House budget of $450k. Looking for good schools. Where to buy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As long as there are apartment units feeding into Edison (think Rose Hill and along Franconia Rd.) or into Hayfield (think Lorton along Rt. 1) -- there will always be significant diversity of color, wealth, and academic motivation. That is not going to change until the housing style changes. The same can be said for South Lakes and Herndon. The HS that don't have any apartments feeding into them will always be wealthier and whiter and have higher scores.

If you look at the test scores for Twain MS, Clermont, Island Creek, Lorton Station, and Hayfield Elementary -- you see that at each school, the white and asian kids have SOL pass rates that are an 8 or 9 out of 10 (compared to all kids in the state). That's comparable to many of the schools that people are always bragging about. Hayfield ES and Island Creek ES are the "best" (highest scoring, highest income, lowest FARMS) schools that feed into Hayfield HS. The other schools that feed into it have much higher FARMS rates and the black and hispanic pass rates are "3" or "4" out of 10 (meaning they are lower than the average pass rate across the state). It's going to pull the average passing rate down. It doesn't mean that the school is bad. It's really about the types of housing (and therefore wealth or lack of wealth) that feed into a school.

Mix of housing = mixed bag of achievement (test scores).

If you want to compare apples to apples, the numerical number for each demographic is compared to the state average of that said demographic . Meaning 3 or 4 rating of Hispanics is bad compared to a 9 Hispanic rating elsewhere in the state.

So your theory doesn't hold water. Can someone link me to the passrate data?

www.greatschools.org

As to the PP who claims the category ratings are a with-in group comparison -- you are 100% wrong. (But, like I said, it wouldn't change my point.) Here's the info. from Great Schools on how they create their test ratings:

How are the "By Category" ratings calculated?

The By Category calculation is similar to the By Grade calculation. We start by calculating ratings for each grade/subject/category combination; then we average those ratings into the By Category ratings you see on the page.

The ratings for each student category provide an alternate view of a school's performance, comparing the performance of a given group of students at the school with the overall student population of the state. The categories are defined by the state. For example, the California Dept. of Education releases separate test results (called disaggregated results) for 26 student categories, including gender, ethnicity and special student groups (e.g., students with disabilities).

To create the ratings for each category, we compare the performance of that category in each grade/subject to the decile rankings we have established for that grade/subject. The performance value used is the percentage of students in the category scoring at or above the proficient level, as defined by the state.

You can use the By Category ratings to compare student groups at the school. For example, if one category receives a rating of 3 and another category receives a rating of 7, this suggests that an achievement gap exists between these categories of students at this school.

The point is that every sub-group is compared to the average passrate for all kids in that state. A 3 or 4 passrate for any group is less than average. A passrate of 8 or 9 is significantly above average and near the top of all schools in Va.

[Anonymous]

If you go on www.greatschools.org you get the overall passing rate (as a composite for all grades, all courses) in that school. If you click directly on the orange ball (with the rating), you will get a page that allows you to see the ratings by gender, ethnicity, grade level and other sub-groups (such as ESOL, disabilities, FARMS, etc.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Friends of mine really love the Westlawn and Sleepy Hollow Elementary area. Great walking communities. FARMS rates are high, but the class sizes are lower.

Sleepy hollow ES is fine, but the middle school and high school are not.

Do you speak from experience? I live in that area and the people I know who send their kids to Glasgow and Stuart are happy with them.

Yes, I speak from experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Friends of mine really love the Westlawn and Sleepy Hollow Elementary area. Great walking communities. FARMS rates are high, but the class sizes are lower.

Sleepy hollow ES is fine, but the middle school and high school are not.

Do you speak from experience? I live in that area and the people I know who send their kids to Glasgow and Stuart are happy with them.

Yes, I speak from experience.

You'll need to be more specific than that.

[Anonymous]

You want to have good school ratings not excuses

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You want to have good school ratings not excuses

You want to have nice houses not 900 SF shacks.

[Anonymous]

Island Creek, one of the best elementary schools in Alexandria, shows DRA 2nd grade test results of 10% above grade and 17% below grade. Hayfield is similar. Westgate, the elementary encompassing most of Pimmit Hills, shows DRA 2nd grade test results of 30% above grade and 6% below grade. Those percentages are even higher than Freedom Hill and Westgate. And the school feeds into well rated middle and high schools. Not that OP should be looking that far outside of Alexandria, but I'm sick of hearing how bad an area Pimmit Hills is just because it has some smaller homes. It's only "bad" because it's smack up against three of the wealthiest towns in the entire DC area. Most of the houses there are even nicer than the ones I see in Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

meant to say higher than Freedom Hill and Westbriar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Island Creek, one of the best elementary schools in Alexandria, shows DRA 2nd grade test results of 10% above grade and 17% below grade. Hayfield is similar. Westgate, the elementary encompassing most of Pimmit Hills, shows DRA 2nd grade test results of 30% above grade and 6% below grade. Those percentages are even higher than Freedom Hill and Westgate. And the school feeds into well rated middle and high schools. Not that OP should be looking that far outside of Alexandria, but I'm sick of hearing how bad an area Pimmit Hills is just because it has some smaller homes. It's only "bad" because it's smack up against three of the wealthiest towns in the entire DC area. Most of the houses there are even nicer than the ones I see in Fairfax.

I'm sick of hearing about Pimmit Hills, period. Ugly houses, nasty people.

[Anonymous]

22:03 You're the nasty one. You keep posting about how awful a place is that you don't even live in. Why don't you just stop spreading nasty rumors if you don't want to hear about the area anymore? Pimmit Hills was mentioned BEFORE the OP bothered to write she was only looking in Alexandria. And the only one I remember who said Alexandria was bad was OP herself. Don't blame others for just posting about a more affordable area. I used to work in Alexandria. Took 35 minutes from Pimmit. Totally doable.

[Anonymous]

There are lots of great schools in the area. Pick a good commute and then pick a neighborhood you like. Check out the school. All schools have good and bad.

[Anonymous]

If Jeff could ban a neighborhood, Pimmit Hills would be at the top of the list. Do those people ever give it a rest? Sigh.

[Anonymous]

OP, there is one certifiably insane poster on this board who takes every opportunity to degrade Pimmit Hills and Marshall High School. The telltale sign is that she's nasty, illogical, and immature. She's all over this thread, and I apologize for her presence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, there is one certifiably insane poster on this board who takes every opportunity to degrade Pimmit Hills and Marshall High School. The telltale sign is that she's nasty, illogical, and immature. She's all over this thread, and I apologize for her presence.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Jeff could ban a neighborhood, Pimmit Hills would be at the top of the list. Do those people ever give it a rest? Sigh.

Don't be ridiculous. Why would he ban a traffic maker?