NoVa public schools? alexandria or arlington?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Alright, but don't try to call me out at being "opaque" just cause you didn't read the thread...

Also - the stuff you said above about S. Arlington is the "politically correct" things people say. I have lived in Arlington (north and south) for over a decade. The housing stock in S. Arlington is just fine, there is only one area I would not live in. Some sections of North Arlington have more metro access, but I don't take the metro anyway, so personally I don't care about that. Just like North Arlington, there are areas in South Arlington you can walk to a metro, walk to restaurants, walk to shopping, walk to a libraries, etc... almost all areas you can walk to parks. So, I can't figure out what North Arlington has "going for it" that South doesn't, besides less ethnic and economic diversity. You know what - if that is what you want - fine, but admit it and move on.

My kids go to the schools in South Arlington (have attended two different elementary schools) and both were wonderful - 15 kids per class with an assistant teacher. Top quality teachers, many who have taught in the school district, often the same school, for 15+ years, parents who are involved with their children and care about their education, even though English may not be their first language or even a language that they speak, their kids speak English very well thanks to a wonderful pre-K program in the county that targets recent immigrants.

Anyway, we have veered way off topic in a thread that is really old, but maybe this will encourage some people looking for a house not to discount S. Arlington.

Sounds like you're trying to have it both ways. The reason why your kids attend classes with 15 students is that the other students are deemed high-risk, so those schools get extra resources to help those students. People don't avoid South Arlington schools because they are "scared" of non-whites. They avoid them because student performance is regularly below average. Wakefield has a very high drop-out rate, some of the worst SAT scores in NoVa and not a single National Merit Semifinalist this year. The other poster is also right that the housing stock is not as nice as in North Arlington. In comparison, at TC, you're getting the best that the City of Alexandria has to offer and you can still live in one of the best neighborhoods in Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Alright, but don't try to call me out at being "opaque" just cause you didn't read the thread...

Also - the stuff you said above about S. Arlington is the "politically correct" things people say. I have lived in Arlington (north and south) for over a decade. The housing stock in S. Arlington is just fine, there is only one area I would not live in. Some sections of North Arlington have more metro access, but I don't take the metro anyway, so personally I don't care about that. Just like North Arlington, there are areas in South Arlington you can walk to a metro, walk to restaurants, walk to shopping, walk to a libraries, etc... almost all areas you can walk to parks. So, I can't figure out what North Arlington has "going for it" that South doesn't, besides less ethnic and economic diversity. You know what - if that is what you want - fine, but admit it and move on.

My kids go to the schools in South Arlington (have attended two different elementary schools) and both were wonderful - 15 kids per class with an assistant teacher. Top quality teachers, many who have taught in the school district, often the same school, for 15+ years, parents who are involved with their children and care about their education, even though English may not be their first language or even a language that they speak, their kids speak English very well thanks to a wonderful pre-K program in the county that targets recent immigrants.

Anyway, we have veered way off topic in a thread that is really old, but maybe this will encourage some people looking for a house not to discount S. Arlington.

Sounds like you're trying to have it both ways. The reason why your kids attend classes with 15 students is that the other students are deemed high-risk, so those schools get extra resources to help those students. People don't avoid South Arlington schools because they are "scared" of non-whites. They avoid them because student performance is regularly below average. Wakefield has a very high drop-out rate, some of the worst SAT scores in NoVa and not a single National Merit Semifinalist this year. The other poster is also right that the housing stock is not as nice as in North Arlington. In comparison, at TC, you're getting the best that the City of Alexandria has to offer and you can still live in one of the best neighborhoods in Alexandria.

What really needs to be determined is the effect good teachers have versus the effect of the peer group (can anyone point to a study?). As long as good teachers are teaching the students and our children thrive, then who cares whether students whose native language is not English don't do as well on standardized tests?

Let's face it, Arlington's housing stock is pretty boring---all of it! In this regard, Alexandria certainly has the advantage. But with TC, you're not so much getting the best that the city has to offer, you're getting the ONLY HS the city has to offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Alright, but don't try to call me out at being "opaque" just cause you didn't read the thread...

