Anonymous wrote:I have a child at Newport Mill. It’s been good so far (7th grade). There is some homework/studying/projects outside of class, but the teachers try to limit it. My child is a procrastinator so sometimes has “homework” that is really just work that wasn’t finished in class. The school offers advanced history and math tracks, which I believe is standard across mcps middle schools, but the classes and teachers have been great and the work appropriately challenging. I think the school does a good job of trying to be supportive. The teachers and counselors I’ve interacted with have been very approachable and helpful. A common complaint you’ll hear across mcps schools is that all English is advanced, which waters it down. My take is that it’s more what you make of it, and motivated kids can get an advanced-level experience out of it if they are so inclined. The English classes also have 2 teachers per class, which in my opinion gives it a collaborative feel and means the kids get more attention. I think middle school can be a hard time for kids overall, but my child has been comfortable at Newport Mill, has made friends, and has had caring teachers. I’ve never heard of any bullying issues. I’m happy with the school. My child plans to select Einstein in the DCC lottery when the time comes.

Thanks so much! This is very encouraging. Do you know about how much time is needed per week for the work they do send home as homework?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“We also have a younger child who is a lot less academically inclined. Does fine in school, but must be reminded/encouraged to do homework and needs more encouragement and help to get through the school year. But is extremely into the arts. We could see this child taking some AP/IP classes in favored subjects but not in others, and I don't see her pursuing an IB diploma. We would like her to be able to go to a high school where that is also supported and where she can take a more average course load, get lots of opportunities to explore art”

To this poster: Einstein will not provide academic support or executive function coaching. They will just let her get Cs and Ds and most teachers will not notify you that she is not turning in assignments. Unless things change, you also won’t necessarily be able to tell if she is turning everything in because ParentVue is often not updated. You will eventually see the grades but it’s not easy to tell whether a student has turned something in.

I'm this PP and I wouldn't expect that of a high school. When I say our youngest needs more encouragement and reminders -- we do that. I wouldn't expect a high school to provide executive function coaching? We know with this kid that we have to work with her more closely to make sure school work gets done, and also that she has to have external motivators (rewards like a special dinner. dinner out, or getting to go to a week of a specialty dance camp, for staying on top of school work). Our older child doesn't need this -- she loves doing school work and will seek out more work and reading on her own once it's done. But she needs encouragement to try non-academic things, to explore new social situations, etc.

We specifically want to avoid a school that thinks it's job is to push every child to the highest possible academic achievement. I think it would be too stressful for our youngest, but also fail to provide more well rounded opportunities for our oldest. Einstein sounds like a good fit.

Are you the poster who says you have a junior at Einstein? It honestly sounds like you are just mad you couldn't get into Blair or another more intensely academic school. I'm going to be honest -- your approach is the type of thing we are looking to avoid for our kids.

Wow. Ok. Well then I guess you should avoid Einstein, since we are there! Just trying to help. My kid did not apply to magnets because he wanted to stay with his friends. My other kid has been in magnets since middle school.

To summarize again since you don’t seem to be getting what I am saying, these will be your options at Einstein: “Honors” will be everything from kids who barely speak English to kids who have have discipline issues to, in ninth and tenth grade, smart hard working kids who will later take entirely IB and AP because since they are reasonably smart and hardworking, “honors” classes are appropriately challengingly enough for them. The school will counsel those kids they should take basically all AP and IB classes junior and senior because otherwise they are in “honors” classes with kids who “aren’t their cohort” - meaning slackers, kids who aren’t that smart, discipline problems. Etc. Those kids will also be encouraged to take at least one or two AP classes month and tenth grade.

So your kid will either be in “honors” classes that aren’t very challenging, or your kid will be in AP and IB classes. (My AP/IB kid found the workload in junior and senior year very hard as a result.) There’s no middle ground. Some schools, honors actually means something because there is another less challenging track available. That’s largely not the case at Einstein, especially since they are phasing out even more non honors classes

I was just trying to help to explain to you how on their own your kids will be at Einstein. Your older kid will probably do AP and IB and be motivated and do well. Your younger kid, I don’t know. You will likely have to do a lot of hand holding and make her give you her student log in so you can check in on her progress more. Even if they have an IEP, they likely will not get anything more than extended time on tests.

I disagree that school systems should not provide more support for kids with IEPs.

I am also an Einstein parent and I think you're overstating the Honors class situation. Yes, some classes have the Honors-for-all model, like English and Biology in 9th. But there are Honors math classes like Algebra 2 and Precalculus, and also Honors world language classes which are actually challenging. And we have never been told by a counselor to have our kids register for a particular level of classes. Teachers will make recommendations for the next year's class based on the student's current class performance.

