Wakefield High School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't be ok with Wakefield, partly because we are 1/2 mile from Yorktown and very far from Wakefield. I don't want my kid bussed all over town. And partly because I paid a very large amount of money for a very old, not-fully-renovated house to be in-bounds for Yorktown. (would have been fine with W-L.) If I wanted Wakefield, I would have spent less and gotten a nicer house.

So yes, I'd be annoyed.

This is why I would be annoyed as well. I genuinely don't have an issue with my kids going to Wakefield, but the reality is the school boundaries significantly affects property values. A lot of people are not ok with Wakefield, right or wrong.

What is the issue? They have a new building and it sounds like some good programs there.

Educationally, Wakefield is fine. Some people are afraid of it because it has a higher proportion of FARMs kids and brown-skinned kids.

Well most people don't like the test scores and high number of ESL / FARMS. Nothing to do w/ skin color.

[Anonymous]

There are lots of white middle class families moving to south arlington, and they leave by elementary school bc of south arlington schools. I see it all the time.

[Anonymous]

Wakefield is one of the worst high schools in NoVa. Not many people who paid more to live in a decent district will want their kids to be the guinea pigs imported to make it look slightly less awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wakefield is one of the worst high schools in NoVa. Not many people who paid more to live in a decent district will want their kids to be the guinea pigs imported to make it look slightly less awful.

Why is it so bad? Does the county ignore it?

[Anonymous]

15:53, Wakefield is ranked ahead of TC Williams and at least a few of the Fairfax high schools. And it's ranked ahead of a couple hundred other schools in other parts of Northern Virginia. It's also probably comparable to or better than at least a handful of Montco schools, any DC high school except the one that serves upper NW and the high schools in Prince William.

It has the same resources as the other Arlington high schools, though probably with less money for the PTA. Same caliber of teachers. Same curriculum. Same sports teams, I believe. (including the preppy sports like LAX.) It just has more FARMS kids, ESL kids and minority kids because South Arlington includes the families who can't afford a $700K+ SFH, a $600K+ townhouse or a $500K+ condo.

In 2009 (the numbers I have available), the % of kids from Wakefield who went on to college was 86%, vs. 91% for W-L, 94% for HBW and 96% for Yorktown. The graduation rates for whites: 92.6% WF, 95.4% WL, 96.4% HBW and 98.4% Yorktown. Impressive given that WF has a 49% FARMS rate due to Yorktown's 15%.

[Anonymous]

9:34 here - not "due to yorktown's" but "compared to Yorktown's"...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:15:53, Wakefield is ranked ahead of TC Williams and at least a few of the Fairfax high schools. And it's ranked ahead of a couple hundred other schools in other parts of Northern Virginia. It's also probably comparable to or better than at least a handful of Montco schools, any DC high school except the one that serves upper NW and the high schools in Prince William.

It has the same resources as the other Arlington high schools, though probably with less money for the PTA. Same caliber of teachers. Same curriculum. Same sports teams, I believe. (including the preppy sports like LAX.) It just has more FARMS kids, ESL kids and minority kids because South Arlington includes the families who can't afford a $700K+ SFH, a $600K+ townhouse or a $500K+ condo.

In 2009 (the numbers I have available), the % of kids from Wakefield who went on to college was 86%, vs. 91% for W-L, 94% for HBW and 96% for Yorktown. The graduation rates for whites: 92.6% WF, 95.4% WL, 96.4% HBW and 98.4% Yorktown. Impressive given that WF has a 49% FARMS rate due to Yorktown's 15%.

Wakefield had lower SAT scores this year than TC Williams, any high school in Fairfax County, and several schools in Prince William. It may have higher SOL scores than a few of those schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wakefield had lower SAT scores this year than TC Williams, any high school in Fairfax County, and several schools in Prince William. It may have higher SOL scores than a few of those schools.

I wish people were a little more clear when they describe schools as "good" or "not good". It seems like two different things are constantly conflated -
a) the quality of the facilities and teaching - I think most people would agree that Wakefield is on par with other Arlington high schools
b) the socio-demographic make-up - clearly - Wakefield is much more diverse that any other Arlington high school.

