Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for posting the list--good idea to look at the divisions by sports so I get a sense of the size.

I guess 500 seems huge to me. I went to a large school by the standards of where I grew up in a semi-rural/suburban area, with about 300 kids a class, I thought that was big but I knew almost everyone in my class because we had all been in school together all the way through at least 6th grade, many from 1st grade.

I just find it intimidating that my child might go to school with literally two thousand people.

Unless you are convinced that your child would not thrive in a larger school I would not rule them out just yet. My DC went from very small private middle school to a class of 500 and has thrived. DC knows the teachers and vice versa, has taken very challenging classes, has been involved in lots of activities, knows many of the kids in the school, etc. I'm sure DC would have done equally well in a grade of 300 but I don't feel like there was any disadvantage to a grade of 500. Actual class sizes are going to big regardless of grade size since those are pretty much mandated by the county.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gaithersburg High School is not considered a highly desirable school, their test scores are consistently low, graduation rates are low, etc. Poolesville is a very good school. You can access student enrollment/ class sizes for all high schools on the MCPS website; I'm not sure what you mean by "how far" you have to go, what is your starting point/ what is far to you?

PP, have you known any children who have gone to Gaithersburg High? I have, and they have gone on to attend universities and to have successful careers. Perhaps Gaithersburg doesn't meet the high standards of DCUM, but it shares the same curriculum as other MCPS schools, and has brand new building (whereas Poolesville is in major need of updating).

I think people on this board fail to realize that not everyone can afford to spend $500k + on a home in closer-in MoCo, nor do they want to live all the way out in Poolesville, but that doesn't mean that your child can't still receive a fine education and become a productive member of society. Even the schools which are not "highly desirable" are better than schools in the majority of this country.

PP here- absolutely agree that kids graduate and go on to college from all high schools, but OP didn't ask that. OP also did not ask about how attractive the building is, OP asked about the math program and class size. I have no basis for knowing if Poolesville is "all the way out" there for OP, because I don't know where the OP currently lives or works; it could be close for OP, it could be far. I do know that Poolesville has some reasonably affordable homes, class size is about 300 kids for each grade, and their tests scores (including math) are consistently some of the best in the county. I also did not say that everyone should spend $500k+ on a house for a close-in MoCo school; in fact, I didn't make any recommendations for where OP's child should go, because I do not know class sizes for all schools off the top of my head, which was OP's other concern. However, based on the data on the MCPS website, a full third of the kids at Gaithersburg HS do not pass the minimum University System of Maryland Entrance Requirements and the 9th grade class is over 600 kids (http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04551.pdf). That doesn't make it a bad school for everyone, but it does mean that it doesn't fit either of OP's criteria.