Pg county schools Vs Montgomery County school (Mitchellville, Upper Marlboro: to rent, top schools)

[Floridahater]

Originally Posted by Bigbluelandrover

I was an education major for 1 year and have seen enough "tricks" with school testing that the scores mean nothing to me.
My kids were in a Ohio suburb that went from having a good school district to excellent in 2 years. Then my daughter comes home to tell me that the teacher was telling the kids the answers to the proficiency tests. Teacher's now have jobs on the line because of the tests and the more suburbian districts are doing whatever it takes to keep scores high.

As an African American parent I chose MoCo., over PG because 1. I don't care for most of PG county and 2. Perception is often reality when the kids are due to go to college and come out of school. Where I am from I often had people ask me where I went to H.S.- I went to the local districts in the 'bad' school district and I know there were jobs I did not get because of the negative perceptions.

I also keep hearing negative things about the riff-raff fromm SE DC moving into PG and crime and fighting in the PG schools. I have heard NOTHING positive about PG schools and I refuse to have my kids live with a bad stigma like that. Residents of PG county pay higher property taxes than and other county and yet the schools and crime are the worst...no thanks. -----I have YET to see what the big deal is with Bowie? It looks country and underdeveloped to me.

Well said! Again, as a graduate and former resident of Montgomery County, you discribed the situation in a very succinct manner! Those that must make decisions regarding schools should read your thread. Incidentally, teachers looking for work ostensibly choose Montgomery Co. over PG County. Indeed, why would one come to such a conclusion? Think about it!

[lscalder]

The Washington Post and other news papaer have wrote many positive things about the good changes going on in Pg county school system. You just choose not to listen. Boweis is underdevelope is 100% wrong. Bowie is over develope with plenty of new communities and shopping. If you can find a piece of land in Bowie trust me a builder have already bought. Bowie is the Potomac of Pg county. I live in Upper Marlboro and love it. The school my son will attend in Mattaponi Elementary and it is a very woderful school and I would recommend it to anyone. My family and I choose to live in Pg county because my husband and I visit Bowie and it was so beautiful. All the house were so perfectly kept up. When I saw the houses and shopping center I decided that we should sell our home in nw Dc and move to Pg county and I have no plans of moving. I bought my house for 560k so my fmaily and I can afford to live anywhere in Maryland but we choose Upper Marlboro maryland Pg county. I love my community.

[maat]

Recruiters Come Calling For Talented Minorities - washingtonpost.com

[RFMD]

Maat: As always you always contribute objectively to this forum disputing with factual links.

As residents we know the county has work to do however change is happening for the better regarding the school system and the reduction of crime.

Don't be a stranger.

[lscalder]

Wonderful article.

[Bigbluelandrover]

The Washington Post and other news papaer have wrote many positive things about the good changes going on in Pg county school system. You just choose not to listen. >>>>>
OK.Whatever. I've been in this area since May. So my 'ability' to read positive stories about PG are limited. Like the story that was just posted. Great story and I love to hear when our people are able to achieve academically.

Boweis is underdevelope is 100% wrong. Bowie is over develope with plenty of new communities and shopping. If you can find a piece of land in Bowie trust me a builder have already bought. Bowie is the Potomac of Pg county. I live in Upper Marlboro and love it. >>>>>>>
This is PURELY MY opinion of Bowie. All I know is when I came I was expecting to see paved sidewalks, curbs, all brick sided construction--I just expected Bowie to look better than what it does. The suburb I came from in Ohio looks 10x better and it was an 80's built suburb. Sorry I am not impressed with Bowie. I have seen some developments in Upper Marlboro that I like namely Beechtree--that development is what I expected ALL of Bowie to look like. My cousin has a house in Bowie and it is off a country road and there are farms near it---uck..The house is hideous but he thinks he is the jumpoff cause he lives in Bowie.

I've never been to Mitchelville, saw the area by the new port development and thought it looked ok, Upper Marl-I like,time will tell. I just can't see paying all that property tax for a poor school system, then paying for a private school. Right now I like the proximity I have to places I like to go.

[maat]

Originally Posted by RFMD

Maat: As always you always contribute objectively to this forum disputing with factual links.

As residents we know the county has work to do however change is happening for the better regarding the school system and the reduction of crime.

Don't be a stranger.

I've been a stranger because we're working insane hours to meet a deadline.

Agreed, there is constant improvement. Seven high schools were removed from the watch list a couple of weeks ago. That's phenomenal. In a few years, we won't even be having discussions about the "troubled" PGC school system.

[autimom4ever]

Originally Posted by MDguySC

Montgomery County's high schools are ALL in the top 3% nationwide... PG county can't say that... However, PG county schools are better than most other school districts in the nation. Part of the problem with PG's school is that people label the children as being "stupid, underachievers" and to what degree do these tests measure self-fulfilling prophecies?

