Discovery Elementary-Arlington

[NorthernGurl]

Hi there,

We are looking to relocate to Arlington. Does anybody have any opinions on the Discovery Elementary School? The reviews look good, but does anybody have first hand knowledge?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

It’s fine- comparable to Tuckahoe, Nottingham and Jamestown. Very little diversity and upper middle class to wealthy families. Teachers have been leaving but I think that is pretty common across the county. I have one acquaintance who had a miserable experience with her highly involved child with an IEP and she left with a terrible taste in her mouth. But I know several other families who think it’s just fine!

APS as a whole is a little lack luster right now. Teachers are underpaid and burnt out. There is a major shortage of staff. Programs are getting cut. They keep changing the reading curriculum so teachers can’t get into a groove…. It’s not terrible but its not awesome. We are coming from another state and we feel like this curriculum is less challenging.

[Anonymous]

Agree with what Pp said.

[Anonymous]

It's a good affluent public elementary school.

I disagree about the poster poo pooing the reading curriculum change. That is APS wide, and it's great APS threw Lucy Caukins in the trash can.

And Discovery is fine with teachers. Yes, there's turnover all over APS, but it's super expensive to live in Arlington on a teacher's salary and turnover is no higher in Arlington than the rest of the DC area.

The most disaffection I see with Discovery is people expecting their public school to act like a $50K per year private school, and not wanting to supplement on their own time for their child to get the same academic experience (via Kumon and other things).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s fine- comparable to Tuckahoe, Nottingham and Jamestown. Very little diversity and upper middle class to wealthy families. Teachers have been leaving but I think that is pretty common across the county. I have one acquaintance who had a miserable experience with her highly involved child with an IEP and she left with a terrible taste in her mouth. But I know several other families who think it’s just fine!

APS as a whole is a little lack luster right now. Teachers are underpaid and burnt out. There is a major shortage of staff. Programs are getting cut. They keep changing the reading curriculum so teachers can’t get into a groove…. It’s not terrible but its not awesome. We are coming from another state and we feel like this curriculum is less challenging.

When did you move to APS? I don’t know of any place that isn’t deal with teacher burnout/quitting or curriculum changes. Pandemic learning loss is real.

[Anonymous]

The entire 5th grade staff has turned over for 3 years in a row. Not normal. Major discipline problems and lack of holding individual students responsible.

[NorthernGurl]

Oh wow that sounds concerning! What kind of discipline problems? The school looks so beautiful. Are they just advertising it to looks so pristine?

[Anonymous]

I am on my 2nd kid at DES, now in 5th. There is very high teacher turnover there compared to other APS schools. To me this points to administrative issues and unhappy teachers. Not just a pandemic thing as I saw it before COVID too. The building is beautiful because it’s fairly new. That has nothing to do with the people inside. Also the lack of diversity is an issue and definitely parents can be cliquey.

[Anonymous]

Very well off parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am on my 2nd kid at DES, now in 5th. There is very high teacher turnover there compared to other APS schools. To me this points to administrative issues and unhappy teachers. Not just a pandemic thing as I saw it before COVID too. The building is beautiful because it’s fairly new. That has nothing to do with the people inside. Also the lack of diversity is an issue and definitely parents can be cliquey.

Agree with all of this. Yes the building is nice but that has nothing to do with the other issues.

[Anonymous]

What school would you rate as the best in Arlington?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What school would you rate as the best in Arlington?

Taylor. Long-serving teachers, terrific new principal, slightly more diverse than the northwest cluster of schools. The parent population is still made up of North Arlington parents but they are generally not the Washington Golf crowd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What school would you rate as the best in Arlington?

Ashlawn. More diversity, strong PTA and parent community. Their Global Citizen focus really makes an impact on the kids.

[Anonymous]

My kids are happy at Arlington Traditional School (a county-wide lottery school). It's genuinely diverse and most students do well regardless of background. Over five years all of their teachers have been effective and encouraging (even through the awful 20-21 virtual school year). It's numerically difficult to win entry, but I think it's worth throwing your hat in the ring as an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What school would you rate as the best in Arlington?

Taylor. Long-serving teachers, terrific new principal, slightly more diverse than the northwest cluster of schools. The parent population is still made up of North Arlington parents but they are generally not the Washington Golf crowd.

From an outside perspective, I would not agree with this, at least from a social standpoint. I've encountered 3 or 4 Taylor parents who each had a daughter electing to transfer to Kenmore MS rather than follow-on with their Taylor cohort to "get away from the Taylor girls."
I would emphasize "slightly" in PP's "slightly more diverse" description.

OP, it really isn't fair to ask which school is the best. If you're looking for that, then please just search for a private school that suits your expectations. You're not moving to a school, you're moving to a school district. Even if you're at "the best" elementary school, it doesn't mean you'll matriculate into "the best" middle school, or high school. are you just going to move around the County to chase the schools you deem "best" above all the others in the district?

Cutting to the chase, south Arlington schools are looked down upon despite some highly reputable and beloved - and Blue Ribbon - schools because south Arlington has a lot of poor people and north Arlington (particularly north of Langston Blvd) is almost entirely very wealthy people. Just pick a house in which section you prefer. The schools within them aren't going to be much different from each other; but there will be differences demographically and in terms of atmosphere as you move down to central and then south arlington areas.