People toss around test scores as if it is a measure of school quality. I suspect a quick quantitative analysis could show that almost all the variation Arlington high school test scores are a function of differences in the income and race distribution of the student body.

My kids will be going to W-L, but I wouldn't hesitate to send them to Wakefield. The whole AP program is effectively a school-within-a-school and that is the peer effects they would be dealing with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:15:53, Wakefield is ranked ahead of TC Williams and at least a few of the Fairfax high schools. And it's ranked ahead of a couple hundred other schools in other parts of Northern Virginia. It's also probably comparable to or better than at least a handful of Montco schools, any DC high school except the one that serves upper NW and the high schools in Prince William.

It has the same resources as the other Arlington high schools, though probably with less money for the PTA. Same caliber of teachers. Same curriculum. Same sports teams, I believe. (including the preppy sports like LAX.) It just has more FARMS kids, ESL kids and minority kids because South Arlington includes the families who can't afford a $700K+ SFH, a $600K+ townhouse or a $500K+ condo.

In 2009 (the numbers I have available), the % of kids from Wakefield who went on to college was 86%, vs. 91% for W-L, 94% for HBW and 96% for Yorktown. The graduation rates for whites: 92.6% WF, 95.4% WL, 96.4% HBW and 98.4% Yorktown. Impressive given that WF has a 49% FARMS rate due to Yorktown's 15%.

Wakefield had lower SAT scores this year than TC Williams, any high school in Fairfax County, and several schools in Prince William. It may have higher SOL scores than a few of those schools.

SAT is much more correlated to income and demographics b/c of the importance of tutoring and test prep. SOL is more the domain of what the school is doing, not the parents contribution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wakefield had lower SAT scores this year than TC Williams, any high school in Fairfax County, and several schools in Prince William. It may have higher SOL scores than a few of those schools.

I wish people were a little more clear when they describe schools as "good" or "not good". It seems like two different things are constantly conflated -
a) the quality of the facilities and teaching - I think most people would agree that Wakefield is on par with other Arlington high schools
b) the socio-demographic make-up - clearly - Wakefield is much more diverse that any other Arlington high school.

People toss around test scores as if it is a measure of school quality. I suspect a quick quantitative analysis could show that almost all the variation Arlington high school test scores are a function of differences in the income and race distribution of the student body.

My kids will be going to W-L, but I wouldn't hesitate to send them to Wakefield. The whole AP program is effectively a school-within-a-school and that is the peer effects they would be dealing with.

I suspect you're right, but then why are people so worried about property values? If they redistricted to send more higher income kids to Wakefield….wouldn't its scores rise, making it less of a performance outlier?

It's not like property values in the area of the new Discovery Elementary are plummeting, even though hundreds of kids are going to go to a school that is a complete unknown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wakefield had lower SAT scores this year than TC Williams, any high school in Fairfax County, and several schools in Prince William. It may have higher SOL scores than a few of those schools.

I wish people were a little more clear when they describe schools as "good" or "not good". It seems like two different things are constantly conflated -
a) the quality of the facilities and teaching - I think most people would agree that Wakefield is on par with other Arlington high schools
b) the socio-demographic make-up - clearly - Wakefield is much more diverse that any other Arlington high school.

People toss around test scores as if it is a measure of school quality. I suspect a quick quantitative analysis could show that almost all the variation Arlington high school test scores are a function of differences in the income and race distribution of the student body.

My kids will be going to W-L, but I wouldn't hesitate to send them to Wakefield. The whole AP program is effectively a school-within-a-school and that is the peer effects they would be dealing with.

My comment went only to the reference to rankings. There are different ways to rank schools and people are quick to assert some schools are better than others without explaining what they mean.

Wakefield may do a good job for the students who go there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:15:53, Wakefield is ranked ahead of TC Williams and at least a few of the Fairfax high schools. And it's ranked ahead of a couple hundred other schools in other parts of Northern Virginia. It's also probably comparable to or better than at least a handful of Montco schools, any DC high school except the one that serves upper NW and the high schools in Prince William.

