Best elementary schools in Fairfax

[Anonymous]

Hi moms! Looking for some advice on how to identify houses with the best access to schools.

We have a young infant and are looking to move houses within Fairfax soon to have more space as our LO grows up. So far, I have been looking at school rankings on Great Schools through Redfin to determine if the house is in a “good school neighborhood” for elementary schools or not - is that the best approach? What are some of the best elementary schools in Fairfax?

Absolutely any advice on this would be super helpful! First time mom here and feeling a bit overwhelmed with what seems like a very big decision!

Thanks so much in advance!

[Anonymous]

OP,
There are 140 elementary schools in FCPS. The best advice is to find the neighborhood that best meets your needs in terms of price and commute. Don’t overspend so that you’re stressed and without options. The school stuff will be fine.

[Anonymous]

FCPS has over 100 ESs. The top 25 or so are all going to be good. One thing to realize when looking at rankings and asking for the “best”— schools with AAP Centers will rank ant the top and have very high SOL pass rates. But AAP and SOLs don’t start until 3rd grade, at which point AAP kids from multiple ESs come in. So, that doesn’t give you a real picture of K-2. And although you will be certain your kid is a shoe in for AAP, you won’t know until the end of second. And if your kid is at an AAP Center and isn’t in AAP, that creates its own set of problems.

2 things are certain. Affluent feeder neighborhoods lead to “better” schools. And the individual principals matter a lot.

My kids are Lees Corner, Oak Hill AAP. I would recommend both. But again, are they the “best” out of 100+? iDK— it doesn’t matter, because there are multiple good schools. There are also some AAP Centers that aren’t great for K-2 and Gen Ed, but rank highly based on AAP test scores.

Unless you are secure in having two teleworking adults, you are better off narrowing it down to a location with a decent commute and housing in your prince range and asking about individual schools in that area. However good Oak Hill and Lees Corner are, I wouldn’t recommend a daily commute into DC, especially for Both parents, to send a kid to one of these.

So the answer is— it’s complicated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS has over 100 ESs. The top 25 or so are all going to be good. One thing to realize when looking at rankings and asking for the “best”— schools with AAP Centers will rank ant the top and have very high SOL pass rates. But AAP and SOLs don’t start until 3rd grade, at which point AAP kids from multiple ESs come in. So, that doesn’t give you a real picture of K-2. And although you will be certain your kid is a shoe in for AAP, you won’t know until the end of second. And if your kid is at an AAP Center and isn’t in AAP, that creates its own set of problems.

2 things are certain. Affluent feeder neighborhoods lead to “better” schools. And the individual principals matter a lot.

My kids are Lees Corner, Oak Hill AAP. I would recommend both. But again, are they the “best” out of 100+? iDK— it doesn’t matter, because there are multiple good schools. There are also some AAP Centers that aren’t great for K-2 and Gen Ed, but rank highly based on AAP test scores.

Unless you are secure in having two teleworking adults, you are better off narrowing it down to a location with a decent commute and housing in your prince range and asking about individual schools in that area. However good Oak Hill and Lees Corner are, I wouldn’t recommend a daily commute into DC, especially for Both parents, to send a kid to one of these.

So the answer is— it’s complicated.

NP and agree with all of this, especially the bolded. Commute is king in this area. Don't move to a neighborhood with the very highest rated schools in FCPS if it means you'll be sitting in traffic for an hour each way or can't get to the school quickly if you get a call from the clinic.

[Anonymous]

It's extremely hard to tell. We moved to a famously high-performing school and learned it was high-performing because local parents mainly tiger mommed their children into literacy and numeracy, while the school wasted an alarming amount of time with edutainment videos.

Fox Mill ES was a lot better, despite lower test scores; principal ran a tight ship and staff seemed more focused on learning than the latest ridiculous project coming out of Gatehouse.

[Anonymous]

To identify the top elementary schools (in terms of test scores), look at the top rated high schools and work your way backward. Most schools are the top schools because of their demographics and parental involvement, which extends from elementary to high school. Alternatively, look at the middle schools that send the most kids to TJJHST and work your way backward.

Ignore the nonsense from posters complaining about the FCPS school boundary redistricting. The County is working to implement more cost efficient boundaries and many on the fringes aren’t happy about it. Buy a home within walking distance of its assigned elementary school and you’ve got nothing to worry about.

To identityn

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To identify the top elementary schools (in terms of test scores), look at the top rated high schools and work your way backward. Most schools are the top schools because of their demographics and parental involvement, which extends from elementary to high school. Alternatively, look at the middle schools that send the most kids to TJJHST and work your way backward.

