I am in one of the neighboring schools that you mentioned. I think Lane has about 10% more FARMS kids, slightly higher minority kids, but pretty close on the demographics. From looking at the scores, it appears that the black and hispanic groups are doing better at the neighboring schools. That is where the overall rating is going down at Lane. I think there are several apartments in Kingstowne that go to Lane and there are the affordable dwelling units right next to Chesterbrook -- that's probably where the demographics differ. I don't think Island Creek has any apartment units and I'm not sure if any of those apartments in Kingstowne (center section ) go to Hayfield or Lane.

In any case, I think the Lane is not the kind of school that is so terrible that you HAVE to send your kid to private. Lane is a decent school and the decision to go private is so costly, that I think Lane is worth trying if you are the kind of family that is open to public school. If you are considering private b/c you want a smaller, more controlled environment and that alone is worth the $30K, then you probably won't be happy with Lane just b/c it is a typical, big PUBLIC elementary school. FCPS are not "the gold standard" in my book, but I think the schools like Lane, Island Creek, and Hayfield are fine and I am satisfied with what my children are getting out of it.

Anyone have first-hand experience with Lane Elementary (feeds to Hayfield Secondary)? DC will start K in the fall, and we're really struggling with the private v. public decision, and we're down to the wire as decisions come out soon. I've seen the test scores for Lane, and they are substantially lower than the other two elementaries in the Kingstowne area that feed into Hayfield (Island Creek and Hayfield Elem). I have looked at the test scores among different groups based on race and economic status, but that doesn't really seem to explain the overall lower scores at Lane. We visited Lane last fall at the same time we visited the private schools, and we liked it (though it seems really big). Everyone seemed very friendly, there were lots of parent volunteers around, we met a couple K teachers, etc. But I'm curious if anyone has first-hand experience as we try to make our decision.