Drew & Hoffman-Boston Elementary Schools in Arlington

[Anonymous]

We're looking into buying a place in Shirlington but are very concerned about the quality of the elementary schools in S. Arlington. If you have any experience with Drew or Hoffman-Boston Elementary schools, we'd love to heard your thoughts.

[Anonymous]

bump

[Anonymous]

A friend's daughter would have gone to Hoffman-Boston and she moved her to another Arlington school. I guess if you are at a failing school, the county is required to give you choices. Hoffman-Boston is very racially diverse, but their test scores (if that matters to you) are not very good compared to many other schools in Arlington County.

Here is their report card:
https://p1pe.doe.virginia.gov/reportcard/report.do?division=7&schoolName=2198

Drew is split between a standard curriculum and the Montessori curriculum. I have friends who send their children to the Montessori program which goes through 5th grade. The are very happy with the Montessori program, but say there is a definite split between the standard curriculum and the Montessori families, which affects the overall community feel of the school.

Because it is Arlington County, you do have other options though you have to get into the others via lottery. These include Spanish Immersion (Claremont) and ATS (Arlington Traditional School, the only all-lottery school in the county. You have to apply in Kindergarten and they keep a waitlist for the rest of the elementary years).

I encourage you to search the Arlington Public School website where you can get a breakdown of school by size, test scores, diversity, etc. Then you can weigh these things against what is most important to you. Best of luck!

[Anonymous]

You have more options than you have listed:

People seem to be very happy with Abingdon. The facility isn't much, but the people I know down there love the principal.

You are also eligible for Claremont Spanish Immersion, and Campbell (which may be a lottery). These are also schools that people are happy with.

Also, there may be room for a transfer to Patrick Henry, which I think may be undersubscribed. There is also Barcroft, which is all-year-round. If that is of interest to you, I think it may be available.

[Anonymous]

we just moved to shirlington and are researching the same thing. here is what i've learned thus far: even though N.arlington schools have better reputations they are consequently developing overcrowding issues. i think it was taylor this yr that had to get rid of a computer lab and a library bc they went from 2 K classes to 4 unexpectedly. i have heard a lot of good things about the schools in south arlington. yes the test scores are worse bc of the large # of ESOL kids but that doesn't mean anything about the quality of staff, curriculum, etc. in fact i've heard the curriculum is the same, the teachers are just as good and it's really a matter of getting out there and checking out the schools that you would be able to apply to. on the arl public school website is super informative ( http://www.apsva.us/154010811517240/site/default.asp ) and you can find out which school is technically your neighborhood school but there is a link on there that will tell you what half a dozen other schools in the area that you can also apply to. crazy options!
shirlington is full of young families now so i think things will only continue to improve. good luck!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have more options than you have listed:

People seem to be very happy with Abingdon. The facility isn't much, but the people I know down there love the principal.

You are also eligible for Claremont Spanish Immersion, and Campbell (which may be a lottery). These are also schools that people are happy with.

Also, there may be room for a transfer to Patrick Henry, which I think may be undersubscribed. There is also Barcroft, which is all-year-round. If that is of interest to you, I think it may be available.

just found out (from the info given by a pp) that it depends where you live in shirlington bc abingdon isn't an option for us and we live in shirlington