I chose a place that is closest to my office and I also like and can afford. luckily, I work at Tysons so I settled at a very small/cozy place at Mclean/Falls Church. it takes 5-10 mins for one-way commute.

I like to check the PTA websites too. It gives you a feel for what is going on with the parents and in the greater community

As far as test scores, you can generate customized reports on the State of VA site -- you could pick a handful of schools & compare their stats:
https://p1pe.doe.virginia.gov/datareports/assess_test_result.do

You can do the same with demographic info.:
http://bi.vita.virginia.gov/doe_bi/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=Main&subRptName=Fallmembership

There's a lot of other information here too:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/statistics_reports/index.shtml

I decided where we wanted to live first. I narrowed down specific areas based on factors we wanted---walkability, close to DC, Metro stop, etc. We then took a good hard look at the specific neighborhoods and the schools they feed into. It was very easy from there.

I wouldn't move far out just for a school as I feel there are so many great schools in the DC area that you can find one where you want to live. Not vice versa---a school you like and neighborhood you don't.

I decided where we wanted to live first. I narrowed down specific areas based on factors we wanted---walkability, close to DC, Metro stop, etc. We then took a good hard look at the specific neighborhoods and the schools they feed into. It was very easy from there.

I wouldn't move far out just for a school as I feel there are so many great schools in the DC area that you can find one where you want to live. Not vice versa---a school you like and neighborhood you don't.

Personally, I went through the list of high schools and pulled out the ones in locations where I wouldn't want to live because they were too far away from DC. Then I pulled out the ones that had the lowest test scores compared to the other schools and the national/state averages. Then I looked at possible commutes and what houses were available in my price range. Then I started researching the much-smaller list of elementary schools that served the neighborhoods that were left on my list. I had it narrowed down to Woodson/Oakton feeders if I stayed in Fairfax, but ended up in Arlington.

is the school district your only concern? if yes, that should be easier -- by looking at the greatschools or even this forum. if other factors, such as commute, community and etc, are also important, you probably could narrow down a region or 2.

Here is a good place to start:
http://www.greatschools.org/virginia/

There are many variables, but as you get further along in the process you will begin to figure out what is most important to you (class size, special programs like language immersion, etc.)

It depends on how you "rate" a school. Is it by test scores? Class size? Demographics? What are you looking for in a school/feeder?

Hi All, we are considering a move within Fairfax County (my son is now 3.5), so, wanted to start by checking out school ratings, statistics, etc. so that I can narrow down the neighborhoods based on the schools they feed into. I went on to fcps.edu, but information seem very scattered and you have to go into an individual school to read about it, which is a lot of schools.

Are there other websites that provide this information in a more user-friendly way? If you know of useful sources, please share the URL's. Thanks a bunch!