Best elementary schools in Fairfax

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford Langley HS, Churchill Road or Spring Hill, those two have great test scores and almost no FARMS.

Avoid Forestville as it will likely be redistributed to Herndon High School.

I think you would be doing your children a great disservice if you send them to a no FARMS elementary school. There is something to be said for diversity. And diversity means more than "oh but we have a large asian population".

🤣 the equity focused diversity police strike again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford Langley HS, Churchill Road or Spring Hill, those two have great test scores and almost no FARMS.

Avoid Forestville as it will likely be redistributed to Herndon High School.

I think you would be doing your children a great disservice if you send them to a no FARMS elementary school. There is something to be said for diversity. And diversity means more than "oh but we have a large asian population".

Did you really choose your kids' elementary school by looking up the FARMS rates to make sure there was enough poverty there for you to give your kids the "diversity" they need to thrive? Do you realize how obnoxious and offensive this is to everyone, especially poor folks?

If I was poor, the last thing I'd be doing is saying to myself I need to find a school for my kid where there's enough poor people to make me feel good about the "diverse" environment.

But let's be honest, people choose higher FARMS schools when they do not have to, not because of a love of diversity, but because they want a nicer house for a better price or otherwise do not care all that much about the educational and social experiences their kids will endure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford Langley HS, Churchill Road or Spring Hill, those two have great test scores and almost no FARMS.

Avoid Forestville as it will likely be redistributed to Herndon High School.

I think you would be doing your children a great disservice if you send them to a no FARMS elementary school. There is something to be said for diversity. And diversity means more than "oh but we have a large asian population".

OMG. You are a caricature.
DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford Langley HS, Churchill Road or Spring Hill, those two have great test scores and almost no FARMS.

Avoid Forestville as it will likely be redistributed to Herndon High School.

I think you would be doing your children a great disservice if you send them to a no FARMS elementary school. There is something to be said for diversity. And diversity means more than "oh but we have a large asian population".

Did you really choose your kids' elementary school by looking up the FARMS rates to make sure there was enough poverty there for you to give your kids the "diversity" they need to thrive? Do you realize how obnoxious and offensive this is to everyone, especially poor folks?

If I was poor, the last thing I'd be doing is saying to myself I need to find a school for my kid where there's enough poor people to make me feel good about the "diverse" environment.

But let's be honest, people choose higher FARMS schools when they do not have to, not because of a love of diversity, but because they want a nicer house for a better price or otherwise do not care all that much about the educational and social experiences their kids will endure.

That's an overly simplistic view. Sure we chose a location where we could have a nice house and walk to things. We very much care about the educational experiences of our kids. We could without any sacrifice afford private school. Instead we value what are children learn from being around others that may not be as fortunate as they are. Our very high rate FARMS school has very caring and dedicated teachers. There seems to be lots of extra support with the number of ESL teachers that are added to class rooms. I think it's extremely disingenuous to just assume because a school doesn't have the highest test scores with lots of esl students that the school is bad. If your scared of sending your child there you are racist or afraid that your child isn't as gifted and special as you think they are and need to be coddled.

[Anonymous]

OP, tourany of the garden apartments around Edsall Rd. or North Springfield/Annandale area to get a feel for the neighborhood and schools. You may just fall in love with Lynbrook ES! An underrated gem!

[Anonymous]

You might also want to try Timber Lane ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, tourany of the garden apartments around Edsall Rd. or North Springfield/Annandale area to get a feel for the neighborhood and schools. You may just fall in love with Lynbrook ES! An underrated gem!

Are you at lynbrook? Can you share a bit more about the environment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, tourany of the garden apartments around Edsall Rd. or North Springfield/Annandale area to get a feel for the neighborhood and schools. You may just fall in love with Lynbrook ES! An underrated gem!

Are you at lynbrook? Can you share a bit more about the environment?

86 percent Latino
72 percent ELL
68 percent FARMS

Lewis HS feeder. IB program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford Langley HS, Churchill Road or Spring Hill, those two have great test scores and almost no FARMS.

Avoid Forestville as it will likely be redistributed to Herndon High School.

I think you would be doing your children a great disservice if you send them to a no FARMS elementary school. There is something to be said for diversity. And diversity means more than "oh but we have a large asian population".

Did you really choose your kids' elementary school by looking up the FARMS rates to make sure there was enough poverty there for you to give your kids the "diversity" they need to thrive? Do you realize how obnoxious and offensive this is to everyone, especially poor folks?

If I was poor, the last thing I'd be doing is saying to myself I need to find a school for my kid where there's enough poor people to make me feel good about the "diverse" environment.

But let's be honest, people choose higher FARMS schools when they do not have to, not because of a love of diversity, but because they want a nicer house for a better price or otherwise do not care all that much about the educational and social experiences their kids will endure.

NP. I don’t know what makes you think you can speak for others. We deliberately avoided the Langley pyramid because we didn’t want that type of environment for our kids. We are more comfortable with greater diversity and believe it helps kids develop better social skills and empathy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford Langley HS, Churchill Road or Spring Hill, those two have great test scores and almost no FARMS.

Avoid Forestville as it will likely be redistributed to Herndon High School.

I think you would be doing your children a great disservice if you send them to a no FARMS elementary school. There is something to be said for diversity. And diversity means more than "oh but we have a large asian population".

Did you really choose your kids' elementary school by looking up the FARMS rates to make sure there was enough poverty there for you to give your kids the "diversity" they need to thrive? Do you realize how obnoxious and offensive this is to everyone, especially poor folks?

If I was poor, the last thing I'd be doing is saying to myself I need to find a school for my kid where there's enough poor people to make me feel good about the "diverse" environment.

