How are the schools in Falls Church and Vienna

[Anonymous]

Is it work moving out here? How are the schools? Any standout areas for a good pyramid?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

It really depends. I moved to Fairfax for the good schools and then they redistricted my zip code and divided it up into four different high school pyramids! And I got the worst one! (i've seen it ranked 20th out of like 25 schools in fairfax, with a ton of ESL and free-lunches and poor test scores.) My neighborhood doesn't have the housing prices to justify bad schools so I'll be moving in the next few years. Which is too bad - my location's great for commuting - but oh well. (I'm looking at Oakton and Woodson, but would kill to be able to afford Yorktown in Arlington.)

Oakton has a great reputation, with lots of course offerings, but it is huge and I've heard mixed things about the feeder junior high school. Woodson (parts of 20003 and 20032) has a great reputation, but houses in that district are noticeably more expensive than in the surrounding school districts. (Annandale, Robinson, Falls Church/Fairfax.) I've heard mixed things about Marshall, but my friend teaches there and likes it a lot. Falls Church High, Fairfax High, Annandale and Stuart don't have the greatest reputations. Of course you could always hope your kid is smart enough to get into TJ! I haven't heard much about George Mason - I think it's supposed to be good. That's the one that serves falls church city area.

Fairfax refuses to rank its schools, though there are lots of pay services that rank them. I can't really recommend any of them - I tend to listen to the opinions of my teacher friends and neighbors.

[Anonymous]

I work at Marshall and I would recommend it. Small school, great IB program, dedicated teachers and a diverse student body. I believe we had more IB graduates than anywhere in the county last year. We also have an Academy with a lot of specialized offerings like Chinese, Hotel Management, Computer Graphics, etc.

Madison is another high school that serves Vienna. I have heard mixed things about the school - very sports oriented. But you really can't go wrong anywhere in Fairfax Co.!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really depends. I moved to Fairfax for the good schools and then they redistricted my zip code and divided it up into four different high school pyramids! And I got the worst one! (i've seen it ranked 20th out of like 25 schools in fairfax, with a ton of ESL and free-lunches and poor test scores.) My neighborhood doesn't have the housing prices to justify bad schools so I'll be moving in the next few years. Which is too bad - my location's great for commuting - but oh well. (I'm looking at Oakton and Woodson, but would kill to be able to afford Yorktown in Arlington.)

Oakton has a great reputation, with lots of course offerings, but it is huge and I've heard mixed things about the feeder junior high school. Woodson (parts of 20003 and 20032) has a great reputation, but houses in that district are noticeably more expensive than in the surrounding school districts. (Annandale, Robinson, Falls Church/Fairfax.) I've heard mixed things about Marshall, but my friend teaches there and likes it a lot. Falls Church High, Fairfax High, Annandale and Stuart don't have the greatest reputations. Of course you could always hope your kid is smart enough to get into TJ! I haven't heard much about George Mason - I think it's supposed to be good. That's the one that serves falls church city area.

Fairfax refuses to rank its schools, though there are lots of pay services that rank them. I can't really recommend any of them - I tend to listen to the opinions of my teacher friends and neighbors.

Your references to "reputation" are about how wealthy the community is and how high the test scores are - nothing more or nothing less. I don't think your current community will miss you too much when you go. You'll find out later that schools like Oakton and Madison have way more drugs than some of the schools that you claim "don't have the greatest reputations."

[Anonymous]

Stay very far away from Annandale.

[Anonymous]

There is a lot of variation in Falls Church and Vienna school pyramids, if getting into a pyramid with high-income demographics matters to you. I personally think that the elementary school and middle school matter the most; high-achieving kids will find a peer group at just about any high school in the area. The only high school serving Vienna or Falls Church students that I would avoid is Falls Church HS.

