cooper vs. longfellow ms and langley vs. mclean

[Anonymous]

We're trying to choose a pyramid and ms and hs are most important to us. What are the differences? We'd like an overall good education that stresses academics but also offers opportunities for music, the arts, and sports. We're biracial (White and Asian) and would like a nice mix of families who value education as a top priority.

[Anonymous]

There is virutally no difference between these 2 pyramids. Langley is slightly more affluent overall since McLean has some feeders from outside McLean. Biracial Asian/White is not particularly noticeable in McLean, as there is a large Asian/biracial Asian/White population. Pick the house you like, both schools are good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is virutally no difference between these 2 pyramids. Langley is slightly more affluent overall since McLean has some feeders from outside McLean. Biracial Asian/White is not particularly noticeable in McLean, as there is a large Asian/biracial Asian/White population. Pick the house you like, both schools are good.

These are all good schools (though they have flaws, like every other FCPS school), with some differences:

Longfellow has one of the county's largest MS AAP/GT programs. It's quite crowded and currently under renovation, with lots of classes in trailers. Cooper is a newer school and is actually slightly under-enrolled. Longfellow sends over 50 students to TJHSST every year, while Cooper typically sends a handful.

Longfellow and McLean are considerably more diverse than Cooper and Langley. The demographics at Cooper and Langley are by far the most affluent of any public schools in NoVa, with most of the students from expensive neighborhoods in Great Falls and McLean. Longfellow and McLean pull in students from a variety of McLean, Vienna and Falls Church neighborhoods, including upscale neighborhoods in McLean like Franklin Park, some parts of Falls Church that are heavily Hispanic, and the older, "middle-class" parts of McLean that aren't particularly "upscale." There are lots of Asian and biracial Asian/White students at both schools, but there's an aura of self-conscious wealth at Cooper and Langley that isn't quite as pervasive at Longfellow and McLean. That may or may not bother or appeal to you.

Music and arts are strong at all these schools (band/orchestra at Longfellow is certainly excellent). Langley has a larger student body than McLean and usually is stronger at sports, though McLean usually has at least a few teams every year that are decent.

[Anonymous]

Clearly either the FCPS website isn't kept up to date., or Langley High hasn't been paying attention. They listed PRC/Litton Corporation as a corporate sponsor--Northrop Grumman acquired them 10 yrs ago. Wonder what other info is wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're trying to choose a pyramid and ms and hs are most important to us. What are the differences? We'd like an overall good education that stresses academics but also offers opportunities for music, the arts, and sports. We're biracial (White and Asian) and would like a nice mix of families who value education as a top priority.

It's funny how you say that you're looking for schools that offer an "overall good education," but then specifically ask about two of the top HS and top MS in NoVA.

[Anonymous]

These two schools are such that what goes on at home matters 10000x as much as the school. They are both that highly rated.

I'd be a little surprised if it were Asian guy/White woman, but otherwise, Asian/White doesn't really matter. At all. Unless you've got a 20 y/o deadbeat, drug-using brother crashing @ your place all the time. That'd probably make you enemies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is virutally no difference between these 2 pyramids. Langley is slightly more affluent overall since McLean has some feeders from outside McLean. Biracial Asian/White is not particularly noticeable in McLean, as there is a large Asian/biracial Asian/White population. Pick the house you like, both schools are good.

These are all good schools (though they have flaws, like every other FCPS school), with some differences:

Longfellow has one of the county's largest MS AAP/GT programs. It's quite crowded and currently under renovation, with lots of classes in trailers. Cooper is a newer school and is actually slightly under-enrolled. Longfellow sends over 50 students to TJHSST every year, while Cooper typically sends a handful.

Longfellow and McLean are considerably more diverse than Cooper and Langley. The demographics at Cooper and Langley are by far the most affluent of any public schools in NoVa, with most of the students from expensive neighborhoods in Great Falls and McLean. Longfellow and McLean pull in students from a variety of McLean, Vienna and Falls Church neighborhoods, including upscale neighborhoods in McLean like Franklin Park, some parts of Falls Church that are heavily Hispanic, and the older, "middle-class" parts of McLean that aren't particularly "upscale." There are lots of Asian and biracial Asian/White students at both schools, but there's an aura of self-conscious wealth at Cooper and Langley that isn't quite as pervasive at Longfellow and McLean. That may or may not bother or appeal to you.

Music and arts are strong at all these schools (band/orchestra at Longfellow is certainly excellent). Langley has a larger student body than McLean and usually is stronger at sports, though McLean usually has at least a few teams every year that are decent.

Longfellow will be renovated and mclean HS is renovated. Langley got an addition but is not renovated. Cooper got a modular building but is not renovated. I would opt for Mclean-more of a community. Langley is a regional school. Same for Cooper. Boundaries go all the way out to Loudoun County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Longfellow will be renovated and mclean HS is renovated. Langley got an addition but is not renovated. Cooper got a modular building but is not renovated. I would opt for Mclean-more of a community. Langley is a regional school. Same for Cooper. Boundaries go all the way out to Loudoun County.

