New Home Choice: Is Oakton High Really Better than Chantilly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD goes to Rocky and her best friend goes to Carson. She says that academically, Rocky seems to be more difficult than RC. She really does not like the new Rocky principal; some of the new policies that impact the students don't make any sense.

Rocky's old principal went to Chantilly, and she is very well regarded. I don't think there are huge differences between Oakton and Chantilly. Chantilly does have an overcrowding problem.

What new policies?

Until the admin change, the kids had 3rd period (I think) daily. So there was one 45 minute class every day. Then they had 45 minutes of Rock Time, which was a break of sorts, every day. Now, they just have Rock Time as a regular class, one long block, every other day. The school is divided into groups based on counselors, and their outside time is with everyone in their own group. These groups each have a designated spot where they're supposed to meet, and each group is not supposed to mingle with the other groups. Last year, the kids got to sign up for where they wanted their breaks, every two weeks. Friends could meet up with their friends by choosing the same break location, and even if everyone didn't get the same spots, they still would have some friends in their location in any given week. Some of their locations were outdoors, some indoors. Now, with assigned grouping, some kids (like my daughter) end up with no friends in their group. Additionally, if there is inclement weather, there are no indoor locations where they can go; they just stay in whatever class/Rock Time they had before their break time.

The teachers also have the ability to view all the tabs on their computer. The kids were told that this was an FCPS-wide thing, but per DD, none of her friends in other schools, including high schools have this. I don't think this is a bad thing, BTW.

What does this mean? Abilitynto view all the tabs?

NP. It means they have the version of Light Speed that allows teachers to view what students are doing on their school issued laptops while in class. Teachers can see if the students are switching back and forth from the websites they're supposed to be using and watching YouTube shorts or playing Minecraft via an unblocker site and then they can close the tabs to the sites the students aren't supposed to be visiting. Not every school has this feature but it should be offered county-wide in my opinion.

Yes. Sorry about being unclear. The interesting thing is that the teachers can see this even when students are not in their class at the moment. DD said that one of the teachers shows his Rock Time class what's on random students' browser. She feels that this is not okay; it's one thing to control what the kids in your class are doing, and quite another to do it when the students are in someone else's class.

Oh- this is so not okay. What if they are writing a personal email? Can they see the content or just the tab. Googling a health issue?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oakton is generally considered "better" per the various rankings like US News and World Report, Niche, School Digger, but YMMV.

What does YMMV stand for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oakton is generally considered "better" per the various rankings like US News and World Report, Niche, School Digger, but YMMV.

What does YMMV stand for?

Your Mileage May Vary

[Anonymous]

Check the demographics. Chantilly has far more Asians, so test scores will be higher. Payton has actually more Caucasions, Blacks and then Asians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check the demographics. Chantilly has far more Asians, so test scores will be higher. Payton has actually more Caucasions, Blacks and then Asians.

Autocorrect is so funny sometimes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boundaries could be an issue at either school. Historically Oakton's boundaries have shifted more than any other high school in FCPS. On the other hand, Chantilly is overcrowded and it looks like FCPS's "plan" is to redistrict once Centreville has been expanded to 3000 seats.

If and when a western high school is built, along with all the new Affordable Housing developments being built in the Tysons/Vienna corridor, both of these schools stand to get a significant redistribution of wealth. Scores and ratings will go down on paper but all of that is just gossip.

That is happening in your dreams.

It's inevitable. When Centreville/Chantilly get adjusted, Oakton will likely be part of the conversation as their western reach adjacent to Chantilly won't make sense.

Woodson is getting the One University affordable housing development for 120 low income families in their catchment. It will be a few years until the data affects average Woodson scores but it won't be a surprise that the kids from that complex won't do well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boundaries could be an issue at either school. Historically Oakton's boundaries have shifted more than any other high school in FCPS. On the other hand, Chantilly is overcrowded and it looks like FCPS's "plan" is to redistrict once Centreville has been expanded to 3000 seats.

If and when a western high school is built, along with all the new Affordable Housing developments being built in the Tysons/Vienna corridor, both of these schools stand to get a significant redistribution of wealth. Scores and ratings will go down on paper but all of that is just gossip.

That is happening in your dreams.

It's inevitable. When Centreville/Chantilly get adjusted, Oakton will likely be part of the conversation as their western reach adjacent to Chantilly won't make sense.

Woodson is getting the One University affordable housing development for 120 low income families in their catchment. It will be a few years until the data affects average Woodson scores but it won't be a surprise that the kids from that complex won't do well.