I have a child at Newport Mill. It’s been good so far (7th grade). There is some homework/studying/projects outside of class, but the teachers try to limit it. My child is a procrastinator so sometimes has “homework” that is really just work that wasn’t finished in class. The school offers advanced history and math tracks, which I believe is standard across mcps middle schools, but the classes and teachers have been great and the work appropriately challenging. I think the school does a good job of trying to be supportive. The teachers and counselors I’ve interacted with have been very approachable and helpful. A common complaint you’ll hear across mcps schools is that all English is advanced, which waters it down. My take is that it’s more what you make of it, and motivated kids can get an advanced-level experience out of it if they are so inclined. The English classes also have 2 teachers per class, which in my opinion gives it a collaborative feel and means the kids get more attention. I think middle school can be a hard time for kids overall, but my child has been comfortable at Newport Mill, has made friends, and has had caring teachers. I’ve never heard of any bullying issues. I’m happy with the school. My child plans to select Einstein in the DCC lottery when the time comes.

To the previous poster - can you please share info on how much homework your children have per night, on average? If they went to MS at Newport Mill then for MS and HS. I'm guessing it varied due to their different programs and I'd love to get a sense for both.

My ambitions for my son are for him to have a well-rounded, balanced childhood, be happy, and receive a solid education, which I know all MCPS schools will provide. From there I want him to pursue whatever he wants. I hope he chooses to go to college and I imagine he probably would but I won't force it and instead let him find his own path as long as he's not freeloading in my basement doing nothing. If he desires more challenge at the expense of higher workload, then it's great that there are options. If not, it doesn't mean he's a slacker. He might just not care if he's not challenged and instead be fine just getting through his classes without too much stress and overworking himself, still get a solid education that sets him up for college if that's his path (I don't care which college and think state colleges are wonderful and I went to a small liberal arts state school and I wouldn't trade it for a top college). C's get degrees. Not every child has to achieve to their full potential. If you try to force a child to be a high achiever when they don't want to be, just because you think they can be, there will be a constant battle and they will hate you. I'm not going to let him fail if he can pass, but I'm not going to push him to always give his all in everything he does all the time. As a child and adolescent psychologist, I know "Always do your best" is unhealthy. I did not clean my house the best today (not at all). I did not do my best at self-care today. I was not the best mom I could be today. I'm not going to pressure myself in my adult life to do everything to the best of my ability. Because that doesn't sound pleasant or attainable. This mentality breeds mental breakdowns when for some reason they can't be at their best but they have a personal rule to always be at their best. And I frankly don't care if the student sitting next to my child can barely speak English or doesn't care about the class. My child will be self-motivated or I'll need to stay on top of him to make sure he's meeting minimum requirements. And both of those will be true regardless of who he sits next to in class. I don't believe that a truly intrinsically motivated, high achieving child is all that likely to decide to forget about school because the kid next to them isn't fluent in English. And if he later realizes it would've benefited him to care more, he can go to a tech school to give it another go and then transfer if he desires. His entire future is not wrapped up in those 4 years. There are many definitions of success and many ways to get there.

Like I said before, I have a PhD. I went to a high school ranked 1/10 on greatschools.org. I sat in classes with kids with learning disabilities and who skipped a lot of class (like I did on occasion), kids who got pregnant in HS (lots of them!), kids who cared, kids who didn't, kids who were like me, kids who weren't. My classes were easy. My AP classes were easy. I was smart. I did an entire year of college my senior year, never going to my high school at all. And those classes were easy. At no point did I wish someone was making things harder for me and did I desire to spend hours per night doing homework to have a better application. No one ever talked to me about going to college. I didn't even know scholarships were a thing I could apply for. I got a brochure in the mail with a horse on the cover and I said, "Cool, I'm going there." I applied nowhere else. The school was a tiny little agricultural-focused liberal arts college where I planned to join the college rodeo. Required 19 on ACT. Amazing education. Amazing teachers. I worked in the dept. I later taught as an adjunct there while I was in my postdoc. I'm friends with almost all of my former psychology professors on Facebook and one's son played violin at my wedding. I became a McNair scholar there, which really helped my grad school application. I didn't even know what the GRE was when I got there. When I defended my thesis, my parents didn't know to congratulate me because they didn't know what a thesis was. Neither went to college. I was a big fish in a little pond all the way through. I didn't go to a top grad school, I went to Southern Miss because people were so warm and friendly there. It was a good fit. And where did I wind up doing my postdoc? Mayo Clinic. Not that I needed it, I own my own practice and don't need prestige to do that.

