New VDOE Rankings of High and Secondary Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Edison and Hayfield performing where they are is only a surprise to those who lump them in with route 1 schools just based on their proximity to that area. They've performed on par with several central county schools for a few years now. They do good work with their populations.

There's also some really nice neighborhoods in that area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Langley parents are now arguing on the FairFACTS page that they can’t be moved to Herndon because Herndon is in the “off track” category.

In fact, the opposite will happen because redistricting some Langley kids there will push Herndon into the “on track” category (above 80).

When that happens they can think Youngkin for further incentivizing the School Board to game the numbers with these new ratings.

Those Langley parents are elitists and no better than the MAGA they complain about when it comes to schools. Their kids are no different than the UMC and MC kids at Herndon except the Langley kids aren’t allowed out of their bubbles.

Sorry you can’t afford it. I know that upsets you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Woodson is below Hayfield?????

Something is funky with their algorithm.

Even in US News Report ranking (I know I know some of you hate it), Woodson has been declining for several years. On the other hand, Chantilly has been surging. This reflects also Rocky Run ranking here is first. All I can attribute this is to demographic change of student bodies, a sort of "gentrification" of Chantilly pyramid.

School ratings correspond largely to demographics, and Woodson slipped a bit after the boundary change that moved Fairfax Villa ES from Fairfax to Woodson. It's a less affluent area than the rest of the areas that feed into Woodson, so the ratings dropped slightly. Even so, the issue with the VDOE ratings/rankings appears to have more to do with data integrity than Woodson's demographics.

And, yes, Chantilly has become a magnet for Asian families seeking a more affordable alternative to Langley, McLean, etc. It's one of the three high schools in FCPS that are either majority (TJ) or plurality (Centreville, Chantilly) Asian. That translates into a ratings boost.

Rocky Run and Chantilly have much lower FARMs rates than their neighboring schools. Compare Rocky Run (21%) with Stone right next door (42%). CHS is 22%, Westfield is 38%)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Woodson is below Hayfield?????

Something is funky with their algorithm.

Even in US News Report ranking (I know I know some of you hate it), Woodson has been declining for several years. On the other hand, Chantilly has been surging. This reflects also Rocky Run ranking here is first. All I can attribute this is to demographic change of student bodies, a sort of "gentrification" of Chantilly pyramid.

School ratings correspond largely to demographics, and Woodson slipped a bit after the boundary change that moved Fairfax Villa ES from Fairfax to Woodson. It's a less affluent area than the rest of the areas that feed into Woodson, so the ratings dropped slightly. Even so, the issue with the VDOE ratings/rankings appears to have more to do with data integrity than Woodson's demographics.

And, yes, Chantilly has become a magnet for Asian families seeking a more affordable alternative to Langley, McLean, etc. It's one of the three high schools in FCPS that are either majority (TJ) or plurality (Centreville, Chantilly) Asian. That translates into a ratings boost.

Rocky Run and Chantilly have much lower FARMs rates than their neighboring schools. Compare Rocky Run (21%) with Stone right next door (42%). CHS is 22%, Westfield is 38%)

Hmm. This doesn't scream "equity" to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Woodson is below Hayfield?????

Something is funky with their algorithm.

Even in US News Report ranking (I know I know some of you hate it), Woodson has been declining for several years. On the other hand, Chantilly has been surging. This reflects also Rocky Run ranking here is first. All I can attribute this is to demographic change of student bodies, a sort of "gentrification" of Chantilly pyramid.

School ratings correspond largely to demographics, and Woodson slipped a bit after the boundary change that moved Fairfax Villa ES from Fairfax to Woodson. It's a less affluent area than the rest of the areas that feed into Woodson, so the ratings dropped slightly. Even so, the issue with the VDOE ratings/rankings appears to have more to do with data integrity than Woodson's demographics.

And, yes, Chantilly has become a magnet for Asian families seeking a more affordable alternative to Langley, McLean, etc. It's one of the three high schools in FCPS that are either majority (TJ) or plurality (Centreville, Chantilly) Asian. That translates into a ratings boost.

Rocky Run and Chantilly have much lower FARMs rates than their neighboring schools. Compare Rocky Run (21%) with Stone right next door (42%). CHS is 22%, Westfield is 38%)

Hmm. This doesn't scream "equity" to me.

You can thank Kathy Smith for that. The gift that keeps on giving, 15 years later!

[Anonymous]

I'm not surprised that Justice is dead last on the list. It's just not a good school. Many factors contribute to the low score: poverty, bad teachers and staff, and a history of horrible leadership. Hopefully, things for the school will change for the better soon.

[Anonymous]

Where is Langston Hughes middle school on the list?

[Anonymous]

Um, it says "Hughes".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not surprised that Justice is dead last on the list. It's just not a good school. Many factors contribute to the low score: poverty, bad teachers and staff, and a history of horrible leadership. Hopefully, things for the school will change for the better soon.

There is a ton of student-on-student violence at Justice.

FCPS does an extremely poor job of dealing effectively with student violence.

However, FCPS refuses to suspend students, and will not provide a safe learning environment, because they believe they are “furthering racial equity” with their near total ban on suspensions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not surprised that Justice is dead last on the list. It's just not a good school. Many factors contribute to the low score: poverty, bad teachers and staff, and a history of horrible leadership. Hopefully, things for the school will change for the better soon.

