Are there any small middle schools or k-8s in the VA public schools

[Anonymous]

Another satisfied parent in FCC schools. One building has K&1, another 2-4, middle is 5-7, and George Mason high school houses 8-12, although the eighth graders are kept separate from the "real" high schoolers.

There's a real small-town feel to the system. Everyone knows everyone else, and all the teachers and other staff really look out for the kids. Even the bus drivers drive the same route year after year and get to know their passengers and families.

[LeesburgResident]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria has converted Jefferson Houston elementary to a K-8 school, and I think I heard they will likely be doing the same at Cora Kelly elementary and one other campus in coming years.

Avoid both of these schools if you can help it.

These schools have among the highest FARMS percentages and lowest test scores in all of Alexandria City Public Schools. Various ideas have been floated to try and make those schools work (JH becoming an arts magnet, Kelly a math-science magnet), although Kelly is probably less of a failboat than Jefferson Houston (Mount Vernon is probably the second-worst ES in ACPS).

[Anonymous]

OHHHHHH, Alexandria is so scary! Pussies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OHHHHHH, Alexandria is so scary! Pussies.

What are the benefits of sending your kid to a high-poverty (as in over 50% FARMS) school?

[Anonymous]

Another option is to go private for 7th and 8th. There are many private schools that are K-8 and have very small classes.

[Anonymous]

Vienna Elementary is another school that is very small. Both are around 400 students for K-6 and have 2 teachers per classroom.

How is this possible, above the K level, unless there are 40+ kids in a class? How does Vienna Elementary have a totally different child/teacher ratio than the rest of the county?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OHHHHHH, Alexandria is so scary! Pussies.

Let's see:

-- Dysfunctional school board
-- A superintendent that makes impulsive changes based on the advice of highly paid buddy-consultants rather than conducting rational analyses to determine the efficacy of his recommendations
-- A culture of apartheid and failure at TC Williams (where one in five students don't graduate)
-- Two middle schools that have never been accredited.

Yes, I think that meets the definition of scary. The combination of at-risk students and an inept administration means nothing will change anytime soon. This is why we left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OHHHHHH, Alexandria is so scary! Pussies.

What are the benefits of sending your kid to a high-poverty (as in over 50% FARMS) school?

Um, how about exposing them to how the real world is instead of just your cracker cul-de-sac? And then trusting your abilities that you can guide your child through any pitfalls, which could arise no matter what school they attend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Vienna Elementary is another school that is very small. Both are around 400 students for K-6 and have 2 teachers per classroom.

How is this possible, above the K level, unless there are 40+ kids in a class? How does Vienna Elementary have a totally different child/teacher ratio than the rest of the county?

I do not believe this is completely accurate, though it may be true. Vienna Elementary is a special needs magnet, which will have favorable higher student teacher. Don;t get me wrong, everything I have heard indicate VES is an excellent school, and it has great freshly renovated facilities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
- A culture of apartheid and failure at TC Williams (where one in five students don't graduate)
-- Two middle schools that have never been accredited.

Not quite accurate:

"All Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) were fully accredited in the latest results with the exception of T.C. Williams High School and Jefferson-Houston School."

So both middle schools were accredited this year, and have been for the past few years as far as I know.

"T.C. Williams met benchmarks in all categories with the exception of the graduation completion rate. The Graduation Completion Index score for T.C. was 83; a score of 85 is required to meet the benchmark. Thus T.C. Williams was provisionally accredited. "
"
The on time graduation rate at TC Williams is 83%--so more like 1 in 6 than one in 5 (and that is really heavily affected by their high ESL population). Now--that's still not good news, but Arlington, often touted on these boards for it's schools has a rate of about 85% from the latest state stats.

ACPS has plenty of problems (including all the board, the superintendent, the defacto segregation of the schools) but let's not make up ones that aren't true.

For the record though, the only one that's currently K-8, J-H is the worst elementary school in the system:

"Jefferson-Houston received accredited with warning status in the categories of English, history, and science."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OHHHHHH, Alexandria is so scary! Pussies.

What are the benefits of sending your kid to a high-poverty (as in over 50% FARMS) school?

