I grew up hearing that the NoVA public schools were the best in the state

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I would say that there are more good schools in this area than just Langley, McLean, and Yorktown. YMMV

There's about 8 other Fairfax schools that are better than Yorktown.

I guess you do not understand what better really means.

What does it mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:North Arlington. Not FCC. And a number of FCPs in the top 20: McLean, Langley, Woodson, Oakton, Madison, Chantilly, W Springfield certainly come to mind. Several strong Loudoun schools. And TJ of course. The only non- NOVA school that competes is Maggie Walker, the other a Fat Governors school.

Plus the “down ballot schools”— especially those with strong AAP Centers.

There are some very strong schools in VB and Chesapeake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:North Arlington. Not FCC. And a number of FCPs in the top 20: McLean, Langley, Woodson, Oakton, Madison, Chantilly, W Springfield certainly come to mind. Several strong Loudoun schools. And TJ of course. The only non- NOVA school that competes is Maggie Walker, the other a Fat Governors school.

Plus the “down ballot schools”— especially those with strong AAP Centers.

There are some very strong schools in VB and Chesapeake.

I would guess Henrico and chesterfield counties as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:North Arlington. Not FCC. And a number of FCPs in the top 20: McLean, Langley, Woodson, Oakton, Madison, Chantilly, W Springfield certainly come to mind. Several strong Loudoun schools. And TJ of course. The only non- NOVA school that competes is Maggie Walker, the other a Fat Governors school.

Plus the “down ballot schools”— especially those with strong AAP Centers.

There are some very strong schools in VB and Chesapeake.

I would guess Henrico and chesterfield counties as well.

And yes, Prince William County has some strong schools although I guess that counts as NOVA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Just some of the states w stellar public high schools.

Historically, the northern states preceded the southern in education. Sadly, this still persists within some southern states today.

This. There are a lot of transplants from the north in NOVA just used to better quality. I have no idea what the schools are like in Southern Virginia compared to NOVA nor do I care if they aren't noted to be good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Just some of the states w stellar public high schools.

Historically, the northern states preceded the southern in education. Sadly, this still persists within some southern states today.

This. There are a lot of transplants from the north in NOVA just used to better quality. I have no idea what the schools are like in Southern Virginia compared to NOVA nor do I care if they aren't noted to be good.

Also, in NOVA there are a lot of transplants from all over the world, so they might be comparing NOVA schools to schools in other countries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:North Arlington. Not FCC. And a number of FCPs in the top 20: McLean, Langley, Woodson, Oakton, Madison, Chantilly, W Springfield certainly come to mind. Several strong Loudoun schools. And TJ of course. The only non- NOVA school that competes is Maggie Walker, the other a Fat Governors school.

Plus the “down ballot schools”— especially those with strong AAP Centers.

Huh? FCC has the best school system in the state

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm 50 and grew up attending all FCPS schools. They actually were excellent at the time. I now send my own kids to them, and sadly they are no longer excellent. Maybe compared to other areas, but not compared to how they used to be. FCPS has coasted on its reputation for far too long. I think they got complacent in the 80's and just let things slide. Grammar, writing - these are just not emphasized enough. It's sad that they've gone downhill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:North Arlington. Not FCC. And a number of FCPs in the top 20: McLean, Langley, Woodson, Oakton, Madison, Chantilly, W Springfield certainly come to mind. Several strong Loudoun schools. And TJ of course. The only non- NOVA school that competes is Maggie Walker, the other a Fat Governors school.

Plus the “down ballot schools”— especially those with strong AAP Centers.

Huh? FCC has the best school system in the state

From having lived in various parts of the state, I can tell you that pretty much every school claims that they are the top or one of the top in the state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm 50 and grew up attending all FCPS schools. They actually were excellent at the time. I now send my own kids to them, and sadly they are no longer excellent. Maybe compared to other areas, but not compared to how they used to be. FCPS has coasted on its reputation for far too long. I think they got complacent in the 80's and just let things slide. Grammar, writing - these are just not emphasized enough. It's sad that they've gone downhill.

The demographics have changed considerably since you were growing up as well.

[Anonymous]

Loudoun County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:North Arlington. Not FCC. And a number of FCPs in the top 20: McLean, Langley, Woodson, Oakton, Madison, Chantilly, W Springfield certainly come to mind. Several strong Loudoun schools. And TJ of course. The only non- NOVA school that competes is Maggie Walker, the other a Fat Governors school.

Plus the “down ballot schools”— especially those with strong AAP Centers.

There are some very strong schools in VB and Chesapeake.

I would guess Henrico and chesterfield counties as well.

And yes, Prince William County has some strong schools although I guess that counts as NOVA.

PWC has a huge MS-13 problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I'm 50 and grew up attending all FCPS schools. They actually were excellent at the time. I now send my own kids to them, and sadly they are no longer excellent. Maybe compared to other areas, but not compared to how they used to be. FCPS has coasted on its reputation for far too long. I think they got complacent in the 80's and just let things slide. Grammar, writing - these are just not emphasized enough. It's sad that they've gone downhill.

The demographics have changed considerably since you were growing up as well.

Fairfax County used to be almost entirely middle class. There used to be farm land and undeveloped parcels. I remember watching the change in the 90’s when I was in high school.
There has also been a shift in educational philosophy. They teach everything differently now. I’m not an educator, so I can’t speak to that.
They mainstream all kids. In the 80’s, special needs kids went to a different school.
So much has changed it’s impossible to compare FCPS’s of the 70’s/80’s/90’s to today.
But I agree that the quality isn’t the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Just some of the states w stellar public high schools.

Historically, the northern states preceded the southern in education. Sadly, this still persists within some southern states today.


This. There are a lot of transplants from the north in NOVA just used to better quality. I have no idea what the schools are like in Southern Virginia compared to NOVA nor do I care if they aren't noted to be good.

Transplant here. I taught in NY before coming here to teach. I can verify the change. There were much higher standards in NY. The people who say it used to be better are also right to some degree (it really depends on the track and the school now). My experience is that the newer teachers are not the same caliber and have been schooled in monitoring the testing "data". There are some exceptions for sure, but in general this is the trend.

[Anonymous]

Also some good public high schools in the midwest . . . Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois suburban areas.