Schools - Silver Spring vs. College Park (Baltimore: house, to buy)

[dmcgoy]

My wife and I are looking to buy our first home. We are looking at homes in the 20901 zip code (Silver Spring) and the 20740 zip code (College Park). I know Montgomery County has the better reputation for schools, but I'm not really sure if the Silver Spring schools (we don't have kids yet, so our first concern is elementary school) are better than College Park schools.

Can anyone give any opinions about the quality of the schools in these two areas?

[sundaze]

Hi. I would think Silver Spring, but it is a big area. I would look up statistics from the Maryland Department of Education (I don't have the link right now but you could google it) and get some actual statistics. This forum has a lot of people with strong opinions and not a lot of information, and I seriously do not think you will get much objective help here. Both of my kids went to public school in the 20901 zip area but it has been a long time.

[koofie]

The Silver Spring schools sometimes get a bad rap, but that is due to the higher % of lower income families. As a product of Silver Spring schools, I can say that the differences in schools between up county and down county is mostly in the populations they serve. I would be comfortable sending my kids to any school in the area (but sadly, I am in Baltimore).

Happy House Hunting!

[laurelengineer]

I agree with the previous poster. Instead of listening to people who think they know, try unbiased sources such as the following links. A cursory review indicates no major differences in test scores.

College Park (20740):
Search Results - Maryland Public Schools - SchoolMatters


or Silver Spring (20901, there are many other SS zipcodes, too)
Search Results - Maryland Public Schools - SchoolMatters

These will only tell you things like test scores, student-to-teacher ratio, enrollment size, etc. You still ought to visit each school.