What is the ideal school district/cluster?

[Anonymous]

I live and work in DC but am considering moving at some point for the purpose of sending my children to a good public school system and I would like this move to work for elementary through high school. Assume I have bright hard working children (the jury is still out due to young age but I am hopeful) and I am interested in a neighborhood school with a challenging curriculum that does a good job of differentiated learning. If money and location were not an obstacle (they probably are but I am trying to understand the range of possibilities), what neighborhood and school district do you recommend?

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Arlington. From everything I hear, you really can't go wrong because there's something for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Fairfax County in either McLean or Vienna

[Anonymous]

More affordable areas than Vienna/McLean would include many parts of the Frost/Woodson cluster in Fairfax County. Canterbury Woods and Wakefield Forest elementary have good reputations, as does Mantua.

[Anonymous]

I'd go to Churchill/Cooper/Langley.

[Anonymous]

I'm just going by reputation and places I looked at when house hunting, not actual experience with all the clusters. There is City of Falls Church - very expensive to find anything. Within Fairfax, we looked at Woodson - almost bought there. I think someone mentioned the Mantua area etc - we looked there. Would have loved to be in Arlington - especially some of the North Arlington areas I would pass by. Langley H.S. has a great reputation but I pretty much would have had to hope someone was renting out a carriage house behind their home for us to be in that cluster. In Montgomery County there are the four Ws - Wooten, Winston Churchhill, Whitman, and Walter Johnson.

That said, my parents, my in-laws, my DH and I didn't grow up in "the best" school districts so to some extent I try to keep it in perspective. I don't know that being in one of the top tier school districts will translate to my kids being any happier in life, being more academically successful, or having more career success than if we stayed where we were living before. The biggest thing for me is the high level of expectation. I think there was another post asking if so many GT children and so many kids scoring high on the WPSIII test makes your child one of many in this area and everyone was saying - pretty much. Having gone to an elementary school where it was a HUGE deal and it was bucking the trend to do well in school - I want for my children what I didn't have. I want them to go somewhere where it is typical to do well in school - both that there is the expectation from the teachers and that most of the kids want to do well.

[Anonymous]

In Fairfax County, look at Haycock ES/Longfellow MS/McLean HS. There are some reasonably priced homes, and these public schools are very good.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all so much. This is really helpful information.