Anonymous
Post 10/23/2019 20:50     Subject: Does this sound like your MOCO elementary school?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:gym should be 2 or 3+ times a week. WTH is it only once a week?


So they can fit in other electives. The kids get 40 minutes of daily recess, PE isn't their only opportunity for physical activity.


Wrong. They used to have A days (gym, music) and B days (art, library, computer lab) but when they signed up for Common Core money they slashed that in half in order to double the time in reading and math. Each is now a 90 minute station block. No impact on proficiencies scores nor achievement gap.

One gym class a week is lowest in the country. The 200 kid recesses are irrelevant.
Same for art, music. 2-3x a week for all of those in DCPS, Arlington, and Fairfax.
Anonymous
Post 10/23/2019 16:34     Subject: Does this sound like your MOCO elementary school?
Anonymous wrote:We love our EOTP DCPS elementary school but likely can’t afford to upgrade to the space/yard we would like. We would likely relocate to MOCO for a number of personal reasons. Trying to determine if there are any MOCO elementary schools like our current DCPS school that we should focus on for real estate. (Ideally south of Rockville for commuting purposes.) The things we like about our current school:

1.) 6 enrichment specials a week: art, music, PE, language, STEM, library. I looked online at a few elementary schools but it looks like Montgomery county offers art, music, PE?

2.) An engaged and active PTA. The elementary school probably has on average 3 special activities a month (e.g. health and fitness night, grandparents night, STEM night) to help build the sense of community at the school.

3.) Before-school care, after-school care and “camp days” for school days off all in the same elementary school building.

Does this sound like your Montgomery county school? Really appreciate the input!


Kemp Mill is a dual language program (Spanish/English) that has art, music, PE, STEM, Library. It has a before and after care - don't know about days off. The PTA tries to be active. It is a Title 1 school.
Anonymous
Post 10/18/2019 15:57     Subject: Does this sound like your MOCO elementary school?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:NW DC DCPS are better for PK-5. Deal and Wilson are trending up as well.

MCPS is trending down and K-8 has been a total mess. Bare minimum PE in the country: 30 mins a week total in ES.

They have cleared 28 kids per K, 1 teacher as well in ES's when it happens, instead of adding another teacher/classroom.

Title 1 doesn't have this issue.

Be ready for very large high schools and middle schools of 400-600 kids per grade, right off the bat in 6th grade. And zero ability tracking or differentiating (deemed racist a few years ago) means a different set of 35 kids each hour. No sense of community.

What a joke of a post.


NP, this has been discussed on the DC public school board extensively. When making apples to apples demographic comparisons, DCPS PARCC scores are similar to or exceed nearby MoCo schools in Bethesda. In addition, DC schools have smaller class sizes. For example, my kid had only 16 students in her Deal feeder K class, along with a teacher's aide.

I have a younger kid, but I hear Deal and Wilson are still more of a mixed bag, with Wilson continuing to maintain its reputation as a "Yale or jail" school. So while middle/high are not seen as comparable quite yet, some kids certainly do well there. One should have no qualms about DCPS at many schools for elementary (Deal/Hardy feeders, Maury/Brent on the Hill, etc.).

Again this has been refuted many times but delusional DC parents keep repeating that nonsense.:
You cannot compare PARCC scores from MD and DC. They have different tests, different standards.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PARCC

When administering the PARCC assessment, states will be able to tailor the exams to their standards, classes, and other accountability tools that are unique to each state.


this again look it's this easy

School quality is simply a proxy for the SES levels of the children attending period

The highest incomes areas of DC think NW and capitol Hill have similar "quality" schools as the highest income places in MoCo aka Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Potomac etc same with North Arlington and McLean/Falls Church on out to Langley in Virginia.

and furthermore if you are high SES like almost all of DCUM your kid is going to be fine in school and really coming from a "lesser" high school pyramid actually has better college admission outcomes by being a top student vs one of 50, 75, 100+ at a "top" high school.



Anonymous
Post 10/18/2019 15:47     Subject: Re:Does this sound like your MOCO elementary school?
Woodlin ES sounds like a school that you’d like.

Takoma Park ES sounds like a school you’d like.

