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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't think Lee is bad.  Any high school in Fairfax County will be decent.  I just don't see anything about it to blow you away.

Class sizes are probably smaller than at some high schools but, as FCPS schools go, it's fairly low on the Challenge Index:  http://commweb.fcps.edu/newsreleases/newsrelease.cfm?newsid=2490

It's unrated by US News: http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/virginia/districts/fairfax-county-public-schools

It's an IB school, without AP, but the percentage of seniors getting IB diplomas is only around 6%:  http://www.fcps.edu/cco/pr/apib/2013/table11.pdf

The SAT scores are usually in the bottom five in FCPS, and there were no National Merit Semi-Finalists from Lee in 2013, 2012 or 2011.

There's no Academy there, as at some county schools, offering unique vocational programs.

I do think that there may be some kids who might get "lost" academically or socially in a bigger school who would fare better and be happier at a smaller school like Lee, but most parents play the averages.  [/quote]

I think this is a great summary of a Lee.  It is just sort of an average high school.  Not great and not awful.  A motivated kid can do well there and an unmotivated kid can do poorly there.   Sometimes the schools in Fairfax County that are the lowest performing schools get talked about on this forum like they need to be avoided like the plague because they are just so filled with FARMS and ESL students that any non-FARM, non-ESL student there is going to suffer. [b] I think there are schools like that out there, I just don't think Lee or any of the high schools in Fairfax County are quite there (at least not yet)[/b].  [/quote]

Before it gets there - With the change from clusters to regions and more resources available, what's your thoughts on what's needed to help Lee?  mentoring programs? more resources at ES level?
Are there substantial number of students transferring out for AP or World Language? We're planning to stay in this area long term with kids currently in ES and wondering what we can do to help. [/quote]

I don't know that I have any good answers to this.  I will say that I do wonder about the pupil placement from Lee for AP.  A significant percentage of the Lee pyramid is actually located closer to West Springfield HS than to Lee HS.  There are some areas in the Daventry neighborhood where kids attend Irving MS, but Lee HS.  I would not be surprised at all if a good number of high performing students pupil place to West Springfield to take AP courses.   Seems to me that could create some brain drain from Lee that helps to depress test scores.

[/quote]

This past year, there were 85 more students transferring out of Lee than transferring in, which is a pretty big margin.   That's similar to what you see at Falls Church and Mount Vernon.

For whatever reason, Edison, which is also IB, tends to get more pupil placements into the school than out of the school.  Anecdotally, I've heard that Edison makes an effort to recruit athletes to place into the school, but I don't know if that explains it or now.     [/quote]

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