Arlington neighborhood thoughts?
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Anonymous
How is it possible for the schools to get worse when the population is wealthier and more educated and the County has more revenue than ever? |
Anonymous
Jesus - 3/4 million for that!? I guess I have been out of the market for a long time. |
Anonymous
Some of the ratings (Great Schools, US News, etc.) increasingly focus on how minorities and low-income students at a school perform. White kids in APS, particularly at Washington-Lee, do quite well. Minority students in APS, however, tend to under-perform compared to their peers in other jurisdictions, so you end up with Yorktown, W-L and Wakefield only rated 5, 4, and 3 by Great Schools. And the number of top-achievers - National Merit Semifinalists - is also quite low in APS. Add to that the half-assed plans to deal with high-school overcrowding (due as much to poor planning as Arlington's recent popularity), and many are starting to choose other options. The failure to act promptly to build a fourth comprehensive high school in the county speaks to the lack of leadership in APS and the current superintendent's lack of political capital. |
Anonymous
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I am sure someone will be on to trash south arlington as soon as I post this, but we love Arlington Ridge/Aurora Highlands. We walk to pentagon city, 23rd street restaurants, the library, multiple parks, the metro. We've been happy with Oakridge and Gunston so far. Yes, Oakridge is crowded but we had a good experience. Neighbors are friendly.
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Anonymous
But you're not able to be a member of MONA. |
Anonymous
Another benefit. South Arlington gets better and better. |
Anonymous
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Some of the ratings (Great Schools, US News, etc.) increasingly focus on how minorities and low-income students at a school perform.
White kids in APS, particularly at Washington-Lee, do quite well. Minority students in APS, however, tend to under-perform compared to their peers in other jurisdictions, so you end up with Yorktown, W-L and Wakefield only rated 5, 4, and 3 by Great Schools. This is also why other schools in the area have dropped in the Great Schools ranking. They recently adjusted the ranking methodology to factor how minorities fair at the school. McLean HS is a good example - as the GS ranking is now 7/10. Funny how in US News and other rankings claim schools like these are among the top 1% of High School's in the NATION (that's out of roughly 32,000 PUBLIC High Schools) based on test scores etc and then Great Schools says "Meh, you're a 7/10" because a small portion of the student body under performs the majority (though I'm certain some will take offense to putting it that bluntly). Great Schools also ranks based on state/region which not everyone realizes - so they mistakenly think a 9/10 school in Montana is the same effectively as a 9/10 school in Northern Virginia. As someone who has taught at pubic schools in MD and VA I find the Great Schools rating rather misleading to the uninformed. |
Anonymous
Some of the ratings (Great Schools, US News, etc.) increasingly focus on how minorities and low-income students at a school perform. White kids in APS, particularly at Washington-Lee, do quite well. Minority students in APS, however, tend to under-perform compared to their peers in other jurisdictions, so you end up with Yorktown, W-L and Wakefield only rated 5, 4, and 3 by Great Schools. This is also why other schools in the area have dropped in the Great Schools ranking. They recently adjusted the ranking methodology to factor how minorities fair at the school. McLean HS is a good example - as the GS ranking is now 7/10. Funny how in US News and other rankings claim schools like these are among the top 1% of High School's in the NATION (that's out of roughly 32,000 PUBLIC High Schools) based on test scores etc and then Great Schools says "Meh, you're a 7/10" because a small portion of the student body under performs the majority (though I'm certain some will take offense to putting it that bluntly). Great Schools also ranks based on state/region which not everyone realizes - so they mistakenly think a 9/10 school in Montana is the same effectively as a 9/10 school in Northern Virginia. As someone who has taught at pubic schools in MD and VA I find the Great Schools rating rather misleading to the uninformed. All that revamped GS scoring does is reward further segregation in schools. Why settle for a 7 school, when you could simple push historically underperforming populations out of your district. Unintended consequences. They’re a bitch. |
Anonymous
