Tell me about Alexandria and South Arlington Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're in central or western Fairfax now you're likely zoned for much better schools than in Alexandria or South Arlington, which have some of the worst schools in NoVa.

Nope. I'd take any Arlington school over any Fairfax school.

Whatever, APS is mediocre.

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia

http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=2839

http://www.apsva.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=31571

And you live in Fairfax county. You lose again.

LOL. You live in a county where the best known school is Marymount.

That's just a dumb comment. Get back to your boring life in a dull suburb and stop posting idiotic things here.

Are you talking to yourself again?

That's the best you can do? What are you, 12? The uninspiring atmosphere of the drab Fairfax suburbs seems to be infecting your brain. Like I said, get back to your provincial existence and stop posting your vapid nonsense on DCUM. I'm going to take my morning walk across the Key Bridge to Georgetown now. Bye.

Arlington is the definition of bland mediocrity. It's for people who can neither handle real cities nor afford nicer suburbs.

It's no surprise, then, that FCPS has far more talented students: 237 National Merit Semifinalists this year vs. eight in all of APS, and multiple schools that have more NMSF than all four high schools in APS combined. Do they teach anything in those schools other than an exaggerated sense of self-esteem?

You win the Marco Rubio prize for repeating the same lame sound bite over and over again. Don't you have anything better to do than to talk about NMSFs k several DCUM threads? Get a life!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello, OP. Getting back to your original question, I'm happy to give my two cents on Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS).

We have one child in elementary school and one child in middle school. We have been very pleased with the quality of academic instruction at both levels. One child was identified early as "gifted" and one was not, so we have experience with the TAG program as well as the general education program. We feel that both kids have been given sufficient challenge and support as needed. In the 8 years we have had children in the schools, we have only had one teacher that we felt was not great, and she was gone the following year. (I fully admit that we may have a bit of a charmed life in this respect, but it is our experience.)

For your reference, our elementary school has one of the higher FARMS rates in the system. We do not feel that it has had a negative impact on our kids. To the contrary, we like that they have friends across the socio-economic spectrum. We have been pleasantly surprised by middle school (DC is at GW). We were concerned about the transition, but the school is really well-run and the teachers DC has had are excellent. I wish my middle school experience had been as good as DC's is.

We have also been pleased with the arts education. The orchestra program is well-known and well-regarded throughout the state and the region. The choir program is also very strong and well-regarded. While the recognition of those programs comes at the middle and high school levels, the elementary pipeline into them is strong. Our elementary school also has a dance integration program that augments the curriculum with dance. For example, using dance to support a lesson in the different types of cloud formations, the teachers had kids up and moving and making up dances to demonstrate the different cloud types. Programs like that vary by school, of course, but they are out there. The middle school speech and drama program is also very strong and has great community support. The national PTA "Reflections" art contest is also well-supported by the area PTAs. In fairness, the band program is not as strong as the other arts programs, but it is fine.

By and large I think that the elementary schools are strong. The biggest issue facing all of the elementary schools is overcrowding due to increased enrollment. It looks like the city council will fully fund capital improvement projects aimed at relieving the overcrowding - between a new elementary school and some school modernization projects. That will help the space-squeeze. Even with overcrowding, ACPS has kept its class size caps in elementary stable: K is capped at 22; First and Second is capped at 24; Third through Fifth is capped at 26. Each school will have its own strengths and weaknesses, of course. I also think that middle school, at least at GW, is strong.

I cannot speak to the high school (TC Williams), since we do not have direct experience there. I do worry about the size of the school, but there can be benefits to the size as well in the number of programs that are offered. I can say that I have been impressed by the TC students in our neighborhood, many of whom I have watched grow up. They seem to be enjoying their experience. The handful that I happen to know in our neighborhood that are now in college went to good schools (UVA, Brown, VaTech, Bryn Mawr, Cornell). We will consider private at the high school level when we get there, but we are hoping that TC will turn out to surprise us the way GW has done.

ACPS has its issues, no doubt, as does every public school system. But I think that the vitriol that comes out on this board is not deserved. I think if you find a neighborhood/community that you like in Alexandria then you will be happy there and your kids will be happy in the schools. I suspect the same holds true for Arlington.

Good luck, OP.

I am an ACPS parent and have now had kids in both ACPS and Private.

I could have written a post like this. Until my kids went to private school. Then I realized, I didn't know what I didn't know.

