Map of Montgomery County Public Schools Maryland MCPS

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Montgomery County Public School System (MCPS) is a big enterprise with a $2+ billion dollar annual budget. Over 11,000 teachers, 130,000+ students and 1,200 buses. Big. All school clusters are shown on the map below. Click a name to access a detailed Google map of the school cluster, and access a Google map of all clusters here. MCPS also provides a robust collection of specialized magnate programs.

Quick Links to School Clusters

Bethesda-Chevy Chase	Col. Zadok Magruder	Seneca Valley
Winston Churchill	Richard Montgomery	Sherwood
Clarksburg	Northeast Consortium	Watkins Mill
Damascus	Northwest	Walt Whitman
Downcounty Consortium	Poolesville	Thomas S. Wootton
Gaithersburg	Quince Orchard
Walter Johnson	Rockville

Montgomery County High School SAT Scores

October 22nd, 2009 Categories: Schools

2009 10 Montgomery County MD Student I recently posted SAT scores for Montgomery County. This data was taken from MCPS’s current ‘Schools at a Glance’ pages, but these reports don’t have the most current SAT scores. An author at the Parents’ Coalition of Montgomery County was able to locate a current report which is summarized below.

High School	2008	2009	2009 Participation
Bethesda-Chevy Chase	1,751	1,729	84.3%
Montgomery Blair (DC)	1,672	1,702	79.3%
James Hubert Blake (NE)	1,490	1,560	85.1%
Winston Churchill	1,820	1,813	87.0%
Clarksburg	1,547	1,459	77.8%
Damascus	1,602	1,605	81.0%
Albert Einstein (DC)	1,475	1,503	61.4%
Gaithersburg	1,514	1,457	76.8%
John F. Kennedy (DC)	1,342	1,448	66.3%
Col. Zadok Magruder	1,602	1,582	72.9%
Northwest	1,527	1,563	79.4%
Northwood (DC)	1,401	1,534	52.6%
Paint Branch (NE)	1,489	1,498	81.1%
Poolesville	1,674	1,728	74.9%
Quince Orchard	1,635	1,601	78.7%
Richard Montgomery	1,797	1,794	77.1%
Rockville	1,571	1,538	78.0%
Seneca Valley	1,466	1,483	68.3%
Sherwood	1,576	1,574	82.7%
Springbrook (NE)	1,479	1,445	74.7%
Walter Johnson	1,765	1,722	84.8%
Watkins Mill	1,408	1,398	71.7%
Wheaton (DC)	1,314	1,323	70.3%
Walt Whitman	1,876	1,872	87.1%
Thomas S. Wootton	1,784	1,808	89.7%

Summary of SAT Scores

Here’s an updated chart with 2009 with 2008’s scores included showing if scores increased or decreased for the year. The average for the county from the 2008-09 school year was 1,615 — almost the same as last year’s 1,616 score.

2009 10 Montgomery County Schools SAT Scores

Summary of SAT Participation

Another important dimension in looking at SAT scores is the % of participation of the entire school body. Here’s a summary of the schools sorted by the percentage of students who took the SAT in the 2008-09 school year.

2009 10 Montgomery County Schools SAT Participation

Are SAT scores important?

As a real estate agent, I’ll often see home buyers limit their search to a specific school district based on test metrics like this. My own personal experience says this approach can be extreme. How important are a school’s SAT results when evaluating a school? Make a comment below. I would love to know your thoughts.

Posted by Bruce Lemieux | Currently No Comments »

Montgomery County Magnet Schools

October 8th, 2009 Categories: Schools

The Montgomery County Public School System maintains a portfolio of magnet programs available to high performing students in the county. MCPS’s magnet programs stands apart from other school programs in two important ways:

Magnet programs are specialized, rigorous programs administered within existing schools that draw students throughout Montgomery County. To participate, a student will leave their assigned home school. Transportation is provided by MCPS.
Students must apply and be accepted into a magnet program. As a result, placement can be very competitive.

Programs are available in the elementary, middle and high schools. A summary of all programs with links back to MCPS follow.

Elementary School Magnet Program

The elementary magnet program includes fourth and fifth grades. A student will apply for consideration during the fall of third grade. Everyone follows the same curriculum – e.g., kids don’t specialize in math, science, humanities, etc. as they can in subsequent programs.

