Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you for these responses. To answer some questions, we are looking for schools that have a large enough cohort of kids at and above grade level that there are classes and programs geared towards them (our local middle school has almost no kids at or above grade level) . If this criterion is met, we are ok with high farms. I hadn't thought about school within school issues. Sounds like sligo and ssims might be better than eastern. Was surprised to hear favoring ssims over eastern given that the latter feeds into Blair and the former into Northwood and Blair is generally considered to be better.

I think there are parts of the SSIMS zone that do feed into Blair, for what its worth. Maybe everything zoned for Rolling Terrace?

Any of those schools will have a cohort of high achievers and what I've found is that the "advanced" kids end up de facto having schedules that bring them together a lot because they are all in the same math class, and the same humanities class, and they tend to cluster around the same electives, which means there are only so many ways the schedule can break out.

Yes, and there are also some areas in downtown Silver Spring south of Thayer and west of Georgia which are zoned for SSIMS and Blair.

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/SilverSpringInternationalMS.pdf

Yes, everything zoned for Rolling Terrace.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you for these responses. To answer some questions, we are looking for schools that have a large enough cohort of kids at and above grade level that there are classes and programs geared towards them (our local middle school has almost no kids at or above grade level) . If this criterion is met, we are ok with high farms. I hadn't thought about school within school issues. Sounds like sligo and ssims might be better than eastern. Was surprised to hear favoring ssims over eastern given that the latter feeds into Blair and the former into Northwood and Blair is generally considered to be better.

I think there are parts of the SSIMS zone that do feed into Blair, for what its worth. Maybe everything zoned for Rolling Terrace?

Any of those schools will have a cohort of high achievers and what I've found is that the "advanced" kids end up de facto having schedules that bring them together a lot because they are all in the same math class, and the same humanities class, and they tend to cluster around the same electives, which means there are only so many ways the schedule can break out.

Yes, and there are also some areas in downtown Silver Spring south of Thayer and west of Georgia which are zoned for SSIMS and Blair.

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/ServiceAreaMaps/SilverSpringInternationalMS.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, with the DCC, it doesn’t really matter if your home is zoned for Blair or Northwood.

The only school you're guaranteed to be able to attend is your base area school.

Anonymous wrote:OP, with the DCC, it doesn’t really matter if your home is zoned for Blair or Northwood.

Anonymous wrote:Eastern can be tougher for avg kids not Academically driven. There are already clicks roaming the halls with no intention of graduating. If you kids can avoid them and be ignored by them they will do great. If they get involved there is risk. All schools have kids like that, eastern has more than most. Mom of two middle class kids who got two different results there. My one boy is having a lot of problems in HS with the crowd he met at eastern. He was never going to be a good student, but is dabbling in things that have long ranging damage as a 10th grader. Daughter is in a great college assuming it opens back up in the fall

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SSIMS is great, and has an excellent principal.

Love SSIMS too, and Forest Knolls ES. Great teachers, administrators, and community.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you for these responses. To answer some questions, we are looking for schools that have a large enough cohort of kids at and above grade level that there are classes and programs geared towards them (our local middle school has almost no kids at or above grade level) . If this criterion is met, we are ok with high farms. I hadn't thought about school within school issues. Sounds like sligo and ssims might be better than eastern. Was surprised to hear favoring ssims over eastern given that the latter feeds into Blair and the former into Northwood and Blair is generally considered to be better.

I think there are parts of the SSIMS zone that do feed into Blair, for what its worth. Maybe everything zoned for Rolling Terrace?

Any of those schools will have a cohort of high achievers and what I've found is that the "advanced" kids end up de facto having schedules that bring them together a lot because they are all in the same math class, and the same humanities class, and they tend to cluster around the same electives, which means there are only so many ways the schedule can break out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SSIMS is great, and has an excellent principal.

Love SSIMS too, and Forest Knolls ES. Great teachers, administrators, and community.

The one negative about Forest Knolls was that it had been very, very overcrowded. But they just had a boundary rezoning to fix that. Starting this fall, homes south of Dennis Avenue will be rezoned to Montgomery Knolls for K-2 and Pine Crest for 3-5. These homes will remain zoned to SSIMS for 6-8. Details are here:

http://gis.mcpsmd.org/boundarystudypdfs/Knolls_BOEResolution.pdf

Can someone help translate this document. For a kid starting K in a few years, they follow the new boundaries. If they are at forest Knolls they go to ssims and Northwood. If they are at Montgomery Knolls and pine crest they go to eastern and Blair? It is hard to see the markers to understand the new boundary.

