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Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)
any info on REston and Herndon schools...ES and MS....
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Anonymous
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We love our Loudoun County elementary school. Our DC is getting the differentiation he requires. His class size is only 22 students, compared to some 27-28 student classes in FFX co. schools. We live just beyond the Fairfax County line.
We do not have to take the Toll Road daily to/from work which makes a huge difference commute-wise. |
Anonymous
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Definitely check 20171 in Herndon. There is Franklin Farm, Oak Hill, Floris and Franklin Glen developments - some neighborhoods are older than others. This is on the south side of the toll road. If you go for Reston, make sure to stay north of the toll road.
FYI - Coates Elementary in Herndon is in it's 2nd year and has a very diverse population so there may not be much data available for them. I want to say that McNair students were mostly shuffled to Coates and McNair has been converted to mostly a GT center (not positive though.) Lastly - on the south edge of Reston off West Ox and even south of 20171 off 7100 you can get Fairfax and be zoned for Navy Elementary but the homes are only about 10-15 min from Herndon/Reston. |
Anonymous
I totally disagree. Personally, I would pick Hunters Woods or Sunrise Valley in Reston over Floris in a hearbeat, and they are both south of the toll road. |
Anonymous
This is the stupidest reply I have heard on DCUM. I am not saying that in order to be in a "better" school district you need to be in great falls/mcLean. I am in the Lees Corner school district. Because Lee's Corner is not a Title I school and is a decent elementary school I will not turn off potential families when it comes time to sell my home which we plan on doing in the next few years. And the majority of homes in our school district are single family homes/townhomes under 600K. If you plan on living in your home for the next 20+ years then by all means go to a Title I school and help diversify the population of Title I schools. Just be realistic about how long you want to live in your home if you decide to purchase a home in a title I school |
Anonymous
This is the stupidest reply I have heard on DCUM. I am not saying that in order to be in a "better" school district you need to be in great falls/mcLean. I am in the Lees Corner school district. Because Lee's Corner is not a Title I school and is a decent elementary school I will not turn off potential families when it comes time to sell my home which we plan on doing in the next few years. And the majority of homes in our school district are single family homes/townhomes under 600K. If you plan on living in your home for the next 20+ years then by all means go to a Title I school and help diversify the population of Title I schools. Just be realistic about how long you want to live in your home if you decide to purchase a home in a title I school |
Anonymous
| I dont think mcnair is a title 1 anymore |
Anonymous
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For a nice community in Herndon with homes under $600k, check out the Kingston Chase subdivision in Herndon and Clearview elementary school. It is (gasp) 20170 but it's a nice HOA development with it's own pool, close-knit, etc. Before anyone says it's a lousy school or area, I went there, and I went to on to the Ivy league and to grad school, so it is possible, even with (also gasp) a highly diverse student body.
Here's an example of a house for sale in that neighborhood: http://www.redfin.com/VA/Herndon/12603-Bayou-Dr-20170/home/9094794 I'll say what I would say when I see any posting about school quality on these boards: it's really crazy how minutely everyone wants to compare the schools, when what will probably matter most is how involved the parents are in their child's schooling. Relax a little bit people. |
Anonymous
| Anyone have personal experience with Crossfield ES? Would you buy the bigger housse in 20171 or the smaller house in Oakton/Vienna? |
Anonymous
Where are you commuting? If I were working in the Dulles Corredor/Route 28 area, I'd probably look for a house in the Crossfield/Carson/Oakton pyramid. If I were working in the Tysons area or closer to DC, I'd look in Vienna. You could not pay me to live in Oak Hill and commute to Arlington or DC. |
Anonymous
| 7:10 poster...dh works in the route 28 area and I work pt in Mclean. |
Anonymous
Ha! Ha! very very funny. They will realise in no time that Loundon is much worser than Fairfax in Asian population. Atleast there is a mix of all kinds of Asians in Fairfax. Loundon, I dont want to even go there. |
Anonymous
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I think what people need to consider is that most people who make claims about schools do so strictly based on their Title I status, and test scores without really looking closely at a school, or having any direct experience.
We bought our first home in 2001 in South Reston in 2001 for $237,500. We sold said home in 2005 for $565,000 after purchasing another home in our neighborhood to flip, and deciding to move into the flip instead. So, for those who claimed that the value of a home in a Title I school neighborhood (in our case Dogwood) would not appreciate, you are wrong there. Homes in our neighborhood at the peak were selling for about $580K, now, as with homes in Oak Hill, Reston (all areas) and Herndon have gone down, about $500K currently, but all areas have seen this decline (at least in Reston/Herndon/Oak Hill, most of my friends in those areas have lost about 75-100K in value). When all home values were skyrocketing, they were here in South Reston too. What you can get in South Reston is alot more house for the money. These homes are very close to upcoming metro sites (Wiehle 2013, Herndon/Monroe-later). The lot sizes are much larger, ours is .50 acre, which is hard to come by in this area. Single family homes with 4BR, 2.5 baths, with nice neighborhoods. With regard to schools...as mentioned, we feed into Dogwood. We got sucked into the test score frenzy, and decided to exercise our right to opt out for our oldest son (now 3rd). We ended up at Crossfield. We have had mixed experiences at Crossfield. The school has an active parent population. We have had some good teachers, and some we did not love. I would not call the school diverse, which actually bothers me, living in such a diverse area. The class sizes are very large, which I think really limits differentiation. (30 in my son's 3rd grade)I have been doing lots of research lately, especially after realizing that the Advanced Academic options at many schools (including Crossfield) for the general population are very limited. Crossfield only has an AAP teacher 2 days a week. Our oldest will remain there as they now have one Local Level IV class for each grade. (we preferred this to a center to avoid changing schools). Next year, we will be starting our middle child at Dogwood due to the full time AAP teacher, smaller class sizes, as well as the fact that eveyrone I know who chose Dogwood chose to keep thier children there, even when given the option to send to an AAP Center. They feel that at every academic level, the differentiation is much better than at other schools. I have friends at Hunters Woods (also South Reston) who are very happy there. i think that anyone who is open minded enough to look past test scores might be pleasantly surprised with what their $$ buys them in (gasp ) South Reston |
Anonymous
| Actually, the AAP position at Crossfield which is on site 2 days/week is the AAP coordinator, not an AAP teacher. Crossfield has full time AAP teachers for their grades 3-6. |
Anonymous
| PP, I am aware that the classes for 3-6 have their own AAP teachers for Local Level IV. Perhaps my post did not come across clearly. The AAP coordinator is the one who works with the teachers to set up the differentiation for children who have not been placed in Local Level IV, or who helps identify children whose needs are not being met. I think at a school like Crossfield, 2 days is just not enough, and I have found that they end up just doing AAP lessons for the whole grade, as opposed to really having time to differentiate based on needs of individual students. Since all students have strengths in different areas, and so many classes are bursting at the seams, I think it is really difficult for the teachers to do anything more than just survive. I think having an AAP there full time would do wonders for the classroom teachers ability to tailor lessons to the strengths of all students. That said, we have had a wonderful year this year, but are in a regular class group with one of the AAP teachers (at least in 3rd grade, one teaches math/science, one teaches language arts/social studies....so, perhaps this is the difference. I do think Crossfield has a great involved parent population, and some great teachers. I just wanted to share what I saw were it's limitations. |
Anonymous
| 20170 has some nice communities. some of which are in the langley school district and reasonably priced homes. check it out. |