It's not inevitable that moving part of Chantilly to Centreville will result in moving part of Oakton to Chantilly. Given how close Madison, Oakton, Fairfax, and Woodson are to each other, Oakton will always have some kids who live a good bit further west.

The potential student yield from One University is projected by the county/FCPS to be 16 more kids for Woodson, or about 4 kids per grade. It won't have that much impact on Woodson test scores.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD goes to Rocky and her best friend goes to Carson. She says that academically, Rocky seems to be more difficult than RC. She really does not like the new Rocky principal; some of the new policies that impact the students don't make any sense.

Rocky's old principal went to Chantilly, and she is very well regarded. I don't think there are huge differences between Oakton and Chantilly. Chantilly does have an overcrowding problem.

What new policies?

Until the admin change, the kids had 3rd period (I think) daily. So there was one 45 minute class every day. Then they had 45 minutes of Rock Time, which was a break of sorts, every day. Now, they just have Rock Time as a regular class, one long block, every other day. The school is divided into groups based on counselors, and their outside time is with everyone in their own group. These groups each have a designated spot where they're supposed to meet, and each group is not supposed to mingle with the other groups. Last year, the kids got to sign up for where they wanted their breaks, every two weeks. Friends could meet up with their friends by choosing the same break location, and even if everyone didn't get the same spots, they still would have some friends in their location in any given week. Some of their locations were outdoors, some indoors. Now, with assigned grouping, some kids (like my daughter) end up with no friends in their group. Additionally, if there is inclement weather, there are no indoor locations where they can go; they just stay in whatever class/Rock Time they had before their break time.

The teachers also have the ability to view all the tabs on their computer. The kids were told that this was an FCPS-wide thing, but per DD, none of her friends in other schools, including high schools have this. I don't think this is a bad thing, BTW.

What does this mean? Abilitynto view all the tabs?

NP. It means they have the version of Light Speed that allows teachers to view what students are doing on their school issued laptops while in class. Teachers can see if the students are switching back and forth from the websites they're supposed to be using and watching YouTube shorts or playing Minecraft via an unblocker site and then they can close the tabs to the sites the students aren't supposed to be visiting. Not every school has this feature but it should be offered county-wide in my opinion.

Yes. Sorry about being unclear. The interesting thing is that the teachers can see this even when students are not in their class at the moment. DD said that one of the teachers shows his Rock Time class what's on random students' browser. She feels that this is not okay; it's one thing to control what the kids in your class are doing, and quite another to do it when the students are in someone else's class.

Oh- this is so not okay. What if they are writing a personal email? Can they see the content or just the tab. Googling a health issue?

There's no such thing as a personal email on the school laptop. IT can read anything whenever they want. I'm constantly reminding my kids of that, although I don't think they fully get it.

The benefit of Oakton really comes down to the building itself. Because of the recent renovations it's nice and not overcrowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD goes to Rocky and her best friend goes to Carson. She says that academically, Rocky seems to be more difficult than RC. She really does not like the new Rocky principal; some of the new policies that impact the students don't make any sense.

Rocky's old principal went to Chantilly, and she is very well regarded. I don't think there are huge differences between Oakton and Chantilly. Chantilly does have an overcrowding problem.

What new policies?

Until the admin change, the kids had 3rd period (I think) daily. So there was one 45 minute class every day. Then they had 45 minutes of Rock Time, which was a break of sorts, every day. Now, they just have Rock Time as a regular class, one long block, every other day. The school is divided into groups based on counselors, and their outside time is with everyone in their own group. These groups each have a designated spot where they're supposed to meet, and each group is not supposed to mingle with the other groups. Last year, the kids got to sign up for where they wanted their breaks, every two weeks. Friends could meet up with their friends by choosing the same break location, and even if everyone didn't get the same spots, they still would have some friends in their location in any given week. Some of their locations were outdoors, some indoors. Now, with assigned grouping, some kids (like my daughter) end up with no friends in their group. Additionally, if there is inclement weather, there are no indoor locations where they can go; they just stay in whatever class/Rock Time they had before their break time.

The teachers also have the ability to view all the tabs on their computer. The kids were told that this was an FCPS-wide thing, but per DD, none of her friends in other schools, including high schools have this. I don't think this is a bad thing, BTW.

What does this mean? Abilitynto view all the tabs?