Langley is a "regional school," whereas McLean serves "more of a community"? Not so sure on that.

It's true the Cooper/Langley boundaries go all the way to the Loudoun border, but it's all either Great Falls or McLean. The Longfellow/McLean boundaries include some "attendance islands" over in Vienna, and some Falls Church neighborhoods to the south that stretch all the way to Lee Highway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These two schools are such that what goes on at home matters 10000x as much as the school. They are both that highly rated.

I'd be a little surprised if it were Asian guy/White woman, but otherwise, Asian/White doesn't really matter. At all. Unless you've got a 20 y/o deadbeat, drug-using brother crashing @ your place all the time. That'd probably make you enemies.

not that unusual in our Arlington elementary school, so it might not be in a few years for Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Seriously, I don't think that makes a difference in Fairfax either or most of the DC region. There are many, many families that are made up of members from different races. No one should blink an eye around here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These two schools are such that what goes on at home matters 10000x as much as the school. They are both that highly rated.

I'd be a little surprised if it were Asian guy/White woman, but otherwise, Asian/White doesn't really matter. At all. Unless you've got a 20 y/o deadbeat, drug-using brother crashing @ your place all the time. That'd probably make you enemies.

not that unusual in our Arlington elementary school, so it might not be in a few years for Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Langley does have a larger boundary, so potentially your child could have friends living almost 30 minutes away. Even if you live close to the school, their BFF might be way out. McLean's boundaries are smaller, but if defintely has a strange boundary line and includes a couple lower income areas in the McLean/Falls Church area.

[Anonymous]

Longfellow sends over 50 students to TJHSST every year, while Cooper typically sends a handful.

Longfellow sent 66 kids to TJHSST class of 2014, Cooper none. Longfellow is a gifted center while Cooper is not. Most GT kids who are in the Cooper/Langley pyramid will go to Kilmer MS gifted center, which had 34 admits to the class of 2014. Those lower numbers don't reflect on the quality of teaching (although Longfellow is generally acknowledged as the best math program around) but rather the fact that Kilmer lost a chunk of its enrollment with the opening of Luther Jackson's gifted center and kids going there instead, or staying at their base school, Thoreau, rather than going to Luther Jackson. If you add in Luther Jackson and Thoreau numbers to Kilmer, it would be at its traditional 50+ admit levels.

By the way, Rachel Carson had 68 admitted to TJHSST and Rocky Run had 45.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Longfellow sent 66 kids to TJHSST class of 2014, Cooper none. Longfellow is a gifted center while Cooper is not. Most GT kids who are in the Cooper/Langley pyramid will go to Kilmer MS gifted center, which had 34 admits to the class of 2014. Those lower numbers don't reflect on the quality of teaching (although Longfellow is generally acknowledged as the best math program around) but rather the fact that Kilmer lost a chunk of its enrollment with the opening of Luther Jackson's gifted center and kids going there instead, or staying at their base school, Thoreau, rather than going to Luther Jackson. If you add in Luther Jackson and Thoreau numbers to Kilmer, it would be at its traditional 50+ admit levels.

By the way, Rachel Carson had 68 admitted to TJHSST and Rocky Run had 45.

Is that the case? A lot of GT kids in the Cooper/Langley pyramid (or at least those who went to Spring Hill) go on to Longfellow.

Longfellow is a really good school with wonderful teachers and a great administration. I think McLean HS has some issues, but Longfellow is excellent.

Do people like the current principal at Kilmer? I know his predecessor was not particularly well-regarded.

[Anonymous]

Is that the case? A lot of GT kids in the Cooper/Langley pyramid (or at least those who went to Spring Hill) go on to Longfellow.

Longfellow is a really good school with wonderful teachers and a great administration. I think McLean HS has some issues, but Longfellow is excellent.

Do people like the current principal at Kilmer? I know his predecessor was not particularly well-regarded

Some portion of Cooper/Langley GT kids go to Longfellow for their middle school GT Center, but an equally large (perhaps larger) population go to Kilmer MS. Kilmer gets kids from Colvin Run GTC and some portion of the Forest Edge GTC, as well as any Great Falls or Forestville ES kids who are center-eligible but chose to stay at their base school for elementary but then decide to switch to the Center for middle school. Kilmer numbers could drop in future years, however, as it seems the trend is to forego the middle school GTC for Cooper. I can't say why people are choosing this route, other than to report anecdotes about people wanting their kids to have a good social base when they reach high school.

My child did go to Kilmer but honestly I have no opinion on the administration. I had very little interaction with them and was happy with what my DS was learning so I have no basis to evaluate.

[Anonymous]

So which elementary would you pick with longfellow/mclean? I hear that Haycock is overcrowded.