cooper vs. longfellow ms and langley vs. mclean

[Anonymous]

I have a daughter at Kilmer MS GT center, who would normally go to Cooper. New principal's personality is a bit out there, but he used to be vice principal at TJ. Huge amounts of GT kids applying to TJ this year. My daughter's 8th grade GT group came from Colvin Run GT center, and they had one of the largest GT groups that year (3 classes, 72 kids). Not sure yet if we want our daughter to go to TJ if she gets in though - parents are VERY aggressive and it's a huge turn-off. Not thinking of Langley though because of 700+ kids in a class, so DC Independent high schools ("big 3") are where we are leaning.

[Anonymous]

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

I have no personal experience, but friends have been very happy with Churchill Road (GTC), which will feed into Longfellow's GTC. Parts of Churchill Road might be zoned for Langley though. I also have friends with children at Chesterbrook who opted to keep them at their base school rather than send them to Haycock GTC. Like Spring Hill, I think Chesterbrook has a sufficiently large population of GTC eligible kids who opt to stay at their base school to make the school-based gifted services program an adequate alternative.

You might also consider those areas of Spring Hill Elementary's boundaries that feed into Longfellow. Spring Hill splits into Cooper/Langley, Longfellow/McLean (or Longfellow/Langley for GTC-eligible kids).

Personally, I would opt for Longfellow over Cooper any day. Longfellow has an excellent math program and is a very good all-around school. I also was a bit leery of the social atmosphere at Cooper (another reason, besides the academics, that we opted to keep our DS in the GTC at Kilmer rather than go to his base school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a daughter at Kilmer MS GT center, who would normally go to Cooper. New principal's personality is a bit out there, but he used to be vice principal at TJ. Huge amounts of GT kids applying to TJ this year. My daughter's 8th grade GT group came from Colvin Run GT center, and they had one of the largest GT groups that year (3 classes, 72 kids). Not sure yet if we want our daughter to go to TJ if she gets in though - parents are VERY aggressive and it's a huge turn-off. Not thinking of Langley though because of 700+ kids in a class, so DC Independent high schools ("big 3") are where we are leaning.

There may be other negatives at Langley, but there are not 700+ kids in a class. The classes are around 500 students each, and the school's enrollment is projected to decline in the next few years.

I wouldn't knock the fact that the current Kilmer principal has a personality. His predecessor left Kilmer before she could locate hers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

I have no personal experience, but friends have been very happy with Churchill Road (GTC), which will feed into Longfellow's GTC. Parts of Churchill Road might be zoned for Langley though. I also have friends with children at Chesterbrook who opted to keep them at their base school rather than send them to Haycock GTC. Like Spring Hill, I think Chesterbrook has a sufficiently large population of GTC eligible kids who opt to stay at their base school to make the school-based gifted services program an adequate alternative.

You might also consider those areas of Spring Hill Elementary's boundaries that feed into Longfellow. Spring Hill splits into Cooper/Langley, Longfellow/McLean (or Longfellow/Langley for GTC-eligible kids).

Personally, I would opt for Longfellow over Cooper any day. Longfellow has an excellent math program and is a very good all-around school. I also was a bit leery of the social atmosphere at Cooper (another reason, besides the academics, that we opted to keep our DS in the GTC at Kilmer rather than go to his base school).

Almost all of Churchill Road feeds into Langley.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I would opt for Longfellow over Cooper any day. Longfellow has an excellent math program and is a very good all-around school. I also was a bit leery of the social atmosphere at Cooper (another reason, besides the academics, that we opted to keep our DS in the GTC at Kilmer rather than go to his base school

).

Please describe the social atmosphere to which you are referring. Our dc will be going there in a couple of years. What should we expect?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Personally, I would opt for Longfellow over Cooper any day. Longfellow has an excellent math program and is a very good all-around school. I also was a bit leery of the social atmosphere at Cooper (another reason, besides the academics, that we opted to keep our DS in the GTC at Kilmer rather than go to his base school

).

Please describe the social atmosphere to which you are referring. Our dc will be going there in a couple of years. What should we expect?

Teen style social scene. It's also present in privates but they are smaller so there is no escaping. Better off with the volume at Cooper ...

[Anonymous]

no

[Anonymous]

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

Chesterbrook, Sherman or Colvin Run, probably, though some of Sherman and Colvin Run go to Cooper/Langley.

[Anonymous]

I would also consider the commute. Langley has a weird boundary. If you look at the map, the school is at one end and the boundary goes all the way out to Loudoun Co. So you could technically be zoned for Langley but live really far from it. These kids have to wake up at dawn to catch the bus. HS and MS start so early in the morning and kids are so busy now days as it is, I would be wary of adding 2hrs of commute on the bus each day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would also consider the commute. Langley has a weird boundary. If you look at the map, the school is at one end and the boundary goes all the way out to Loudoun Co. So you could technically be zoned for Langley but live really far from it. These kids have to wake up at dawn to catch the bus. HS and MS start so early in the morning and kids are so busy now days as it is, I would be wary of adding 2hrs of commute on the bus each day.

Langley kids generally drive or are driven by parents or the hired help. I would not worry about a long bus route.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would also consider the commute. Langley has a weird boundary. If you look at the map, the school is at one end and the boundary goes all the way out to Loudoun Co. So you could technically be zoned for Langley but live really far from it. These kids have to wake up at dawn to catch the bus. HS and MS start so early in the morning and kids are so busy now days as it is, I would be wary of adding 2hrs of commute on the bus each day.

Langley kids generally drive or are driven by parents or the hired help. I would not worry about a long bus route.

You're right. Dumb me. To think that Langley kids actually took the bus...

