Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Magnet MCPS anything
Private school HS
Catholic school HS
.
.
.
.
.
W schools

I actually don't think so.
The W's are equal to the top privates but they both (W's & privates ) are way behind the Magnets.

MCPS is working hard to make sure that this won't be the case in 5 years.

The Magnets are just filled with kids willing to make the drive from the west county. And you can't have both sides of the argument and say there are systemic triggers holding low income and minority kids down and then say that rich parents should know that there is no risk sending their kids to school with those kids to the east county school. If schools like Einstein, Wheaton and Blair are as good as people make them out to be why do people keep wanting to ship poor kids over to the West County and break up the Ws? Out of spite, jealousy or bitterness? If having poor kids doesn't stop them from being good schools, keep them.

W's are mostly overrated. They ratings often range between 4 and 7. Nothing to get excited about.

I'd pick a W school over your school any day, any time.

Most people would and every person at a W did. The parents at the W’s can afford to send their kids to any school in the DC reigon. They chose that school. Most of the parents in the rest of the schools save BCC live where they can afford and pick the least bad option. With few exceptions the W’s were never in the cards for 95% of those people and that is what drives their bitterness. Everybody hates on the party they weren’t invited to.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Magnet MCPS anything
Private school HS
Catholic school HS
.
.
.
.
.
W schools

I actually don't think so.
The W's are equal to the top privates but they both (W's & privates ) are way behind the Magnets.

MCPS is working hard to make sure that this won't be the case in 5 years.

The Magnets are just filled with kids willing to make the drive from the west county. And you can't have both sides of the argument and say there are systemic triggers holding low income and minority kids down and then say that rich parents should know that there is no risk sending their kids to school with those kids to the east county school. If schools like Einstein, Wheaton and Blair are as good as people make them out to be why do people keep wanting to ship poor kids over to the West County and break up the Ws? Out of spite, jealousy or bitterness? If having poor kids doesn't stop them from being good schools, keep them.

W's are mostly overrated. They ratings often range between 4 and 7. Nothing to get excited about.

I'd pick a W school over your school any day, any time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Magnet MCPS anything
Private school HS
Catholic school HS
.
.
.
.
.
W schools

I actually don't think so.
The W's are equal to the top privates but they both (W's & privates ) are way behind the Magnets.

MCPS is working hard to make sure that this won't be the case in 5 years.

The Magnets are just filled with kids willing to make the drive from the west county. And you can't have both sides of the argument and say there are systemic triggers holding low income and minority kids down and then say that rich parents should know that there is no risk sending their kids to school with those kids to the east county school. If schools like Einstein, Wheaton and Blair are as good as people make them out to be why do people keep wanting to ship poor kids over to the West County and break up the Ws? Out of spite, jealousy or bitterness? If having poor kids doesn't stop them from being good
schools, keep them.

W's are mostly overrated. They ratings often range between 4 and 7. Nothing to get excited about.

Sports teams aren't all that either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Magnet MCPS anything
Private school HS
Catholic school HS
.
.
.
.
.
W schools

I actually don't think so.
The W's are equal to the top privates but they both (W's & privates ) are way behind the Magnets.

MCPS is working hard to make sure that this won't be the case in 5 years.

The Magnets are just filled with kids willing to make the drive from the west county. And you can't have both sides of the argument and say there are systemic triggers holding low income and minority kids down and then say that rich parents should know that there is no risk sending their kids to school with those kids to the east county school. If schools like Einstein, Wheaton and Blair are as good as people make them out to be why do people keep wanting to ship poor kids over to the West County and break up the Ws? Out of spite, jealousy or bitterness? If having poor kids doesn't stop them from being good
schools, keep them.

W's are mostly overrated. They ratings often range between 4 and 7. Nothing to get excited about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High performing students in any school - W or ganglandia- will end up in mostly AP classes. You could be in W or QO or Watkins Mill HS and not take AP classes and the chances would be that you were mediocre or below. There is a reason that colleges look for mostly A's in the hardest courses that your school offers. Hardest classes currently are either AP or IB.

