3/8/21 Long before I went to private schools, I orginally…read morestarted out in public schools in Montgomery County  Maryland.  To my young mind I did not know I was having trouble with reading and math for a while.  The teachers apparently tried to help, but it seems I was a lost cause.  The teachers had a few choices words when describing me. School kids can be mean, but I was a smartass and gave back as good as I got.  Escalation also happened to and a fight or two occurred.   My parents not happy with my schooling got a second opinion on how learned things. I learned I had dyslexia  and Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.  Methylphenidate  better know as Ritalin was something I had to take for a while.  Then one day I stopped taking in and I was fine. There is more to this story, but I am not sure I got the full story from my mom. In short, she didn't want me taking it anymore. If there were side effects from the Methylphenidate, I don't really remember.  When I left Montgomery public schools,  I was introduced to students that had similar problems learning things. Montgomery County Schools weren't  all bad. Students and teachers in both public and private schools can be helpful and trustworthy. They can also be bullies and untrustworthy.   The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. What you get is a mixed bag in education.

This is the Lathrop E. Smith Environmental Education Center and it rocks…read more Gallows ! I'll give you gallows. This is without question Maryland's most exclusive, hard to get into, magnificent and unknown country club / luxury estate. An absolutely marvelous getaway, you feel as if you are in the rugged confines of a resort in the mountains far way, yet you are esconced wonderfully in the curvaceous bosom of nature somewhere between Rockville Pike and Georgia Avenue. Here's what you get: -100s of acre of magnificent, sylvan, beautiful, unspoiled countryside, peppered with trails, tracks, streams -A pre civil war cemetery to explore -An 1830s water mill - the original Muncaster Mill -The upper reaches of Rock Creek meander through the park with overturned logs for the adventurous to try and cross over on -A wide range of orienteering programs, predator-prey, confidence building and course on the early settlers -Woods, trails, hills, streams, ponds, barns, covered bridges, animals, birds,owls, turkey buzzards, -Magnificently rustic cabin accommodation -A fine kitchen which belts out the finest BBQ chicken, spaghetti and French toast known to man ( not in the same meal) -Friendly, hard working , educated and passionate staff members and teachers.... Here's what you pay for it: -Absolutely Nothing. Zilch. Nada. It's Gratis. Free. And I mean free like in beer, not free like in puppies. Wait - this sounds too good to be true - there has to be a catch..... Oh yeah, there is the mother-of-all-catches..... To really enjoy this you have to be sixth grader in the Montgomery County school system - they each get three days here as a part of the County's absolutely magnificent Outdoor Education program. I volunteered to be one of the parent chaperones this week from Wednesday - Friday. When I recently told a friend I had done that he told me I was crazy and I - or someone else - would probably die. He did it a few years ago with his now- 17 year old and said it was horrible. " Have you any idea how unpleasant it is to be in a cabin with a dozen 12 year olds?" With these words ringing in my ears I was absolutely dreading this trip. Instead it turned out to be amazing - not just because for 2 days I was with Thing 1 and Thing 2 and all their buddies doing lots of cool things in the countryside, but I was also away from TV, internet, phone, BBY, email, distractions, credit card bills, tax documents - It was absolutely magnificent. A huge shout out to the teachers and Outdoor Educators of Montgomery County. This place is phenomenal - it has been going since 1963. And a further shout out to the budget guys - don't stop funding this place! It is absolutely brilliant. By the second day you can already see how the kids are changing, more in tune with the surroundings, paying attention, working together, being considerate. Yeah sure - they are kids and there will be issues, but overall this was a simply magnificent experience.

Great area! good schools. I could never imagine living anywhere else or going to a different school.read more

4years later, I came back to review. It's not about how you start, it's about how you finish. My…read morekid is done with Howard, I'm glad he's made it through in one piece. The administration did what they were supposed to do in the end. Now let's hope we actually get the diploma and transcript in 6weeks.

Total waste of time even if you have scholarships for your 1st year attending this institution…read more They must feel entitled as an elite school that can take freshmen's funds to enroll and then say they were dropped. Go to Tuskegee..0 at least they do a better job on there administration side to bring you up to speed if funds need to be paid upfront vs taking your hard earned money and telling you sorry for your luck ! Howard State your ranking will sink and it's your own administrations doing with over enrolling more that you can coordinate when most want to go to HBCU's vs PWI's do better than your facade !

