Excellent, but not crazy competitive school districts in VA

[Anonymous]

Agreed. What percentages of these schools in total are even applying? Next year likely Kilmer and Jackson will go down and Thoreau and Cooper will go up for applicants. Isn't Franklin and Lanier also going up and either Rocky Run or Carson going down? I don't live out that way, but remember a boundary shift/AAP shift out there. Except for Carson, I really don't see what the big deal is about TJ. Each of these schools has about 800-1200 8th graders and if only 50 or less is getting into TJ from any of the other schools, that still leaves 800 students from any middle school in Fairfax not going to TJ. Pretty sure a bright kid can find friends in any of these schools. Stop pigeon holing people. Especially when commute is such a big deal here.

1) Nysmith/23/57%

2nd Tier:

2) Carson/264(Wow!)/37%
3rd Tier

3) Longfellow/155/29%
4) Rocky Run/155/24%
5) Frost/102/22%

Fourth Tier
6) Kilmer/132/18%
7) Lake Braddock/100/14%
8) Twain/85/13%
9) Jackson/102/11%

Fifth Tier
10) Glasgow/62/8% and Sandberg/64/8%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington, especially in the Yorktown pyramid. Amazing resources for kids, close to DC and families that nurture kids in a healthy environment. We do not see the competitiveness that you find nearby.

+1 Yorktown pyramid is wonderful and is NOT crazy competitive, at least academically. Williamsburg MS is the best public MS in the state, despite the old facilities.

+ 1

Indeed it is not academically competitive. There isn’t an atmosphere of academic excellence at Yorktown. Just a toxic stew of thinly veiled racism, upper middle class entitlement, and lack of consequences enforced by parents.
But it is a better commute, so there is a reason why people choose it.

YKpyramid may fit for Caucasian and Caucasian mix, but for a minority, I would not recommend it for the reasons listed above. Also there is no socioeconomic diversity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:West Springfield/Lake Braddock/Robinson pyramids.

Why? Lake Braddock and Robinson are very large secondary schools. Lots of competition going on there, even if there are some other schools with higher test scores.

West Springfield, Lake Braddock, and Robinson are all schools that are basically uniformly middle class/upper middle class. There's a bit of racial/ethnic diversity, but economically the kids are all basically normal kids.

For the secondary schools, the size works in both ways. There's plenty for kids to do and it's big enough that there's no dominant "culture." It's much more kids finding their niches. Academically all three are strong enough schools without TJ craziness (note -- even though all three are close-ish to TJ, very few kids actually go to TJ because they are perfectly happy with their home schools. It's not a pressure cooker area.

It cuts both ways. Kids aren't going to be the tippy top. It's a place where people are fine with their kids going to Tech or JMU or VCU. It's not UVA or die around here (though plenty do attend UVA).

Only on DCUM would someone describe kids as not being “the tippy top.”

[Anonymous]

“Also that they aren’t doing anything particularly special with their lives. Just normal, productive people. Not a golden ticket.”

Yes - lots of people doing normal jobs and especially serving in the military. Very few people with “super important” jobs so a lack of snootiness and generally a feeling more typical of UMC areas elsewhere around the country instead of the crazy parts of the DC area. That is what most of us in Burke/WS like about the area: it feels so normal and that is not to be taken for granted in this area.

[Anonymous]

There is indeed something to be said for being so basic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Also that they aren’t doing anything particularly special with their lives. Just normal, productive people. Not a golden ticket.”

Yes - lots of people doing normal jobs and especially serving in the military. Very few people with “super important” jobs so a lack of snootiness and generally a feeling more typical of UMC areas elsewhere around the country instead of the crazy parts of the DC area. That is what most of us in Burke/WS like about the area: it feels so normal and that is not to be taken for granted in this area.

Dude. Read.
The above quote was in relation to my friends who graduated from Jefferson.

[Anonymous]

One thing to note in the Lake Braddock-Robinson and TJ admission discussion is that these are secondary schools located near each other. So...1) Even though Lake Braddock is the middle school AAP program, a lot of kids in elementary school AAP opt to go to Robinson just to stay through the same school for the 6 years (instead of going to MS AAP for 2 years and then switching back to their "local" hs--or going to a further away school for 6 years). So the LB MS AAP program loses more kids than is typical. (It's not a problem in my view- both schools have strong MS honors classes).
2) I think being in a secondary school where you get comfortable with an environment may make it harder to want to leave to go to TJ after middle school--than if you were in just a middle school where you had to transition to a new HS anyway. So there's less of a group drive to get into TJ. For better or for worse, kids on average don't prep, parents don't fret etc. as much as other places. For instance, a lot of kids opt not to take 7th grade Algebra even if they qualify. So I would expect lower admissions. The TJ stakes don't just feel as high as they are in other places. STEM oriented kids may apply to see if they have a shot at it--and it has prestige, but it doesn't seem fraught.

I would agree that LBSS and Robinson Pyramids are great places for solid well-rounded education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing to note in the Lake Braddock-Robinson and TJ admission discussion is that these are secondary schools located near each other. So...1) Even though Lake Braddock is the middle school AAP program, a lot of kids in elementary school AAP opt to go to Robinson just to stay through the same school for the 6 years (instead of going to MS AAP for 2 years and then switching back to their "local" hs--or going to a further away school for 6 years). So the LB MS AAP program loses more kids than is typical. (It's not a problem in my view- both schools have strong MS honors classes).
2) I think being in a secondary school where you get comfortable with an environment may make it harder to want to leave to go to TJ after middle school--than if you were in just a middle school where you had to transition to a new HS anyway. So there's less of a group drive to get into TJ. For better or for worse, kids on average don't prep, parents don't fret etc. as much as other places. For instance, a lot of kids opt not to take 7th grade Algebra even if they qualify. So I would expect lower admissions. The TJ stakes don't just feel as high as they are in other places. STEM oriented kids may apply to see if they have a shot at it--and it has prestige, but it doesn't seem fraught.