The AP courses at these schools are not at the same level. Look at the test results (just a selection of schools):

2017 AP Pass Rates (3 or above):
Kennedy - 36.2
Watkins Mill - 34.1
Rockville - 54.9
QO - 57.2
Einstein - 61.9
Clarksburg - 69.1
RM - 79.9
B-CC - 80.4
Churchill - 85.3
Blair - 86.3
WJ - 87.1
Poolesville - 87.7
Whitman - 88.2
Wootton - 89.2

These pass rates also don't show the wide disparity between schools on scores between 3 and 5. The schools at the low end do not provide the same quality of education.

Do they not provide the same level of education, or they educating students from differing backgrounds with different starting points? A kid from a two lawyer family in Whitman is (on the whole) going to be exposed to a lot more in terms of education at home than the kid of a first generation parent (who may not speak English as a first language) working a blue collar job.

Getting the latter kid caught up to the point of getting a 3 may take a better education than getting the Whitman kid a 5.

Anonymous wrote:. Little rich kids at Churchill tend to get the benefit of the doubt coupled to multiple 2nd and 3rd chances.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Magnet MCPS anything
Private school HS
Catholic school HS
.
.
.
.
.
W schools

I actually don't think so.
The W's are equal to the top privates but they both (W's & privates ) are way behind the Magnets.

MCPS is working hard to make sure that this won't be the case in 5 years.

You can’t beat the W’s, especially Wootton.

The Magnets are just filled with kids willing to make the drive from the west county. And you can't have both sides of the argument and say there are systemic triggers holding low income and minority kids down and then say that rich parents should know that there is no risk sending their kids to school with those kids to the east county school. If schools like Einstein, Wheaton and Blair are as good as people make them out to be why do people keep wanting to ship poor kids over to the West County and break up the Ws? Out of spite, jealousy or bitterness? If having poor kids doesn't stop them from being good schools, keep them.

W's are mostly overrated. They ratings often range between 4 and 7. Nothing to get excited about.

I'd pick a W school over your school any day, any time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Magnet MCPS anything
Private school HS
Catholic school HS
.
.
.
.
.
W schools

I actually don't think so.
The W's are equal to the top privates but they both (W's & privates ) are way behind the Magnets.

MCPS is working hard to make sure that this won't be the case in 5 years.

The Magnets are just filled with kids willing to make the drive from the west county. And you can't have both sides of the argument and say there are systemic triggers holding low income and minority kids down and then say that rich parents should know that there is no risk sending their kids to school with those kids to the east county school. If schools like Einstein, Wheaton and Blair are as good as people make them out to be why do people keep wanting to ship poor kids over to the West County and break up the Ws? Out of spite, jealousy or bitterness? If having poor kids doesn't stop them from being good schools, keep them.

I don't think that many people are really advocating for this. You sound high strung and paranoid.
I don't have kids at Einstein, wheaton or Blair, but none of the parents I know who have kids at those schools give much thought to the W schools at all.

Anonymous wrote:

The Magnets are just filled with kids willing to make the drive from the west county. And you can't have both sides of the argument and say there are systemic triggers holding low income and minority kids down and then say that rich parents should know that there is no risk sending their kids to school with those kids to the east county school. If schools like Einstein, Wheaton and Blair are as good as people make them out to be why do people keep wanting to ship poor kids over to the West County and break up the Ws? Out of spite, jealousy or bitterness? If having poor kids doesn't stop them from being good schools, keep them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Magnet MCPS anything
Private school HS
Catholic school HS
.
.
.
.
.
W schools

I actually don't think so.
The W's are equal to the top privates but they both (W's & privates ) are way behind the Magnets.

MCPS is working hard to make sure that this won't be the case in 5 years.