Here are some good pyramids in the Falls Church/Vienna area:

Haycock/Longfellow/McLean
Westgate/Longfellow/McLean
Archer/Thoreau/Madison
Colvin Run/Longfellow/McLean
Flint Hill/Thoreau/Madison
Stenwood/Kilmer/Marshall
Vienna/Thoreau/Madison
Wolftrap/Kilmer/Madison (or Marshall)
Westbriar/Kilmer/Marshall (or Madison)
Sunrise Valley/Hughes/South Lakes

Falls Church City schools are good as well, though the high school is small and doesn't have the same course selections as larger schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here are some good pyramids in the Falls Church/Vienna area:

Haycock/Longfellow/McLean
Westgate/Longfellow/McLean
Archer/Thoreau/Madison
Colvin Run/Longfellow/McLean
Flint Hill/Thoreau/Madison
Stenwood/Kilmer/Marshall
Vienna/Thoreau/Madison
Wolftrap/Kilmer/Madison (or Marshall)
Westbriar/Kilmer/Marshall (or Madison)
Sunrise Valley/Hughes/South Lakes

One other is: Freedom Hill Elem. which then goes to either Thoreau/Madison or Kilmer/Marshall (depending on where you live)

[Anonymous]

We are pleased with Marshall Road ES in Vienna but we have heard that a lot of people try to avoid Cunningham Park.

[Anonymous]

There are a few neighborhoods in Vienna that go to McLean HS or Langley HS too.

[Anonymous]

Your references to "reputation" are about how wealthy the community is and how high the test scores are - nothing more or nothing less. I don't think your current community will miss you too much when you go. You'll find out later that schools like Oakton and Madison have way more drugs than some of the schools that you claim "don't have the greatest reputations."

wow - nasty much? (for the record, my neighbors like me.) My friends who grew up in the area have told me what their schools were like, and how they've changed or not over the years. I also have friends who are Fairfax county teachers; they tell me about their schools and the competition. I know that test scores do not tell the whole story, especially with a diverse population.

I went to school in the midwest, to a solidly middle-class (NOT RICH) public school in a highly regarded school district. I got a great education that prepared me well for college; I want the same for my daughter. If I were a snob, I'd send my daughter to private school; I'd rather not do that. I want her in public school. I want her in a public school that has a mix of kids who might be like her, plus kids who might be different than her. (Different races, religions, income levels.) And I don't really want her in a pressure cooker. It's got to be scary going to TJ and competing against so many other smart kids!

I think a kid could potentially get a great education anywhere. Some kids will thrive anywhere you put 'em and some kids will struggle even in the best environments. I'm hoping my kid is the first type, but time will tell. Fairfax is a great school district, but can you honestly say you'd want your child in a school ranked 21st out of 25, given the choice? If you had the choice to move to the 10th ranked school district AND have a better house, wouldn't you?? Hell, I'd much rather be in DC - I'm happier in a city setting - but chose to live in Fairfax for the schools.

as for the drugs, a friend of mine (a product of Walter Johnson in MC) jokes that all Montgomery County schools have a drug problem, it's just that the poor schools have a pot problem and the rich schools have a coke problem. But let's face it, there's a difference between the Jones kid dealing coke and out-and-out gang violence, which is a factor at some schools in this area.

whew. i'll never understand why some people are so b*tchy on this site. perhaps they're on the site because they don't have friends to talk to in the "real" world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends. I moved to Fairfax for the good schools and then they redistricted my zip code and divided it up into four different high school pyramids! And I got the worst one! (i've seen it ranked 20th out of like 25 schools in fairfax, with a ton of ESL and free-lunches and poor test scores.) My neighborhood doesn't have the housing prices to justify bad schools so I'll be moving in the next few years. Which is too bad - my location's great for commuting - but oh well. (I'm looking at Oakton and Woodson, but would kill to be able to afford Yorktown in Arlington.)

Oakton has a great reputation, with lots of course offerings, but it is huge and I've heard mixed things about the feeder junior high school. Woodson (parts of 20003 and 20032) has a great reputation, but houses in that district are noticeably more expensive than in the surrounding school districts. (Annandale, Robinson, Falls Church/Fairfax.) I've heard mixed things about Marshall, but my friend teaches there and likes it a lot. Falls Church High, Fairfax High, Annandale and Stuart don't have the greatest reputations. Of course you could always hope your kid is smart enough to get into TJ! I haven't heard much about George Mason - I think it's supposed to be good. That's the one that serves falls church city area.

