Howard County vs Anne Arundel Schools (Baltimore, Columbia: transfer, best schools, to live in)

[coastmom]

I need some help. We are looking at Howard County vs AA county for a move. I'm leaning a bit more towards Howard for diversity reasons but need to look at the school quality as well. Have heard that HC schools are excellent but I need subjective feedback from people about the schools. Do Howard County schools simply teach to the test (MSA) or do they provide a lot of enrichment outside of the test arena? How are they with creative, out of the box type teaching? How is their Gifted and Talented program?

Same questions about Anne Arundel. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

[PurpleHaze1100]

anne arundel county schools are terrible. They can be compared to baltimore city just about or prince georges county. Its mainly because many kids from other districts such as pg and baltimore are transfering to aacps. Anne arundel schools have an overcrowding problem also. the average class size for anne arundel is about 42 kids. Howard county is a much better option as they are the second best school district in maryland behind montgomery county. Look at montgomery county too. They are the top school district in the state.

[Henry Bowman]

Originally Posted by bmoreboy25

anne arundel county schools are terrible. They can be compared to baltimore city just about or prince georges county. Its mainly because many kids from other districts such as pg and baltimore are transfering to aacps. Anne arundel schools have an overcrowding problem also. the average class size for anne arundel is about 42 kids. Howard county is a much better option as they are the second best school district in maryland behind montgomery county. Look at montgomery county too. They are the top school district in the state.

You are out of your mind if you think Anne Arundel's schools are anywhere the disaster that PG or Baltimore City's are.

[Anon92]

I am also interested to know how schools function in these areas.

[J_Lurk]

All I can tell you is that I know two of the parents in our Howard County school actually work in AA schools. I have the impression that with AA you have to pick your school district more carefully. In Howard County all schools teach to the same curriculum.

However, I don't know that any public school these days is "creative and out-of-the-box." There is more to HoCo than just teaching to the test, but they are held to the same standards as all Maryland Public Schools and do have to administer all the tests. The G/T program is good; they do "curriculum extension units" in the lower grades and start G/T math in 4th grade.

[DreamingofSunshine]

Originally Posted by bmoreboy25

anne arundel county schools are terrible. They can be compared to baltimore city just about or prince georges county. Its mainly because many kids from other districts such as pg and baltimore are transfering to aacps. Anne arundel schools have an overcrowding problem also. the average class size for anne arundel is about 42 kids. Howard county is a much better option as they are the second best school district in maryland behind montgomery county. Look at montgomery county too. They are the top school district in the state.

Back up that statement....you can't. There are excellent and not so good schools in both HC and AA. These counties are very large and you cannot say ALL schools within a county are the same. There are schools in each county I would not send my children to. Severna Park has some of the best schools in the state and they are located in AA.

[MrMaryland455]

Originally Posted by bmoreboy25

anne arundel county schools are terrible. They can be compared to baltimore city just about or prince georges county. Its mainly because many kids from other districts such as pg and baltimore are transfering to aacps. Anne arundel schools have an overcrowding problem also. the average class size for anne arundel is about 42 kids. Howard county is a much better option as they are the second best school district in maryland behind montgomery county. Look at montgomery county too. They are the top school district in the state.

I diagree with your claim that Anne Arundel school are horrible.....There SOOO Much better than Baltimore City and PG schools

GreatSchools.org Search: anne arundel county

[North Beach Person]

I think what the OP will find is that, in general, Howard County's schools are more consistent across the system compared to Anne Arundel which has some problematic school clusters.

All school systems have to follow a Voluntary State Curriculum (the named changed and it's not voluntary) in the core and HSA classes. So, in theory, Alg I is the same in every County, for example. It's not for local reasons, but that's the theory.

Also, all MD school systems are implementing Common Core and FfT.

Enrichment activities are part of the VSC for TAG/Honors classes.

MD education is a very "top down" system compared to many states.

[DreamingofSunshine]

As far as "out of the box" teaching....that will be more teacher specific. You won't find an entire school system that does or does not do that. Experiences vary greatly from school to school and teacher to teacher.

[CindyTevis]

Well it depends. I think both counties are just as good. Of course, Howard County is known for good schools, but most counties in Maryland are. I went to Howard Schools until my sophomore year of high school (Howard High School Columbia, MD), then I moved to a high school in Anne Arundel County (North County High School Glen Burnie, MD). I am raising my family in Crofton, MD (Anne Arundel County). Crofton is in the district for two Anne Arundel Schools which are among the best schools in the county and the state (Arundel High and South River High). There are some bad schools in both counties. I honestly like Anne Arundel County better because there is a lot of water everywhere. There are some really good high schools in Anne Arundel County which are among the best in the state. They are Severna Park High, Arundel High, Broadneck High, and South River High. You can't go wrong with picking either of those 4 schools. Chesapeake High School in Pasadena also looks really good now, and its area is a lot more affordable to live in than the other 4 I mentioned. What I like about Howard County is that its very diverse compared to Anne Arundel County. You can find people of a lot of races in Howard County schools. The Howard County schools that are really good are River Hill High, Gleneg (I think that's how you spell it), Howard, Centennial, Atholton, and Marriotts Ridge.