Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I've stated this before, my HGC kid still says school is boring. Why? Because DC just wants to do what DC wants to do at home. It's not because HGC isn't challenging, though DC has gotten a couple of ESs on the report cards at HGC.

My kid too. "Boring" = "I have to do stuff that I don't want to do."

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe because those parents know how to motivate their kids to learn. After all, higher SES status, usually equals higher level of education. I am not the one pushing my DC in school (me with the lone bachelor degree). It is my husband, who has multiple Ivy League degrees who does this. We are well off, but not wealthy (well I guess that is relative).

I feel like this analysis misses a lot of folks. There are plenty of highly educated people, particularly in the DC area, who are not high SES because they chose public service or nonprofit work rather than the private sector. It also misses highly motivated immigrants, who may not be high earning but who care deeply about their kids' academic success. I'm a highly educated nonprofit worker, with a boss with double Ivy degrees, and coworkers from some of the best graduate programs in the country. None of us are high SES unless we are married to someone in the private sector, but all of us have high achieving kids (in public school, no less).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Well for us, it is a data point that matters. It says a lot about a school. The students test higher for a number of reasons. Better teachers. Better learning environment. Better parent involvement. Maybe this doesn't matter to you. That is fine too. Some people are totally fine with mediocrity. That is what makes us so diverse.

You're not fine with mediocrity; you don't believe in settling; you put your kid in private school; and yet here you still are, arguing on the MD Public Schools forum with people who have chosen to settle for mediocrity. Why?

Maybe because those parents know how to motivate their kids to learn. After all, higher SES status, usually equals higher level of education. I am not the one pushing my DC in school (me with the lone bachelor degree). It is my husband, who has multiple Ivy League degrees who does this. We are well off, but not wealthy (well I guess that is relative).

Anonymous wrote:

Well for us, it is a data point that matters. It says a lot about a school. The students test higher for a number of reasons. Better teachers. Better learning environment. Better parent involvement. Maybe this doesn't matter to you. That is fine too. Some people are totally fine with mediocrity. That is what makes us so diverse.

Anonymous wrote:

I've stated this before, my HGC kid still says school is boring. Why? Because DC just wants to do what DC wants to do at home. It's not because HGC isn't challenging, though DC has gotten a couple of ESs on the report cards at HGC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Wow, some interesting comments shared. Thank you for sharing. For my child we applied to HGC and to a private. Home school has not been the best choice for her. The only reason we waited it out was because we were supplementing at home. We decided to wait and try for HGC instead of just pulling out for private immediately. We did not get an email yesterday, so DD was obviously not accepted. It's a shame though. There are many smart/gifted etc kids that will not be accepted (way to many kids and to few spots). DH and I are just making sure we are doing the best for DD, and we think that will be private at this point. I was hoping there would be enough challenge/differentiation at home school, but it has not been the case so far. So, I cannot see that changing for 4th and 5th grade.

For those posters who think this is about setting up kids to go to HPY, it's not that for us at all. It's about DD liking school and feeling challenged (her words not ours).

I think your post reflects why many of us decided to apply to HGC. We have kids that complain about being bored and don't love school as a result. Fortunately, my DC was admitted to HGC yesterday, so I don't have to face tuition costs, which we frankly cannot afford.

I hope private school makes your child happy and engaged in learning! Best of luck to you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think practically all of the local privates can compare favorably to HGC. I'm speaking of DC and Potomac/Bethesda area schools - not sure about others. I've toured some and the quality of curriculum and student work (especially in English and social studies as well as foreign language) far outshines MCPS. Would definitely be a huge step up from regular elementary in terms of curriculum as well as opportunity to participate in class. Students are encouraged to excel in private - that in and of itself is HUGE.

MY DS was not accepted at magnet. I am starting private school search. Could you tell what are considered some good privates in Bethesda area?

Lots of great schools in Bethesda, Potomac, and DC. The application season has just passed, but you have plenty of time to do your research for next year. What grade is your DC entering?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There is this thing called testing. Maybe you should do some research.

So to compare a given public elementary school with a given private elementary school, we'd use results from standardized tests? But I thought that private elementary schools don't give standardized tests, don't teach to standardized tests, etc. I thought that was one of the major advantages of private elementary schools.

No, you misread this. I was challenged as whether the "W" clusters had the best schools, and testing shows that they do. Comparing MCPS schools. Not private to public.