But let's be honest, people choose higher FARMS schools when they do not have to, not because of a love of diversity, but because they want a nicer house for a better price or otherwise do not care all that much about the educational and social experiences their kids will endure.

NP. I don’t know what makes you think you can speak for others. We deliberately avoided the Langley pyramid because we didn’t want that type of environment for our kids. We are more comfortable with greater diversity and believe it helps kids develop better social skills and empathy.

Wow. Another caricature!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, tourany of the garden apartments around Edsall Rd. or North Springfield/Annandale area to get a feel for the neighborhood and schools. You may just fall in love with Lynbrook ES! An underrated gem!

Are you at lynbrook? Can you share a bit more about the environment?

86 percent Latino
72 percent ELL
68 percent FARMS

Lewis HS feeder. IB program.

Not necessarily stats, but if you find it to be a gem....what's the pta like? Clubs? Activities, involvement of parents?
Extracurriculars? Teachers??
Thanks for any insight

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is terrible but the truth is to buy into a school with a low FARMS rate. School performance and SES are highly correlated.

Great Schools rating and FARMS are correlated, but whether that impacts a particular student is questionable.

Our ES is a 3 because of Great Schools' equity score. But if you give it any more than a passing glance, you see that white and asian kids are testing at a 9/10 rate and hispanic kids are 1/10. So, if you are not an English learner, the school is working out very well for you.

The outcome is still going to be different because of the level of teaching and the students being taught to. Teachers have to teach to the lowest denominator and the lowest denominator is a lot higher at a low FARMS rate school. So this only works at your school if your child is in the AAP class, but if you compare Gen Ed to Gen Ed, there is a markable difference, even for the white and asian kids. That said, an average white or asian kid is probably more likely to get into AAP at your school than at a high SES school, so maybe that makes up the difference.

I have two elementary schoolers and i generally agree with this post. My kids are “bright average”/above average based on standardized tests and grades. We are at a high SES, AAP center school and my kids are in Gen Ed. I am really glad we aren’t at a school where I feel like my kids “have” to be in AAP in order to be challenged and to have a good peer group. There are plenty of bright above average kids in Gen Ed at my kids’ school and they are getting what they need. This is because the vast majority of families at the school care about education regardless of whether their children are gifted or not. I have friends in other parts of the county and they have put a lot of pressure/stress on themselves and their kids to try to get into AAP at schools where they worry that the peer group in Gen Ed is not going to beneficial to their children.

Some people here love to say “oh your kids will be first be at any school in FCPS” because they have kids who are or almost certainly will be in AAP. OP you know your kids and you and your spouse’s academic history best. If your kids aren’t likely to be a lock for advanced academics I do not recommend a school where most parents who care about education feel that it’s “AAP or bust”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

First figure out commutes and possible commutes should your job location change. An additional 15 minutes makes a bigger difference than many perceived differences between ES.

Figure out your budget.

Overlay best commutes with affordable houses and then look at the possible elementary schools in your target areas. Then, come back here with your narrowed down areas and people will help you.






This is quite possibly the worst advice I have read on this forum. Commute time, unless unreasonable, isn’t a factor for most people and pales in comparison to school quality.

That person would have you live super close to the worst school districts in the county.

Disagree. The person who wrote this must not have a very long commute or realize how long some commutes are? Do you really want to be at least an hour away from your child in an emergency?

The person who wrote that is a SAHM, I bet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford Langley HS, Churchill Road or Spring Hill, those two have great test scores and almost no FARMS.

Avoid Forestville as it will likely be redistributed to Herndon High School.

I think you would be doing your children a great disservice if you send them to a no FARMS elementary school. There is something to be said for diversity. And diversity means more than "oh but we have a large asian population".

Did you really choose your kids' elementary school by looking up the FARMS rates to make sure there was enough poverty there for you to give your kids the "diversity" they need to thrive? Do you realize how obnoxious and offensive this is to everyone, especially poor folks?

If I was poor, the last thing I'd be doing is saying to myself I need to find a school for my kid where there's enough poor people to make me feel good about the "diverse" environment.

But let's be honest, people choose higher FARMS schools when they do not have to, not because of a love of diversity, but because they want a nicer house for a better price or otherwise do not care all that much about the educational and social experiences their kids will endure.

That's an overly simplistic view. Sure we chose a location where we could have a nice house and walk to things. We very much care about the educational experiences of our kids. We could without any sacrifice afford private school. Instead we value what are children learn from being around others that may not be as fortunate as they are. Our very high rate FARMS school has very caring and dedicated teachers. There seems to be lots of extra support with the number of ESL teachers that are added to class rooms. I think it's extremely disingenuous to just assume because a school doesn't have the highest test scores with lots of esl students that the school is bad. If your scared of sending your child there you are racist or afraid that your child isn't as gifted and special as you think they are and need to be coddled.

I mean, you went way off the rails in the end. You start by saying the PP was presenting an overly simplistic view, then give a mere two possibilities as the only reasons parents chose not to send a kid to a high farms school. It’s a real PC-police-type post. Do you think only your thought process is valid? No diversity of thought allowed?

When kids are around other kids that are high SES there are often higher expectations on the kids, which can translate into a kid striving for more academically. How do I know? Because I was that kid when I was younger. It’s a big reason that doesn’t fit into your worldview that all rich people are bad, but it’s a compelling reason to prefer a high performing school.

I’d also be much more okay with a high farms percentage school if it didn’t have notable gang activity. That’s a big deal breaker for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:your kids spend a lot of time in elementary school and it can have lasting impacts if the school fails to help with reading issues or other learning disabilities.

Frost and Woodson are great but I would totally avoid Olde Creek and Little Run.

I’m curious- why would you avoid those schools?