| All Arlington schools are quite good in a bigger sense. Compare, for example, Great Falls HS in Montana vs Wakefield. Great Falls has a 7 to Wakefield's 3. Wakefield students are 80ish% proficient on state tests, which is below the state average and therefore a negative to the overall score. Great Falls students are 48% proficient which is sadly, above the state average, so this boosts GS score. All down the list, GF students are above the state average (which is abysmal!) but this boosts the overall score. Students at Wakefield are doing far better overall by this measure, but bc they are slightly below the state average they get a bad score. Yes, Yorktown has better scores than Wakefield. But lets keep some perspective here. |
Anonymous
Some of the ratings (Great Schools, US News, etc.) increasingly focus on how minorities and low-income students at a school perform. White kids in APS, particularly at Washington-Lee, do quite well. Minority students in APS, however, tend to under-perform compared to their peers in other jurisdictions, so you end up with Yorktown, W-L and Wakefield only rated 5, 4, and 3 by Great Schools. This is also why other schools in the area have dropped in the Great Schools ranking. They recently adjusted the ranking methodology to factor how minorities fair at the school. McLean HS is a good example - as the GS ranking is now 7/10. Funny how in US News and other rankings claim schools like these are among the top 1% of High School's in the NATION (that's out of roughly 32,000 PUBLIC High Schools) based on test scores etc and then Great Schools says "Meh, you're a 7/10" because a small portion of the student body under performs the majority (though I'm certain some will take offense to putting it that bluntly). Great Schools also ranks based on state/region which not everyone realizes - so they mistakenly think a 9/10 school in Montana is the same effectively as a 9/10 school in Northern Virginia. As someone who has taught at pubic schools in MD and VA I find the Great Schools rating rather misleading to the uninformed. PP here, exactly what I am saying! Missed your remark about Montana here, lol! |
Anonymous
This is also why other schools in the area have dropped in the Great Schools ranking. They recently adjusted the ranking methodology to factor how minorities fair at the school. McLean HS is a good example - as the GS ranking is now 7/10. Funny how in US News and other rankings claim schools like these are among the top 1% of High School's in the NATION (that's out of roughly 32,000 PUBLIC High Schools) based on test scores etc and then Great Schools says "Meh, you're a 7/10" because a small portion of the student body under performs the majority (though I'm certain some will take offense to putting it that bluntly). Great Schools also ranks based on state/region which not everyone realizes - so they mistakenly think a 9/10 school in Montana is the same effectively as a 9/10 school in Northern Virginia. As someone who has taught at pubic schools in MD and VA I find the Great Schools rating rather misleading to the uninformed. All that revamped GS scoring does is reward further segregation in schools. Why settle for a 7 school, when you could simple push historically underperforming populations out of your district. Unintended consequences. They’re a bitch. It's not just Great Schools ranking schools like McLean (a 7) higher than the APS schools (5, 4, and 3). You could also look at School Digger, a different service that ranks based on SOL scores: Fairfax has 10 schools (McLean, West Springfield, Robinson, Langley, Marshall, Madison, Woodson, Lake Braddock, Oakton and Chantilly) ranked higher than Yorktown, which is the highest ranked high school in APS and only comes in at #60 in the state). |
Anonymous
| meh. Honestly who cares about Yorktown? Its a school populated by a miserable community of people, built on racism. It’s not really surprising that the children raised by nannies, and parents too busy at the firm to be engaged with their kids, are underperforming. |
Anonymous
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https://www.redfin.com/VA/Arlington/737-N-Buchanan-St-22203/home/11242386
This just came on the market and is walkable to many things |
Anonymous
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That's a lovely house. Need to see for yourself whether it's far enough off Wilson to minimize street noise. Also, there are a lot of rental houses in that area, so with checking for historic rental listings. It would suck to buy a forever home only to find out later that the neighbors are four post grabs splitting a SFH; surprisingly common in the eastern portions of bluemont closer to Ballston
But otherwise my guess is that house will go fast. Wouldn't be surprised if it gets an offer before the open house |
Anonymous
What’s the best way to check rental properties in an area? |