Anonymous wrote:Focusing in on the "extremely" well part of your post...

Piney Branch ES which is in Takoma Park has a local gifted program with a large cohort of Black students. That school is also part of the DCC. If it's zoned for Blair, which I think it is, it would be one of my top choices.

Yes, Piney Branch is zoned for Blair. Takoma Park ES has grades K-2, which feed to Piney Branch for 3-5.

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how you define well. There are A LOT of safety/security and cultural issues with the high schools in Silver Spring.

If I had to rank best to worst for black students, I'd say in the DCC:
- Blair
- Wheaton
- Einstein
- Northwood
- Kennedy

NEC:
- Blake
- Springbrook
- Paint Branch

Paint Branch is the most majority black high school population in MCPS but the academic outcomes and behavioral issues are OFF THE CHARTS. MCPS has a lot of work to do to improve the learning experience for black students. They've failed black kids pretty significantly.

Dog whistle alert.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda. You will not find a "significant" number of AA students but you will find the best schools / teachers and that benefits all kids.

BCC cluster and Churchill have more diversity than Whitman's area but all those schools are v strong.

Are there more than one AA students in classes? I don’t want my child to be in an environment where she’s the only AA in her class.

We are Asians in Bethesda ( W cluster)- both my children have not had more than 2 AA children in entire grade, each year. I have always felt so bad for them because I would not want my child to be one of 2 Asians in the entire grade.

Silver Spring/ Takoma Park are the places I would look at.

Good luck with the search.

I don't know how you define well. There are A LOT of safety/security and cultural issues with the high schools in Silver Spring.

If I had to rank best to worst for black students, I'd say in the DCC:
- Blair
- Wheaton
- Einstein
- Northwood
- Kennedy

NEC:
- Blake
- Springbrook
- Paint Branch

Paint Branch is the most majority black high school population in MCPS but the academic outcomes and behavioral issues are OFF THE CHARTS. MCPS has a lot of work to do to improve the learning experience for black students. They've failed black kids pretty significantly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Silver Spring or Burtonsville. I am a white mom to a black tween who went to Burtonsville elem. Great teachers, responsive Principal. They’re also moving to a brand new building next year.
The MS ( Banneker is not great but I feel like none are) Paint Branch HS also had very low teacher turnover and lots of class options.
All the schools in Burtonsville are majority AA

OP, I thought about Burtonsville since it’s close to my job. Is Banneker the only middle school option there?

All of Burtonsville ES feeds to Banneker.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda. You will not find a "significant" number of AA students but you will find the best schools / teachers and that benefits all kids.

BCC cluster and Churchill have more diversity than Whitman's area but all those schools are v strong.

Are there more than one AA students in classes? I don’t want my child to be in an environment where she’s the only AA in her class.

I can't answer that as I don't have interactions with all the schools or kids in all the schools. You should tour while school is on and see for yourself. I suspect the numbers are very low, however. We have known several families whose AA children did very well at private, Episcopalian schools. Here is a link to those in the DC area, in case that interests you

https://edow.org/ministries-programs/institutions/episcopal-schools/

Thanks, but I’m interested in public school options.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bethesda. You will not find a "significant" number of AA students but you will find the best schools / teachers and that benefits all kids.

BCC cluster and Churchill have more diversity than Whitman's area but all those schools are v strong.

Are there more than one AA students in classes? I don’t want my child to be in an environment where she’s the only AA in her class.

I can't answer that as I don't have interactions with all the schools or kids in all the schools. You should tour while school is on and see for yourself. I suspect the numbers are very low, however. We have known several families whose AA children did very well at private, Episcopalian schools. Here is a link to those in the DC area, in case that interests you

https://edow.org/ministries-programs/institutions/episcopal-schools/

Anonymous wrote:Silver Spring or Burtonsville. I am a white mom to a black tween who went to Burtonsville elem. Great teachers, responsive Principal. They’re also moving to a brand new building next year.
The MS ( Banneker is not great but I feel like none are) Paint Branch HS also had very low teacher turnover and lots of class options.
All the schools in Burtonsville are majority AA

OP, I thought about Burtonsville since it’s close to my job. Is Banneker the only middle school option there?

