best neighborhoods for public schools in nova

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Vienna and Oakton do have some good pyramids. Oakton and Madison are rated quite high. However, I would not recommend Marshall.

OK, this is about the third time I have seen on this website that Marshall is not a good school. I am a teacher at Marshall and have been here about 10 years. I guess I wonder why people always say Marshall is bad. Yes, our school is older and has not been renovated (it is scheduled for the next few years), but we have a wonderful Academy with network administration, Chinese, engineering, auto tech, and culinary arts classes that draws students from all over the county. We have an outstanding IB program from which many students graduate with full IB diplomas each year. The school is small so people really get to know their teachers and we get to know many of the students. The school is more diverse than Oakton and Madison, but that is not a bad thing in my opinion. Can someone please tell me why Marshall has such a bad rap and what make Madison and Oakton so much better??

I believe the rankings itself (newsweek/school testing) all do point to Oakton and Madison being tops in the area (along with Langley, Woodson etc..). Marshall doesn't have that top of a ranking. Also- people who prefer the AP over IB option would shy away from Marshall that has IB.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Vienna and Oakton do have some good pyramids. Oakton and Madison are rated quite high. However, I would not recommend Marshall.

OK, this is about the third time I have seen on this website that Marshall is not a good school. I am a teacher at Marshall and have been here about 10 years. I guess I wonder why people always say Marshall is bad. Yes, our school is older and has not been renovated (it is scheduled for the next few years), but we have a wonderful Academy with network administration, Chinese, engineering, auto tech, and culinary arts classes that draws students from all over the county. We have an outstanding IB program from which many students graduate with full IB diplomas each year. The school is small so people really get to know their teachers and we get to know many of the students. The school is more diverse than Oakton and Madison, but that is not a bad thing in my opinion. Can someone please tell me why Marshall has such a bad rap and what make Madison and Oakton so much better??

Sure, I'll give you my opinion. We did a lot of research on schools when we were looking to buy last year. Through ratings (on websites like greatschools.net) and mainly word of mouth - we steered away from certain schools. One of them was Marshall. And frankly, Madison even made me uneasy. Granted, it does have a 7 rating, but when we could send our kid to a 9, we chose that instead. To be honest, the diversity might be a factor, as well. Same reason Herndon might not be unattractive to some people. Don't bash me, I'm just sharing what I heard all around the county.

Honestly, you can't go wrong in a Fairfax County School. Granted, there is higher gang activity in some and higher drug usage in another. Just take the data that is provided to you and make a decision you are comfortable with. Parents have just as much of a responsibility in their child's success in any educational institution. I have friends who went to certain HS's in this area that are "not good" and they thrived in college and post-college because of their family life and own determination.

Anyway, just my two cents. I'm off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I believe the rankings itself (newsweek/school testing) all do point to Oakton and Madison being tops in the area (along with Langley, Woodson etc..). Marshall doesn't have that top of a ranking. Also- people who prefer the AP over IB option would shy away from Marshall that has IB.

Marshall teacher here again. I really think people need to look more closely at the rankings if this is what they are basing their decisions on. The number which Jay Matthews uses for his rankings in his Challenge Index basically looks at the NUMBER of AP or IB tests that are given in a school - regardless if the students who are taking the tests get a score that would earn them college credit or not. So, basically, you may have a lot of students who are taking these tests, thereby making your challenge index higher, but that doesn't mean that all of these students are PASSING the tests. A better indicator is the "equity and excellence %" which comes next in the listing, which takes into account what percentage of students actually got a score that would actually earn them college credit. If you look at that score, .Marshall (53.40%) actually ranks higher than Madison (50.40%) in the number of students who earned college credit on the tests. Likewise, there is less than a 1% difference between Oakton (54.20%) and Marshall in the number of students who earned credit on the tests. I am not saying that Madison and Oakton are not excellent schools because I believe they are, but I really think people need to look beyond the rankings that come out each year on schools in the area and stop making blanket judgments about a school because of them.

Here is a link to this year's rankings in case anyone wants to look further:

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/challengeindex/2007/eande/

[Anonymous]

Diversity poster yet again -- Just wanted to say thanks to the Marshall teacher for adding to the discussion. My sister teaches first grade and I know how hard she works for insufficient compensation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Vienna and Oakton do have some good pyramids. Oakton and Madison are rated quite high. However, I would not recommend Marshall.