I would give them zero rating if available. There don't really care for teaching the kids. Our son…read morewas attending this tutoring club for several months. No reading improvement after 77 hours spent there. It turned out that he needed different methods for learning and this club is not for that. After talking to them, they were supposed to send us written assessment of our son's progress and we never got it. The only respond we got was that our son was loosing concentration after 20 min each time and they did not communicate that to us at all!!! Obviously they don't care if they actually teach your kids anything or just taking money from you!!! Not to mention that we have troubles to refund our money as we prepaid at discounted rate.

The Tutoring Club of McLean played a critical role in supporting our son from late elementary…read moreschool through high school. We are so grateful to have learned about it and so grateful to the owner and the many tutors he worked with for providing him with the support he needed to reach his potential and advance to college. From identifying and remedying areas of weakness, to tutoring in AP skills, to SAT and executive skills workshops, the Tutoring Club was there for him year round and able to accommodate schedule changes for various sports seasons. Most impressively, he attended enthusiastically, which is a testament to the skills of the tutors themselves, as well as the motivational token/rewards system. Thank you.

I'm currently a senior in MSSD, and this is my second year there. Basically, every school is…read moredifferent for everyone, but I CAN point out what the pros and cons of MSSD are, with full neutrality. The cafeteria is wonderful. Of course, not everyone likes the same food, but that is exactly what makes the cafeteria so awesome. They always offer a vegetarian version of the meals they're offering, so vegetarian people don't have to suffer. The way the serving of their food works is you line up, grab a tray and your silverware, and then as you see the food (which will contain of few different trays of food) you point to which you want. For example, a regular breakfast one day would consist of pancakes, sausages, eggs, and hash browns. You can choose only pancakes, or hash browns with eggs, or sausages and pancakes. It's up to you. If none of the food that they're serving that time of the day appeals to you, there is always a deli available (completel with many different kinds of bread like regular sandwich bread, irish bread, bagels, etc) with all the possible condiments you could think of, as well as meats and cheeses. There's a salad bar, as well. Also, there are several cereals available all day, so you could have a bowl of Lucky Charms for lunch if you want, but caution: Lucky Charms run out pretty quickly. Last but not least, the drinks are awesome: water and juice available for breakfast and lunch, and then an addition of soda for dinner. Currently, the principal and vice principal are, in my opinion, very good. Jessica Sandle, the vice principal, is always guaranteed to be walking around during lunch or around the campus. She is one of the most helpful people on campus and although she may appear quite threatening at first impression, she is actually very committed to making MSSD the best place for students and for providing them with the resources they need. She was a huge help to me for skipping junior year, and without her I couldn't have done it. She referred me to an online school, worked it out with another woman who communicated with the school, and then as I completed all necessary courses was able to confirm that I completed a year of high school. Melinda Failing, the principal, is a very sweet person and is always a great help. She may not be seen as often as the vice principal, but that is because she actually does her job, and is constantly busy. MSSD is a very helpful advocate to a successful future for us students. The teachers, vice principal, and principal as well as staff make it clear how important education is to us and our future. They make it clear what is expected of us in the short term and long term. I know what is required for graduation: one semester of internship (one full day every week), 36 hours of community service, passing of the swimming test, senior portfolio, and the completion of courses as said in the degree you wish to graduate from. There are three different graduation diplomas available: Merit, Standard, and another that I can't remember the name of.... Merit: the highest level diploma. This means that the student graduating with a Merit Diploma took four years of everything- english, math, history, and science. At least two years of electives are required, and only half a semester of PE. A reading level above the 10th grade (I think) is critical in order to graduate with this. Standard: 4 years of English, 3 years of math, science, and history.... unsure about the rest. Reading level: above 5th grade?? I'm not sure about the latter, but it's basically similar to a GED. Just like any deaf school, there are different levels of each class depending on a majority of the learning abilities of the student body. There are AP classes available for English, psychology, U.S. History, Biology, and I believe pre-calculus? Those are available for juniors and seniors, depending on how they do on their placement test. Each new student must take a placement test the first year they enroll in MSSD to determine their abilities, and it is the scores from the placement test that decides which class the student belongs in. For each grade, there are several levels of classes, such as AP, standard, and so on. For freshmen and sophomores, Honors classes are available for just about everything from algebra to World History. MSSD is home to a variety of teachers with different personalities, methods of teaching, signing skills, ages, and backgrounds. From my experience, the teachers I had were very good teachers. Some teachers go easy on the students, and others find ways to challenge the kids in their class. Again, it's a huge variety of teachers. MSSD is very serious about completing assignments and following rules, which may be a pain in the neck, but what would the world be like without any? Each teacher has different assignment procedures, of course. Just do your homework, and you'll be fine.