But Justice HS has newer buildings than McLean HS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not surprised that Justice is dead last on the list. It's just not a good school. Many factors contribute to the low score: poverty, bad teachers and staff, and a history of horrible leadership. Hopefully, things for the school will change for the better soon.

But Justice HS has newer buildings than McLean HS

So schools that excel and where kids aren’t assaulting each other should be denied funding? You’d fit right in on this School Board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Langley parents are now arguing on the FairFACTS page that they can’t be moved to Herndon because Herndon is in the “off track” category.

In fact, the opposite will happen because redistricting some Langley kids there will push Herndon into the “on track” category (above 80).

When that happens they can think Youngkin for further incentivizing the School Board to game the numbers with these new ratings.

Those Langley parents are elitists and no better than the MAGA they complain about when it comes to schools. Their kids are no different than the UMC and MC kids at Herndon except the Langley kids aren’t allowed out of their bubbles.

DP. Good grief, you sound charming. Why should kids be moved from an excellent to an underperforming school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting to see Oakton so high

Why? It has to be the 3rd richest HS in FCPS by now behind only Langley and McLean.

Kyle McDaniel is in that pyramid, right? He’s one of the chief architects of the boundary review and so I’m sure the school is safe from the chaos that the school board is about to wreak on the county. So corrupt.

TJ 105.1
Langley 95.6
Oakton 94.5
McLean 92.2

I would love to see students who live in Falls Church that are currently at McLean HS be reassigned to Falls Church. If that happens, that will bring McLean HS to 2nd place, just behind TJ.

The highest performing kids at McLean HS attend Haycock ES, which is in Falls Church. So I’m guessing you mean the Timber Lane kids further south near Route 29. Even if the McLean part of Timber Lane gets moved to Falls Church to eliminate the current attendance island/split feeder, McLean could still be behind Langley and Oakton. They are all top schools.

Lots of McLean kids from Franklin Sherman, Kent Garden, and Chesterbrook ES go to Haycock because of the AAP program there. The easiest solution is to make a McLean HS a secondary school like LBSS or Robinson SS for ONLY McLean residents. If that happens, McLean will be in 2nd place behind TJ.

I run a $150/hour tutoring service, and over 95% of students from Churchill, Spring Hill, Potomac, Franklin Sherman, Kent Garden, Chesterbrook, Mclean HS, and Langley HS. Less than 5% of my customers are outside of McLean.

That’s not going to happen and you don’t have your facts right, either. The AAP kids from Kent Gardens who want to attend an AAP center go to Churchill Road, not Haycock. And if you don’t think lots of Haycock kids who live in Falls Church get tutoring (even if not from you), you’re quite mistaken.

But, again, your suggestion is absurd. Secondary schools in FCPS are among the biggest schools in the state (Lake Braddock and Robinson, in particular). McLean HS, on the other hand, has or soon will have the smallest capacity of any HS in the county.

My DS graduated from McLean HS in 2023 and his graduation class was about 800 students. Therefore, I assume McLean HS has at least 3000 students. Is that small?

You are mistaken. McLean HS has around 2400 students, up from about 2000 a decade ago. Average class size is around 600, currently ranging from 586 (9th grade) to 629 (10th/11th grade).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Langley parents are now arguing on the FairFACTS page that they can’t be moved to Herndon because Herndon is in the “off track” category.

In fact, the opposite will happen because redistricting some Langley kids there will push Herndon into the “on track” category (above 80).

When that happens they can think Youngkin for further incentivizing the School Board to game the numbers with these new ratings.

Those Langley parents are elitists and no better than the MAGA they complain about when it comes to schools. Their kids are no different than the UMC and MC kids at Herndon except the Langley kids aren’t allowed out of their bubbles.

DP. Good grief, you sound charming. Why should kids be moved from an excellent to an underperforming school?

What difference does it make what other kids who attend the school's average test scores are? Because that's the only thing deciding those labels. As long as a school has a large enough cohort of peers (as both Langley and Herndon do) to offer 99% the same Honors/AP classes, the outcomes for a given student are going to be remarkably similar no matter which school they attend or what the kids are doing in the other classrooms. Like, if I'm taking AP US History, it doesn't matter if I'm in the only AP US History class at my school or if there are 3 other AP US History classes being taught concurrently at my school... nor how many of the other classrooms at my school are filled with kids struggling to meet grade level. Can 99.9% of kids reach their full academic potential at Herndon just as well as at Langley? Sure, and the "underperforming" label doesn't speak to that question... because it's not about the overall quality of school / instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Langley parents are now arguing on the FairFACTS page that they can’t be moved to Herndon because Herndon is in the “off track” category.

In fact, the opposite will happen because redistricting some Langley kids there will push Herndon into the “on track” category (above 80).

When that happens they can think Youngkin for further incentivizing the School Board to game the numbers with these new ratings.

Those Langley parents are elitists and no better than the MAGA they complain about when it comes to schools. Their kids are no different than the UMC and MC kids at Herndon except the Langley kids aren’t allowed out of their bubbles.

Many of them are MAGA.