In terms of TC, just taking all AP classes in high school won't guarantee your child has the ability to succeed in college and I wouldn't be surprised to discover that some of the kids who leave TC after earning top grades in AP classes and go on to good schools don't in fact struggle during their first year in college.

[Anonymous]

Our child has been gone through ACPS for elementary school and is now at GW. Having taught for many years in FCPS, I can say that his education has been comparable. We've only had one teacher who wasn't great (she did have her strengths, and DC learned a lot about technology from her), and she moved states after one year. DC was TAG identified early on, so our experience was from that standpoint. In lower grades, we had to supplement in order for him to learn anything new in math, but that improved by fourth grade with compacted math. The only program where I saw a drastic difference was in their band and orchestra programs. Their concerts were TRULY dreadful compared with those at my school in FCPS. Even the advanced class was consistently off key and and just plain painful.

We are now at GW, and DC seems challenged. He's actually having to work to be successful in his honors classes. We'll make a decision about TC Williams when the time comes, but we'll likely give it a shot.

[Anonymous]

Very telling that no one has any first hand insight into south Arlington elementaries.

[Anonymous]

These are APS's Title 1 schools - . Abingdon, Barcroft, Barrett, Campbell, Carlin Springs, Drew, Hoffman-Boston, Patrick Henry and Randolph. That is basically every ES with a South Arlington address. The cut is 40% or higher on FRL. These are urban schools, with all of their attendant issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These are APS's Title 1 schools - . Abingdon, Barcroft, Barrett, Campbell, Carlin Springs, Drew, Hoffman-Boston, Patrick Henry and Randolph. That is basically every ES with a South Arlington address. The cut is 40% or higher on FRL. These are urban schools, with all of their attendant issues.

Plus the county is actively working against gentrification. Doesn't mean it won't happen, but it's not happening soon. The county allowed the r-b corridor to gentrify with the understanding that Arlington's poor could all be housed along Columbia pike. Walter Tejada was promised Buckingham ( and was displeased at what happened there) and Columbia Pike. There are enough dyed in the wool libs in that area ( who don't have kids in the schools) to make it an easy target.
Doesn't mean the schools are bad, but they are overloaded with more than their fair share of poverty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I am an ACPS parent and have now had kids in both ACPS and Private.

I could have written a post like this. Until my kids went to private school. Then I realized, I didn't know what I didn't know.

In terms of TC, just taking all AP classes in high school won't guarantee your child has the ability to succeed in college and I wouldn't be surprised to discover that some of the kids who leave TC after earning top grades in AP classes and go on to good schools don't in fact struggle during their first year in college.

PP, could you articulate what you know now, that you didn't understand only having experience in ACPS before? Some specifics would be helpful for OP and others who are trying to get a sense of things....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very telling that no one has any first hand insight into south Arlington elementaries.

Not really. i'm happy with our South Arlington school, but I'm tired of having to defend it and my choices.

Go visit some schools. You'll figure out what you like and what you don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very telling that no one has any first hand insight into south Arlington elementaries.

Not everyone spends their life on DCUM.

We have kids at Barrett, which is a Title 1 school in N Arlington but similar in many ways to the S Arlington schools. We have been very happy with it.

We have friends and neighbors who send their kids to Barcroft and to Campbell and have also been happy with those schools.

We also got to know families from Randolph over several seasons when our kids played on a soccer team together. The parents we spoke to (both white collar and blue collar) were happy with their school.

I find that the white-collar, college-educated families that we know who willingly send their kids to Title 1 schools are like ours -- centrist to liberal and laid back. We all want what's best for our kids and we could all afford to make a change if we needed to, but don't feel we need to. As long as our kids are happy and safe and learning and growing then it's all good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're in central or western Fairfax now you're likely zoned for much better schools than in Alexandria or South Arlington, which have some of the worst schools in NoVa.

Nope. I'd take any Arlington school over any Fairfax school.

Whatever, APS is mediocre.

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia

http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=2839

http://www.apsva.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=31571

And you live in Fairfax county. You lose again.

LOL. You live in a county where the best known school is Marymount.

That's just a dumb comment. Get back to your boring life in a dull suburb and stop posting idiotic things here.

Are you talking to yourself again?

That's the best you can do? What are you, 12? The uninspiring atmosphere of the drab Fairfax suburbs seems to be infecting your brain. Like I said, get back to your provincial existence and stop posting your vapid nonsense on DCUM. I'm going to take my morning walk across the Key Bridge to Georgetown now. Bye.

