Moving to DC or Arlington Area - Which Elementary Public School Do You Recommend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s be honest. Even the lowest ranked elementary schools in Arlington are better than virtually all of the DC publics. The few DC publics that can compete are all located in extremely expensive neighborhoods. Then once you hit middle and high school the Arlington schools are better across the board.

The bottom line is you can buy or rent anywhere in Arlington without worrying too much about the quality of your neighborhood school. Obviously you cannot say that about DC.

Is this a widely held view? Also thinking about moving and would much prefer DC to Arlington, but am concerned about the schools.

The options are pretty thin in DC when it comes to public middle and high schools. Most of the schools range from mediocre to abysmal.

Yeah, I hear you on that. But my question is more, are Deal and Hardy really clearly worse than Arlington middles? Is Jackson-Reed really clearly worse than the Arlington options? I’m genuinely curious what people think. People tend to compare schools easily within a district but it’s harder to do this across districts it seems.

[Anonymous]

Basis

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s be honest. Even the lowest ranked elementary schools in Arlington are better than virtually all of the DC publics. The few DC publics that can compete are all located in extremely expensive neighborhoods. Then once you hit middle and high school the Arlington schools are better across the board.

The bottom line is you can buy or rent anywhere in Arlington without worrying too much about the quality of your neighborhood school. Obviously you cannot say that about DC.

Is this a widely held view? Also thinking about moving and would much prefer DC to Arlington, but am concerned about the schools.

The options are pretty thin in DC when it comes to public middle and high schools. Most of the schools range from mediocre to abysmal.

Yeah, I hear you on that. But my question is more, are Deal and Hardy really clearly worse than Arlington middles? Is Jackson-Reed really clearly worse than the Arlington options? I’m genuinely curious what people think. People tend to compare schools easily within a district but it’s harder to do this across districts it seems.

Yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s be honest. Even the lowest ranked elementary schools in Arlington are better than virtually all of the DC publics. The few DC publics that can compete are all located in extremely expensive neighborhoods. Then once you hit middle and high school the Arlington schools are better across the board.

The bottom line is you can buy or rent anywhere in Arlington without worrying too much about the quality of your neighborhood school. Obviously you cannot say that about DC.

Is this a widely held view? Also thinking about moving and would much prefer DC to Arlington, but am concerned about the schools.

The options are pretty thin in DC when it comes to public middle and high schools. Most of the schools range from mediocre to abysmal.

Yeah, I hear you on that. But my question is more, are Deal and Hardy really clearly worse than Arlington middles? Is Jackson-Reed really clearly worse than the Arlington options? I’m genuinely curious what people think. People tend to compare schools easily within a district but it’s harder to do this across districts it seems.

Yes

NP here. PP, can you explain a bit more why or rather how the Arlington schools are better? Looking at Great Schools, Niche and school websites, I’m not able to get much detail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s be honest. Even the lowest ranked elementary schools in Arlington are better than virtually all of the DC publics. The few DC publics that can compete are all located in extremely expensive neighborhoods. Then once you hit middle and high school the Arlington schools are better across the board.

The bottom line is you can buy or rent anywhere in Arlington without worrying too much about the quality of your neighborhood school. Obviously you cannot say that about DC.

Is this a widely held view? Also thinking about moving and would much prefer DC to Arlington, but am concerned about the schools.

Yep. Middle and High School the DC public options fall way behind. I say this as someone who grew up in Arlington and now lives in DC and has a kid in the DC public system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s be honest. Even the lowest ranked elementary schools in Arlington are better than virtually all of the DC publics. The few DC publics that can compete are all located in extremely expensive neighborhoods. Then once you hit middle and high school the Arlington schools are better across the board.

The bottom line is you can buy or rent anywhere in Arlington without worrying too much about the quality of your neighborhood school. Obviously you cannot say that about DC.

Is this a widely held view? Also thinking about moving and would much prefer DC to Arlington, but am concerned about the schools.

Yep. Middle and High School the DC public options fall way behind. I say this as someone who grew up in Arlington and now lives in DC and has a kid in the DC public system.

Depends on if you value diversity at all. North Arlington schools outperform probably all of the DC schools, including Deal and JR, but are 95% white with avg household incomes >$300k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s be honest. Even the lowest ranked elementary schools in Arlington are better than virtually all of the DC publics. The few DC publics that can compete are all located in extremely expensive neighborhoods. Then once you hit middle and high school the Arlington schools are better across the board.