[Anonymous]

I am a current Longfellow student who was recently accepted into TJ and can give some feedback on the school. I went to elementary school at Churchill Road ES and am a GT center student.

For the two years I've been at Longfellow, the school has been under renovations. It is scheduled to finish next year, so that means that for my time here the renovation has been going full blast. As of right now, the facilities suck with a capital S, but the school is so much more than that. For starters, the math department at our school is amazing. Mr. Vern Williams is one of the current 7th grade Algebra 1 HN teachers and also teaches a specialized Geometry course for gifted eight graders. His works as a teacher are the basis for the Statewide Algebra 1 curriculum. We also have other amazing math teachers such as Mrs. Barbara Burnett, Mr. Huang, and Mrs. Benton. The 9 of the top 10 members of TJ's varsity math team attended Longfellow. The History and Science departments at LMS are very distinguished, with a large amount of teachers that have received national recognition. Longfellow band is amazing performed for the first lady last year. Longfellow performs amazingly in extracurriculars as well. For the last 6 years Longfellow has had the state champion science olympiad team, this year excluded (SECOND PLACE :evil. The technology Student Association and Model UN both are distinguished in both the region and the state. Longfellow also is the source of many Statewide and National Mathcounts champions.

There is a lot of technology at longfellow. Students have access to fast computers and core teachers are required to post on Blackboard daily.

The atmosphere at longfellow is friendly and upbeat as well. There aren't many social cliques and bullying is almost a nonexistent problem. You don't have to believe me (lol) but I am considered a "cool kid" (Athletic, no glasses, frequent parties, girlfriend, unbelievable good looks, :mrgreen and have never seen peer pressure. We did have a drug issue last year, but the student responsible was expelled. Disobedience is punished relatively harshly at our school.

Cons: Right now the facilities stink but they will be better. We do not have a track or tennis courts as of now. Also, the ceilings are currently uncovered in the hallways, making the wiring and plumbing visible. There are frequent leaks in the hallways. The trailers or "villas" are of low quality with many imperfections and blemishes. Our school has no comprehensive sports programs. The english department at Longfellow simply isn't very good. Go on "ratemyteachers.com" and look up "Shemonsky", "Bergstrom", and "Kaine" to get an idea. The head principal at LMS is very passive and isn't really respected by the students or the parents. There is not much respect for the dress code at our school with many girls wearing short-shorts and tank tops.

All in all Longfellow isn't a very good school in itself, but the atmosphere, spirit, and quality of the teachers of the school make it worth going to.
I can't speak for cooper, but I've heard there is a lot more emphasis on popularity and social status there. There isn't a large community of high achieving academic students at Cooper. (0 TJ students came from TJ last year, abysmal extracurricular performance etc.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a current Longfellow student who was recently accepted into TJ and can give some feedback on the school. I went to elementary school at Churchill Road ES and am a GT center student.

For the two years I've been at Longfellow, the school has been under renovations. It is scheduled to finish next year, so that means that for my time here the renovation has been going full blast. As of right now, the facilities suck with a capital S, but the school is so much more than that. For starters, the math department at our school is amazing. Mr. Vern Williams is one of the current 7th grade Algebra 1 HN teachers and also teaches a specialized Geometry course for gifted eighth graders. His works as a teacher are the basis for the Statewide Algebra 1 curriculum. We also have other amazing math teachers such as Mrs. Barbara Burnett, Mr. Huang, and Mrs. Benton. 9 of the top 10 members of TJ's varsity math team attended Longfellow. The History and Science departments at LMS are very distinguished, with a large amount of teachers that have received national recognition. Longfellow band is amazing and performed for the first lady last year. Longfellow performs amazingly in extracurriculars as well. For the last 6 years Longfellow has had the state champion science olympiad team, this year excluded (SECOND PLACE :evil. The technology Student Association and Model UN both are distinguished in both the region and the state. Longfellow also is the source of many Statewide and National Mathcounts champions.

There is a lot of technology at longfellow. Students have access to fast computers and core teachers are required to post on Blackboard daily.

The atmosphere at longfellow is friendly and upbeat as well. There aren't many social cliques and bullying is almost a nonexistent problem. You don't have to believe me (lol) but I am considered a "cool kid" (Athletic, no glasses, frequent parties, girlfriend, unbelievable good looks, ) and have never seen peer pressure. We did have a drug issue last year, but the student responsible was expelled. Disobedience is punished relatively harshly at our school.

Cons: Right now the facilities stink but they will be better. We do not have a track or tennis courts as of now. Also, the ceilings are currently uncovered in the hallways, making the wiring and plumbing visible. There are frequent leaks in the hallways. The trailers or "villas" are of low quality with many imperfections and blemishes. Our school has no comprehensive sports programs. The english department at Longfellow simply isn't very good. Go on "ratemyteachers.com" and look up "Shemonsky", "Bergstrom", and "Kaine" to get an idea. The head principal at LMS is very passive and isn't really respected by the students or the parents. There is not much respect for the dress code at our school with many girls wearing short-shorts and tank tops.

All in all Longfellow isn't a very good school in itself, but the atmosphere, spirit, and quality of the teachers of the school make it worth going to.
I can't speak for cooper, but I've heard there is a lot more emphasis on popularity and social status there. There isn't a large community of high achieving academic students at Cooper. (0 TJ students came from TJ last year, abysmal extracurricular performance etc.)

I'm the PP and have to apologize for some of the spelling and grammar mistakes. I wrote it in a rush haha.

[Anonymous]

Sprinh Hill is a very good school and would go to longfellow in the gt or you live in that area. Then McLean or Langley. Maybe TJ it all dependes

[Anonymous]

Does anyone in this thread speak English as their first language??????