So no, my uneducated surroundings, my easy classes, my lack of rigor in school, my low homework load, my slacker classmates, my lower ranking universities, they didn't negatively influence me. I was at the top of all my classes. Summa Cum Laude. And it got me a postdoc I could only have dreamed of. I almost didn't apply because I didn't think I was special enough. But the decision to accept me was unanimous. I'm glad I can look back on my childhood years and only remember the cool (and delinquent) stuff I did and have no memories of long hard nights of studying. I didn't need that. I didn't need any of it. Apparently my 1/10 easy education built me the foundation necessary to work at Mayo Clinic. Because of my personal traits, because of my ability to REALLY get to know my teachers. Had I only gone to top schools, I'm not sure I would've looked as special or gotten the types of recommendation letters I did where I came from.

Anonymous wrote:“We also have a younger child who is a lot less academically inclined. Does fine in school, but must be reminded/encouraged to do homework and needs more encouragement and help to get through the school year. But is extremely into the arts. We could see this child taking some AP/IP classes in favored subjects but not in others, and I don't see her pursuing an IB diploma. We would like her to be able to go to a high school where that is also supported and where she can take a more average course load, get lots of opportunities to explore art”

To this poster: Einstein will not provide academic support or executive function coaching. They will just let her get Cs and Ds and most teachers will not notify you that she is not turning in assignments. Unless things change, you also won’t necessarily be able to tell if she is turning everything in because ParentVue is often not updated. You will eventually see the grades but it’s not easy to tell whether a student has turned something in.

That poster needs a private if they want that much support in HS.

1759 here. Typos. Honors are not sufficiently challenging. I left out the NOT midway thru

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“We also have a younger child who is a lot less academically inclined. Does fine in school, but must be reminded/encouraged to do homework and needs more encouragement and help to get through the school year. But is extremely into the arts. We could see this child taking some AP/IP classes in favored subjects but not in others, and I don't see her pursuing an IB diploma. We would like her to be able to go to a high school where that is also supported and where she can take a more average course load, get lots of opportunities to explore art”

To this poster: Einstein will not provide academic support or executive function coaching. They will just let her get Cs and Ds and most teachers will not notify you that she is not turning in assignments. Unless things change, you also won’t necessarily be able to tell if she is turning everything in because ParentVue is often not updated. You will eventually see the grades but it’s not easy to tell whether a student has turned something in.

I'm this PP and I wouldn't expect that of a high school. When I say our youngest needs more encouragement and reminders -- we do that. I wouldn't expect a high school to provide executive function coaching? We know with this kid that we have to work with her more closely to make sure school work gets done, and also that she has to have external motivators (rewards like a special dinner. dinner out, or getting to go to a week of a specialty dance camp, for staying on top of school work). Our older child doesn't need this -- she loves doing school work and will seek out more work and reading on her own once it's done. But she needs encouragement to try non-academic things, to explore new social situations, etc.

We specifically want to avoid a school that thinks it's job is to push every child to the highest possible academic achievement. I think it would be too stressful for our youngest, but also fail to provide more well rounded opportunities for our oldest. Einstein sounds like a good fit.

Are you the poster who says you have a junior at Einstein? It honestly sounds like you are just mad you couldn't get into Blair or another more intensely academic school. I'm going to be honest -- your approach is the type of thing we are looking to avoid for our kids.

Wow. Ok. Well then I guess you should avoid Einstein, since we are there! Just trying to help. My kid did not apply to magnets because he wanted to stay with his friends. My other kid has been in magnets since middle school.

To summarize again since you don’t seem to be getting what I am saying, these will be your options at Einstein: “Honors” will be everything from kids who barely speak English to kids who have have discipline issues to, in ninth and tenth grade, smart hard working kids who will later take entirely IB and AP because since they are reasonably smart and hardworking, “honors” classes are appropriately challengingly enough for them. The school will counsel those kids they should take basically all AP and IB classes junior and senior because otherwise they are in “honors” classes with kids who “aren’t their cohort” - meaning slackers, kids who aren’t that smart, discipline problems. Etc. Those kids will also be encouraged to take at least one or two AP classes month and tenth grade.