Fairfax refuses to rank its schools, though there are lots of pay services that rank them. I can't really recommend any of them - I tend to listen to the opinions of my teacher friends and neighbors.

Your references to "reputation" are about how wealthy the community is and how high the test scores are - nothing more or nothing less. I don't think your current community will miss you too much when you go. You'll find out later that schools like Oakton and Madison have way more drugs than some of the schools that you claim "don't have the greatest reputations."

You are exactly right. When people say the best they usually mean the most privileged, preppy kids. Why else the emphasis on FARMS? I am a minority that was on free lunch all through elementary and high school. I was also often the smartest in all my classes. I was the kid going around helping all the other kids with their work because it came very easy to me. I took all AP courses through high school and did very well. I am so puzzled as to why my mom not being able to afford to buy lunch for 5 kids had anything to do with the type of student I was. It really seems to reinforce the idea that if your family isn't well off and is minority they really expect you to do terribly in school. And in turn the smart ones are just passed over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

wow - nasty much? (for the record, my neighbors like me.) My friends who grew up in the area have told me what their schools were like, and how they've changed or not over the years. I also have friends who are Fairfax county teachers; they tell me about their schools and the competition. I know that test scores do not tell the whole story, especially with a diverse population.

I went to school in the midwest, to a solidly middle-class (NOT RICH) public school in a highly regarded school district. I got a great education that prepared me well for college; I want the same for my daughter. If I were a snob, I'd send my daughter to private school; I'd rather not do that. I want her in public school. I want her in a public school that has a mix of kids who might be like her, plus kids who might be different than her. (Different races, religions, income levels.) And I don't really want her in a pressure cooker. It's got to be scary going to TJ and competing against so many other smart kids!

I think a kid could potentially get a great education anywhere. Some kids will thrive anywhere you put 'em and some kids will struggle even in the best environments. I'm hoping my kid is the first type, but time will tell. Fairfax is a great school district, but can you honestly say you'd want your child in a school ranked 21st out of 25, given the choice? If you had the choice to move to the 10th ranked school district AND have a better house, wouldn't you?? Hell, I'd much rather be in DC - I'm happier in a city setting - but chose to live in Fairfax for the schools.

as for the drugs, a friend of mine (a product of Walter Johnson in MC) jokes that all Montgomery County schools have a drug problem, it's just that the poor schools have a pot problem and the rich schools have a coke problem. But let's face it, there's a difference between the Jones kid dealing coke and out-and-out gang violence, which is a factor at some schools in this area.

whew. i'll never understand why some people are so b*tchy on this site. perhaps they're on the site because they don't have friends to talk to in the "real" world.

You are quite a piece of work, sister. Your post absolutely drips with class-based assumptions and prejudice, and then you want the posters who actually call you on it to apologize for offending your Midwestern, middle-class sensibilities.

For the record, there are plenty of public-school snobs in the area, and you appear to be one of them. Why does it matter whether a school is ranked #21 vs #10 vs #3 if your child could thrive in that school, and why do you assume he or she couldn't or wouldn't? And your comment about the "out-and-out gang violence" at some schools is a lame excuse. Students from stable families do not get caught up in gang violence in this area, and the violence - to the extent it takes place - generally occurs in the neighborhoods than in the schools. For every hyped-up story about a gang initiation at a local school, there are probably 10 stories that go unreported about rich students at the "top schools" being expelled for drug use.

[Anonymous]

OP - compared to what? Standout areas for a good pyramid would require actually residing IN that standout area. You get what you pay for, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

22046
Fall Church City Public Schools

[Anonymous]

Louise Archer ES is really outstanding.

Very small boundary, though, so you would be somewhat limited in your choice of housing. A lot of out-of-boundary families try to send their kids there (there are ways to do it, and if your kid gets into GT in 3rd grade they can attend) but the school is at capacity now, so no more out-of-boundary transfers for reasons like child care, etc.