Langley High

[Anonymous]

After learning that Langley High actually ranks higher than Montgomery County schools, we're considering buying in Mclean and sending kids to public feeder schools for Langley.

Any reason not to? Is the quality comparable to private school? How would its college placement compare to Potomac School down the street? What's the school's reputation (academics, sports, diversity)? I've seen the stats, but need the kind of info that DCUM dishes up so well.

[Anonymous]

Langley is a top school for academics, but you might wish to carefully consider the culture of the place. It is extremely competitive ... perhaps cut throat would be more accurate. Kids come largely from very wealthy households, so economic diversity is lacking and many of the concerns one might have about peer pressure at private schools appear here also for that reason. If your child is assertive and confident, a good education is available for sure. But if you have a child who is more collaborative or on the quiet side ... maybe not. You will find a range of parent/student views expressed at greatschools.net too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After learning that Langley High actually ranks higher than Montgomery County schools, we're considering buying in Mclean and sending kids to public feeder schools for Langley.

Any reason not to? Is the quality comparable to private school? How would its college placement compare to Potomac School down the street? What's the school's reputation (academics, sports, diversity)? I've seen the stats, but need the kind of info that DCUM dishes up so well.

Which ranking are you referring to?

Whitman and Churchill, and even BCC and Wooten, seem to rank as high or higher in most of the rankings I've seen. These schools also seem to have more cachet than Langley if that matters to you. If you like VA, go for it. But I wouldn't leave Montgomery County simply to get in the Langley school district.

[Anonymous]

OP here -- I was referring to the Newsweek ranking which put Langley above all our Montgomery County Schools (except Rockville).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here -- I was referring to the Newsweek ranking which put Langley above all our Montgomery County Schools (except Rockville).

Rockville? That can't be right.

[Anonymous]

If you are intent on leaving the excellent school district of Montgomery County, which strikes me as a bit odd if good schools is the only reason you are considering the move, then what about Yorktown and H-B Woodlawn in Arlington?! I would prefer either of those over Langley for many reasons.

[Anonymous]

I'm not "intent" on leaving MC -- just trying to figure out what the best public schools are in the area.

Woodlawn does indeed rank highest on the Newsweek list -- but we've decided against living in Arlington. The next highest is Richard Montgomery (yes, in Rockville). Then Langley, which we were pleasantly surprised about because we had been thinking about Mclean anyway. BCC, Churchill, etc are highly ranked but not quite as highly as Langley.

Anyway, this is why I'm trying to just get a sense of the school. Thanks to the poster who talked about the culture of the school, and who directed me to greatschools.net. That was really helpful.

Anyone else who knows Langley and the schools that feed into it? The size of the school (2100 students) concerns me a little. But the ratio is 15 students to one teacher, which seems competitive with that of private schools.

[Anonymous]

If you move to the Langley Disctrict, you'll be guaranteed that school and have a shot at Thomas Jefferson, the best high school in the country. As a graduate of TJHSST and someone who's still actively involved with the school, I can say that the ranking is well-deserved, both academically and socially.

[Anonymous]

Wow -- great endorsement of Thomas Jefferson. Please tell me what you loved about it. And can you explain the process by which a student "has a shot" at it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else who knows Langley and the schools that feed into it? The size of the school (2100 students) concerns me a little. But the ratio is 15 students to one teacher, which seems competitive with that of private schools.

I would be wary of that student-teacher ratio...I am a teacher at another Fairfax County high school, and according to Greatschools.net our student-teacher ratio is 13:1. While there certainly are classes with around that number of students in them, many of our classes have many more students than that. For example, most of the core classes students have to take to graduate are usually 25 students+. So, I don't know how they figure those ratios, but I certainly would not expect most of them to be that small.

[Anonymous]

I think moving (or picking your school) based on the latest version of the US News rankings is a bad idea.

Langley (and McLean, Yorktown, Woodlawn) are probably the top 4 Virginia public schools (excluding TJ) by reputation. If you're interested purely in reputation (and the weight it carries with colleges), pick one and have fun.

