Fairfax High school
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Anonymous
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One bonus of FHS is that the FCPS "academy" classes are there. FHS houses most of the arts classes (and also chinese I think) Graphic Design, Musical Theatre, Dance, Fashion, Music Production, etc. Because of that it has a spectacular arts program if that is something your child may eventually be interested in.
After the recent renovation I think it's a beautiful and well thoughtout space and I would send my child there in a heartbeat. Like other "mega schools" -- Robinson/Lake Braddock there is something to be said about how large a student body it has (I understand the other two have 7th and 8th, but just in terms of sheer number of students) But by being seperated by grades, and then teams it makes it much more do-able for freshman. |
Anonymous
With a few schools, you might be concerned that there just isn't a large enough cohort of motivated students and involved parents to challenge your kid. But I think that's the exception in FCPS, and certainly not relevant where Fairfax HS and the schools that feed into it are concerned. |
Anonymous
Would be "silly" to assume a higher mortgage or bad commute just because you also "assume" that a school is "bad" because it is more diverse and therefore has some groups that do worse than average. Whereas, those same "bad"/undesireable schools also have large groups of students that do JUST AS WELL the "top" high schools where there aren't many groups that bring the average down. Please look at the SAT scores or SOL scores for the group that your kids fit into and THEN decide whether that "bottom" school is really a bad school. B/c you'll most likely find that kids at schools like South Lakes, West Springfield, even Herndon have large sections of their population that do quite well on the SATs -- comparable to schools like Oakton and such. "Silly" == 
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Anonymous
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PP: No - what is silly is making a claim that all HS in FCPS are the same - which is what I am disputing.
If you want to believe otherwise - too bad for your kids. And as far as budget and mortgage go - knowing all schools are NOT the same, WILL help in making better HS decisions, for the same budget. I though you would get this, but reading your comment, I guess not. |
Anonymous
| no one ever said they are the same - just that you can get a good education at just about any FCPS school. The schools in the middle of the pack are NOT "bad" schools - The basic difference is in the student body makeup. We all know there are rich and priviledged children in certain parts of Fairfax and we all know there are parts of the county that aren't as well off. In an ideal world, we'd figure out how to mix them all in the same proportions in every school in the county. Unfortunately, that isn't how districting works. It is just aggravating to see so many people steering people away from perfectly good schools just because they aren't the top 5. |
Anonymous
| 22:44, I might agree with -- or at least understand -- you if OP was talking about Stuart, Mount Vernon, etc., or even South Lakes/West Potomac, but Fairfax? Come on. You've gotta be a pretty big school snob to be steering folks to the Big 5 (Langley, McLean, Madison, Woodson, Oakton) from Fairfax. |
Anonymous
The whole "Big 5" talk seems like an effort to talk about public schools as if they are select, private schools. They aren't. They are still public schools that are part of a large county-wide school system that is very good in some respects and very bureaucratic in others. I've had kids at both a "Big 5" school and another FCPS high school. Neither of those schools was Woodson or Fairfax, but each had its advantages and disadvantages. I wouldn't let the school assignments dictate the decision where to buy a house in Fairfax, except perhaps at the margins. |
Anonymous
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I agree that all high schools are not the same.
What I don't agree with (and what I call "silly") is promoting the idea that when the overall school average SAT score is greater than 1700, then it is among the "best" schools in Ffx Cnty. Why? Because there are many schools in Ffx Cnty where the certain populations (usually white and/or asian groups) have an average SAT score greater than 1700 -- But, because these groups' scores are averaged with kids who have lower SAT scores (i.e. more diverse schools), the SCHOOL Average SAT looks low compared to the schools where there is less diversity. It is far too simplistic and frankly, misleading to say "the schools with overall SAT average greater than 1700 are "good."" Would you like to know where the average for at least one group of students is greater than 1700? Did you have schools like West Potomac on your list? How about Herndon? How about South Lakes? Robinson? Fairfax? Of course the list also includes West Spring., Lake Braddock, Langley, Madison, Woodson, Oakton, and McLean. If schools like West Pot., Herndon, South Lakes and Robinson are so "bad" at providing an education, how did the average SAT score for white students end up higher than 1700? Or what about Chantilly and Centerville (and others)? How did the average score for Asian students get above 1700? Are all of these students paying for instruction outside of the public school? Doubtful. I will grant you that there are cultural differences in each school in Ffx Cnty (they are not "equal"). But the difference is more about what the students bring to the class in terms of motivation, NOT what the county is bringing to the students in terms of quality instruction. Your logic that having an school-wide SAT average of greater than 1700 as the standard for identifying the "best" schools doesn't hold water (and pretty much undermines your theory of which schools are the best). |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| 9:59 - with the last post, you clinched the troll award of the day. |
Anonymous
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You sound like a Real Estate agent, trying to sell a home in a school district, which clearly is average.
Just say as it is and stopping typing so much. The earlier poster has it right - FFX HS is OK. There are other schools better and if you can afford them, look at those - even if that mean, loosing the Real Estate client.
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Anonymous
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Not a real estate agent at all, although I do look at real estate and I consider lots of different high schools in the process. What I've found is that it doesn't make sense to broadly categorize certain schools in Ffx Cnty as "bad" or even "average" just b/c they tend to have higher populations of lower performing kids --- b/c they also have equally HIGH performing kids just like the "best" schools do. And the "bad" or "average" schools ARE doing a good job of educating kids who want to learn (as shown by the average SAT scores of groups == white and asian === which are the same groups creating the high scores at the schools you consider "the best.") The only difference between chools like Herndon/ South Lakes/ Robinson/ Fairfax and the schools some people like to call "the best" is that the latter have little diversity (and therefore only a small percentage of kids who are scoring low).
My gripe is that people label a school as "bad" when the school simply has a wider mix of student achievement. Those high-performing students at the diverse schools, and the schools themselves aren't getting the credit they deserve. The so-called "best" schools are getting far more credit than they deserve simply b/c they have an easy (less diverse) student body. |
Anonymous
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13:57, I completely agree. And i believe diversity is an asset - its the real world. Sad thing is some people just don't want snowflake attending school with too many brown kids or too many poor kids. Like the 'under acheiving' is going to rub off.
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Anonymous
You sound like someone who lives in one of the least expensive houses in the Woodson district, where the homes aren't much to brag about. Just say it as it is and stop typing so much. The earlier poster has it right - FFX HS has a lot to offer its students. People who live in less expensive homes in the "top" school districts seem to derive a sense of self-worth from touting their own schools. See how much fun we can have when we stoop to making assumptions about one another that may or may not be accurate. |
Anonymous
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Nope 12:43 has it right. FHS is average, middle of the pack, IN-SPITE of good programs.
My child will be attending FHS and I am not fooling myself into thinking "Oh, FHS has diversity, so that makes up for its SAT scores being just average". I much rather have a diverse HS that ALSO shows top notch academic performance. FHS does not. And btw, after reading through the entire thread, the real point of contention was whether ANY FCPS HS will suffice. And clearly the SAT scores show that this is not the case. So, continue to harp on diversity, when the real issue is performance. |