Anonymous wrote:We'd be delighted to have you as a neighbor in MoCo, but what you are looking for is in PG.

https://www.pgcps.org/about-pgcps/applications

So you’re basically saying that black students only do well in PG schools?

Welcome!

If you look at the School Data Excel Files, it will provide you demographic data on every school at each level.
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/school-profiles

I think most, perhaps all, of the Silver Spring High Schools are part of the Downcounty Consortium, which means that students in that area can apply to any of the consortium schools, with the schools having different signature programs. More information can be accessed here:
https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/school-info/downcounty/

People argue a lot on DCUM about “best schools”. People tend to prefer schools in higher SES areas, believing this will provide their child with higher achieving peers. On the other hand, schools with high FARMS rates may get more funding, which on the elementary level may mean lower class sizes. In my personal experience, the individual principals have a lot of leeway and make a profound impact on their schools, but tend to be fairly transient, with successful elementary principals being promoted to middle schools or central office positions.

Montgomery County has the reputation of being “one of the best school systems in the country.” I believe this reputation is largely built more on the efforts of an extremely well-educated population either supplementing at hone or supporting the booming tutoring industry. Undoubtedly, they have some amazing opportunities (although not enough spaces), but the basic level of education was shocking to me. Fortunately, the curriculum is being replaced and this should go a long way towards making an improvement. I think their grading policies and grouping policies are also problematic, but the curriculum was by far the biggest problem.

Discipline problems seem to be on the rise, to the point that DCUM gives the impression that having elementary school classrooms evacuated because a student is acting violently and having high school bathrooms locked because of vaping seem to be commonplace. I do not know the actual prevalence of such occurrences, but would encourage you to read sone of the DCUM threads and then check specifically with the schools you are considering.

Silver Spring or Burtonsville. I am a white mom to a black tween who went to Burtonsville elem. Great teachers, responsive Principal. They’re also moving to a brand new building next year.
The MS ( Banneker is not great but I feel like none are) Paint Branch HS also had very low teacher turnover and lots of class options.
All the schools in Burtonsville are majority AA

To answer OP's question, Blair and Einstein are excellent options.

The problem with a school like B-CC or Whitman is that there are very few middle class Black students. At B-CC, the bulk of Black students come from a handful of low-income housing complexes and at Whitman they are often from a group home for adjudicated youth.

In both cases, this leads to an assumption that Black students are poor or court involved.

Blair and Einstein (and other DCC schools) have enough Black kids from a variety of circumstances that those assumptions are less of an issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moving to Montgomery County from Southern Maryland. My daughter is a rising kindergarten and I’m interested in a school cluster that has a significant amount of African American students, but also ones that do extremely well and are well supported. I prefer the Silver Spring area since that’s where my job is, but I’m open to other parts of the county.

Blair, Blake, Einstein, Paint Branch... just to name a few.
Also, Silver Spring has the best outcomes for Black students.

Data for this? What a strange thing to say. I also don’t think it is correct.

To be specific, Silver Spring is among the best places in the country to raise Black boys, and research has shown that outcomes for Black men are the most impactful for families. The long paper link is below, and you can do a CTL-F for Silver Spring.

http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/assets/documents/race_paper.pdf

RHES/NCC/Silver Creek/BCC is quite diverse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moving to Montgomery County from Southern Maryland. My daughter is a rising kindergarten and I’m interested in a school cluster that has a significant amount of African American students, but also ones that do extremely well and are well supported. I prefer the Silver Spring area since that’s where my job is, but I’m open to other parts of the county.

Blair, Blake, Einstein, Paint Branch... just to name a few.
Also, Silver Spring has the best outcomes for Black students.

Data for this? What a strange thing to say. I also don’t think it is correct.