Loiederman MS has really impressed me as they have challenging courses, a wide array of arts electives and the magnet program draws teachers and students who really want to be there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've loved Sligo. Incredible teachers and super engaged principal and assistant principals. Great counselors. Diverse with kids of many different social classes but all very respectful and engaged. I've volunteered a lot at academic events and have been really impressed. I think my privileged kid has a lot more perspective and grit than she did when in private school.

Sligo Middle or Sligo Creek Elementary?

Middle

Bev Farms/Hoover/Churchill was fantastic all the way through!

Nope.

I love Farmland. It is really diverse and well run, with engaged families.

East Silver Spring was lovely. Very caring community.

TPMS was a nightmare. With a few notable exceptions, the academics were terrible, teachers were phoning it in, and the students were undisciplined and chaotic.

Odessa Shannon was solid. Very committed faculty, friendly parents, good kids. The 2E program was fantastic.

Kennedy was also a positive experience for our family. Great teachers, enthusiastic students.

My takeaway: don't be swayed by ratings, or be frightened of FARMS.

We like Lakewood ES. Nice community and our kids are happy there.

Anonymous wrote:I've loved Sligo. Incredible teachers and super engaged principal and assistant principals. Great counselors. Diverse with kids of many different social classes but all very respectful and engaged. I've volunteered a lot at academic events and have been really impressed. I think my privileged kid has a lot more perspective and grit than she did when in private school.

Sligo Middle or Sligo Creek Elementary?

Anonymous wrote:Elementary schools are largely dependent on the principal. And unfortunately good ones get moved around or up to Central Office pretty fast.

I would not pick a high school cluster until after the boundary lines are redrawn for Crown.

This. The good ones don't last the entire time you are at the ES, and then it all goes to hell

I've loved Sligo. Incredible teachers and super engaged principal and assistant principals. Great counselors. Diverse with kids of many different social classes but all very respectful and engaged. I've volunteered a lot at academic events and have been really impressed. I think my privileged kid has a lot more perspective and grit than she did when in private school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it goes teacher by teacher. My kids had a few wonderful teachers at Bradley Hills. Then one horrific teacher who got moved out of mainstream teaching due to endless complaints over many years (other parents, not me actually).

they didn't have many good teachers at Pyle, except in the foreign language classes - those teachers are stellar there.

And at Whitman there were one or two really inspirational teachers. Mr. Omari James for one. Fabulous English lit teacher.

Not many others.

They graduated this year, 2025

This is our path too - Bradley Hills to Pyle to Whitman (but we haven't gotten to Whitman yet). We've found Bradley Hills and Pyle both to be exceptional. The music program in particular at Pyle is fantastic, but all the teachers have been varying levels of good to great in our experience. Strong communities as well.

Same path here. Bradley Hills was great and we had a mix of teachers. I think Pyle has much better teachers. So far only one really bad one, and a ton of excellent ones. Very impressed by Pyle. Both schools have a great community.

Full disclosure: we have kids with special needs and gifts, and sought both supports in school as well as acceleration.

We loved Bethesda Elementary, North Bethesda MS and Walter Johnson HS (despite its overcrowding, but that's going to be fixed for your kids). Not in the same cluster: that kid was allowed to go out of cluster for secondary to get into the GT/LD program for gifted and SN students.

We also loved Bethesda Elementary and Chevy Chase ES (for 4th and 5th grade CES, ie, magnet) for our other kid, but Westland MS and now BCC turned out to be a little meh. However, we live in-bounds in a really nice neighborhood, and have no reason to request a special placement elsewhere. She did not want to go to secondary magnets, because the commutes would have been really unpleasant. Everything's decent... but North Bethesda and Walter Johnson felt more rigorous academically. At least BCC is close to our house!

MCPS is undergoing boundary changes AND regional changes to high school programs, so please keep your eyes and ears open, OP.

Anonymous wrote:I think it goes teacher by teacher. My kids had a few wonderful teachers at Bradley Hills. Then one horrific teacher who got moved out of mainstream teaching due to endless complaints over many years (other parents, not me actually).

they didn't have many good teachers at Pyle, except in the foreign language classes - those teachers are stellar there.

And at Whitman there were one or two really inspirational teachers. Mr. Omari James for one. Fabulous English lit teacher.

Not many others.

They graduated this year, 2025

This is our path too - Bradley Hills to Pyle to Whitman (but we haven't gotten to Whitman yet). We've found Bradley Hills and Pyle both to be exceptional. The music program in particular at Pyle is fantastic, but all the teachers have been varying levels of good to great in our experience. Strong communities as well.

Chevy Chase, CCES side.

I think it goes teacher by teacher. My kids had a few wonderful teachers at Bradley Hills. Then one horrific teacher who got moved out of mainstream teaching due to endless complaints over many years (other parents, not me actually).

they didn't have many good teachers at Pyle, except in the foreign language classes - those teachers are stellar there.

And at Whitman there were one or two really inspirational teachers. Mr. Omari James for one. Fabulous English lit teacher.

Not many others.

They graduated this year, 2025