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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
What's most striking is your insistence on having the last word.

I don't think Marshall is much better academically than FCHS.   F[b]or example, if you want AP courses, you're stuck at Marshall[/b], whereas FCHS offers over two dozen AP courses.

If you just want to regurgitate standardized test scores, then Marshall comes out ahead, which is what you'd expect given the greater SES diversity at FCHS.  Whether an individual student would do better at Marshall than at FCHS is an open question.    [/quote]
What's even more striking is your ignorance.

If you want AP courses and are zoned for Marshall, you simply go to McLean High.  Yes you can. [/quote]

Well, of course, assuming McLean is the closest AP school (which isn't the case for everyone at Marshall) and it's not closed to transfers, but you're on your own when it comes to transportation, unless you can get permission to ride a McLean bus.

The point, however, is that FCHS has some rigorous academic offerings that Marshall simply does not offer, so I wouldn't be so quick to call Marshall "better."  [/quote]

The point is that you lied when you said "if you want AP, you're stuck at Marshall".  No one is stuck.  You're backpedaling.

Marshall has the IB program and the STEM academy.  In fact, Marshall got more pupil placement than McLean last year.  You're really grasping to find something to make FCHS look good despite poor scores.  I sympathize. It's not easy. [/quote]

No.  If you can't arrange for transportation, or pupil place into the AP school you have decided you would prefer to Marshall, you are indeed "stuck" there.  To use your language, that's just a fact.   But, again, the point is that there are academic programs at FCHS that do not exist at Marshall, and vice versa.   They are different, and it's not particularly meaningful to make a general statement that one is better than the other.

As for the number of pupil placements, Marshall is the closest IB school to students at numerous AP schools in Fairfax County (much of the Falls Church, McLean, Langley, and Madison districts).  In comparison, McLean has a long border with Falls Church City and Arlington County and is near only one IB school in the county - Marshall.   So you'd expect Marshall to get more pupil placements than McLean, and it typically does.   Of course, even with the high volume of pupil placements to Marshall, SAT scores at Langley and McLean remain higher, for the same reasons that SAT scores at Marshall are higher than those at Falls Church.

FCHS doesn't need me to grasp on its behalf to have plenty of positive news (and, yes, our family does have some first-hand experience with the school and students who go there):

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/falls-church-high-sees-major-gains-in-sat-scores/2014/11/02/df6d7c82-612b-11e4-91f7-5d89b5e8c251_story.html?hpid=z4

http://www.fcps.edu/FallsChurchHS/documents/news/FCHS%202014%20Stats%20and%20Facts.pdf

http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=2608

When you cut through all the crap, the point that really ought to come across is that there are many decent choices for people in this area, when it comes to both schools and neighborhoods.  PH definitely could be a good choice for some people.  But I don't know why some people who live in PH today think it's so important to assert that their schools are "better" than ones just a few miles away.  Maybe it's because the neighborhood is generally considered visually unappealing, so people need to keep reassuring themselves that the trade-offs are worth it? [/quote]

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