Also - the stuff you said above about S. Arlington is the "politically correct" things people say. I have lived in Arlington (north and south) for over a decade. The housing stock in S. Arlington is just fine, there is only one area I would not live in. Some sections of North Arlington have more metro access, but I don't take the metro anyway, so personally I don't care about that. Just like North Arlington, there are areas in South Arlington you can walk to a metro, walk to restaurants, walk to shopping, walk to a libraries, etc... almost all areas you can walk to parks. So, I can't figure out what North Arlington has "going for it" that South doesn't, besides less ethnic and economic diversity. You know what - if that is what you want - fine, but admit it and move on.

My kids go to the schools in South Arlington (have attended two different elementary schools) and both were wonderful - 15 kids per class with an assistant teacher. Top quality teachers, many who have taught in the school district, often the same school, for 15+ years, parents who are involved with their children and care about their education, even though English may not be their first language or even a language that they speak, their kids speak English very well thanks to a wonderful pre-K program in the county that targets recent immigrants.

Anyway, we have veered way off topic in a thread that is really old, but maybe this will encourage some people looking for a house not to discount S. Arlington.

Sounds like you're trying to have it both ways. The reason why your kids attend classes with 15 students is that the other students are deemed high-risk, so those schools get extra resources to help those students. People don't avoid South Arlington schools because they are "scared" of non-whites. They avoid them because student performance is regularly below average. Wakefield has a very high drop-out rate, some of the worst SAT scores in NoVa and not a single National Merit Semifinalist this year. The other poster is also right that the housing stock is not as nice as in North Arlington. In comparison, at TC, you're getting the best that the City of Alexandria has to offer and you can still live in one of the best neighborhoods in Alexandria.

I am the south Arlington poster. Look, I love my neighborhood, house, kids' schools, classmates, and neighbors. I recognize our school gets extra funding and think it is great. There is so much more to education than test scores. Also, the kids know English - their parents may not, but the kids do. My child is not stunted by his classmates being ESL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say there is a great deal of desperation about what to do with Jefferson Houston. They tried an "Arts Magnet" approach at the same time they did the "Traditional Academy" at Lyles-Crouch. For a host of reasons, Lyles-Crouch has been wildly successful (so successful that they don't do the lottery anymore -- they are oversubscribed with in-boundary kids), and the focus at Jefferson-Houston was abandoned and the school is half empty. There is a small parent group at J-H that were trying to improve things and it seems that the Administration has basically said they would do anything that didn't involve spending money on new facilities or redrawing boundaries. The parent group came up with the I-B idea. I get the impression that the K-8 initiative was not tied to the I-B program, and the decision was made based upon other factors we can only speculate about, but are probably based upon trying to find a use for a half-empty building at a time when many Alexandria schools are overcrowded. The cynics do suggest that the proposal is intended to keep the disadvantaged kids at J-H out of the larger middle school population. The Administration has also admitted recently that it may have to address the boundary issues, even if it is limiting in-boundary enrollment at over-crowded schools.

The middle school IB program is a stand-alone, meaning you don't have to feed into a high school IB program. It is a very nice program; one of the best things about it is that the school is certified as an IB school by teachers from throughout the world who don't care about NCLB or any other American testing regime. This helps keep the school from drifting too far from good practices (since it is a good program) or dumbing down classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid had 19 kids with a teacher and full-time aide and floating readiner in his ASFS K class last year and has 20 kids in first grade class this year with teaacher and full-time aide.

do u know why ASFS is not filling up all the K/1st classes? i find that hard to believe given a school with waitlist.

also 1st grade class has a full-time aide? that's unheard of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid had 19 kids with a teacher and full-time aide and floating readiner in his ASFS K class last year and has 20 kids in first grade class this year with teaacher and full-time aide.

do u know why ASFS is not filling up all the K/1st classes? i find that hard to believe given a school with waitlist.

also 1st grade class has a full-time aide? that's unheard of.

Define "full". Both Alexandria and Arlington have put a priority on keep class size down, unlike FCPS. That's why you will see these kinds of numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid had 19 kids with a teacher and full-time aide and floating readiner in his ASFS K class last year and has 20 kids in first grade class this year with teaacher and full-time aide.

do u know why ASFS is not filling up all the K/1st classes? i find that hard to believe given a school with waitlist.

also 1st grade class has a full-time aide? that's unheard of.