NP. It means they have the version of Light Speed that allows teachers to view what students are doing on their school issued laptops while in class. Teachers can see if the students are switching back and forth from the websites they're supposed to be using and watching YouTube shorts or playing Minecraft via an unblocker site and then they can close the tabs to the sites the students aren't supposed to be visiting. Not every school has this feature but it should be offered county-wide in my opinion.

Yes. Sorry about being unclear. The interesting thing is that the teachers can see this even when students are not in their class at the moment. DD said that one of the teachers shows his Rock Time class what's on random students' browser. She feels that this is not okay; it's one thing to control what the kids in your class are doing, and quite another to do it when the students are in someone else's class.

Oh- this is so not okay. What if they are writing a personal email? Can they see the content or just the tab. Googling a health issue?

I am not entirely sure. My understanding is that they can see the contents. So if the kid has their email open, the teacher can read it. I don't know if this also means that the teacher can for instance, send out emails from that kid's account (IOW, have control over their browser). My kid seems to think so, that a teacher can/has sent emails from a student's account. I don't know how much of this is rumor, and how much is fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check the demographics. Chantilly has far more Asians, so test scores will be higher. Payton has actually more Caucasions, Blacks and then Asians.

Did you actually check the scores? Oakton or.. "Payton" actually has higher scores. Clearly your ability to look at data online is about as great as your writing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check the demographics. Chantilly has far more Asians, so test scores will be higher. Payton has actually more Caucasions, Blacks and then Asians.

Did you actually check the scores? Oakton or.. "Payton" actually has higher scores. Clearly your ability to look at data online is about as great as your writing.

It changes year to year...(the latest results are from 2021. the difference between 1227(chantilly) and 1240(oakton) is 1 question and for all purposes negligible). Learn to read properly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD goes to Rocky and her best friend goes to Carson. She says that academically, Rocky seems to be more difficult than RC. She really does not like the new Rocky principal; some of the new policies that impact the students don't make any sense.

Rocky's old principal went to Chantilly, and she is very well regarded. I don't think there are huge differences between Oakton and Chantilly. Chantilly does have an overcrowding problem.

What new policies?

Until the admin change, the kids had 3rd period (I think) daily. So there was one 45 minute class every day. Then they had 45 minutes of Rock Time, which was a break of sorts, every day. Now, they just have Rock Time as a regular class, one long block, every other day. The school is divided into groups based on counselors, and their outside time is with everyone in their own group. These groups each have a designated spot where they're supposed to meet, and each group is not supposed to mingle with the other groups. Last year, the kids got to sign up for where they wanted their breaks, every two weeks. Friends could meet up with their friends by choosing the same break location, and even if everyone didn't get the same spots, they still would have some friends in their location in any given week. Some of their locations were outdoors, some indoors. Now, with assigned grouping, some kids (like my daughter) end up with no friends in their group. Additionally, if there is inclement weather, there are no indoor locations where they can go; they just stay in whatever class/Rock Time they had before their break time.

The teachers also have the ability to view all the tabs on their computer. The kids were told that this was an FCPS-wide thing, but per DD, none of her friends in other schools, including high schools have this. I don't think this is a bad thing, BTW.

What does this mean? Abilitynto view all the tabs?

NP. It means they have the version of Light Speed that allows teachers to view what students are doing on their school issued laptops while in class. Teachers can see if the students are switching back and forth from the websites they're supposed to be using and watching YouTube shorts or playing Minecraft via an unblocker site and then they can close the tabs to the sites the students aren't supposed to be visiting. Not every school has this feature but it should be offered county-wide in my opinion.

Yes. Sorry about being unclear. The interesting thing is that the teachers can see this even when students are not in their class at the moment. DD said that one of the teachers shows his Rock Time class what's on random students' browser. She feels that this is not okay; it's one thing to control what the kids in your class are doing, and quite another to do it when the students are in someone else's class.

This isn't happening, at least not often.

Each student's desktop can only be seen by one teacher at a time, and Lightspeed is scheduled by class period, based on the school bell schedule. Seeing the screen of a student not currently scheduled in your class requires force-adding them to your class, which removes their screen from being seen by the teacher whose class they are in at the time. The only reason I can imagine force-adding students to a class is when there is an altered bell schedule, such as a two-hour delay.

[Anonymous]

So in summary, there's no big difference then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So in summary, there's no big difference then?

I would probably choose the less crowded option

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, How is Rocky Run Compared to Carson? Thank you so much!

FCPS is FCPS is FCPS