Anonymous wrote:Wootton, Whitman, Walter Johnson, BCC.

Buy in these clusters. You will be assured of good schools in these clusters.

Magnet and center programs are great, but there are no guarantees that your child will get in. My kids have been in magnet programs throughout, but it is very competitive and difficult to get in.

I go through intense periods of stress, each time my kids apply for these magnets, because the alternatives (our assigned home schools) are truly bottom of the heap!

- magnet parent

Anonymous wrote:Wootton, Whitman, Walter Johnson, BCC.

Buy in these clusters. You will be assured of good schools in these clusters.
Magnet and center programs are great, but there are no guarantees that your child will get in. My kids have been in magnet programs throughout, but it is very competitive and difficult to get in.

I go through intense periods of stress, each time my kids apply for these magnets, because the alternatives (our assigned home schools) are truly bottom of the heap!

- magnet parent

Anonymous wrote:Some HGCs are harder to get into then others so you could research that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP
As many people have stated lots of kids are tagged as "gifted" in MCPS- something like 40% on average and more in the better school districts. You know your own children and it is entirely possible that your children have tested as falling within the top 3-5% of children which is perhaps what you meant.
If your child gets into a Highly Gifted Center in 4th and 5th grade (they typically accommodate around 4% of the student body) or a middle school magnet (there are enough spots for roughly 3% of the MCPS school body) they will get an education that is enriched and accelerated which is what most gifted children need.
If they don't for some reason get into these programs they will be in a regular MCPS school.
If they are in a high performing school district, there is very little differentiation - some schools do "william and Mary", there is compacted 4/5/6 Math and so on. There are tons of children who read well above grade level so there would be peers for your children. However, these schools can usually coast on having students who would do well no matter what they do in the classroom because they've gone to good preschools and have a lot of parental support and involvement. It is not always clear to me whether the school itself is responsible for the student's success- the admin in some "W" schools can be apathetic in our experience.
If you end up in a school district which does not have great stats, there is likely to be more differentiation but it is not guaranteed. It really depends on the school and having a good principal. Oakland Terrace and Flora Singer are schools which do a fine job meeting the needs of all their students.
If your choice is between a "W" school and a school in the Eastern part of the county do your homework- ask about specific schools. Having a good principal really matters.

There is only one school district. It is MCPS.

Anonymous wrote:OP
As many people have stated lots of kids are tagged as "gifted" in MCPS- something like 40% on average and more in the better school districts. You know your own children and it is entirely possible that your children have tested as falling within the top 3-5% of children which is perhaps what you meant.
If your child gets into a Highly Gifted Center in 4th and 5th grade (they typically accommodate around 4% of the student body) or a middle school magnet (there are enough spots for roughly 3% of the MCPS school body) they will get an education that is enriched and accelerated which is what most gifted children need.
If they don't for some reason get into these programs they will be in a regular MCPS school.
If they are in a high performing school district, there is very little differentiation - some schools do "william and Mary", there is compacted 4/5/6 Math and so on. There are tons of children who read well above grade level so there would be peers for your children. However, these schools can usually coast on having students who would do well no matter what they do in the classroom because they've gone to good preschools and have a lot of parental support and involvement. It is not always clear to me whether the school itself is responsible for the student's success- the admin in some "W" schools can be apathetic in our experience.
If you end up in a school district which does not have great stats, there is likely to be more differentiation but it is not guaranteed. It really depends on the school and having a good principal. Oakland Terrace and Flora Singer are schools which do a fine job meeting the needs of all their students.
If your choice is between a "W" school and a school in the Eastern part of the county do your homework- ask about specific schools. Having a good principal really matters.

Anonymous wrote:op, you've been given some good advice here about how the system works in MCPS. I have one child in private and one in MCPS. If you were set on a private, I worry that you would not be happy with MCPS -- and their are no guarantees anyway. I'd probably opt for Blair/Eastern or Poolesville -- two radically different areas but with great magnet programs that you are more likely to get in if you live close by. But in the meantime, your youngest would be bored for years as the HGCs don't start till 4th grade. I'd suggest you either suck it up for a year with public for your youngest child & then reapply, OR apply them both to K-8 schools, which seem to have more openings.

Anonymous wrote:Nearly 40% of second-graders test as gifted in MCPS and only the top 3-4% get into the HGCs in 4th grade.

FCPS has a broader gifted program called AAP that accepts something like 20% of the students.

Anonymous wrote:OP
As many people have stated lots of kids are tagged as "gifted" in MCPS- something like 40% on average and more in the better school districts. You know your own children and it is entirely possible that your children have tested as falling within the top 3-5% of children which is perhaps what you meant.
If your child gets into a Highly Gifted Center in 4th and 5th grade (they typically accommodate around 4% of the student body) or a middle school magnet (there are enough spots for roughly 3% of the MCPS school body) they will get an education that is enriched and accelerated which is what most gifted children need.
If they don't for some reason get into these programs they will be in a regular MCPS school.
If they are in a high performing school district, there is very little differentiation - some schools do "william and Mary", there is compacted 4/5/6 Math and so on. There are tons of children who read well above grade level so there would be peers for your children. However, these schools can usually coast on having students who would do well no matter what they do in the classroom because they've gone to good preschools and have a lot of parental support and involvement. It is not always clear to me whether the school itself is responsible for the student's success- the admin in some "W" schools can be apathetic in our experience.
If you end up in a school district which does not have great stats, there is likely to be more differentiation but it is not guaranteed. It really depends on the school and having a good principal. Oakland Terrace and Flora Singer are schools which do a fine job meeting the needs of all their students.
If your choice is between a "W" school and a school in the Eastern part of the county do your homework- ask about specific schools. Having a good principal really matters.