What do you know about Herndon High school?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
I'm also a proud Langley parent and let me set you straight on a few facts. My DC will be participating in the Langley Leap program, and it won't be at a "neighbor's daddy's firm". Here are the qualifications for participation: The Langley Leap 2013-14 Description of Program: Eligible seniors will participate in a 10-day internship in local businesses, schools, and community service organizations in our area. This experience will benefit students in numerous ways: to help them explore a possible area of interest in college, to provide tangible experience putting academic interests in action in a non-academic setting, and, for some, to have a chance to give time and effort to organizations that need both. Tentative Timing of Senior Experience: Last week of May and first weeks of June. These dates will be finalized after graduation week activities are determined. Selection of Students: A senior is eligible for the Langley Leap Senior Internships if she/he meets ALL of the following criteria. 1. A 2.75 cumulative GPA at 7th semester. Students must have a C or higher as a cumulative grade in each class at the end of the third quarter.2. No more than three (3) excused absences during the third quarter or three (3) excused absences during the fourth quarter until the internship starts, excluding school-related activities and two (2) days allotted for college visits. 3. Teachers’ signatures and the senior class principal’s signature to show that student is in good standing regarding attendance, discipline, and grades. 4. Completes Langley Leap Application Packet (available February 2014). 5. Attends Ethics Day Forum. Grading: Students will complete classes by the time the internships start. A student’s final grade for each class will be the determined by the grades achieved up to the point of the internship. Langley Leap seniors will be exempt from all final exams. I don't think having a minimum 2.75 cum. GPA is really asking too much in the way of eligibility, do you? If your child's GPA is less than that, don't you think they should be in class, taking the finals, and trying to improve their grades? |
Anonymous
Sorry, I should have read this before I posted! |
Anonymous
|
Herndon HS ranks fairly well.....
All Fairfax County high schools* have been designated among the most demanding public schools in the country and are featured in the 2014 Washington Post list of more than 1,900 top U.S. high schools. Oakton High School had the highest ranking of FCPS high schools on the list, which is based on a formula devised by Washington Post education reporter Jay Mathews. Oakton was ranked 144th on the 2014 list. Rankings for other Fairfax County Public Schools are: Centreville High School, 169; McLean High School, 177; Woodson High School, 185; Robinson Secondary School, 209; Langley High School, 233; Madison High School, 238; Fairfax High School, 251; Herndon High School, 254; West Potomac High School, 283; Lake Braddock Secondary School, 295; West Springfield High School, 330; Westfield High School, 332; Chantilly High School, 374; South Lakes High School, 407; Marshall High School, 422; South County High School, 456; Hayfield Secondary School, 664; Stuart High School, 823; Edison High School, 839; Lee High School, 944; Falls Church High School, 1229; Annandale High School, 1449; and Mount Vernon High School, 1928. The Challenge Index measures public and private high schools’ ability to challenge their students. A school’s ranking is determined by dividing the number of college-level tests given by a school to all its students by the number of graduates for that year. The index is designed to identify schools that challenge average students. |
Anonymous
After reading about this program at Langley vs Herndon. This is interesting about Langley. I don't know of any other high school that does this. Can others point to other high schools that do this? Herndon does not do this. Langley has about 550 seniors, and they have a program in which 100 to 200 of the seniors are selected and pulled out of class to do an internship program. What happens to the other 300 seniors? How do they view it? And other parents post, no that is fine, that is the way it should be. Seems Langley is unique and special. It makes you wonder what other exclusive programs they do to support the special 100 to 200 students at the expense of the other 300 students. |
Anonymous
I'm wondering where you're getting "100 to 200 students at the expense of the other 300 students"? Where does it say there is a maximum amount of kids they'll accept for this program? Any student who meets the minimum 2.75 GPA is eligible -- and it's already been pointed out that this isn't a very high threshold to reach. Further, how does this program occur "at the expense" of other students? Please, enlighten us as to how it could possibly be unfair to require a student to have a 2.75 GPA in order to participate, and how their participation impacts the other students who need to be in class improving their grades? |
Anonymous
|
Curious, what other schools do this?
Looks like at Langley it is only 2 years old. |
Anonymous
It looks like there was a max of 100 students two years ago when the program was piloted. It may have expanded since then. In practical terms, you could end up with a senior with a 2.5 average (B/C, no honor or AP classes to bump up GPA) who will surely graduate on time and is not as risk, but who is ineligible to participate in the program. He or she will be expected to sit through classes for two weeks in the late Spring, during which next to nothing is happening, and take final exams, while other classmates can boast about their "internships" that got them out of such tedium. You could also make an argument that the student with the 2.5 GPA is more likely to end up in the workplace sooner than the student with the 4.1 GPA headed off to Duke or W&M in the fall, and therefore might benefit more from an internship than the students allowed to do Langley Leap. So I can see an argument that this is "one more way" that Langley lets the average kids know that the administrators look down on them, although students at Langley who want practical experience can sign up for Academy classes at other schools and Langley Leap takes place so late in the school year that, realistically, most seniors just want to graduate and not reflect on where they stood in the school's pecking order. |
Anonymous
I've been following this thread with interest as my own senior DS will be participating in the Langley Leap. I asked him this afternoon about the kinds of kids who typically do it, etc. And, full disclosure, he doesn't have a high GPA - only 3.2 - so he's certainly not one of the over-achievers some PPs are trying to paint them as. He said that there are plenty of 4.0+ kids who aren't even interested in doing the L.L. and who stay at school to take finals, etc. So it's not as if all students above the 2.75 min. are fleeing school in a mass exodus, leaving behind those who "didn't make the cut". Many kids with high GPAs don't even want to participate. Some aren't interested in doing an internship and are fine with staying at school. So it's quite misleading to say that those participating in Langley Leap and those who don't are a reflection of the "pecking order". |
Anonymous
| Isn't this thread about HERNDON HS -- not Langley? We're getting off track with the 2 wk internship program. |
Anonymous
|
Here's another description of the Langley Leap from the recent Saxon Scope. Doesn't sound elitist in the least.
http://www.saxonscope.com/news-2/2014/04/02/leaping-into-new-experiences/ |
Anonymous
| I think that Langley would be a better option than Herndon |
Anonymous
Yeah, I think that's useful information to add. I elaborated on how LL might be seen positively or negatively precisely to try and "tease out" such anecdotes I can still see a scenario where an average kid who gets Bs and Cs at Langley, because that's really what he or she is capable of, feels like LL is another way in which the administration sends a signal that he or she is perceived negatively, but it sounds like it's unlikely that kids dwell on it that much. As I suggested earlier, I'd think most seniors just want to graduate at that late point in the school year, not engage in retrospective, wound-licking exercises. |
Anonymous
| Has anyone heard of any bullying, drugs, any other bad stuff at Herndon High? Or Langley for that matter? |
Anonymous
Every high school is going to have an element of the above. You won't be able to avoid it entirely, no matter what school your child goes to. |
Anonymous
Langley, drinking, drugs and sex are part of the culture. You can avoid it though, given the size of the school. I'm not sure about Herndon, though I do know there is more gang activity at Herndon, but not overt. |