Also, the new Pine Crest principal is last year's principal intern at Forest Knolls.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you for these responses. To answer some questions, we are looking for schools that have a large enough cohort of kids at and above grade level that there are classes and programs geared towards them (our local middle school has almost no kids at or above grade level) . If this criterion is met, we are ok with high farms. I hadn't thought about school within school issues. Sounds like sligo and ssims might be better than eastern. Was surprised to hear favoring ssims over eastern given that the latter feeds into Blair and the former into Northwood and Blair is generally considered to be better.

There’s some bias on this board toward Blair because of the STEM magnet and CAP. But Northwood has the prestigious Middle College program that allows students to earn an associate’s degree before their HS diploma. Come fall, I will have a 9th grader in MC2 at Northwood and a 9th grader in the comprehensive program at Blair. I expect both will do well. If the Blair freshman struggles more initially, I suspect it will be because he is new to MCPS and came from a tiny private school. I also had an older child graduate from comprehensive at Blair and except for one math class and one French class, the students in her classes were motivated.

Eastern offers both on level and advanced classes. However, as everywhere else in MCPS, advanced isn’t really advanced. It is what every other school system in the DMV would consider on level. Most MS in MCPS dropped their on level classes around 6 years ago and just did mixed ability under the title advanced. Eastern fought to keep on level courses in order to offer additional support to students who need remediation, but may not have an IEP or 504. A few other schools have done this as well.

Are you distinguishing between "advance" and "magnet," or no?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you for these responses. To answer some questions, we are looking for schools that have a large enough cohort of kids at and above grade level that there are classes and programs geared towards them (our local middle school has almost no kids at or above grade level) . If this criterion is met, we are ok with high farms. I hadn't thought about school within school issues. Sounds like sligo and ssims might be better than eastern. Was surprised to hear favoring ssims over eastern given that the latter feeds into Blair and the former into Northwood and Blair is generally considered to be better.

There’s some bias on this board toward Blair because of the STEM magnet and CAP. But Northwood has the prestigious Middle College program that allows students to earn an associate’s degree before their HS diploma. Come fall, I will have a 9th grader in MC2 at Northwood and a 9th grader in the comprehensive program at Blair. I expect both will do well. If the Blair freshman struggles more initially, I suspect it will be because he is new to MCPS and came from a tiny private school. I also had an older child graduate from comprehensive at Blair and except for one math class and one French class, the students in her classes were motivated.

Eastern offers both on level and advanced classes. However, as everywhere else in MCPS, advanced isn’t really advanced. It is what every other school system in the DMV would consider on level. Most MS in MCPS dropped their on level classes around 6 years ago and just did mixed ability under the title advanced. Eastern fought to keep on level courses in order to offer additional support to students who need remediation, but may not have an IEP or 504. A few other schools have done this as well.

Are you distinguishing between "advance" and "magnet," or no?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you for these responses. To answer some questions, we are looking for schools that have a large enough cohort of kids at and above grade level that there are classes and programs geared towards them (our local middle school has almost no kids at or above grade level) . If this criterion is met, we are ok with high farms. I hadn't thought about school within school issues. Sounds like sligo and ssims might be better than eastern. Was surprised to hear favoring ssims over eastern given that the latter feeds into Blair and the former into Northwood and Blair is generally considered to be better.

There’s some bias on this board toward Blair because of the STEM magnet and CAP. But Northwood has the prestigious Middle College program that allows students to earn an associate’s degree before their HS diploma. Come fall, I will have a 9th grader in MC2 at Northwood and a 9th grader in the comprehensive program at Blair. I expect both will do well. If the Blair freshman struggles more initially, I suspect it will be because he is new to MCPS and came from a tiny private school. I also had an older child graduate from comprehensive at Blair and except for one math class and one French class, the students in her classes were motivated.

Eastern offers both on level and advanced classes. However, as everywhere else in MCPS, advanced isn’t really advanced. It is what every other school system in the DMV would consider on level. Most MS in MCPS dropped their on level classes around 6 years ago and just did mixed ability under the title advanced. Eastern fought to keep on level courses in order to offer additional support to students who need remediation, but may not have an IEP or 504. A few other schools have done this as well.