Ignore the nonsense from posters complaining about the FCPS school boundary redistricting. The County is working to implement more cost efficient boundaries and many on the fringes aren’t happy about it. Buy a home within walking distance of its assigned elementary school and you’ve got nothing to worry about.

To identityn

Are you serious? She wants to go to a good school. Good schools are being targeted. Don’t listen to this poster, your kids’ education likely depends on you ignoring her.

Be careful too, there are a lot of school board supporters on DCUM. If you care about good schools, run, and don’t look back - we were in your shoes a few years ago. And people constantly bark in the other boundary thread that we should have done our homework.

Consider this your notice. Do your homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To identify the top elementary schools (in terms of test scores), look at the top rated high schools and work your way backward. Most schools are the top schools because of their demographics and parental involvement, which extends from elementary to high school. Alternatively, look at the middle schools that send the most kids to TJJHST and work your way backward.

Ignore the nonsense from posters complaining about the FCPS school boundary redistricting. The County is working to implement more cost efficient boundaries and many on the fringes aren’t happy about it. Buy a home within walking distance of its assigned elementary school and you’ve got nothing to worry about.

To identityn

Weird advice because the middle schools that send the most kids to TJ are AAP centers that vary considerably in the number of ES AAP feeders.

And kids grow up fast, so only focusing on the ES without also considering the likely MS and HS assignments is short-sighted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To identify the top elementary schools (in terms of test scores), look at the top rated high schools and work your way backward. Most schools are the top schools because of their demographics and parental involvement, which extends from elementary to high school. Alternatively, look at the middle schools that send the most kids to TJJHST and work your way backward.

Ignore the nonsense from posters complaining about the FCPS school boundary redistricting. The County is working to implement more cost efficient boundaries and many on the fringes aren’t happy about it. Buy a home within walking distance of its assigned elementary school and you’ve got nothing to worry about.

To identityn

How do you look at top rated elementary schools?

We are in McLean feeding into Langley. I have a second grader at an AAP center. I don’t know where our elementary school ranks but there are many smart parents at our school. While I don’t care so much about AAP, I would hate for my child to feel bad not being in AAP at an AAP center so it isn’t always good to be at the “best” elementary school.

We wanted to be in McLean and found a house we liked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi moms! Looking for some advice on how to identify houses with the best access to schools.

We have a young infant and are looking to move houses within Fairfax soon to have more space as our LO grows up. So far, I have been looking at school rankings on Great Schools through Redfin to determine if the house is in a “good school neighborhood” for elementary schools or not - is that the best approach? What are some of the best elementary schools in Fairfax?

Absolutely any advice on this would be super helpful! First time mom here and feeling a bit overwhelmed with what seems like a very big decision!

Thanks so much in advance!

Your method will be different from those of others because everyone has different priorities and expectations of schools. Personally I recommend looking directly at test scores and demographics (proportion FDL) and skipping Great Schools and other ratings.

[Anonymous]

This is terrible but the truth is to buy into a school with a low FARMS rate. School performance and SES are highly correlated.

[Anonymous]

First figure out commutes and possible commutes should your job location change. An additional 15 minutes makes a bigger difference than many perceived differences between ES.

Figure out your budget.

Overlay best commutes with affordable houses and then look at the possible elementary schools in your target areas. Then, come back here with your narrowed down areas and people will help you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First figure out commutes and possible commutes should your job location change. An additional 15 minutes makes a bigger difference than many perceived differences between ES.

Figure out your budget.

Overlay best commutes with affordable houses and then look at the possible elementary schools in your target areas. Then, come back here with your narrowed down areas and people will help you.

This is quite possibly the worst advice I have read on this forum. Commute time, unless unreasonable, isn’t a factor for most people and pales in comparison to school quality.

That person would have you live super close to the worst school districts in the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First figure out commutes and possible commutes should your job location change. An additional 15 minutes makes a bigger difference than many perceived differences between ES.

Figure out your budget.

Overlay best commutes with affordable houses and then look at the possible elementary schools in your target areas. Then, come back here with your narrowed down areas and people will help you.

This is quite possibly the worst advice I have read on this forum. Commute time, unless unreasonable, isn’t a factor for most people and pales in comparison to school quality.

That person would have you live super close to the worst school districts in the county.

Has the OP indicated where she and spouse work or what their budget is? When we did this, we came up with Churchill Road ES and Chesterbrook ES.

[Anonymous]

Op, we left Falls Church City Schools for a bigger and nicer house in Fairfax (zoned for good schools). We didn’t realize how good we had it with FCC. There is low inventory, but check there.