	Magnet School	Clusters that Feed School
	Lucy V. Barnsley ES	Walter Johnson, Richard Montgomery, Rockville, Wheaton
	Chevy Chase ES	Walt Whitman, Bethesda-Chevy Chase
	Clearspring ES	Damascus, Gaithersburg, Magruder, Watkins Mill, Clarksburg (except Fox Chapel ES and Daly ES)
	Cold Spring ES	Winston Churchill, Thomas S. Wootton
	Dr. Charles Drew ES	Sherwood, James Hubert Blake, Paint Branch, Springbrook
	Fox Chapel ES	Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley, Fox Chapel ES and Daly ES
	Pine Crest/Oak View ES	Montgomery Blair, Albert Einstein, John F. Kennedy, Northwood

Middle School Magnet Programs

Students specialize in the humanities or math/science in the middle school magnet programs. Here’s a list of the application-based programs available to all students in the County:

	Magnet Program	Clusters that Feed School
	Roberto Clemente – Humanities and Communication Center	Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Magruder, Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley, Watkins Mill
	Roberto Clemente – Math and Science Center	Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Magruder, Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley, Watkins Mill
	Eastern - Humanities and Communication Center	Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Winston Churchill, Richard Montgomery, Rockville, Sherwood, Walter Johnson, Walt Whitman, Thomas S. Wootton, Northeast Consortium, Downcounty Consortium
	Takoma Park - Math and Science Center	Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Winston Churchill, Richard Montgomery, Rockville, Sherwood, Walter Johnson, Walt Whitman., Thomas S. Wootton, Northeast Consortium, Downcounty Consortium

High School Magnet Programs

International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IB) – IB curriculum is available at several high schools in Montgomery County. The IB program at Richard Montgomery High School is the only application-based program open to all students.

Science, Mathematics and Computer Science Magnet provides an accelerated curriculum in math, science and computer science. This application-based program is administered at Montgomery Blair High School for students assigned to Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Winston Churchill, Richard Montgomery, Rockville, Sherwood, Walter Johnson, Walt Whitman, Thomas S. Wootton, Northeast Consortium, or Downcounty Consortium.

Students assigned to Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Magruder, Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley, or Watkins Mill would attend the program at Poolesville High School.

Communications Arts Program (CAP) is an application-based program at Montgomery Blair High School in the humanities, communications and media. It is only available to students in the Downcounty Consortium.

Humanities House is an application-based program at Poolesville High School that provides specialized curriculum in the humanities available for students in the Clarksburg, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Magruder, Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard, Seneca Valley and Watkins Mill clusters.

Global Ecology House is a county-wide, application-based program at Poolesville High School that provides specialized curriculum in environmental science.

Local School Signature Programs offer focused instruction in various disciplines in various schools throughout the County. A few of these are application-based.

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The Best High School in Montgomery County, Maryland

September 10th, 2009 Categories: Schools

What is the best school in Montgomery County? We get this question all of the time. Of course, the answer’s easy. The best school is…. OK, there is no simple answer to this question. The quality of a child’s education depends on so many complex factors that one can’t simply boil it down to a one-dimensional list of the best and the worse. I’ll summarize key statistics for all high schools later in this article, but you won’t find a “Best Schools” list here.

But let’s be frank. Most parents in Montgomery County and the Metro D.C. area have high expectations for their child’s education, and we talk a lot about schools. Parents can develop very strong opinions about the “best” and the “worse”. If you’re new to the area, you’ll get a lot of advice. When making a decision on where to buy a home, how do you find the best school for you?

Finding the best home and best school for you can be a challenge

Relying exclusively on test scores and a school’s reputation may not be your best recipe for success. We have two children in the school system and we’ve found that the quality of a school’s principal is a very important factor in a school’s effectiveness. Where can you find ratings on a school’s principal? There aren’t any. That’s why we believe that visiting a school and meeting the principal is worthwhile. What about parental involvement in a school? The more that parents are engaged in the school the better, we believe. County test scores don’t measure this either, so visiting a school can be a good first step to assess this as well.

A good place to start is to become familiar with the schools and their stats. Talk to neighbors and co-workers, then dig a little deeper. The good news for any home buyer here: regardless of where you go in Montgomery County, you’ll be part of one of the largest and highest-performing school systems in the country. If your child has special needs, challenges or gifts, you’ll discover resources and programs unimaginable in other areas. Magnet and special academies make many of our schools look more like colleges than high schools.

Now let’s look at some basic statistics for public high schools in Montgomery Count, Maryland.

Enrollment

The median-sized high school has around 1,800 students. Poolesville H.S. is the smallest at just over 1,000 students and Montgomery Blair H.S. is the biggest with over 2,600. Schools noted with DC or NE are part of the Downcounty Consortium and Northeast Consortium respectively.