Arlington is the definition of bland mediocrity. It's for people who can neither handle real cities nor afford nicer suburbs.

It's no surprise, then, that FCPS has far more talented students: 237 National Merit Semifinalists this year vs. eight in all of APS, and multiple schools that have more NMSF than all four high schools in APS combined. Do they teach anything in those schools other than an exaggerated sense of self-esteem?

You win the Marco Rubio prize for repeating the same lame sound bite over and over again. Don't you have anything better to do than to talk about NMSFs k several DCUM threads? Get a life!

If Arlington was actually an interesting place to live, you wouldn't be relegated to playing thread monitor, now, would you? Perhaps if you channeled that energy into improving APS, they wouldn't look so lame by comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very telling that no one has any first hand insight into south Arlington elementaries.

What are you talking about? I am a parent at a south Arlington school and I responded above (the long post that a north Arlington parent and APS teacher seconded). And I don't need to jump in over everyone else who was talking about ACPS, because unlike you I don't have an agenda and I was trying to be helpful to the OP who asked about south Arlington AND ACPS.

I don't have first hand experience in Randolph, because that's not my school and I've had no opportunity to visit there. But I have second-hand knowledge from friends. I think what I said about south Arlington schools generally would apply to Randolph. And you're right. There aren't that many current Randolph parents who I know frequenting these boards. But there are a number of future parents who I know who DO read this board. Take from that what you will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are APS's Title 1 schools - . Abingdon, Barcroft, Barrett, Campbell, Carlin Springs, Drew, Hoffman-Boston, Patrick Henry and Randolph. That is basically every ES with a South Arlington address. The cut is 40% or higher on FRL. These are urban schools, with all of their attendant issues.

Plus the county is actively working against gentrification. Doesn't mean it won't happen, but it's not happening soon. The county allowed the r-b corridor to gentrify with the understanding that Arlington's poor could all be housed along Columbia pike. Walter Tejada was promised Buckingham ( and was displeased at what happened there) and Columbia Pike. There are enough dyed in the wool libs in that area ( who don't have kids in the schools) to make it an easy target.
Doesn't mean the schools are bad, but they are overloaded with more than their fair share of poverty.

scary~

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are APS's Title 1 schools - . Abingdon, Barcroft, Barrett, Campbell, Carlin Springs, Drew, Hoffman-Boston, Patrick Henry and Randolph. That is basically every ES with a South Arlington address. The cut is 40% or higher on FRL. These are urban schools, with all of their attendant issues.

Plus the county is actively working against gentrification. Doesn't mean it won't happen, but it's not happening soon. The county allowed the r-b corridor to gentrify with the understanding that Arlington's poor could all be housed along Columbia pike. Walter Tejada was promised Buckingham ( and was displeased at what happened there) and Columbia Pike. There are enough dyed in the wool libs in that area ( who don't have kids in the schools) to make it an easy target.
Doesn't mean the schools are bad, but they are overloaded with more than their fair share of poverty.

scary~

I don't know about scary... No part of Arlington is really know for being particularly rough these days. It is disappointing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These are APS's Title 1 schools - . Abingdon, Barcroft, Barrett, Campbell, Carlin Springs, Drew, Hoffman-Boston, Patrick Henry and Randolph. That is basically every ES with a South Arlington address. The cut is 40% or higher on FRL. These are urban schools, with all of their attendant issues.

Plus the county is actively working against gentrification. Doesn't mean it won't happen, but it's not happening soon. The county allowed the r-b corridor to gentrify with the understanding that Arlington's poor could all be housed along Columbia pike. Walter Tejada was promised Buckingham ( and was displeased at what happened there) and Columbia Pike. There are enough dyed in the wool libs in that area ( who don't have kids in the schools) to make it an easy target.
Doesn't mean the schools are bad, but they are overloaded with more than their fair share of poverty.

scary~

I don't know about scary... No part of Arlington is really know for being particularly rough these days. It is disappointing.

But there's still lots of racism and fear!

[Anonymous]

I think people have a right to be afraid their child isn't maybe getting a great education , or least a comparable education to the kids on the other side of the county. Doesn't mean they don't like diversity, just means they are prioritizing their own child. I'm not clear on how a class with majority impovrished English learners keeps the same pace as schools that are almost 100% rich, native English speakers.
I would love to hear how that works.
There might very well be a negligible difference.