If you stay in MoCo... I think Whitman has long been regarded as the "best" school in the county. Churchill, Wooton, WJ, and BCC are all right there as well. Richard Montgomery is not generally spoken of in the same sentence, so the fact that US News ranks it highest says a lot to me about the accuracy of the "rankings".

The reality is, maybe the teachers at RM ARE better, maybe the "education" is better... but if that is what interests you, I really don't know how you'd go about finding out that stuff... and I certainly wouldn't look to rankings.

If, however, you're looking for the school with the best reputation... I'd pick Whitman over Langley, but that's just me. The reality is, they're pretty damn close.

Both of those schools (and all the other ones I've mentioned, except maybe RM), are competitive, filled with upper class kids, smart parents, and would succeed even if you sent them to Ballou. So, I guess there are different things you can get out of a school... Reputation and an ability to compete are certainly two things.

[Anonymous]

Thanks from the OP to the last two posters. I appreciated the teacher's comment about student ratios.

And, I completely agree with the 11:34 poster that rankings alone are a bad idea. That's why I'm looking for more feedback to ensure the right fit. What makes Whitman so strong in your opinion? How are the teachers, parents and students different from Langley?

[Anonymous]

11:34 here. Quite honestly, I'm not sure the teachers, students and parents at Langley are really much different from Whitman. I think Langley's jurisdiction has a BIT more "old money" and "Virginia blue bloods" (although believe me, there are plenty of rich people at Whitman too). My own perception (informed by nothing other than knowing a number of families in both jurisdictions), is that Whitman parents are slightly more likely to have come from more blue-collar/self-made backgrounds. I think many of them were the standout students from their podunk schools in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island, etc... who, by their education, have become very very successful, and thus place an exceedingly strong value on education. I think the same thing could be said of many Langley parents, but I think with Langley there are a few more people who got where they did because of their name/background instead of on their own merits. Don't get me wrong, they're still smart, and they still value education... but perhaps they come from a little different perspective? My guess is that Whitman is a bit more competitive, but really I'm splitting hairs.

Keep in mind, I'm drawing conclusions from a total of about 15-20 families... so that is just my perception. And, I remember back in the 80s and 90s, Whitman was often on the top of many rankings (yes, the same ones I just blasted for being inaccurate), whereas Langely made fewer appearances. I think, also, just based on the MD/VA demographics... I suspect Whitman is likely to be a bit more "liberal" and Langley a bit more "conservative". For all that... I be thrilled to have my kid go to either school.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, 11:34. This helped give me a better sense of the parent community at each school.

Is there any way to find out which school has the better college placements?

[Anonymous]

Bethesda magazine publishes an annual (self-reported) survey of college applications and acceptances for BCC, Whitman, Walter Johnson, Churchill and at least one of the Rockville HSs (Richard Montgomery probably?) Hard to know how accurate the info is but I've seen it a couple of years running and found it pretty interesting and encouraging as a future BCC parent! Maybe there's a Virginia publication that has similar info on Langley and other schools.

I'd also caution about using rankings as a determination on where to move. There are varied standards for these rankings (one random example - I think Newsweek factors in socioeconomic data via free lunch numbers to gauge how well the schools meet the challenges of a diverse population, which I'm all for... but I'm not really sure if having a slightly more economically diverse population makes BCC a "better" school than Whitman or whatever.) While they can be illuminating I think it's hard to say that a higher rank by one publication or another makes one school "better" than another, particularly on an individual basis. In Montgomery County you can also view test scores and all kinds of other data on the MCPS websites - by that standard I'm pretty sure Whitman & Churchill rank highest. But none of this really tells you which school will serve your child best, academically and/or in all the other extracurricular areas that make high school such a formative experience. My very anecdotal sense is that these are all first-rate schools, with slightly different reputations (e.g., snobby or not, etc)... the only distinction I'd point to is TJ in Virginia, which seems to rank in a class by itself. (Said with some envy as a MD parent.)