Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back on topic, one of the reasons we elected to buy in Takoma Park was the schools. We were relocating from the Bay Area where real estate is more expensive than DC so we had the ability to buy anywhere. We looked at Arlington and Bethesda but didn't find either that compelling.

TPES: Only elementary magnet w/ small classes. math enrichment and dedicated STEM teacher
PBES: local CES program, smaller class sizes, math enrichment, dedicated science teacher
TPMS: Middle school stem magnet with an in-boundary set-aside.
Blair: SMCS & CAP magnets, although there's no set-aside TPMS, prepare kids for this, also magnet classes are available to everyone

Unfortunately, the info on PBES is not really accurate anymore. There is no math enrichment in 3rd grade, and the only enriched math classes for 4th and 5th are if your child is selected for 4/5 and 5/6, which is the same at most other elementary schools. Also, we heard they will be losing their science/STEM teacher due to funding cuts. Sigh. Still, TPES is a great school and does do math enrichment very well, and the local set aside for TPMS is also a plus.

The local CES program at PBES is a plus, but I don't see smaller class sizes overall at PBES like there were at TPES.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back on topic, one of the reasons we elected to buy in Takoma Park was the schools. We were relocating from the Bay Area where real estate is more expensive than DC so we had the ability to buy anywhere. We looked at Arlington and Bethesda but didn't find either that compelling.

TPES: Only elementary magnet w/ small classes. math enrichment and dedicated STEM teacher
PBES: local CES program, smaller class sizes, math enrichment, dedicated science teacher
TPMS: Middle school stem magnet with an in-boundary set-aside.
Blair: SMCS & CAP magnets, although there's no set-aside TPMS, prepare kids for this, also magnet classes are available to everyone

Unfortunately, the info on PBES is not really accurate anymore. There is no math enrichment in 3rd grade, and the only enriched math classes for 4th and 5th are if your child is selected for 4/5 and 5/6, which is the same at most other elementary schools. Also, we heard they will be losing their science/STEM teacher due to funding cuts. Sigh. Still, TPES is a great school and does do math enrichment very well, and the local set aside for TPMS is also a plus.

Anonymous wrote:Back on topic, one of the reasons we elected to buy in Takoma Park was the schools. We were relocating from the Bay Area where real estate is more expensive than DC so we had the ability to buy anywhere. We looked at Arlington and Bethesda but didn't find either that compelling.

TPES: Only elementary magnet w/ small classes. math enrichment and dedicated STEM teacher
PBES: local CES program, smaller class sizes, math enrichment, dedicated science teacher
TPMS: Middle school stem magnet with an in-boundary set-aside.
Blair: SMCS & CAP magnets, although there's no set-aside TPMS, prepare kids for this, also magnet classes are available to everyone

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Back on topic, one of the reasons we elected to buy in Takoma Park was the schools. We were relocating from the Bay Area where real estate is more expensive than DC so we had the ability to buy anywhere. We looked at Arlington and Bethesda but didn't find either that compelling.

TPES: Only elementary magnet w/ small classes. math enrichment and dedicated STEM teacher
PBES: local CES program, smaller class sizes, math enrichment, dedicated science teacher
TPMS: Middle school stem magnet with an in-boundary set-aside.
Blair: SMCS & CAP magnets, although there's no set-aside TPMS, prepare kids for this, also magnet classes are available to everyone

Although there are many other great options in MCPS, TKPK schools provide the highest potential opportunity for a kid who is STEM inclined largely because of the TPMS set-aside. Admission to that program is otherwise pretty difficult these days. Since there so many qualified kids and so few seats, it's become a crap-shoot for out of boundary parents which causes a lot of resentment.

Anonymous wrote:Back on topic, one of the reasons we elected to buy in Takoma Park was the schools. We were relocating from the Bay Area where real estate is more expensive than DC so we had the ability to buy anywhere. We looked at Arlington and Bethesda but didn't find either that compelling.

TPES: Only elementary magnet w/ small classes. math enrichment and dedicated STEM teacher
PBES: local CES program, smaller class sizes, math enrichment, dedicated science teacher
TPMS: Middle school stem magnet with an in-boundary set-aside.
Blair: SMCS & CAP magnets, although there's no set-aside TPMS, prepare kids for this, also magnet classes are available to everyone

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its very insular to believe that Blair is more prestigious than TJ. TJ is known nation wide , Blair is not. TJ is consistently listed in the top 10 magnets in the countries. Blair never makes the list ever.

Funny, I was just telling my husband that I knew several Blair kids when I was at MIT for undergrad - they were all rockstars and went on to do awesome things. Had never heard of Blair before but developed a respect for it due to those classmates (same for Stuy). OTOH, never met anyone from TJ during my undergrad. Of course, this was 10+ years ago, so things could have changed since then.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its very insular to believe that Blair is more prestigious than TJ. TJ is known nation wide , Blair is not. TJ is consistently listed in the top 10 magnets in the countries. Blair never makes the list ever.

Funny, I was just telling my husband that I knew several Blair kids when I was at MIT for undergrad - they were all rockstars and went on to do awesome things. Had never heard of Blair before but developed a respect for it due to those classmates (same for Stuy). OTOH, never met anyone from TJ during my undergrad. Of course, this was 10+ years ago, so things could have changed since then.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its very insular to believe that Blair is more prestigious than TJ. TJ is known nation wide , Blair is not. TJ is consistently listed in the top 10 magnets in the countries. Blair never makes the list ever.

Funny, I was just telling my husband that I knew several Blair kids when I was at MIT for undergrad - they were all rockstars and went on to do awesome things. Had never heard of Blair before but developed a respect for it due to those classmates (same for Stuy). OTOH, never met anyone from TJ during my undergrad. Of course, this was 10+ years ago, so things could have changed since then.

Anonymous wrote:Its very insular to believe that Blair is more prestigious than TJ. TJ is known nation wide , Blair is not. TJ is consistently listed in the top 10 magnets in the countries. Blair never makes the list ever.

Anonymous wrote:

But according to the latest US News TJ is #3 in the entire county so it's the best hands down!

Yep TJ is #3 in the country -nationally #3.

Blair nationally is #1024.

Anonymous wrote:Quizbowl?

So if i had a choice to go to the top 3rd magnet in the ENTIRE country, a truly nationally recognized school like TJ or a school that comes in lower than 1000th place like Blair and doesn't even make it anywhere close to the top ten in its own state but they won a quiz bowl tournament....why do I feel that this would not be a hard decision to make?

Its really a shame that MD does not have a test-in ONLY whole school STEM magnet. They could build one somewhere in up county that could draw from MCPS, Howard and Frederick. Its a shame that in this area MD hasn't put more effort into growing a stronger magnet program.