Beverly Farms ES

Basic Info

Beverly Farms ES is located at 8501 Postoak Road, Potomac, MD 20854. The principal is Dr. Beth L (Beth) Brown.

Rating

Please rate your experience at this school with respect to the following aspects on a scale from 0 to 10.
  • Inclusiveness: Does the school have a culture of inclusion and inclusive practices in place (e.g., co-teaching)? Are these practices effectively and systematically implemented?
  • Staffing and resources: Does the school have staff and resources to accommodate a wide range of special needs?
  • Cooperation: Does the school staff exhibit a cooperative approach by accepting/requesting the parents' input, listening to concerns, and attempting to resolve disagreements?
  • Communication: Does the school implement progress monitoring plans? Does the staff regularly communicate with parents with respect to their child's progress and challenges? Is the staff responsive when contacted?
  • Academic expectations: Does the staff systematically set high expectations for students with special needs? Does the staff systematically raise expectations when IEP goals are met ahead of time?

Beverly Farms ES

Beverly Farms ES
3.86

Inclusiveness

4/10

    Staffing and resources

    4/10

      Cooperation

      4/10

        Communication

        4/10

          Academic expectations

          4/10

            3 comments

            1. Inclusiveness

              1

              Staffing and resources

              3

              Communication

              1

              Academic expectations

              1

              If you have children with special needs, Beverly Farms is one of the worst schools in the county where you could send them. For many years, they have had a principal who created a terrible work culture and a negative attitude towards children with special needs. They have been systematically pushing these children out, as proved by the roughly 7% enrollment in special ed, compared to roughly 11% county-wide. Unfortunately, despite the recent change is leadership, the culture hasn’t changed much, and the changes that the new principal has made are mostly cosmetic in nature.

            2. Inclusiveness

              8.4

              Staffing and resources

              8.8

              Cooperation

              9.7

              Communication

              9.7

              Academic expectations

              9.5

              I have had nothing but a positive experience at BFES. My child has ASD/ADHD. The community as a whole has been warm, welcoming, and supportive. My child teacher reaches out to me to inquire if anything is different or has changed. I find all of the special ed staff to be invested in my childs success. They have gone above and beyond to make sure she is receiving the services she needs. The principal is warm and caring. He communicates with me via email and makes sure to walk my child to my car a few times a week where he provides me an ad hoc report.

              My experience is obviously vastly different than the poster above me. I could not be happier with the school, the IEP process, the implementation of services, and above all, the caring nature of all the staff. I truly feel that they have the best interests of my child in mind.

            3. Inclusiveness

              2

              Cooperation

              3

              Communication

              1

              The new principal has stated that he is aware of the problem at the school but that it takes time to fix issues that have been in place for years. As a parent I want immediate fixes and changes, but I do understand that an entire program cannot be fixed in just a few months. I have dealt with two special ed teachers at the school. One switched schools last year (which I think was a good thing) and one new one this year. Both have been friendly, responsive, and seem to like my child.

              What seems to be missing is an effective program for teaching my child and having her improve. They seem to be content with just subjective measures- for example just saying that she has moved up a reading level or has mastered new math concepts- but then when standardized testing does not show the same growth, they cannot explain why. They don’t seem to understand the difference between handholding and teaching differently so that a child actually improves.

              From what I have heard from friends, this is a common problem around the county. They refuse to use research based methods for improving skills and rather just reteach the same material a second time even if the child is not actually gaining skills.

              I would definitely not choose to be at BFES with a child with special needs, but I am also not so sure how different it is from other schools.

            Comments are closed.