Piney Branch ES sounds like a school you’d like.

Check out their PTA pages.
Anonymous
Post 10/18/2019 15:00     Subject: Does this sound like your MOCO elementary school?
Anonymous wrote:gym should be 2 or 3+ times a week. WTH is it only once a week?


So they can fit in other electives. The kids get 40 minutes of daily recess, PE isn't their only opportunity for physical activity.
Anonymous
Post 10/18/2019 07:14     Subject: Does this sound like your MOCO elementary school?
Anonymous wrote:Forest Knolls Elementary in SS nearly fits your criteria. 4/6 specials per week. Engaged and active PTA. Kids After Hours does before care, after care, day off camps and summer camps. Caring community of teachers and families.


+1. Loved our years at FKES. If you look there, be aware that the neighborhoods below Dennis Avenue are about to be rezoned, starting in Fall 2020.
Anonymous
Post 10/18/2019 02:49     Subject: Does this sound like your MOCO elementary school?
Kensington Parkwood has the standard mcps offerings, before/after/random day Bar-T care in house, and PTA arranged before and after school classes in stem and language ($).
Anonymous
Post 10/17/2019 22:34     Subject: Does this sound like your MOCO elementary school?
gym should be 2 or 3+ times a week. WTH is it only once a week?
Anonymous
Post 10/17/2019 16:50     Subject: Does this sound like your MOCO elementary school?
Forest Knolls Elementary in SS nearly fits your criteria. 4/6 specials per week. Engaged and active PTA. Kids After Hours does before care, after care, day off camps and summer camps. Caring community of teachers and families.
Anonymous
Post 10/17/2019 13:03     Subject: Does this sound like your MOCO elementary school?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This sounds like my son's school, Bayard Rustin Elementary in Rockville, which feeds into Julius West MS and Richard Montgomery HS.

We have the lottery Chinese immersion program, but my non-immersion kindergartener still gets a Chinese special every Tuesday, where he is learning basic language and culture.

Monday - Art
Tuesday - Chinese
Wednesday - PE
Thursday - Music
Friday - Art

There's no explicit built-in STEM, but there are STEM-focused after school clubs, and STEM toys and workshops during Kids After Hours before/after care. KAH is also available on breaks and days when school is closed.

The PTA seems pretty active so far, too. We've had family fitness days, book fair, and some other activities already this year.




Ack, I meant to say Friday was Media Center, which is the library, but probably will incorporate some other tech stuff as he gets older. They also use Chromebooks in the classroom sometimes.


Thank you!!
Anonymous
Post 10/17/2019 12:49     Subject: Does this sound like your MOCO elementary school?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:NW DC DCPS are better for PK-5. Deal and Wilson are trending up as well.

MCPS is trending down and K-8 has been a total mess. Bare minimum PE in the country: 30 mins a week total in ES.

They have cleared 28 kids per K, 1 teacher as well in ES's when it happens, instead of adding another teacher/classroom.

Title 1 doesn't have this issue.

Be ready for very large high schools and middle schools of 400-600 kids per grade, right off the bat in 6th grade. And zero ability tracking or differentiating (deemed racist a few years ago) means a different set of 35 kids each hour. No sense of community.

What a joke of a post.


NP, this has been discussed on the DC public school board extensively. When making apples to apples demographic comparisons, DCPS PARCC scores are similar to or exceed nearby MoCo schools in Bethesda. In addition, DC schools have smaller class sizes. For example, my kid had only 16 students in her Deal feeder K class, along with a teacher's aide.

I have a younger kid, but I hear Deal and Wilson are still more of a mixed bag, with Wilson continuing to maintain its reputation as a "Yale or jail" school. So while middle/high are not seen as comparable quite yet, some kids certainly do well there. One should have no qualms about DCPS at many schools for elementary (Deal/Hardy feeders, Maury/Brent on the Hill, etc.).

Again this has been refuted many times but delusional DC parents keep repeating that nonsense.:
You cannot compare PARCC scores from MD and DC. They have different tests, different standards.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PARCC

When administering the PARCC assessment, states will be able to tailor the exams to their standards, classes, and other accountability tools that are unique to each state.