So your kid will either be in “honors” classes that aren’t very challenging, or your kid will be in AP and IB classes. (My AP/IB kid found the workload in junior and senior year very hard as a result.) There’s no middle ground. Some schools, honors actually means something because there is another less challenging track available. That’s largely not the case at Einstein, especially since they are phasing out even more non honors classes

I was just trying to help to explain to you how on their own your kids will be at Einstein. Your older kid will probably do AP and IB and be motivated and do well. Your younger kid, I don’t know. You will likely have to do a lot of hand holding and make her give you her student log in so you can check in on her progress more. Even if they have an IEP, they likely will not get anything more than extended time on tests.

I disagree that school systems should not provide more support for kids with IEPs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much! Super helpful. Do the counselors push kids to take AP and IB courses? I read that comment from one student and wondering if others would agree. Thanks again!

I have an upperclassman at Einstein.

Almost all of the NON AP and IB classes are Honors. Thus, the honors classes have kids from the very bottom of the class in them.

If your kid does not take AP and IB classes, they are severely limiting their college options. Their options will likely be limited to community college or super expensive private colleges that are not ranked high.

What are your ambitions for your kids? Why don't you want them to achieve at a high level academically?

To answer your question, no, I do not think Einstein has a peer cohort where lots of kids are gunning for Ivies etc and are super driven. But are you sure that is what you want? Because I think having an unmotivated peer cohort can make kids less motivated and driven. Studies have shown that.

Are your kids not very smart or good at school so you think sending them to a place with a less competitive environment will make them feel better about themselves?

Just trying to figure out what your goal is. Personally, I want my kids to be driven and succeed academically. You seem to not want that. What DO you want for them?

What are your ambitions for your kids?

I want them to be motivated and ambitious, take APs and IBs, get mostly As, and get into a relatively good (say top fifty) four year college that they enjoy attending. I want them to graduate in four years and get a job where they can support themselves and live on their own. I want them to be a happy, get some exercise and get outside some every day, and do at least one activity or sport.

But you can't ensure admission to a "top 50" college with "mostly As" and one activity or sport. To guaranty that sort of thing, you really need to be among the top students. And even they can get unlucky with admissions -- those tops schools have so many applicants.

That's why at schools where 80% or more of the parents are like you, the intensity becomes overwhelming for many kids. Because even if they are academically motivated and ambitious, they start to realize it still might not be enough. But they have the message from their parents that anything less is failure. They wind up either feeling compelled to just pile on as many achievements and activities as they can possibly handle, in order to be competitive, or they crack and give up and start fighting against the pressure. Neither option is really that appealing because they've been placed in a race that is incredibly hard to win, against people who are making all the same choices. Thus, the pressure cooker.

And if your child maybe has other priorities in life, like maybe they aren't achievers and are more interested in having jobs where they can spend a lot of time outside, or are interested in a field like teaching or nursing where attending a "top" school might not really be worth it financially. Or, god forbid, maybe want to go into a vocation that doesn't require a college degree and thinks that college might not for be for them at all, by putting them in a high school environment where what you describe is considered the only acceptable option, the only way to earn the respect of peers or to feel like you are doing okay, you could really harm their mental health and your relationship to them. Because not everyone is a mostly A student who is academically motivated and wants a certain kind of professional achievement, and is willing to do the things to get it.

Anonymous wrote:“We also have a younger child who is a lot less academically inclined. Does fine in school, but must be reminded/encouraged to do homework and needs more encouragement and help to get through the school year. But is extremely into the arts. We could see this child taking some AP/IP classes in favored subjects but not in others, and I don't see her pursuing an IB diploma. We would like her to be able to go to a high school where that is also supported and where she can take a more average course load, get lots of opportunities to explore art”

To this poster: Einstein will not provide academic support or executive function coaching. They will just let her get Cs and Ds and most teachers will not notify you that she is not turning in assignments. Unless things change, you also won’t necessarily be able to tell if she is turning everything in because ParentVue is often not updated. You will eventually see the grades but it’s not easy to tell whether a student has turned something in.

I'm this PP and I wouldn't expect that of a high school. When I say our youngest needs more encouragement and reminders -- we do that. I wouldn't expect a high school to provide executive function coaching? We know with this kid that we have to work with her more closely to make sure school work gets done, and also that she has to have external motivators (rewards like a special dinner. dinner out, or getting to go to a week of a specialty dance camp, for staying on top of school work). Our older child doesn't need this -- she loves doing school work and will seek out more work and reading on her own once it's done. But she needs encouragement to try non-academic things, to explore new social situations, etc.