The bottom line is you can buy or rent anywhere in Arlington without worrying too much about the quality of your neighborhood school. Obviously you cannot say that about DC.

Is this a widely held view? Also thinking about moving and would much prefer DC to Arlington, but am concerned about the schools.

Yep. Middle and High School the DC public options fall way behind. I say this as someone who grew up in Arlington and now lives in DC and has a kid in the DC public system.

Depends on if you value diversity at all. North Arlington schools outperform probably all of the DC schools, including Deal and JR, but are 95% white with avg household incomes >$300k.

Well that's just factually incorrect:
- [yorktown](https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/arlington-county-public-schools/yorktown-high-school-20365)
- [washington liberty](https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/arlington-county-public-schools/washington-liberty-high-school-20364)
- [wakefield](https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/arlington-county-public-schools/wakefield-high-school-20363)

[Anonymous]

The south Arlington schools will get dumped on in here because they are not all 90% rich and white.

But as someone who lives in South Arlington AND knows a bit about the schools this board loves to dump on: they are excellent schools. In fact I think our friends at Drew are the happiest Arlington parents I know.

So yes, you can live in the mostly rich and mostly white North Arlington neighborhoods. But let me tell, you if you want "normal" families who don't have trust funds or work in big law, many south Arlington neighborhoods will feel down to earth and friendly to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:3k won’t get you much so I suspect you’ll be north of 4K and the next decision you need to make is how surrounded by poverty you and your fam feel comfortable being. The nice areas of DC or Arlington that are nice that won’t go very far, you can find mixed areas but they will be situationally very specific or luck with the lottery on how you experiencing it.

+1. OP will have sticker shock. Forget about 3 or 4k to rent a house in good school pyramid in the city. 5k is probably the floor and up.

I rent my basement apartment for 3k. Good luck finding anything besides that in a decent school.

[Anonymous]

You can find 2 bedroom apartments within that price range. One benefit to living in DC is free preschool for 3 and 4 year olds. You can always move to VA later if you're unhappy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s be honest. Even the lowest ranked elementary schools in Arlington are better than virtually all of the DC publics. The few DC publics that can compete are all located in extremely expensive neighborhoods. Then once you hit middle and high school the Arlington schools are better across the board.

The bottom line is you can buy or rent anywhere in Arlington without worrying too much about the quality of your neighborhood school. Obviously you cannot say that about DC.

Is this a widely held view? Also thinking about moving and would much prefer DC to Arlington, but am concerned about the schools.

The options are pretty thin in DC when it comes to public middle and high schools. Most of the schools range from mediocre to abysmal.

Yeah, I hear you on that. But my question is more, are Deal and Hardy really clearly worse than Arlington middles? Is Jackson-Reed really clearly worse than the Arlington options? I’m genuinely curious what people think. People tend to compare schools easily within a district but it’s harder to do this across districts it seems.

Yes

Yes bc DC barely suspends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with some of the posters saying you can't find anything in that price range. I live in north Arlington in a good school district and you can find a rental for $4K. It won't be a new build, but a 1940s 3 bed/2 bath cape cod or Colonial. Here's the first listing I found: https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/5100-10th-St-N-22205/home/11235974

The schools are Cardinal, Swanson, and W&L, which is a good pyramid

Also in N Arl, and I second this. And you can probably get something for less in S. Arl.

[Anonymous]

Does it have to be a house? Because you can certainly rent a nice 2 bedroom apartment within that budget in bounds for a good school. Cleveland Park, Cathedral Heights, Glover Park, Van Ness, to name a few.

[Anonymous]

When we were new to DC and renting and had a child entering kindergarten we rented in McLean Gardens and he went to Hearst Elementary. We loved living there and the school. It’s condos not houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s be honest. Even the lowest ranked elementary schools in Arlington are better than virtually all of the DC publics. The few DC publics that can compete are all located in extremely expensive neighborhoods. Then once you hit middle and high school the Arlington schools are better across the board.

The bottom line is you can buy or rent anywhere in Arlington without worrying too much about the quality of your neighborhood school. Obviously you cannot say that about DC.

Is this a widely held view? Also thinking about moving and would much prefer DC to Arlington, but am concerned about the schools.

Yep. Middle and High School the DC public options fall way behind. I say this as someone who grew up in Arlington and now lives in DC and has a kid in the DC public system.

4 years ago, DC and MD used the same standardized tests. Deal students = Westland/Pyle scores. But BCC > JR. Again, no direct comparison with VA. But west of rock creek in DC = good Moco through 8th grade. Lets not make stuff up otherwise.