Define "full". Both Alexandria and Arlington have put a priority on keep class size down, unlike FCPS. That's why you will see these kinds of numbers.

Yes, those sizes seem pretty standard for K and 1st in Arlington. Once they get up to around 25, they usually make another class to bring the #s back down.

My son is in 2nd grade now, though, and he has 25 in his class and another class just got their 26th student. So classes do seem to get bigger as the grades go up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid had 19 kids with a teacher and full-time aide and floating readiner in his ASFS K class last year and has 20 kids in first grade class this year with teaacher and full-time aide.

do u know why ASFS is not filling up all the K/1st classes? i find that hard to believe given a school with waitlist.

also 1st grade class has a full-time aide? that's unheard of.

Define "full". Both Alexandria and Arlington have put a priority on keep class size down, unlike FCPS. That's why you will see these kinds of numbers.

but as a choice school with waitlist ASFS should be filling up (or close to) to the max # allowed before needing to add a new class. no?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid had 19 kids with a teacher and full-time aide and floating readiner in his ASFS K class last year and has 20 kids in first grade class this year with teaacher and full-time aide.

do u know why ASFS is not filling up all the K/1st classes? i find that hard to believe given a school with waitlist.

also 1st grade class has a full-time aide? that's unheard of.

Define "full". Both Alexandria and Arlington have put a priority on keep class size down, unlike FCPS. That's why you will see these kinds of numbers.

but as a choice school with waitlist ASFS should be filling up (or close to) to the max # allowed before needing to add a new class. no?

Duh. If all 5 classes breach the 21 limit.. You open a new class. Then that number is spread among the 5 classes. There were between 18-21 in all 5 K classes. The popular teacher had the biggest #.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid had 19 kids with a teacher and full-time aide and floating readiner in his ASFS K class last year and has 20 kids in first grade class this year with teaacher and full-time aide.

do u know why ASFS is not filling up all the K/1st classes? i find that hard to believe given a school with waitlist.

also 1st grade class has a full-time aide? that's unheard of.

Define "full". Both Alexandria and Arlington have put a priority on keep class size down, unlike FCPS. That's why you will see these kinds of numbers.

but as a choice school with waitlist ASFS should be filling up (or close to) to the max # allowed before needing to add a new class. no?

Duh. If all 5 classes breach the 21 limit.. You open a new class. Then that number is spread among the 5 classes. There were between 18-21 in all 5 K classes. The popular teacher had the biggest #.

r u a troll? the limit was never 21; and with a waitlist you would expect all the classes were filled close to the limit. unless they ran out of children on the waitlist, of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid had 19 kids with a teacher and full-time aide and floating readiner in his ASFS K class last year and has 20 kids in first grade class this year with teaacher and full-time aide.

do u know why ASFS is not filling up all the K/1st classes? i find that hard to believe given a school with waitlist.

also 1st grade class has a full-time aide? that's unheard of.

Define "full". Both Alexandria and Arlington have put a priority on keep class size down, unlike FCPS. That's why you will see these kinds of numbers.

but as a choice school with waitlist ASFS should be filling up (or close to) to the max # allowed before needing to add a new class. no?

Duh. If all 5 classes breach the 21 limit.. You open a new class. Then that number is spread among the 5 classes. There were between 18-21 in all 5 K classes. The popular teacher had the biggest #.

r u a troll? the limit was never 21; and with a waitlist you would expect all the classes were filled close to the limit. unless they ran out of children on the waitlist, of course.

Who let Prince on the boards?

[Anonymous]

just answer the questions

[Anonymous]

No hayfield hawks anywhere

[Anonymous]

Fairfax County is the largest system. It's best schools are probably considered the best in NoVA and among the best in the country. It's mediocre schools are still considered some of the best in the country, but they will not awe your friends.

My thoughts exactly! Still a very good system with lots of involved parents. We live in Vienna.

[Anonymous]

APS has classroom capacity for K set at 23 (although ATS is pushed to 24 per class). Not sure why ASFS would be under that if there is a waitlist.