Now as to how we compared the private to public, the biggest glaring issue was English. MCPS is great at teaching math, but horrendous at teaching English and writing. DC's writing skills have improved immensely since we moved him to private. Also class sizes are smaller in private. You can't argue with that.

Test scores tell us that the students at that school test higher than students at other schools. That is all that test scores tell us. No more, no less.

Well for us, it is a data point that matters. It says a lot about a school. The students test higher for a number of reasons. Better teachers. Better learning environment. Better parent involvement. Maybe this doesn't matter to you. That is fine too. Some people are totally fine with mediocrity. That is what makes us so diverse.

No, better test scores usually equate to the family's SES status.

Maybe because those parents know how to motivate their kids to learn. After all, higher SES status, usually equals higher level of education. I am not the one pushing my DC in school (me with the lone bachelor degree). It is my husband, who has multiple Ivy League degrees who does this. We are well off, but not wealthy (well I guess that is relative).

Anonymous wrote:Actually test scores are mostly correlated to household income....not class size dollars spent..teaching skill..curriculum..none of it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There is this thing called testing. Maybe you should do some research.

So to compare a given public elementary school with a given private elementary school, we'd use results from standardized tests? But I thought that private elementary schools don't give standardized tests, don't teach to standardized tests, etc. I thought that was one of the major advantages of private elementary schools.

No, you misread this. I was challenged as whether the "W" clusters had the best schools, and testing shows that they do. Comparing MCPS schools. Not private to public.

Now as to how we compared the private to public, the biggest glaring issue was English. MCPS is great at teaching math, but horrendous at teaching English and writing. DC's writing skills have improved immensely since we moved him to private. Also class sizes are smaller in private. You can't argue with that.

Test scores tell us that the students at that school test higher than students at other schools. That is all that test scores tell us. No more, no less.

Well for us, it is a data point that matters. It says a lot about a school. The students test higher for a number of reasons. Better teachers. Better learning environment. Better parent involvement. Maybe this doesn't matter to you. That is fine too. Some people are totally fine with mediocrity. That is what makes us so diverse.

No, better test scores usually equate to the family's SES status.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Wow, some interesting comments shared. Thank you for sharing. For my child we applied to HGC and to a private. Home school has not been the best choice for her. The only reason we waited it out was because we were supplementing at home. We decided to wait and try for HGC instead of just pulling out for private immediately. We did not get an email yesterday, so DD was obviously not accepted. It's a shame though. There are many smart/gifted etc kids that will not be accepted (way to many kids and to few spots). DH and I are just making sure we are doing the best for DD, and we think that will be private at this point. I was hoping there would be enough challenge/differentiation at home school, but it has not been the case so far. So, I cannot see that changing for 4th and 5th grade.

For those posters who think this is about setting up kids to go to HPY, it's not that for us at all. It's about DD liking school and feeling challenged (her words not ours).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think practically all of the local privates can compare favorably to HGC. I'm speaking of DC and Potomac/Bethesda area schools - not sure about others. I've toured some and the quality of curriculum and student work (especially in English and social studies as well as foreign language) far outshines MCPS. Would definitely be a huge step up from regular elementary in terms of curriculum as well as opportunity to participate in class. Students are encouraged to excel in private - that in and of itself is HUGE.

MY DS was not accepted at magnet. I am starting private school search. Could you tell what are considered some good privates in Bethesda area?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

There is this thing called testing. Maybe you should do some research.

So to compare a given public elementary school with a given private elementary school, we'd use results from standardized tests? But I thought that private elementary schools don't give standardized tests, don't teach to standardized tests, etc. I thought that was one of the major advantages of private elementary schools.

No, you misread this. I was challenged as whether the "W" clusters had the best schools, and testing shows that they do. Comparing MCPS schools. Not private to public.

Now as to how we compared the private to public, the biggest glaring issue was English. MCPS is great at teaching math, but horrendous at teaching English and writing. DC's writing skills have improved immensely since we moved him to private. Also class sizes are smaller in private. You can't argue with that.

Test scores tell us that the students at that school test higher than students at other schools. That is all that test scores tell us. No more, no less.

Well for us, it is a data point that matters. It says a lot about a school. The students test higher for a number of reasons. Better teachers. Better learning environment. Better parent involvement. Maybe this doesn't matter to you. That is fine too. Some people are totally fine with mediocrity. That is what makes us so diverse.