Is Western high school going to be sought after?

[Anonymous]

Is the new Western High School going to be sought after like Oakton or Chantilly High are? Any thoughts or guesses?

[Anonymous]

Depends on the demographics of the final boundary. Oakton and CHS are only "sought after" because they somehow managed to have a lot fewer low income kids in zone then all their surrounding schools.

[Anonymous]

Chantilly scores/ratings definitely go down without Oak Hill, and Oakton scores/ratings probably go down without Crossfield. Western needs Crossfield or Fox Mill along with Oak Hill and Floris to balance Coates and McNair demographics

Western will end up somewhere between Fairfax and Chantilly in terms of scores/ratings, and above South Lakes and Westfield. You won’t see it at first because the initial opt-in model will draw higher performing kids, so this is a longer-term assessment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Chantilly scores/ratings definitely go down without Oak Hill, and Oakton scores/ratings probably go down without Crossfield. Western needs Crossfield or Fox Mill along with Oak Hill and Floris to balance Coates and McNair demographics

Western will end up somewhere between Fairfax and Chantilly in terms of scores/ratings, and above South Lakes and Westfield. You won’t see it at first because the initial opt-in model will draw higher performing kids, so this is a longer-term assessment.

I believe it will because of all of the Indian Students falling in it’s immediate area.

They are known for creating very venerable schools.

[Anonymous]

It will be a good HS that offers the normal AP classes and potentially offering some specialized classes that could be interesting. Many of the "sought after" schools are low FARMs, Western is probably going to have a FARMs percentage between Chantilly and Westfield.

The building is nicer than most and newer than any other school in the area, that might be a draw. But it is not like it is going to be Langley or McLean or Oakton in terms of its FARMs rates and that is what drives higher test scores. The wealthier a school, the higher the test scores.

[Anonymous]

What is FARM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is FARM?

Free and Reduced Meals.

That essentially refers to students the federal government pays for to attend school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is FARM?

Free and Reduced Meals eligibility.

You can qualify for FARMs assistance without being truly poor, but the FARMS rate is a publicly reported figure associated with the percentage of low-income kids (who tend to have lower test scores) at a school.

Langley has far and away the lowest FARMS rate in FCPS. Then you have a group of schools like Oakton, McLean, Madison, Woodson, and Robinson with low FARMS rates, some schools like Chantilly, Marshall, West Springfield, and Lake Braddock that are still well below the county average, and other schools that have higher FARMS rates. Apart from Herndon, the schools with the highest FARMS rates tend to be clustered in southeastern Fairfax.

Western stands to have a below-average FARMS rate but probably higher than Chantilly, although Chantilly’s FARMS percentage may increase depending on who gets moved to Western and Westfield.

[Anonymous]

I’m guessing the new HS ends up around 25% FARMS. That is a higher rate than Oakton, slightly higher rate than Chantilly, and a slightly lower rate than South Lakes and Westfield. 20% FARMS would be similar or slightly higher than Chantilly, 30-35% would be about the same as SLHS and Westfield. It’s definitely not going to have Oakton’s demographics though.

[Anonymous]

The FARMs discussion ties into what you can expect from test scores because FARMs is a proxy for socio economic status. Research shows that lower SES families tend to have lower levels of education and that kids from those families are less likely to do well in school. They tend to have lower test scores and are less likely to attend college.

The schools that families seek tend to be schools with higher test scores, so lower FARMs rates. The top schools in FCPS are all lower FARMs schools. The schools that are less sought after, and people try to leave, are high FARMs rate, think 35% or higher.

The new school will probably between 20-25% FARMs. It will have a strong cohort of kids in AP classes and will have good test scores. Will it be sought after? Who knows. That might depend on the specialized programs and how they develop. Otherwise, I think it will be on par with Chantilly or Centerville.

[Anonymous]

Luckily, “FARMS” is not contagious, so if your family has a good income, your kid will most likely do well despite higher FARMS percentage of students at a school. They might also get first “dibs” in leadership positions and athletic teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Luckily, “FARMS” is not contagious, so if your family has a good income, your kid will most likely do well despite higher FARMS percentage of students at a school. They might also get first “dibs” in leadership positions and athletic teams.

This. But, difficult to understand how the FARMS will be so much higher than the current Carson stats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Luckily, “FARMS” is not contagious, so if your family has a good income, your kid will most likely do well despite higher FARMS percentage of students at a school. They might also get first “dibs” in leadership positions and athletic teams.

No, it is not contagious but people who are buying based on school look at test scores. Western is lkely to have a higher Farms rate then Chantilly. It will be a very good school with excellent programs and offer AP classes. Will it be sought after? Who knows. But we can predict that it’s test scores are likely to be lower then Langley, McLean, Oakton, and Chantilly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Luckily, “FARMS” is not contagious, so if your family has a good income, your kid will most likely do well despite higher FARMS percentage of students at a school. They might also get first “dibs” in leadership positions and athletic teams.

No, it is not contagious but people who are buying based on school look at test scores. Western is lkely to have a higher Farms rate then Chantilly. It will be a very good school with excellent programs and offer AP classes. Will it be sought after? Who knows. But we can predict that it’s test scores are likely to be lower then Langley, McLean, Oakton, and Chantilly.

No. We do not KNOW that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Luckily, “FARMS” is not contagious, so if your family has a good income, your kid will most likely do well despite higher FARMS percentage of students at a school. They might also get first “dibs” in leadership positions and athletic teams.

No, it is not contagious but people who are buying based on school look at test scores. Western is lkely to have a higher Farms rate then Chantilly. It will be a very good school with excellent programs and offer AP classes. Will it be sought after? Who knows. But we can predict that it’s test scores are likely to be lower then Langley, McLean, Oakton, and Chantilly.

It will be an aerospace academy!