OK, this is about the third time I have seen on this website that Marshall is not a good school. I am a teacher at Marshall and have been here about 10 years. I guess I wonder why people always say Marshall is bad. Yes, our school is older and has not been renovated (it is scheduled for the next few years), but we have a wonderful Academy with network administration, Chinese, engineering, auto tech, and culinary arts classes that draws students from all over the county. We have an outstanding IB program from which many students graduate with full IB diplomas each year. The school is small so people really get to know their teachers and we get to know many of the students. The school is more diverse than Oakton and Madison, but that is not a bad thing in my opinion. Can someone please tell me why Marshall has such a bad rap and what make Madison and Oakton so much better??

Sure, I'll give you my opinion. We did a lot of research on schools when we were looking to buy last year. Through ratings (on websites like greatschools.net) and mainly word of mouth - we steered away from certain schools. One of them was Marshall. And frankly, Madison even made me uneasy. Granted, it does have a 7 rating, but when we could send our kid to a 9, we chose that instead. To be honest, the diversity might be a factor, as well. Same reason Herndon might not be unattractive to some people. Don't bash me, I'm just sharing what I heard all around the county.

Honestly, you can't go wrong in a Fairfax County School. Granted, there is higher gang activity in some and higher drug usage in another. Just take the data that is provided to you and make a decision you are comfortable with. Parents have just as much of a responsibility in their child's success in any educational institution. I have friends who went to certain HS's in this area that are "not good" and they thrived in college and post-college because of their family life and own determination.

Anyway, just my two cents. I'm off.

Which school did you end up picking (to buy a house that is in that district)? I'm looking too...

[Anonymous]

don't move to Alexandria, at least not where I live, Old Town, elem. school has failed accrediation 6 yrs in a row and the high school, T C Williams has been described to me as "jail or Yale", bc that is were the students in up, no middle of the road. I am looking at Great Falls, the schools there are top notch. (fairfax county, not loudon). good luck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sure, I'll give you my opinion. We did a lot of research on schools when we were looking to buy last year. Through ratings (on websites like greatschools.net) and mainly word of mouth - we steered away from certain schools. One of them was Marshall. And frankly, Madison even made me uneasy. Granted, it does have a 7 rating, but when we could send our kid to a 9, we chose that instead. To be honest, the diversity might be a factor, as well. Same reason Herndon might not be unattractive to some people. Don't bash me, I'm just sharing what I heard all around the county.

Honestly, you can't go wrong in a Fairfax County School. Granted, there is higher gang activity in some and higher drug usage in another. Just take the data that is provided to you and make a decision you are comfortable with. Parents have just as much of a responsibility in their child's success in any educational institution. I have friends who went to certain HS's in this area that are "not good" and they thrived in college and post-college because of their family life and own determination.

Anyway, just my two cents. I'm off.

Marshall teacher here again. Thanks for your honest answer. I totally agree with you that every school in Fairfax Co. has many opportunities for students and that as long as parents are involved and the child is motivated, he/she will probably do just fine anywhere they go. Can I ask, though, what you heard about Marshall that you didn't like? I am not talking test scores - I am talking word of mouth. Because I have heard from some people that they have heard Marshall is dangerous which I don't feel is true at all. I just wondered what you actually heard about the school. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Back to the posters who bashed S. Arlington schools...

We live in far N. Arlington but are sending our DC to a S. Arlington school for Spanish immersion. The kids do just fine and the N. Arlington schools (Jamestown, Nottingham, Tuckahoe, Taylor) are just little bubbles of privilege. It's important for us that DC meets a greater variety of kids. We've been surprised how white our local elementary school is because our neighborhood in this far part of N. Arlington is pretty darn diverse.

The Arlington school system as a whole is majority minority but you wouldn't know it from the N. Arlington public schools, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

I'm not the PP, but I also have heard (through word of mouth) that Marshall is not quite as good as Oakton and Vienna.

Specifically I have heard it is more diverse, more dangerous, less challenging, and the graduates go to good schools, but not as good as the other two. Keep in mind, no one is saying its Ballou... just that it is a LITTLE different in these ways.

The reality is, it may be every bit as good as the other two... but perceptions count. If that is the perception locally, I suspect that the college counselors also have the same perception.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Sure, I'll give you my opinion. We did a lot of research on schools when we were looking to buy last year. Through ratings (on websites like greatschools.net) and mainly word of mouth - we steered away from certain schools. One of them was Marshall. And frankly, Madison even made me uneasy. Granted, it does have a 7 rating, but when we could send our kid to a 9, we chose that instead. To be honest, the diversity might be a factor, as well. Same reason Herndon might not be unattractive to some people. Don't bash me, I'm just sharing what I heard all around the county.

Honestly, you can't go wrong in a Fairfax County School. Granted, there is higher gang activity in some and higher drug usage in another. Just take the data that is provided to you and make a decision you are comfortable with. Parents have just as much of a responsibility in their child's success in any educational institution. I have friends who went to certain HS's in this area that are "not good" and they thrived in college and post-college because of their family life and own determination.