We specifically want to avoid a school that thinks it's job is to push every child to the highest possible academic achievement. I think it would be too stressful for our youngest, but also fail to provide more well rounded opportunities for our oldest. Einstein sounds like a good fit.

Are you the poster who says you have a junior at Einstein? It honestly sounds like you are just mad you couldn't get into Blair or another more intensely academic school. I'm going to be honest -- your approach is the type of thing we are looking to avoid for our kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much! Super helpful. Do the counselors push kids to take AP and IB courses? I read that comment from one student and wondering if others would agree. Thanks again!

I have an upperclassman at Einstein.

Almost all of the NON AP and IB classes are Honors. Thus, the honors classes have kids from the very bottom of the class in them.

If your kid does not take AP and IB classes, they are severely limiting their college options. Their options will likely be limited to community college or super expensive private colleges that are not ranked high.

What are your ambitions for your kids? Why don't you want them to achieve at a high level academically?

To answer your question, no, I do not think Einstein has a peer cohort where lots of kids are gunning for Ivies etc and are super driven. But are you sure that is what you want? Because I think having an unmotivated peer cohort can make kids less motivated and driven. Studies have shown that.

Are your kids not very smart or good at school so you think sending them to a place with a less competitive environment will make them feel better about themselves?

Just trying to figure out what your goal is. Personally, I want my kids to be driven and succeed academically. You seem to not want that. What DO you want for them?

What are your ambitions for your kids?

I want them to be motivated and ambitious, take APs and IBs, get mostly As, and get into a relatively good (say top fifty) four year college that they enjoy attending. I want them to graduate in four years and get a job where they can support themselves and live on their own. I want them to be a happy, get some exercise and get outside some every day, and do at least one activity or sport.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much! Super helpful. Do the counselors push kids to take AP and IB courses? I read that comment from one student and wondering if others would agree. Thanks again!

I have an upperclassman at Einstein.

Almost all of the NON AP and IB classes are Honors. Thus, the honors classes have kids from the very bottom of the class in them.

If your kid does not take AP and IB classes, they are severely limiting their college options. Their options will likely be limited to community college or super expensive private colleges that are not ranked high.

What are your ambitions for your kids? Why don't you want them to achieve at a high level academically?

To answer your question, no, I do not think Einstein has a peer cohort where lots of kids are gunning for Ivies etc and are super driven. But are you sure that is what you want? Because I think having an unmotivated peer cohort can make kids less motivated and driven. Studies have shown that.

Are your kids not very smart or good at school so you think sending them to a place with a less competitive environment will make them feel better about themselves?

Just trying to figure out what your goal is. Personally, I want my kids to be driven and succeed academically. You seem to not want that. What DO you want for them?

What are your ambitions for your kids?

Anonymous wrote:“We also have a younger child who is a lot less academically inclined. Does fine in school, but must be reminded/encouraged to do homework and needs more encouragement and help to get through the school year. But is extremely into the arts. We could see this child taking some AP/IP classes in favored subjects but not in others, and I don't see her pursuing an IB diploma. We would like her to be able to go to a high school where that is also supported and where she can take a more average course load, get lots of opportunities to explore art”

To this poster: Einstein will not provide academic support or executive function coaching. They will just let her get Cs and Ds and most teachers will not notify you that she is not turning in assignments. Unless things change, you also won’t necessarily be able to tell if she is turning everything in because ParentVue is often not updated. You will eventually see the grades but it’s not easy to tell whether a student has turned something in.

That’s true of all high schools. They don’t think it’s the parents’ job to turn in homework. You can disagree, but you won’t find anything different in public schools.

Oh also - at Einstein she will have to choose between honors classes which aren’t really honors classes because there basically are no non honors classes, or more demanding AP or IB classes. So either she’s in classes with students who are at the bottom of the class, or she is taking AP and IB classes.

PS - above is true about lack of support even with IEP or 504

“We also have a younger child who is a lot less academically inclined. Does fine in school, but must be reminded/encouraged to do homework and needs more encouragement and help to get through the school year. But is extremely into the arts. We could see this child taking some AP/IP classes in favored subjects but not in others, and I don't see her pursuing an IB diploma. We would like her to be able to go to a high school where that is also supported and where she can take a more average course load, get lots of opportunities to explore art”

To this poster: Einstein will not provide academic support or executive function coaching. They will just let her get Cs and Ds and most teachers will not notify you that she is not turning in assignments. Unless things change, you also won’t necessarily be able to tell if she is turning everything in because ParentVue is often not updated. You will eventually see the grades but it’s not easy to tell whether a student has turned something in.