The Magnets are just filled with kids willing to make the drive from the west county. And you can't have both sides of the argument and say there are systemic triggers holding low income and minority kids down and then say that rich parents should know that there is no risk sending their kids to school with those kids to the east county school. If schools like Einstein, Wheaton and Blair are as good as people make them out to be why do people keep wanting to ship poor kids over to the West County and break up the Ws? Out of spite, jealousy or bitterness? If having poor kids doesn't stop them from being good schools, keep them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Magnet MCPS anything
Private school HS
Catholic school HS
.
.
.
.
.
W schools

I actually don't think so.
The W's are equal to the top privates but they both (W's & privates ) are way behind the Magnets.

MCPS is working hard to make sure that this won't be the case in 5 years.

The Magnets are just filled with kids willing to make the drive from the west county. And you can't have both sides of the argument and say there are systemic triggers holding low income and minority kids down and then say that rich parents should know that there is no risk sending their kids to school with those kids to the east county school. If schools like Einstein, Wheaton and Blair are as good as people make them out to be why do people keep wanting to ship poor kids over to the West County and break up the Ws? Out of spite, jealousy or bitterness? If having poor kids doesn't stop them from being good schools, keep them.

W's are mostly overrated. They ratings often range between 4 and 7. Nothing to get excited about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Magnet MCPS anything
Private school HS
Catholic school HS
.
.
.
.
.
W schools

I actually don't think so.
The W's are equal to the top privates but they both (W's & privates ) are way behind the Magnets.

MCPS is working hard to make sure that this won't be the case in 5 years.

The Magnets are just filled with kids willing to make the drive from the west county. And you can't have both sides of the argument and say there are systemic triggers holding low income and minority kids down and then say that rich parents should know that there is no risk sending their kids to school with those kids to the east county school. If schools like Einstein, Wheaton and Blair are as good as people make them out to be why do people keep wanting to ship poor kids over to the West County and break up the Ws? Out of spite, jealousy or bitterness? If having poor kids doesn't stop them from being good schools, keep them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Magnet MCPS anything
Private school HS
Catholic school HS
.
.
.
.
.
W schools

I actually don't think so.
The W's are equal to the top privates but they both (W's & privates ) are way behind the Magnets.

MCPS is working hard to make sure that this won't be the case in 5 years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Peer group is the number one relative quality of a school. And that plays out pretty consistency across most statistics and measurables. Yes that does bode well for the poor kids but if we are really being honest they are going to fail at a much higher rate anyway. Which once again goes back to Peer group being the main measure of quality.

it isn't how new the paint is. And teacher and leadership quality only moves the needle so far.

And how do you measure "quality of peer group"?

Access to opportunities and outcomes that facilitate happiness

No.

Quality of peer group is driven by their values. The kids and parents value: academic excellence, hard work, staying out of trouble, teamwork, honesty, integrity.



How do you measure that? I’d take a hard look at their parent(s) or just ask the kid wha s/he values. Ultimately, stats like truancy, delinquency, petty crimes, lying, test scores, grades.

Churchill measures high on the AP score list, and normally ranks high of any rating used to measure Maryland high schools, but I wouldn't equate that with a high rating for honesty and integrity. My children have reported that cheating amongst peers is high at the school because of the pressure to get As by any means necessary. This "peer group" vibe has been deeply instilled for a long time including back when students hacked into the electronic grade books of teachers and changed grades.

The "peer group" at Churchill also likes to party with drugs and alcohol. Drugs range from marijuana to acid, heroin, and fentanyl. Some parents have the philosophy that partying is a part of teenage life so they condone the activities. The drugs are sold everywhere in the school - in the classroom, in the hallways, in bathrooms, and on athletic fields. Even the athletes use drugs to enhance their performance and cheat.

This is not the peer group I would have knowingly chosen for my children.

Serious question for non-Churchill parents. Are there schools where the social life does not favor drinking/drugs? I would seriously consider moving out of the Churchill cluster if I thought there was a public school with good educational outcomes and a much less of a party culture. From what I see, it is pervasive. Even the kids with high academic potential/aspirations are drinking and partying as freshmen.