2009 09 Montgomery County Schools Enrollment

Maryland State Assessment (MSA) test results

Every student in Maryland is required to take a standardized reading and math test. MCPS reports the percentage of the student body who pass. Here’s the summary for all high schools for the 2007-2008 school year.

SAT scores

Average SAT scores for the 2007-2008 school year are summarized below. The average SAT scores for the County was 1,616 and the national average was 1,511.

All other school statistics

All statistics were taken from the two-page ’schools at a glance’ summary published by MCPS every year. Quickly link to each H.S. report below. Access summaries for all schools including elementary and middle schools from MCPS’s web site and from the school cluster pages on this site.

Bethesda-Chevy Chase	John F. Kennedy (DC)	Seneca Valley
Montgomery Blair (DC)	Col. Zadok Magruder	Sherwood
James Hubert Blake (NE)	Richard Montgomery	Springbrook (NE)
Winston Churchill	Northwest	Watkins Mill
Clarksburg	Northwood (DC)	Wheaton (DC)
Damascus	Paint Branch (NE)	Walt Whitman
Albert Einstein (DC)	Poolesville	Thomas Wootton
Gaithersburg	Quince Orchard
Walter Johnson	Rockville

What’s your opinion on what makes a great school in Montgomery County? Make a comment. I would love to know what you think.

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Home Prices in Thomas S. Wootton H.S.

August 1st, 2009 Categories: North Potomac, Potomac, Rockville, Schools

The Thomas S. Wootton Cluster is easily the most popular school page on this site. It’s also the #1 seller’s market of the ‘Top 5′ school clusters on this site with only 2.4 month’s available inventory. 163 homes have received sales contracts over the last six months and there’s only 65 homes available. 68% of the contract were for single family homes and 30% for townhomes.

Here’s a summary of contracts over the last six months and inventory by price range for homes in Wootton:

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Looking for homes in a specific school district in Montgomery County? Call us at 301-527-9079 or send an email and we can establish a custom home search.

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Home Prices in Walt Whitman H.S. Cluster

August 1st, 2009 Categories: Bethesda, Potomac, Schools

The Walt Whitman Cluster follows the Potomac River and includes neighborhoods in Bethesda and Potomac (and a few others) and is the 2nd most popular cluster on this site. Homes are the priciest here due to a close-in location and predominance of single family homes. 87% of the sales over the last six months have been for single family homes, 9% for condos and 4% townhomes.

Here’s a breakdown of contracts and inventory by price range:

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Looking for homes in a specific school district in Montgomery County? Call us at 301-527-9079 or send an email and we can establish a custom home search.

Posted by Bruce Lemieux | Currently No Comments »

Home Prices in Winston Churchill H.S.

August 1st, 2009 Categories: Potomac, Schools

At #3 in popularity on this site, the sales statistics for Winston Churchill closely mirror the real estate market in Potomac. 233 homes are currently available and 197 went under contract over the last six months indicating just over 5 months inventory. 19% of the contracts were for townhomes and 80% were single family homes.

Here’s the breakdown of contracts over the last six months and available inventory by brice range:

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Looking for homes in a specific school district in Montgomery County? Call us at 301-527-9079 or send an email and we can establish a custom home search.

Posted by Bruce Lemieux | Currently No Comments »

Home Prices in Bethesda-Chevy Chase H.S.

August 1st, 2009 Categories: Bethesda, Schools, Silver Spring

The B-CC school page is the 4th most popular on this site. The overall market is pretty balanced for the Battlin’ Barons with 359 contracts over the last six months with 255 homes currently available indicating just over 4 months’ available inventory. 32% of the contracts were for condos and 65% single family homes.

Here’s the breakdown of contracts over the last six months and available inventory by price range:

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Looking for homes in a specific school district in Montgomery County? Call us at 301-527-9079 or send an email and we can establish a custom home search.

Posted by Bruce Lemieux | Currently No Comments »

Home Prices in Walter Johnson H.S. Cluster

August 1st, 2009 Categories: Bethesda, Rockville, Schools

The Walter Johnson page is the 5th most popular school area on this site. Homes in this cluster are the most affordable of the ‘Top 5′. Looking at the last six months, home sales here have been brisk with around 460 contracts and only about 230 homes are currently available giving an overall inventory of 3 months. 51% of the sales were detached homes, 35% condos and 13% townhomes.

Here’s a breakdown of sales and inventory by price range:

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Looking for homes in a specific school district in Montgomery County? Call us at 301-527-9079 or send an email and we can establish a custom home search.

Posted by Bruce Lemieux | Currently No Comments »