Best Montgomery County Schools (Bethesda, Rockville: houses, to buy, best school districts)

[tgs_bg]

My wife and I might be moving to Montgomery County and I am curious on people's opinions on the schools, specifically the high schools. What are the best high schools in the county? Which should I avoid? Some of the places we looked at are zoned to Col. Zadok MaGruder High School. Anyone know anything about this school? Thanks.

[bufflove]

The "W" school clusters (Wootton, Whitman, Walter Johnson and Winston Churchill) are historically the highest rated schools, primarily due to de facto segregation. They're almost exclusively upper middle class+ and the test scores reflect that.

That said, it's pretty hard to find bad schools in Montgomery County as they're all well-funded and offer whatever resources and coursework your kid(s) might need (special ed, magnet programs, AP classes, foreign languages, arts, after school activities, etc.). If your child has a specific skill or interest, definitely look into that a bit as the county offers a number of specialized IB and magnet programs. E.g. Blair HS for math and science, Wheaton HS for biomedical and engineering, etc.

I don't have personal experience with Magruder, but I don't notice any red flags from the data. It being under capacity is nice as a number of similarly well-rated schools in the county are at or above core capacity.

[mikeyo321]

Originally Posted by tgs_bg

My wife and I might be moving to Montgomery County and I am curious on people's opinions on the schools, specifically the high schools. What are the best high schools in the county? Which should I avoid? Some of the places we looked at are zoned to Col. Zadok MaGruder High School. Anyone know anything about this school? Thanks.

You'll probably be okay with Magruder High School. Like the other poster mentioned the Montgomery County public schools are a bit top heavy (in addition to the "Ws" I'd also throw Bethesda/Chevy Chase High School and Richard Montgomery High School into the mix as well as top rated schools). However, other schools in the system are pretty strong when rated on a national scale. The DC area is filled with Type A, highly educated white collar professionals and they demand, and mostly get, superior public schools.

That said, if you're still in the "might" stage though and comparing different school systems, it would probably be wise to check out Arlington, City of Falls Church, Fairfax and Loudoun County schools as well. The Virginia side of the DC area has some of the most highly ranked schools in the country and though Montgomery County and Fairfax County are comparable in many ways, the Virginia side is a bit better ranked and more consistently excellent throughout their school systems. Northern Virginia has its equivalents of Montgomery County's "W's" (Langley, McLean, James Madison, Oakton, WT Woodson, George Marshall, Yorktown, Washington-Lee, George Mason High School on top of the famous magnet high school Thomas Jefferson) but there's not much drop off to other schools and many high schools in further out areas (Robinson, Lake Braddock, Westfield, Centreville, Chantilly) are pretty much on par. You'll also notice it's a longer list over a larger area and even many schools with just a SLIGHTLY more modest reputation (TC Williams, South Lakes, West Springfield, Fairfax, Herndon, Annandale for examples) still rank as some of the best high schools in the country.

Bottom line, you'll be fine, but maybe check out Northern Virginia as well if it's feasible for you.

[dkf747]

My daughters went to Quince Orchard HS It was a very good school. I'm pretty sure it still is good.

[BigCityDreamer]

The houses cost more money in the best school districts.

There is almost a direct correlation.

[LynchburgLover]

Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer

The houses cost more money in the best school districts.

There is almost a direct correlation.

This is true but there are also many, many, many parents in those school districts who still spend tens of thousands of dollars every year for Landon, Prep, Stone Ridge, Holton, the Cathedral schools, etc. You can’t find an top independent school in the DC area for less than about $35,000/year/student. Some of the Archdiocese or Washington Catholic schools are less but they don’t really compare.

[Turnerbro]

Bethesda/Chevy Chase, North Bethesda, Olney, anywhere West of I-270. Pretty much any of those should be good.

[BigCityDreamer]

Originally Posted by LynchburgLover

This is true but there are also many, many, many parents in those school districts who still spend tens of thousands of dollars every year for Landon, Prep, Stone Ridge, Holton, the Cathedral schools, etc. You can’t find an top independent school in the DC area for less than about $35,000/year/student. Some of the Archdiocese or Washington Catholic schools are less but they don’t really compare.

I often wonder whether it's more economical to buy a house in an average school district and send your kids to private school, or buy the same house in an affluent area and send them to the public school.

Somebody must have done this calculation somewhere.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer

I often wonder whether it's more economical to buy a house in an average school district and send your kids to private school, or buy the same house in an affluent area and send them to the public school.

Somebody must have done this calculation somewhere.

For us it was the second choice. We couldn't afford a second year of private school.

[MDaaCo]

Originally Posted by tgs_bg

My wife and I might be moving to Montgomery County and I am curious on people's opinions on the schools, specifically the high schools. What are the best high schools in the county? Which should I avoid? Some of the places we looked at are zoned to Col. Zadok MaGruder High School. Anyone know anything about this school? Thanks.

Didn't attend but I have a few friends from Redland/Rockville/Olney area who attended Magruder and turned out just fine (met a few at a good, reputable state university!). It's a small sample size but the folks I know do well for themselves and also are pretty reasonable, mindful citizens, and I don't get the impression that they were unique amongst their peers at Magruder. I'm much more familiar with Balt/Annapolis corridor and schools but I'll put it this way-if I were to move to Montgomery County, I would be comfortable sending my kid to school there.