Anonymous wrote:We're just finishing out K in Mcps in a "top ranked" school. We applied to and committed to a private for next year for 1st.

Dd needed smaller classes, more enrichment, and like many pps stated, a push to "do her best" that private will offer.

I wasn't impressed by anything in Mcps - teachers, admin, facilities, peer group, curriculum. I could go on.

Omg it’s kindergarten

We're just finishing out K in Mcps in a "top ranked" school. We applied to and committed to a private for next year for 1st.

Dd needed smaller classes, more enrichment, and like many pps stated, a push to "do her best" that private will offer.

I wasn't impressed by anything in Mcps - teachers, admin, facilities, peer group, curriculum. I could go on.

Really depends on what your kid needs and when. Some kids do better in a much smaller environment and so private would be better. Other kids thrive in a larger environment and so public is better. Some kids need more avenues for acceleration and electives some need less. Kids often switch between the two (ex: public k-5 and then private 6-12 or private k-8 and public HS).

There are pros and cons to each and often it comes down to specific school and child. I will say talking to the specific schools and parents in those schools is going to be better than DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:I think that my life would be easier if one of my kids was in private, the kid that struggles academically. We can afford it. But she loves her school and her friends. I like the diversity in public and saving money from public and the academic rigor in public.

Why not get them a tutor with the money you'd spend on private?

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Depends what you need. For the sciences, the publics are better than most privates. For special needs and kids who need a smaller classroom environment, private school would likely be more nurturing than MCPS. But beware of the restrictions many private schools have...needing to have As to take AP classes which knocks out perfectly decent B+ kids and restrictions on where and how many colleges a kid can apply to. I wouldn't pay a ton of money to have a school restrict my kids' choices.

Private better for sciences.

I know. There is a poster who is obsessed with the Intel competition as a measure of quality science instruction. It is true that most privates require the kid to do several hours of sports each day, along with placing a lot of emphasis on writing and reading. This does preclude specialization in robotics, etc. but the science instruction is top-notch.

Not when compared to the best MCPS has to offer.

What percentage of kids in MCPS get "the best that MCPS has to offer?"

What percent of kids in private school are there because the school was forced to accept them: 0%.

I think that my life would be easier if one of my kids was in private, the kid that struggles academically. We can afford it. But she loves her school and her friends. I like the diversity in public and saving money from public and the academic rigor in public.

We are weighing this question now. Older kid in second grade has had a rough year; not great teacher (including no willingness to provide enrichment/challenges to a bright kid) and tougher socially (not bullying, just not finding their people). We were happy in kindergarten, fine in 1st. Our younger in kindergarten is doing great with an excellent teacher but is much more social.

Touring privates in the area we understand why people pay the $$, and may do so ourselves if we can get in (not a guarantee, even with top scores, and harder every year). Having a community near us is nice, but teacher drama, large class size, and a real lack of gifted and talented program or enrichment may push us over the edge. The facilities and teacher ratio is much better at privates, but it also seems like there's more of a focus on love of learning at most privates we're considering, at least until they turn into pressure cookers. Unfortunately, private admissions are done by January so we need to wait another year to even consider our options.

I do think if we go to private we'll have a huge advantage over those who go private all the way through, in that we'll understand the comparator to public and the value add. If we'd done private all the way through I think we'd always be second guessing.

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Anonymous wrote:Depends what you need. For the sciences, the publics are better than most privates. For special needs and kids who need a smaller classroom environment, private school would likely be more nurturing than MCPS. But beware of the restrictions many private schools have...needing to have As to take AP classes which knocks out perfectly decent B+ kids and restrictions on where and how many colleges a kid can apply to. I wouldn't pay a ton of money to have a school restrict my kids' choices.

I don’t agree the privates are better for kids with SN. MCPs has a lot of resources and does great work with kids with special needs. Of course some kids can’t be served. But privates don’t have to follow IEPs.

As to private school, I did not opt for it for my kids because of all of the opportunities that MCPS offers. If I had an exceptional kids who really needed more than MCPS could offer, I would have considered it.

Private was far better for us early on. When we got to mcps the help and services were a joke.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends what you need. For the sciences, the publics are better than most privates. For special needs and kids who need a smaller classroom environment, private school would likely be more nurturing than MCPS. But beware of the restrictions many private schools have...needing to have As to take AP classes which knocks out perfectly decent B+ kids and restrictions on where and how many colleges a kid can apply to. I wouldn't pay a ton of money to have a school restrict my kids' choices.