When my daughter entered High School in March, I knew a mid year change of schools would be a bit…read morechallenging, especially in math. I was fortunate to receive information about " IStudy " and the experience was excellent and more than expected. It was great. Forever grateful to IStudy.

Used this tutoring for my son. Very reliable service. Attention to details and very good results…read more Highly recommended.

EL Haynes is a wonderful school with extremely dedicated and caring teachers and other staff. Its…read morestudent body mirrors the demographics of the city as a whole, and it gets outstanding academic results, probably due to its year-round schedule and creative intersession (vacation day-camp) programs. The children love to come to school. They can participate in a variety of arts and sports programs and learn Spanish from pre-K onwards. Miraculously (for this city) the parents and staff are not split into racial/cultural/economic factions, but work well together. The lottery to get into EL Haynes is one of the most competitive in DC. Pre-K through 2nd grade and also grades 9 and above are taught at the Kansas Ave. campus. Grades 3-8 are at the Georgia Ave. campus on the corner of Otis St., NW. A new building for the high school grades is currently under construction. t.n., you don't know what you are talking about, or else you can't write in a way that makes sense. The main field was always fenced in. Only a small additional area was fenced for the new playground, and the grass was not dug up there. The section with the playground equipment was mulched over, and the other grass nearby has gradually been killed by all the kids running on it. Neighbors are welcome to use the school grounds, including the new playground, when the school and after-school activities are not in session, although, honestly I've never seen anyone try to kick out a neighborhood kid if they come to play when the after-care program is going on. The new playground has swings and other play structures that the old playground did not. It doesn't have those peeling rubber tiles that tripped kids all the time. The old playground had no shade and no barrier to keep kids from running into the parking lot. The new playground is fenced for safety, but it is not locked up. I believe that, as at all the parks in the city, people are not supposed to be in there after dark. I don't know if they lock the gates after dark. The old playground was full of obscene graffiti, broken glass, food wrappers, crack baggies, and tobacco spilled from people rolling blunts. That was the "community feel" we parents got when we came to clean up in summer 2010. I haven't heard about cameras being installed, but if so they would be for deterring criminal behavior, not "keeping the community out". Not sure how a camera could do that, anyway--it would have to be a robotic security guard as well as a camera. Dogs are not welcome any more because some people don't clean up after them, and then the children step in the sh*t when they are trying to play sports. This is a problem at any school. There are still large grassy verges on three sides of EL Haynes Kansas Ave. campus outside the fences, not to mention the whole of the traffic circle, where people can walk their dogs. It has never been a right to walk your dog on school grounds in the city. If dog owners want to have a fenced-in dog park in Petworth, EL Haynes is not obliged to supply it.

Our neighborhook was excited to see the old clark elementary that had been empty for years open its…read moredoors as E.L. Haynes charter school. They seemed willing to work with the community because we had all used that field for our kids and pets. They promised to keep the green grass area with large trees untouched. about 2 months ago it was fenced, all the grass was dug up for a private play ground. We all use the field for sports, and everything. It is the only larges fenced in area around. They said they were more then willing to let dogs and neighbors continue to use the field which was another lie. Now they want to install cameras to keep the community out. I am longing for that old abandon school back. It had more of a community feel then this charter school. If they treat students anyway like they treat the community around them don't send you kid there.

We moved here from Texas and had no idea about schools. So glad we found crofton day school. My…read morekids have enjoyed every day there and when they come home they are happy and excited to tell Me about the day. So pleased with the staff..thank you for all you do!