Anyway, just my two cents. I'm off.

Marshall teacher here again. Thanks for your honest answer. I totally agree with you that every school in Fairfax Co. has many opportunities for students and that as long as parents are involved and the child is motivated, he/she will probably do just fine anywhere they go. Can I ask, though, what you heard about Marshall that you didn't like? I am not talking test scores - I am talking word of mouth. Because I have heard from some people that they have heard Marshall is dangerous which I don't feel is true at all. I just wondered what you actually heard about the school. Thanks!

You're welcome! Yes, the main thing I heard about Marshall, Herndon and Annandale (the main three spoken up about) was the danger factor. In fact, just driving by you can be judgemental just by looking at the students. However, a person opposite of me might drive by my daughter's future HS (Langley) and jump to the conclusion that they are a bunch of coke-sniffing rich kids. To each their own

I love that you're speaking up about your school. Thanks for teaching our kids!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:...

Sure, I'll give you my opinion. We did a lot of research on schools when we were looking to buy last year. Through ratings (on websites like greatschools.net) and mainly word of mouth - we steered away from certain schools. One of them was Marshall. And frankly, Madison even made me uneasy. Granted, it does have a 7 rating, but when we could send our kid to a 9, we chose that instead. To be honest, the diversity might be a factor, as well. Same reason Herndon might not be unattractive to some people. Don't bash me, I'm just sharing what I heard all around the county.

Honestly, you can't go wrong in a Fairfax County School. Granted, there is higher gang activity in some and higher drug usage in another. Just take the data that is provided to you and make a decision you are comfortable with. Parents have just as much of a responsibility in their child's success in any educational institution. I have friends who went to certain HS's in this area that are "not good" and they thrived in college and post-college because of their family life and own determination.

Anyway, just my two cents. I'm off.

Which school did you end up picking (to buy a house that is in that district)? I'm looking too...

We ended up in the Langley school district. It was that or McLean. We also steered away from Kent Gardens ES because of the size issues (although there are MANY wonderful things about that school). Franklin Sherman, Chesterbrook and Churchill were our top three ES.

[Anonymous]

PP, what are the zip codes or areas for Langley HS? Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Marshall teacher here again. I really wonder why people think Marshall is dangerous. As I said before, I have been there 10 years and I can probably count on my two hands the number of fights I have seen/heard about here. It is really not dangerous AT ALL. I know in the 90s there were some more issues with fights, etc., but nothing has happened here for a long time. I wonder if the reputation from the 90s has just stuck through the years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...

Sure, I'll give you my opinion. We did a lot of research on schools when we were looking to buy last year. Through ratings (on websites like greatschools.net) and mainly word of mouth - we steered away from certain schools. One of them was Marshall. And frankly, Madison even made me uneasy. Granted, it does have a 7 rating, but when we could send our kid to a 9, we chose that instead. To be honest, the diversity might be a factor, as well. Same reason Herndon might not be unattractive to some people. Don't bash me, I'm just sharing what I heard all around the county.

Honestly, you can't go wrong in a Fairfax County School. Granted, there is higher gang activity in some and higher drug usage in another. Just take the data that is provided to you and make a decision you are comfortable with. Parents have just as much of a responsibility in their child's success in any educational institution. I have friends who went to certain HS's in this area that are "not good" and they thrived in college and post-college because of their family life and own determination.

Anyway, just my two cents. I'm off.

Which school did you end up picking (to buy a house that is in that district)? I'm looking too...

We ended up in the Langley school district. It was that or McLean. We also steered away from Kent Gardens ES because of the size issues (although there are MANY wonderful things about that school). Franklin Sherman, Chesterbrook and Churchill were our top three ES.

which ES will your kids go to? I am also leaning towards Langley.. we'll see how the housing works- I was hoping for a decent backyard- backed to woods- but not going as far as Great falls (route 7 traffic is killer)..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...

Which school did you end up picking (to buy a house that is in that district)? I'm looking too...

We ended up in the Langley school district. It was that or McLean. We also steered away from Kent Gardens ES because of the size issues (although there are MANY wonderful things about that school). Franklin Sherman, Chesterbrook and Churchill were our top three ES.

which ES will your kids go to? I am also leaning towards Langley.. we'll see how the housing works- I was hoping for a decent backyard- backed to woods- but not going as far as Great falls (route 7 traffic is killer)..

We're walking distance to Churchill ES. We have almost 1/3 of an acre - 4 level split - 4bd/3ba. There are a couple for sale around here for under 750. Not sure if they are 4 or 3 lvl splits, though. Search under Broyhill Langley Estates.

Good luck!