I would agree that LBSS and Robinson Pyramids are great places for solid well-rounded education.

Not sure about that. There are more kids in the Lake Braddock and Robinson districts who go to TJ than there are from West Springfield, where the kids mostly attend Irving MS. And many of the Robinson-zoned kids who are in the AAP program at Lake Braddock in grades 7-8 do switch over to Robinson for high school, even though about 25-30 per class stay at LB.

Everyone thinks Lake Braddock, Robinson, and West Springfield are good schools, even if they don't necessarily have the highest academic profiles in FCPS. If they are great places for solid, well-rounded educations, there's no need to over-analyze it, much less go out of one's way to contrast the purported normality of these schools or neighborhoods with others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thing to note in the Lake Braddock-Robinson and TJ admission discussion is that these are secondary schools located near each other. So...1) Even though Lake Braddock is the middle school AAP program, a lot of kids in elementary school AAP opt to go to Robinson just to stay through the same school for the 6 years (instead of going to MS AAP for 2 years and then switching back to their "local" hs--or going to a further away school for 6 years). So the LB MS AAP program loses more kids than is typical. (It's not a problem in my view- both schools have strong MS honors classes).
2) I think being in a secondary school where you get comfortable with an environment may make it harder to want to leave to go to TJ after middle school--than if you were in just a middle school where you had to transition to a new HS anyway. So there's less of a group drive to get into TJ. For better or for worse, kids on average don't prep, parents don't fret etc. as much as other places. For instance, a lot of kids opt not to take 7th grade Algebra even if they qualify. So I would expect lower admissions. The TJ stakes don't just feel as high as they are in other places. STEM oriented kids may apply to see if they have a shot at it--and it has prestige, but it doesn't seem fraught.

I would agree that LBSS and Robinson Pyramids are great places for solid well-rounded education.

Not sure about that. There are more kids in the Lake Braddock and Robinson districts who go to TJ than there are from West Springfield, where the kids mostly attend Irving MS. And many of the Robinson-zoned kids who are in the AAP program at Lake Braddock in grades 7-8 do switch over to Robinson for high school, even though about 25-30 per class stay at LB.

Everyone thinks Lake Braddock, Robinson, and West Springfield are good schools, even if they don't necessarily have the highest academic profiles in FCPS. If they are great places for solid, well-rounded educations, there's no need to over-analyze it, much less go out of one's way to contrast the purported normality of these schools or neighborhoods with others.

Very few if any of the AAP kids or kids on the Algebra 7th/Geometry 8th track from Irving applied to TJ. I th8nk in that group it was low single digits. Most of the kids from Irving who took that test were kids who started algebra in 8th.

[Anonymous]

There is nothing wrong with TJ. It's one of the best schools in the country. None of these schools have that many kids applying. I just can't imagine making a decision on a neighborhood based on the percentage of kids that apply or attend TJ. It's a non-issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:West Springfield/Lake Braddock/Robinson pyramids.

Why? Lake Braddock and Robinson are very large secondary schools. Lots of competition going on there, even if there are some other schools with higher test scores.

West Springfield, Lake Braddock, and Robinson are all schools that are basically uniformly middle class/upper middle class. There's a bit of racial/ethnic diversity, but economically the kids are all basically normal kids.

For the secondary schools, the size works in both ways. There's plenty for kids to do and it's big enough that there's no dominant "culture." It's much more kids finding their niches. Academically all three are strong enough schools without TJ craziness (note -- even though all three are close-ish to TJ, very few kids actually go to TJ because they are perfectly happy with their home schools. It's not a pressure cooker area.

It cuts both ways. Kids aren't going to be the tippy top. It's a place where people are fine with their kids going to Tech or JMU or VCU. It's not UVA or die around here (though plenty do attend UVA).

Hmm. My kids go to one of the top FCPS high schools, and parents are fine as well with their kids going to Tech or JMU or VCU. Those are all fine schools. It's a myth that parents at the top high schools are all pushing their kids to the Ivies, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if you have lot of $$$, go to Churchill ES/Cooper MS/Langley HS enclave. Not so much money, Kent Garden ES/Long Fellow MS/Mclean HS

This is terrible advice if you’re looking to avoid a pressure-cooker environment.

Langley parent here (not the PP). Do you have a child at any of the above schools? I do - and they're not "pressure cookers." Certainly, there are high-achieving kids who put a lot of pressure on themselves, or their parents put pressure on them, but there are also a LOT of normal, well-balanced, "average" kids. The schools certainly don't put pressure on the students. In fact, they state repeatedly during high school how kids should make sure their schedules are balanced, and not heavy with APs or too many ECs. I think a lot of parents whose kids don't attend McLean/Langley buy into the whole "pressure cooker" environment BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TJ is the mothership of evil. Poisons the whole FCPS schooling experience from the top down.

I would say AAP centers poison the whole FCPS schooling experience from the bottom up. So glad my kids are now in high school where no one cares who was and wasn't in AAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Students would be better off socially, emotionally. Separate gifted education centers split-up families, kids from their friends and siblings. Separates communities. It goes against everything that public education stands for.

THIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TJ is the mothership of evil. Poisons the whole FCPS schooling experience from the top down.

I would say AAP centers poison the whole FCPS schooling experience from the bottom up. So glad my kids are now in high school where no one cares who was and wasn't in AAP.

Well OP is wanting a gifted program, so you can see why FCPS keeps it.