Tell me why I should pay extra for Arlington High Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. Also considering Arlington for better schools. Currently zoned for a 5 high school in FCPS Alexandria. Kid is in AAP. Feel like we should just stay put if the schools aren't even better.

The only high schools in FCPS currently rated 5 by GS (same as Yorktown) are Centreville, Fairfax, and South County. None is in Alexandria.

Edison and Hayfield are rated 4, and are probably just as good as APS.

When did Hatfield drop to 4?

Greatschools changed their rating system this past fall and added an "equity" component that essentially dings schools with a minority/FARMs population. We bought a house in the Woodson HS district last year. It was an 8 or 9 then. It's a 6 now. But if you look at Schooldigger, it's top 10% in the state by test scores. A rating system that would give a top 10% school a 6 seems pretty useless to me, but you have to dig into the whole thing to figure out what's going on.

And people buying houses just look at the Gs rating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. Also considering Arlington for better schools. Currently zoned for a 5 high school in FCPS Alexandria. Kid is in AAP. Feel like we should just stay put if the schools aren't even better.

The only high schools in FCPS currently rated 5 by GS (same as Yorktown) are Centreville, Fairfax, and South County. None is in Alexandria.

Edison and Hayfield are rated 4, and are probably just as good as APS.

When did Hatfield drop to 4?

Greatschools changed their rating system this past fall and added an "equity" component that essentially dings schools with a minority/FARMs population. We bought a house in the Woodson HS district last year. It was an 8 or 9 then. It's a 6 now. But if you look at Schooldigger, it's top 10% in the state by test scores. A rating system that would give a top 10% school a 6 seems pretty useless to me, but you have to dig into the whole thing to figure out what's going on.

And people buying houses just look at the Gs rating.

Then hopefully they will stop moving here and we can finally catch up on school capacity!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington public high schools are good (The Great Schools ratings are garbage), but college placement from Arlington schools is sub-par. If your child's 'reach' school is UVa or William & Mary, APS is fine.

Where do you find better college placement? APS seems on par with most of the other equivalent public HS.

Yup. On par with northern va schools. They all suck. Aside from TJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington public high schools are good (The Great Schools ratings are garbage), but college placement from Arlington schools is sub-par. If your child's 'reach' school is UVa or William & Mary, APS is fine.

Where do you find better college placement? APS seems on par with most of the other equivalent public HS.

Yup. On par with northern va schools. They all suck. Aside from TJ.

Nice try. FCPS has multiple high schools better than APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington public high schools are good (The Great Schools ratings are garbage), but college placement from Arlington schools is sub-par. If your child's 'reach' school is UVa or William & Mary, APS is fine.

Where do you find better college placement? APS seems on par with most of the other equivalent public HS.

Yup. On par with northern va schools. They all suck. Aside from TJ.

Nice try. FCPS has multiple high schools better than APS.

Not for college placement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington public high schools are good (The Great Schools ratings are garbage), but college placement from Arlington schools is sub-par. If your child's 'reach' school is UVa or William & Mary, APS is fine.

Where do you find better college placement? APS seems on par with most of the other equivalent public HS.

Yup. On par with northern va schools. They all suck. Aside from TJ.

Nice try. FCPS has multiple high schools better than APS.

Trust me, we wish they'd prefer to move to Fairfax just as much as you do.

[Anonymous]

I live in Arlington and we are looking to move to Fairfax. I agree that the high schools are nothing special -- didn't Yorktown only have 1 national merit semifinalist last year? Weak. The elementary schools still seem fine, but who knows how long that will last.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Arlington and we are looking to move to Fairfax. I agree that the high schools are nothing special -- didn't Yorktown only have 1 national merit semifinalist last year? Weak. The elementary schools still seem fine, but who knows how long that will last.

APS schools get weaker in the higher grades. There are several top elementary schools, one top middle school, and no outstanding high schools. People used to say this reflected the changing demographics and that the high schools would improve over time, but this hasn’t turned out to be the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Arlington and we are looking to move to Fairfax. I agree that the high schools are nothing special -- didn't Yorktown only have 1 national merit semifinalist last year? Weak. The elementary schools still seem fine, but who knows how long that will last.

