Tell me why I should pay extra for Arlington High Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yes - and it's the grinders with tiger moms that drive the National Merit cutoff in states like Virginia, New Jersey, etc.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t prep. I studied on my own by reviewing old tests. Did you walk into the SATs cold without having reviewed any prior tests? If so, then congratulations — that is remarkable. And extraordinary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t prep. I studied on my own by reviewing old tests. Did you walk into the SATs cold without having reviewed any prior tests? If so, then congratulations — that is remarkable. And extraordinary.

Yes. The test isn't hard. It's multiple choice....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t prep. I studied on my own by reviewing old tests. Did you walk into the SATs cold without having reviewed any prior tests? If so, then congratulations — that is remarkable. And extraordinary.

Yes. The test isn't hard. It's multiple choice....

If there was a metric for learning to stay on topic, you’d flunk.

[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.

McLean, Langley, Madison; and Walt Whitman and BCC in Maryland.

[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.

Most of the Arlington national merit semifinalists go to TJ just like in Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, Arlington schools sound like they’re pretty bad. I’d stay away.

Enjoy Sterling.

[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.

McLean, Langley, Madison; and Walt Whitman and BCC in Maryland.

If you normalize for socio-economic diversity, I doubt you find any difference.

[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.

McLean, Langley, Madison; and Walt Whitman and BCC in Maryland.

If you normalize for socio-economic diversity, I doubt you find any difference.

Maybe yes, maybe no. If you look at the most homogeneous groups in these areas, whites and Asians, it looks like the white kids lag at Yorktown and the Asian kids lag at both Yorktown and W-L. Here are the SAT scores for white and Asian kids for 2015-16 (the last year APS, FCPS, and MCPS data was available for both groups):

White Students:

Whitman 1917
Langley 1864
McLean 1861
W-L 1856
B-CC 1841
Madison 1820
Yorktown 1788

Asian Students

Langley 1988
McLean 1960
Madison 1935
Whitman 1901
Yorktown 1786
B-CC 1697
W-L 1582

[Anonymous]

You have to commute to Md or DC for the good privates.

[Anonymous]

Do you think some of the Asian lag is self-selection? Maybe the tiger moms are selecting Fairfax county for AAP and better odds of TJ. The more chill Asian parents who prioritize commute or something else end up in Arlington, and their kids aren't hitting the test prep as hard.

Just a thought.

[Anonymous]

I don't think you should move anywhere that's going to break your budget just for the schools, there are too many good schools in the region for that. If Arlington is that much of a stretch for you, I'd look further out in Fairfax or Loudoun instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

McLean, Langley, Madison; and Walt Whitman and BCC in Maryland.

If you normalize for socio-economic diversity, I doubt you find any difference.

Maybe yes, maybe no. If you look at the most homogeneous groups in these areas, whites and Asians, it looks like the white kids lag at Yorktown and the Asian kids lag at both Yorktown and W-L. Here are the SAT scores for white and Asian kids for 2015-16 (the last year APS, FCPS, and MCPS data was available for both groups):

White Students:

Whitman 1917
Langley 1864
McLean 1861
W-L 1856
B-CC 1841
Madison 1820
Yorktown 1788

Asian Students

Langley 1988
McLean 1960
Madison 1935
Whitman 1901
Yorktown 1786
B-CC 1697
W-L 1582

Well that is interesting. Thanks for posting. I still think this has more to do with the parents than the schools...who your parents are will have more effect on outcome than any of these high schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am looking to move next year, and was led to believe that North Arlington High Schools are great - Yorktown and Washington Lee. And that no one who is interested in education would send their kid to Wakefield.

Then I look at GS ratings for the schools and scratch my head a bit.

Washington Lee is a 4 and Yorktown is a 5.

Wakefield is a 3.

I see there has been some talk that GS has "changed the way they rank," but won't the bad rating lead people away regardless creating a downward spiral?

If commute is not a concern (and other areas of NOVA would work for us), why bet on North Arlington and pay the premium on a house?

You shouldn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If commute (or proximity to DC) is not a concern, why would you want to buy in Arlington?

Exactly this. I live in Arlington because my husband and I both commute to DC. You don't move to Arlington for the schools, you move to Arlington because you need to commute and the schools are good. You can get equally good (or better) schools AND a nicer house for the same price further out.

Which schools are good/better further out?