With that said, Montgomery county does have better schools.

Top 3%... On paper maybe.... They will do anything to make that grade.. Even pass those who shouldn't be passed.... As an ex-Mont Co. school's parent, I CAN TESTIFY TO THAT!!!

[Bigbluelandrover]

Maat-what programs are offered at PG schools that compare to the technology program at Springbrook in MoCo?.. My son would go to that school next yr if we don't move.
I would consider PG if I knew that there would not be fighting in schools and behavioral problems would not affect my kids ability to learn.

[howsitgoingdude3]

Originally Posted by maat

Recruiters Come Calling For Talented Minorities - washingtonpost.com

Great article Maat! I think a number of key things are being left out that need to be mentioned. Many economic test have been done on incomes distrubution and test scores by race. Most blacks and whites in the same economic background have test scores in the same range.

In most cases regardless of race the following holds true (your article was a great example of this)

*Student from two parent households with high incomes test better than students who do not come from those types of households (regardless of race)
*Upper class black children test equally as well as upper class white children

The black dilemma and the PG county dilemma comes in with the majority of the county not being as "affluent" as the other counties it is being compared to. This is not because PG county is not "affluent" or has no "affluent" areas. It has a lot to do with size and total population and there are just not as many affluent areas in PG as there are in Moco or Fairfax. For instance the upper class children in PG County who come from the more "affluent" areas test a lot higher than the PG county children that do not come from two parent households and do not live in the affluent areas. The same is true for the children regardless of race in Moco and Fairfax.

The Real Problem is Racial Perception of blacks and PG County (most blacks do not come from two parent households and affluent areas do not exist in pg county etc)

I think if someone took a closer look at the income distribution and testing levels of children in the DC Metro within certain income levels you'd find there is little to no difference among race. However, obviously whites are still overwhelmingly the majority when you take the two counties total population and they are consistently the majority of “affluent” families in the nation as well as the DC metro area. Hence whites will consistently have higher performing schools, because they have the largest upper middle class with which together test scores and ensure in enrollment into schools. Whereas PG County has a much smaller base of well educated upper middle class families to gather test scores and ensure enrollment in schools.

Moco has almost 1 million residents and Fairfax has over 1 million residents the majority of which are white. Whereas PG County has only about 850 thousand residents the bulk of which are black.

To illustrate I’ll put this in numbers

Hypothetical Data and Assumptions

PG 850k (residents) (not going to break it down by working adults etc)
Moco 980k
Fairfax 1.0M


*10% of the county is "affluent" (national average is around 5%)
*For simplicities shake will leave all three at 10% although they may differ in percentage of households that are affluent

Definition of "Affluent” = $200,000 or more in income per/annul

Assumption 1 = Children from Affluent households test higher than non-affluent children

Assumption 2 = The county with the highest number of affluent residents will probably have the most schools with "Affluent" children

Assumption 3 = The most schools with affluent children will probably have the highest test scores

Assumption 4 = To get a calc on the school totals we assume for every 2,000th household there is a school (elementary, middle, or high school)

Math Totals

PG (850 *10%) =85,0000 (Households) will have children performing at extremely high levels academically


Moco = (980 *10%) = 98,000 (Households) will have children performing at extremely high levels academically

Fairfax County = (1.0M *10%) = 100,000 (Households) will have children performing at extremely high levels academically

School Math

PG 85,000/2000 = 42.5 schools (academically higher performing schools)
Moco 98,000/2000 = 49.0 schools (academically higher performing)
Fairfax 100,000/2000= 50.0 schools (academically higher performing)

Conclusion Moco and Fairfax will always have a disproportionate larger number of schools listed in the top %, because they have a consistently larger number of "Affluent" residents based on size.

Why is there such a drop academically in PG County when accounting for overall academic performance regardless of income?

* Disproportionately higher number of uneducated (non advance degree households)
* Disproportionately higher number of low income residents?
* Disproportionately higher number of lower middle income residents?
* Disproportionately higher number of single parent households?
* Disproportionately higher number of drop outs and truancy?

These are questions that would come to mind if we assume that well educated affluent two parent households produce highly educated offspring. (Obviously there are anomalies to this rule, but they are just that!)

Why does Fairfax have a larger number of better performing schools than Moco?

* Disproportionately higher number of "affluent households"?
* Disproportionately higher number of "educated households with advanced degrees?
* Disproportionately lower rates or truancy?
* Disproportionately higher rates of "passing each and every student regardless of academic performance?"


Anyway in closing and commenting these are just question people should really keep in mind when discussing academic performance. Affluent children with two parent educated households constantly out perform those children that do not come from those background (regardless of race), so the real question should be how could the counties (Moco, PG, Fairfax) as a whole improve overall academic performance for children? I think Iscalder is correct in asserting that PG County is taking those steps to improve the areas it is lacking.