APS schools get weaker in the higher grades. There are several top elementary schools, one top middle school, and no outstanding high schools. People used to say this reflected the changing demographics and that the high schools would improve over time, but this hasn’t turned out to be the case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in Arlington and we are looking to move to Fairfax. I agree that the high schools are nothing special -- didn't Yorktown only have 1 national merit semifinalist last year? Weak. The elementary schools still seem fine, but who knows how long that will last.

National Merit is a poor metric. Only indicative of the number of tiger moms driving their high school juniors to do SAT test prep during the summer before. Looks at the test scores when it matters...when they are applying to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Arlington and we are looking to move to Fairfax. I agree that the high schools are nothing special -- didn't Yorktown only have 1 national merit semifinalist last year? Weak. The elementary schools still seem fine, but who knows how long that will last.

National Merit is a poor metric. Only indicative of the number of tiger moms driving their high school juniors to do SAT test prep during the summer before. Looks at the test scores when it matters...when they are applying to college.

Not true. It's indicative of intelligent people. I want my kids around other intelligent people so that they have equals in their environment. Signed, a person who was a national merit scholar, who didn't have a tiger mom but benefited from smart peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Arlington and we are looking to move to Fairfax. I agree that the high schools are nothing special -- didn't Yorktown only have 1 national merit semifinalist last year? Weak. The elementary schools still seem fine, but who knows how long that will last.

National Merit is a poor metric. Only indicative of the number of tiger moms driving their high school juniors to do SAT test prep during the summer before. Looks at the test scores when it matters...when they are applying to college.

Does top colleges/universities even care about NMS if an application otherwise clearly demonstrates the student's credentials? I mean, I could see it mattering for mid-range state schools where a few more or fewer NMS could help swing them in the rankings, but top colleges are so flush with NMS that I don't see a few more of fewer making or breaking their rankings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Arlington and we are looking to move to Fairfax. I agree that the high schools are nothing special -- didn't Yorktown only have 1 national merit semifinalist last year? Weak. The elementary schools still seem fine, but who knows how long that will last.

National Merit is a poor metric. Only indicative of the number of tiger moms driving their high school juniors to do SAT test prep during the summer before. Looks at the test scores when it matters...when they are applying to college.

Not true. It's indicative of intelligent people. I want my kids around other intelligent people so that they have equals in their environment. Signed, a person who was a national merit scholar, who didn't have a tiger mom but benefited from smart peers.

It depends on the person. I did not study for the PSAT and did poorly; I was therefore not a National Merit Scholar. I did study (on my own) for the SATs and did ok the first time around; I studied more and did well the second time around. I then applied to and attended an Ivy. So while National Merit can tell you that someone a smart or a good test taker, it has significant limitations. If it is not pushed in a particular school, that does not mean that the kids at that school are not smart or won’t do well when it actually counts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Arlington and we are looking to move to Fairfax. I agree that the high schools are nothing special -- didn't Yorktown only have 1 national merit semifinalist last year? Weak. The elementary schools still seem fine, but who knows how long that will last.

National Merit is a poor metric. Only indicative of the number of tiger moms driving their high school juniors to do SAT test prep during the summer before. Looks at the test scores when it matters...when they are applying to college.

Not true. It's indicative of intelligent people. I want my kids around other intelligent people so that they have equals in their environment. Signed, a person who was a national merit scholar, who didn't have a tiger mom but benefited from smart peers.

It depends on the person. I did not study for the PSAT and did poorly; I was therefore not a National Merit Scholar. I did study (on my own) for the SATs and did ok the first time around; I studied more and did well the second time around. I then applied to and attended an Ivy. So while National Merit can tell you that someone a smart or a good test taker, it has significant limitations. If it is not pushed in a particular school, that does not mean that the kids at that school are not smart or won’t do well when it actually counts.

Smart people don't need to prep for the SAT and PSAT. Only grinders need to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Arlington and we are looking to move to Fairfax. I agree that the high schools are nothing special -- didn't Yorktown only have 1 national merit semifinalist last year? Weak. The elementary schools still seem fine, but who knows how long that will last.

National Merit is a poor metric. Only indicative of the number of tiger moms driving their high school juniors to do SAT test prep during the summer before. Looks at the test scores when it matters...when they are applying to college.

Not true. It's indicative of intelligent people. I want my kids around other intelligent people so that they have equals in their environment. Signed, a person who was a national merit scholar, who didn't have a tiger mom but benefited from smart peers.

I was National Merit as well. These days, it's about test prep and tiger moms. That wasn't the case 30 years ago.