NoVa public schools? alexandria or arlington?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happens after primary/middle school? I didn't think TC Williams had an IB program at the high school level.

good question. Maybe the long range plan is to offer the IB program at TC Williams?

[Anonymous]

I don't know if it's a good question, but it's an obvious one. Making a big deal of a new K-8 IB program without being able to tell people what happens at the high school level seems to suggest poor planning (or at least poor PR), if not a certain amount of desperation, on the part of those running ACPS.

[Anonymous]

I would say there is a great deal of desperation about what to do with Jefferson Houston. They tried an "Arts Magnet" approach at the same time they did the "Traditional Academy" at Lyles-Crouch. For a host of reasons, Lyles-Crouch has been wildly successful (so successful that they don't do the lottery anymore -- they are oversubscribed with in-boundary kids), and the focus at Jefferson-Houston was abandoned and the school is half empty. There is a small parent group at J-H that were trying to improve things and it seems that the Administration has basically said they would do anything that didn't involve spending money on new facilities or redrawing boundaries. The parent group came up with the I-B idea. I get the impression that the K-8 initiative was not tied to the I-B program, and the decision was made based upon other factors we can only speculate about, but are probably based upon trying to find a use for a half-empty building at a time when many Alexandria schools are overcrowded. The cynics do suggest that the proposal is intended to keep the disadvantaged kids at J-H out of the larger middle school population. The Administration has also admitted recently that it may have to address the boundary issues, even if it is limiting in-boundary enrollment at over-crowded schools.

[Anonymous]

Well this is depressing to read:

Home » News Releases » 2009-2010 » March 5, 2010

T.C. Williams High School May Receive Additional Grant Funding: Classified as a Persistently Lowest-Achieving School

http://www.acps.k12.va.us/news2010/nr2010030503.php

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria is basically seggregated. It has 800 public housing units in north old town. It has a lot of low income apartments in the north end and some on the very west end that cater towards el salvadorean immigrants. In the middle is where the rich white families live (George Mason & MacArthur). So not surprisingly the test scores at George Mason & MaArthur are terrific while those at Houston, Kelly, Maury, etc. are terrible. When it comes time to merge elementary students into Middle schools, white flight takes hold and affluent families flee to the many private middle and high schools in the area. The high schools (they have a 9th grade H.S. and a 10-12 H.S.) is a mix of middle class students (of all races), really poor el salvadorean immigrants, and really poor black children living in public housing. The end result is those middle class students end up doing pretty good and are pretty much separated from the rest. The other 2/3's is kind of like a remedial school with lots of problems.

Arlington is similar except it does not have many public housing units and twice the number of El Salvadorean immigrants living south of Rt. 50. The schools in south Arlington have significant populations of ESL students and they devote a lot of resources trying get them up to speed. The middle class families in South Arlington aggressively try to get into magnet programs or opt for private school. The north side of Arlington is pretty affluent and those schools score through the roof. The middle portion Arlington (i.e. just south of Wilson Blvd., towards Ballston) is much more of a mix. So the test scores for Yorktown are extremely high (among the highest in the country), Washington Lee (high but nowhere near the best schools in the area), and Wakefield is very low. But each schools caters to a widely different demographic and are pretty successful with what they are dealt.

I agree with some of this, but across the board Alexandria City elementary schools are way more diverse racially and economically than Arlington. The highest performing elementary schools in Arlington are north of Rt 29, where there is almost nothing but upper middle class white families. In Alexandria, most of the elementary schools with the exception of one or two, such as Mason, have equivalent numbers of minority and free/subsidized lunch students. I find Arlington to be WAY more segregated in this regard. Also, it is not just rich white families that live in the MacArthur district, or the Lyles Crouch district, or the Maury district. These schools are incredibly diverse and are success stories. Trust me; I live in one of them. Also, I may be white, but I'm sure not rich. Your statement is very broad brush.

[Anonymous]

I agree with 18:55 that the statement is more or less ok, but a bit simplistic. There are plenty of white middle class families attending their local south arlington schools, and the whole description forgets that there actually are middle class people of color in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

We live in Arlington and are very happy with our public schools. We also researched Alexandria schools but decided Arlington was better for us.

[Anonymous]

The broad brush stroke stereotype of Alexandria is just that (as it might be for Arlington, but I don't know Arlington schools, so can't say). "Alexandria is bascially segregrated" is grossly offensive and comes from someone with a pretty big chip on his/her shoulder. The racial description of TC Williams is off base, offensive, and I doubt comes from someone who has spent much time in our school system.

