Rank the Top 10 NoVa High Schools
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Anonymous
Chantilly is probably too rigorous for your kids. |
Anonymous
You should totally stay in McLean. |
Anonymous
The only way for me to find that out is if I pulled my son from TJ and transferred him to Chantilly. |
Anonymous
Unlikely. |
Anonymous
Exactly! I'll never do that. |
Anonymous
“Hey, Anonymous. Cuz my kid is smart and got into TJ or so I can say whether it’s true or not, but it probably is (or isn’t) but doesn’t even matter, cuz nobody knows me from Adam. Signed Anonymous “ |
Anonymous
Among these, only TJ has college placement to match or surpass the Montgomery County High Schools. |
Anonymous
What nonsense are you talking about? |
Anonymous
Probably the most accurate FCPS high school ranking. I'd add a Tier 5 for Mt. Vernon, Lee, and Justice (Stuart) |
Anonymous
You sound like a snot. I have a kid at TJ and a kid at Chantilly. Chantilly is an excellent school too. And is many ways a healthier environment than TJ. My TJ kid loves TJ and is getting an amazing education, so we let him stay, despite the time commitment and pressure frankly, the unrealistic and unhealthy demands. . But there are definately days I am tempted to move him back to Chantilly. We’ll see where my kids end up in the long run. It could well be the exact same college. And from there, who knows? But, I wouldn’t say right now that my TJ kid will definately be more successful than my Chantilly kid. They both had psychoeducational testing, and their IQs were within 2points of each other. He picks up on complex concepts faster and is able to manipulate complex ideas and understand interdisciplinary concepts that pull on multiple subjects to come up with nuanced answers easier. But he has a lower EQ. And he does not have his sibling’s grit or tenacity. His Chantilly based sibling ended middle school with a 4.0. He did not— same MS, same AAP program. TJ’s great. My kid is fortunate to attend. But there is no need to be the type of a@@hole who gives TJ parents a bad name. It has its downsides, like any other school. And Chantilly also turns out nice, smart, hardworking kids with the education to succeed at a high level. It’s fine to be proud of your kid. But looking down on your kid’s MS classmates at Chantilly? Not cool. Attending TJ does not guarantee your kid will be more successful than them. |
Anonymous
Doesn't Lee have better IB results than all but one other school? |
Anonymous
You’d have to tilt the data in a bunch of different directions to find support for that statement. |
Anonymous
While the last available year's data show Lee has fairly good IB exam results (better than the surrounding Annandale, Mount Vernon, etc.), I hesitate to call that program strong because 1) it has one of the lowest IB participation rates (ahead only of Mount Vernon), 2) there are no students taking any sciences at HL, and the overall course offerings are very slim in comparison with others, and 3) the IB diploma yield is very low (50-60% of candidates who declare ultimately achieve the diploma). Looking at the surrounding schools, on all these criteria, Edison is probably the place to keep the program. Separately, if we have to have a ranking, this seems as fair as it can get on outcomes only, but if you notice it also is basically grouping schools by SES band. All in, rankings like these are silly. They only matter for those who care about some elusive "prestige" (aka "belonging with the right people"). While I somewhat understand the concept of prestige when it comes to colleges, I struggle to find value for it in high school - once you are out, who cares? If you are instead looking for the best high school for your child, that is a very different problem to solve. Choose the areas 1) you can afford, 2) give you acceptable commute/lifestyle, and then go visit the schools - they each have a bit different vibe that you won't get from any ranking, and their offerings can differ as well (depending on size, IB/AP, etc.) Also, choose the one where you will feel comfortable based on your SES - you can be excluded at either end of the distribution. If you are asking the question of which school does the best job educating their constituency, then none of these rankings answer that. To answer that question, you'd need a study setup similar to the hospital efficiency setup. This involves building a statistical model that accounts for as large as possible a set of performance drivers (income, parental education, family status, race, etc.) for each school, and then analyzes which schools perform better/worse than expected. I have only seen one ranking a while back that attempted to do something of the sort, but this design is inherently difficult - 1) some of the data isn't that readily available, and 2) you need to account for demographic distributional differences in very complex ways (e.g. a school with half very low income, and half very high income will do worse than one with all middle income, even if the average income at both is the same.) |
Anonymous
| Edison already has an academy so if they ever scale back IB in SE Fairfax, Edison shouldn’t be the school that keeps IB. Annandale or Lee are the schools that will need the biggest boost. So does Mount Vernon, but its location is no good. |
Anonymous
Not to turn this into a "where should IB stay" thread, but why would the decision be based on which school needs a boost, vs which school already runs an effective IB program? Hopefully you understand the academies serve the opposite constituency of the IB program (trade certification inclined vs high academics). |