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MoCo Areas
- Bethesda
- Clarksburg
- Darnestown
- Gaithersburg
- Germantown
- North Potomac
- Olney
- Poolesville
- Potomac
- Rockville
- Silver Spring
Article Topics
Past Articles
- March 2010 (4)
- February 2010 (3)
- January 2010 (7)
- December 2009 (53)
- November 2009 (4)
- October 2009 (5)
- September 2009 (5)
- August 2009 (21)
- July 2009 (7)
- June 2009 (16)
- May 2009 (6)
- April 2009 (5)
- March 2009 (4)
- February 2009 (7)
- January 2009 (8)
- December 2008 (6)
- November 2008 (9)
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Schools
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 magnet programs.
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Quick Links to School Clusters
Montgomery County High School SAT Scores
October 22nd, 2009 Categories: Schools
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.
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.
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.
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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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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.
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.
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: 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. | |
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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. | |
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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. | |
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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. | |
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