Private better for sciences.

I know. There is a poster who is obsessed with the Intel competition as a measure of quality science instruction. It is true that most privates require the kid to do several hours of sports each day, along with placing a lot of emphasis on writing and reading. This does preclude specialization in robotics, etc. but the science instruction is top-notch.

Not when compared to the best MCPS has to offer.

What percentage of kids in MCPS get "the best that MCPS has to offer?"

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends what you need. For the sciences, the publics are better than most privates. For special needs and kids who need a smaller classroom environment, private school would likely be more nurturing than MCPS. But beware of the restrictions many private schools have...needing to have As to take AP classes which knocks out perfectly decent B+ kids and restrictions on where and how many colleges a kid can apply to. I wouldn't pay a ton of money to have a school restrict my kids' choices.

Private better for sciences.

I know. There is a poster who is obsessed with the Intel competition as a measure of quality science instruction. It is true that most privates require the kid to do several hours of sports each day, along with placing a lot of emphasis on writing and reading. This does preclude specialization in robotics, etc. but the science instruction is top-notch.

Not when compared to the best MCPS has to offer.

Anonymous wrote:Depends what you need. For the sciences, the publics are better than most privates. For special needs and kids who need a smaller classroom environment, private school would likely be more nurturing than MCPS. But beware of the restrictions many private schools have...needing to have As to take AP classes which knocks out perfectly decent B+ kids and restrictions on where and how many colleges a kid can apply to. I wouldn't pay a ton of money to have a school restrict my kids' choices.

I don’t agree the privates are better for kids with SN. MCPs has a lot of resources and does great work with kids with special needs. Of course some kids can’t be served. But privates don’t have to follow IEPs.

As to private school, I did not opt for it for my kids because of all of the opportunities that MCPS offers. If I had an exceptional kids who really needed more than MCPS could offer, I would have considered it.

The math curriculum in HS is stronger than most privates. That's the main reason that kept us. $50-60K would be a huge chunk of our income, which is another big issue for us. Our child also prefers a larger school environment. We've done both private (early on) and public over the years and both have their benefits depending on the child's needs. Main reason we haven't gone private was I wasn't that impressed when we looked at some of the privates and we don't want a religious school. It just seemed like a glorified public with richer families.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends what you need. For the sciences, the publics are better than most privates. For special needs and kids who need a smaller classroom environment, private school would likely be more nurturing than MCPS. But beware of the restrictions many private schools have...needing to have As to take AP classes which knocks out perfectly decent B+ kids and restrictions on where and how many colleges a kid can apply to. I wouldn't pay a ton of money to have a school restrict my kids' choices.

Private better for sciences.

I know. There is a poster who is obsessed with the Intel competition as a measure of quality science instruction. It is true that most privates require the kid to do several hours of sports each day, along with placing a lot of emphasis on writing and reading. This does preclude specialization in robotics, etc. but the science instruction is top-notch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would 100% choose private if we could afford it. MCPS is just so dysfunctional.

Well, it's more of a reflection of a student's home life than anything. Families that prioritize school and support their children typically do very well, but parents who want the county to raise their kids for them not so much.

My neighbor is a good friend and she teaches for MCPS. It is definitely a dysfunctional (borderline abusive, IMO) work environment. Teachers don't get support from Central Office, so morale is low. Add in the threat of physical violence at work (from unruly students) and many teachers are just counting down the days until they can be done with MCPS. It's just a very large, poorly run school system. Hard to work in such a frustrating environment.

Anonymous wrote:My son is in MCPS and my daughter is in private. Both kids are attending the schools that best meet their needs.

My daughter is a B average student. She's the kid that get lost in the big classes. She's not a high flyer and she doesn't need support. She could shirk into the background. She attends an all girls school with smaller classes. She is forced to participate in class. Her teachers know her well and work with her to both challenge and support her.

My son is thriving in MCPS but he's a high flyer. He gets the benefit of the magnet programs.

This would be us, except we opted to not put our DD in private school because they are now almost done with HS. But, IMO, they could've used smaller class sizes.

Older DC, total high flyer, in a magnet program, straight As. Didn't find the magnet program all that challenging, either, but they had a sizeable peer group of high achieving kids. Took MVC in HS, and aced it, including the UMD MVC exam. I don't think any private around here could compete with the local magnets in having a large high achieving peer cohort.