are in MD? almost 900.

I would think whether MCPS doesn't make it into the top 10 of 900 on some bogus ranking is pretty irrelevant.

Yawn. You like Howard County. Fine. MCPS is still one of the best large districts in the country. Howard is a fine district, probably the best in the great Baltimore area. Enjoy.

I wish people would stop saying that MCPS is not a good school system. What do you have to back this up?

USA is the best country because I live here.
MD is the best sate because I live here.
MoCo is the best county because I live here.
Our schools (ES, Middle, High) are the best because my kids go there.

Make the best of what you have, do the best what you can..

Anonymous wrote:It has one of the highest concentrations of affluent education parents in the country, so of course it will score well. That really doesn't tell you anything about the quality of the district itself, though.

You absolutely right. Affluent, educated parents move to MoCo.
They invest their time and resources into improving their children's education both at home and at the school.
Involved parents make the schools better....Im still moving there.

Haven't found one better so....

It has one of the highest concentrations of affluent education parents in the country, so of course it will score well. That really doesn't tell you anything about the quality of the district itself, though.

What does "best" mean in the context of a school system?

I agree with 11:37. If you want to stop saying that MCPS is one of the best school systems in the country, then you should do so.

Meanwhile, we moved to Montgomery County for the schools, and I don't regret the decision. One kid in elementary school, one kid in middle school.

There are things that are better about MCPS than Howard County. Howard County doesn't have HGCs or magnets.

Used to be. Not any longer.

If you are trying to compare it with more affluent areas, then yes, it can't compete because there are lots of people that are low income in MCPS, and higher test scores usually = higher SES.

A good way to gauge how good the schools are is to look at the scores of the FARMS kids. This will tell you how effective the teachers are. Also, look at the types of programs that the schools offer.

I come from the SF Bay Area. There are school districts there that have really high test scores, but a lot of those schools are high SES and some are over 50% Asian. The school districts have huge budget shortfalls and very little in programs that they offer, and parents shell out $ for extras like music, art and library. In CA, most of the budget for schools is controlled at the state level.

So, MCPS, while not the "best" district in the country, is still one of the better ones.

So stop saying it.

I still like MCPS, sorry. Not in denial.

You hear this all the time from PTA, MCPS, and realtor types but there is zero evidence to back this up. Perhaps it was true once but MCPS is not at the top anywhere anymore. Some people are in terrible denial.

Looking at the earlier thread someone actually thinks the survey must have been rigged where MCPS ES are nowhere in the top 10 for MD and Howard dominates the top position. For the MSA scores when MCPS ended up in the middle with 14 counties outscoring it, the people in denial claimed other counties must not be doing common core which isn't true. When kids all fail the Algebra 2.0 exams at even greater rate than before, it must be because of snow even though other counties and states in the area had the same snow but managed to score much higher.

There is no point in pretending to be something that you are not.