Reply to Tell me about South Lakes

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In sum, South Lakes is currently one of the better FCPS high schools. That’s the result of demographics and boundary changes that favored South Lakes. It’s not top tier like Langley but it’s a solid school academically and athletically. [/quote]

Not really.  It’s an average FCPS high school with good track and boys basketball teams. Without the boundary changes it would be in the bottom 1/3.

Stronger schools:  TJ, Langley, McLean, Oakton, Woodson, Madison, Chantilly, Marshall, West Springfield, Robinson, Lake Braddock, and Fairfax.

Peer schools:  Centreville, Westfield, South County.[/quote]

Robinson, Marshall, Fairfax, and West Springfield are peer schools to South Lakes. IB scores are better at SLHS than Robinson and Marshall IB programs. And West Springfield SAT scores were 4 points higher than South Lakes last year and South Lakes was 10 points higher a few years ago, so SATs are a wash.[/quote]

Cherry pick if you want, but if you look at AP/IB participation rates and performance, SAT scores, and SOL scores over a multi-year period the prior observation stands.

Among the eight IB schools in FCPS, South Lakes is above average.  Among all the high schools in FCPS, it's average.  Fortunately, the average high school in FCPS is pretty good so there's no need to exaggerate. [/quote]

West Springfield and Fairfax HS SAT scores are literally below the FCPS average over the past 5 years (Fairfax HS was an exception in 2019). AP scores at West Springfield and Fairfax are ranked 9th and 12th, respectively, out of 17 AP schools in 2022, which is at or below the median. As stated, the average FCPS school is quite good. But the top 5 (Langley, McLean, Woodson, Chantilly, Oakton) are leaps and bounds ahead while the middle tier schools objectively are not as distinguishable in their level of achievement as many like to think they are.[/quote]

There are two ways to look at this.

One is to look at the average SAT scores in the county.  The other is to look at the SAT scores of the FCPS high schools in the middle (i.e., in a county with 25 high/secondary schools, the 13th highest school would be in the middle).

The "county average" is higher than several schools in the middle because the top school - TJ - is a regional magnet where the kids score very high.  [/quote]

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