I graduated from Alexandria public schools and the system is different in terms of scale because there is one high school. All children, rich or poor, those that speak English as a first or second language, etc. go through the system and then to TC. The school system has some of the brightest students in the nation, students that need considerable extra help, and everything in between. In my graduating class, we had dozens of students attend a college or university ranked in the top 5 nationally, including children of immigrant families attending Harvard, MIT, and a score of other excellent schools. And plenty of families with the means don't take to "white flight". As for me, I'm not one of the "really poor black children living in public housing" that makes up the black population of TC... I'm a product of a lower-middle class black family and worked my way through the schools and into and through a top 3 university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The broad brush stroke stereotype of Alexandria is just that (as it might be for Arlington, but I don't know Arlington schools, so can't say). "Alexandria is bascially segregrated" is grossly offensive and comes from someone with a pretty big chip on his/her shoulder. The racial description of TC Williams is off base, offensive, and I doubt comes from someone who has spent much time in our school system.

I graduated from Alexandria public schools and the system is different in terms of scale because there is one high school. All children, rich or poor, those that speak English as a first or second language, etc. go through the system and then to TC. The school system has some of the brightest students in the nation, students that need considerable extra help, and everything in between. In my graduating class, we had dozens of students attend a college or university ranked in the top 5 nationally, including children of immigrant families attending Harvard, MIT, and a score of other excellent schools. And plenty of families with the means don't take to "white flight". As for me, I'm not one of the "really poor black children living in public housing" that makes up the black population of TC... I'm a product of a lower-middle class black family and worked my way through the schools and into and through a top 3 university.

18:55 here. Thank you for putting this so well, better than I did. It's very easy for people to judge when they happen to live in a district with a "high-performing" school. A close friend of mine sent her daughter through Barcroft in Arlington--considered "low-performing" compared with blinding white schools like Jamestown, or Nottingham, or McKinley in North Arlington--and she LOVED it, because the principal was great, the teachers were great, the staff was great. A large percentage of the population is on subsidized lunch, or in ESL, the latter factor which brings down test scores, which contributes to the "low-performing" characterization. Too bad, because by all accounts it is a great place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in Arlington and are very happy with our public schools. We also researched Alexandria schools but decided Arlington was better for us.

PP here--care to share which schools you are happy with? I'd love to hear they are South Arlington schools. Are they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my graduating class [at TC], we had dozens of students attend a college or university ranked in the top 5 nationally, including children of immigrant families attending Harvard, MIT, and a score of other excellent schools.

Really - dozens at Harvard, Yale, Princeton and two others that are in the "top 5 nationally"? Can you back this up? I wasn't aware of any local school, except perhaps TJHSST, where that might be the case. I'd expect parents to move to Alexandria City just for TC Williams if this is true. Or are you taking just a bit of literary license to make a point?

[Anonymous]

I find the TJ stat interesting too since yesterday the study about 25% of the student body is considered not succeeding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my graduating class [at TC], we had dozens of students attend a college or university ranked in the top 5 nationally, including children of immigrant families attending Harvard, MIT, and a score of other excellent schools.

Really - dozens at Harvard, Yale, Princeton and two others that are in the "top 5 nationally"? Can you back this up? I wasn't aware of any local school, except perhaps TJHSST, where that might be the case. I'd expect parents to move to Alexandria City just for TC Williams if this is true. Or are you taking just a bit of literary license to make a point?

I am pretty dubious of this claim also but I am guessing the poster meant over the collective years that dozes of students have gone to those schools.

I have come to the conclusion that to get a good outcome from TC you need to be white, smart and athletic otherwise, you will be lucky to get a basic education and not beat up by a gang

[Anonymous]

Alexandria will be tearing down a lot of its public housing in Old Town this year. This should change the demographics of the area significantly.

Here is the company website that will be revitalizing the area.

http://www.eya.com/

Also, a lot can change it 10 years. The Clarendon/Virginia Square area was not that nice 10 years ago.

[Anonymous]

The Clarendon/Virginia Square area was not that nice 10 years ago.

Ten years ago, actually, it was. Twenty, maybe not. Yes, things change, and they can change pretty fast. But don't assume that they'll change fast enough to meet your children's needs. Then again, once you're living there, you can have some influence on the pace of change.