Reply to Relocating to DMV from Chicago, Desperately Looking for a Full-Time Daycare/Preschool

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]What is TJ?

And this is a lot to mull over. Perhaps I should start with neighborhood and go from there? If I start with neighborhood can I be confident that I'll find good schools nearby?[/quote]

TJ is Thomas Jefferson, an extremely competitive and prestigious public magnet high school in Northern Virginia.

A lot of what you are looking for in a preschool is relatively common here, where many highly educated parents are looking for an edge on private school admissions with a super high quality preschool.  I'm pretty confident that you could find *something* pretty  much anywhere, particularly if you are looking in a neighborhood with other highly educated, tightly wound, parents who want an A+ preschool experience.

What are you looking for in a neighborhood?  Price range?  Bedrooms?  Walkability?  Excellent public schools?  [/quote]

This. TJ is the NOVA stem magnet HS, and widely considered to be the best public HS in America.  It has amazing programs, but is also crazy competitive to attend. Between 2-3% of FCPS HS students qualify.  Most come out of FCPS's AAP program, which is their own special version of a  gifted program that takes about 12% of the FCPS student body. These students go to special AAP Center schools, instead of their zoned school, for full time advanced instruction from grades 3-8. But AAP Centers also take their zoned neighborhood kids, who are in separate general education classes. Which can create a lot of unhappiness when zoned general education students are outnumbered by AAP kids or are perceived to be getting a lesser education. Yet these schools are often the highest ranked, because AAP students boost test scores. This is further complicated by the fact that kids from only 3 FCPS AAP Center MSs end up with students securing more than half of the available TJ slots each year. All of which is to say, in choosing a school zone, you really have to think hard about what you want for your kids, and look beyond the Great Schools rating. You probably can't get a better education at a private than a strong AAP Center ES and a TJ feeder middle school. Certainly, the most prestigious privates probably can't match TJ in terms of educational opportunities. But, you have to decide whether you want the kind of academic nuttiness that comes with these opportunities-- and what you would do if AAP was important, and you bought a house with AAP in mind, but your kid was in the 88% of kids, many from high SES, highly educated families, who are not elected for AAP. Or if one child was and one wasn't.

All of which is to say school choice in FCPS?  Very, very complicated. [/quote]

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