It has the same resources as the other Arlington high schools, though probably with less money for the PTA. Same caliber of teachers. Same curriculum. Same sports teams, I believe. (including the preppy sports like LAX.) It just has more FARMS kids, ESL kids and minority kids because South Arlington includes the families who can't afford a $700K+ SFH, a $600K+ townhouse or a $500K+ condo.

In 2009 (the numbers I have available), the % of kids from Wakefield who went on to college was 86%, vs. 91% for W-L, 94% for HBW and 96% for Yorktown. The graduation rates for whites: 92.6% WF, 95.4% WL, 96.4% HBW and 98.4% Yorktown. Impressive given that WF has a 49% FARMS rate due to Yorktown's 15%.

Wakefield had lower SAT scores this year than TC Williams, any high school in Fairfax County, and several schools in Prince William. It may have higher SOL scores than a few of those schools.

SAT is much more correlated to income and demographics b/c of the importance of tutoring and test prep. SOL is more the domain of what the school is doing, not the parents contribution.

Not saying this is the case at Wakefield, but if a school's primary focus is drilling kids relentlessly to do well on mind-numbing state exams designed to confirm basic competency, that's not necessarily something that screams "quality" to many parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:15:53, Wakefield is ranked ahead of TC Williams and at least a few of the Fairfax high schools. And it's ranked ahead of a couple hundred other schools in other parts of Northern Virginia. It's also probably comparable to or better than at least a handful of Montco schools, any DC high school except the one that serves upper NW and the high schools in Prince William.

It has the same resources as the other Arlington high schools, though probably with less money for the PTA. Same caliber of teachers. Same curriculum. Same sports teams, I believe. (including the preppy sports like LAX.) It just has more FARMS kids, ESL kids and minority kids because South Arlington includes the families who can't afford a $700K+ SFH, a $600K+ townhouse or a $500K+ condo.

In 2009 (the numbers I have available), the % of kids from Wakefield who went on to college was 86%, vs. 91% for W-L, 94% for HBW and 96% for Yorktown. The graduation rates for whites: 92.6% WF, 95.4% WL, 96.4% HBW and 98.4% Yorktown. Impressive given that WF has a 49% FARMS rate due to Yorktown's 15%.

Wakefield had lower SAT scores this year than TC Williams, any high school in Fairfax County, and several schools in Prince William. It may have higher SOL scores than a few of those schools.

SAT is much more correlated to income and demographics b/c of the importance of tutoring and test prep. SOL is more the domain of what the school is doing, not the parents contribution.

Actually SOL scores are also highly correlated to income and poverty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have heard nothing but positive things from parents there. FWIW, my kids aren't anywhere near HS age yet, and we're zoned for W-L, but picked our house based on other factors, as we went into it happy to buy anywhere in the county. I'd be more than happy for my kids to attend Wakefield.

that's not the issue. if rezoned to Wakefield your house would easily lost 25% to 30% market value overnight. would you still be 'more than happy' then?

i didn't think so either.

Bit quick to throw around such sweeping statements, no? People like you just desperately try to perpetuate the South vs North divide. Kinda sad, really.

And yes, I'm still more than happy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have heard nothing but positive things from parents there. FWIW, my kids aren't anywhere near HS age yet, and we're zoned for W-L, but picked our house based on other factors, as we went into it happy to buy anywhere in the county. I'd be more than happy for my kids to attend Wakefield.

that's not the issue. if rezoned to Wakefield your house would easily lost 25% to 30% market value overnight. would you still be 'more than happy' then?

i didn't think so either.

Bit quick to throw around such sweeping statements, no? People like you just desperately try to perpetuate the South vs North divide. Kinda sad, really.

what's sad is the divide and denying it - which gives APS and county politicians an easy out of not dealing with the inequality.

Anonymous wrote:And yes, I'm still more than happy

ha, but it'll never happen and you know it.