Um, how about exposing them to how the real world is instead of just your cracker cul-de-sac? And then trusting your abilities that you can guide your child through any pitfalls, which could arise no matter what school they attend?

Yeah, because the "real world" I want my kid to learn about is how to live in generational poverty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
- A culture of apartheid and failure at TC Williams (where one in five students don't graduate)
-- Two middle schools that have never been accredited.

Not quite accurate:

"All Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) were fully accredited in the latest results with the exception of T.C. Williams High School and Jefferson-Houston School."

So both middle schools were accredited this year, and have been for the past few years as far as I know.

"T.C. Williams met benchmarks in all categories with the exception of the graduation completion rate. The Graduation Completion Index score for T.C. was 83; a score of 85 is required to meet the benchmark. Thus T.C. Williams was provisionally accredited. "
"
The on time graduation rate at TC Williams is 83%--so more like 1 in 6 than one in 5 (and that is really heavily affected by their high ESL population). Now--that's still not good news, but Arlington, often touted on these boards for it's schools has a rate of about 85% from the latest state stats.

ACPS has plenty of problems (including all the board, the superintendent, the defacto segregation of the schools) but let's not make up ones that aren't true.

For the record though, the only one that's currently K-8, J-H is the worst elementary school in the system:

"Jefferson-Houston received accredited with warning status in the categories of English, history, and science."

yes, but I bet if they were compared, Arlington would in fact have a much higher number of ESL students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
- A culture of apartheid and failure at TC Williams (where one in five students don't graduate)
-- Two middle schools that have never been accredited.

Not quite accurate:

"All Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) were fully accredited in the latest results with the exception of T.C. Williams High School and Jefferson-Houston School."

So both middle schools were accredited this year, and have been for the past few years as far as I know.

"T.C. Williams met benchmarks in all categories with the exception of the graduation completion rate. The Graduation Completion Index score for T.C. was 83; a score of 85 is required to meet the benchmark. Thus T.C. Williams was provisionally accredited. "
"
The on time graduation rate at TC Williams is 83%--so more like 1 in 6 than one in 5 (and that is really heavily affected by their high ESL population). Now--that's still not good news, but Arlington, often touted on these boards for it's schools has a rate of about 85% from the latest state stats.

ACPS has plenty of problems (including all the board, the superintendent, the defacto segregation of the schools) but let's not make up ones that aren't true.

For the record though, the only one that's currently K-8, J-H is the worst elementary school in the system:

"Jefferson-Houston received accredited with warning status in the categories of English, history, and science."

Wrong, TC Williams had an on-time graduation rate of 79% last year. So, if it was 83% before, it's slipped sharply.
See http://www.doe.virginia.gov/statistics_reports/graduation_completion/cohort_reports/index.shtml

My bad if the middles got themselves accredited. That wasn't the case in the past. Good for them. I see GW was accredited with a warning in Math, so...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OHHHHHH, Alexandria is so scary! Pussies.

What are the benefits of sending your kid to a high-poverty (as in over 50% FARMS) school?

Um, how about exposing them to how the real world is instead of just your cracker cul-de-sac? And then trusting your abilities that you can guide your child through any pitfalls, which could arise no matter what school they attend?

Yeah, because the "real world" I want my kid to learn about is how to live in generational poverty.

But would it be so horrible for them to learn that there are families who face real economic challenges out there? Heck, it might even be enlightening and make them greatful for what they have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another satisfied parent in FCC schools. One building has K&1, another 2-4, middle is 5-7, and George Mason high school houses 8-12, although the eighth graders are kept separate from the "real" high schoolers.

There's a real small-town feel to the system. Everyone knows everyone else, and all the teachers and other staff really look out for the kids. Even the bus drivers drive the same route year after year and get to know their passengers and families.

And this will change in another 18 months - once the TJ addition is done the schools will be K-1, 2-5, 6-8, and 9-12 - a big piece of that was to get the 8th graders out of George Mason since it is hard for them to be in the same building. About 2000 kids district-wide, so you can do the math. The Kindergarten class this year though is the largest ever, with 165 kids is 7 classes.