I went to Falls Church years ago. It is very diverse and I gather it is more so now. The reality back then was that it had a lot of non-English speakers that were is ESL type classes. The regular classes had regular kids and the GT/AP classes had the same kids - the kids from Camelot and the Woodburn area. The top of the school went to UVA and other Ivy League schools. Those kids would have done well anywhere. Because it was a small school you got a lot of attention and had lots of opportunities to excel.

That small percentage of kids not in ESL ended up being Editor in Chiefs, head cheerleaders, leads in drama, editor of yearbook, model UN participants, etc. In some ways it would let these kids excel even more so since there was a smaller population competing for the college resume builder positions.

Anonymous wrote:I imagine if you compare the SAT and SOL scores of the Falls Church kids who are college-bound, they probably don't differ much from kids at higher-ranked high schools. It's just that at FC, there are other kids who, for example might have just immigrated here from a non-English speaking country a couple years ago. Of course, their scores will be lower, so the average is lower. It doesn't say anything about the school or about how well an Ivy-bound child will be educated there.

Thank you. You make a very valid point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes off of Aston. Ok at the risk of me sounding ignorant, why is a diverse school bad?

Some parents believe that schools that have a high percentage of low-income kids or kids who are still learning English are going to focus most of their attention on bringing up the performance of the kids from challenged backgrounds, and that kids who arrive at school well-prepared will be taken for granted and receive little attention.

That may or may not turn out to be the case, but it's a common assumption in this area.

Hmmmmm....that's food for thought. My daughter has been in preschool for 2 years and I would hate for her to loose the academic skills that she's already developed.

I imagine if you compare the SAT and SOL scores of the Falls Church kids who are college-bound, they probably don't differ much from kids at higher-ranked high schools. It's just that at FC, there are other kids who, for example might have just immigrated here from a non-English speaking country a couple years ago. Of course, their scores will be lower, so the average is lower. It doesn't say anything about the school or about how well an Ivy-bound child will be educated there.

Anonymous wrote:Yes off of Aston. Ok at the risk of me sounding ignorant, why is a diverse school bad?

Some parents believe that schools that have a high percentage of low-income kids or kids who are still learning English are going to focus most of their attention on bringing up the performance of the kids from challenged backgrounds, and that kids who arrive at school well-prepared will be taken for granted and receive little attention.

That may or may not turn out to be the case, but it's a common assumption in this area.

Yes off of Aston. Ok at the risk of me sounding ignorant, why is a diverse school bad?

Anonymous wrote:Thx for the insight. The house is on the other side of gallows across from Woodburn. I'm not sure their is a development name.

First PP here - Oh, off of Aston Rd.? Very close to where we are. We like it a lot!

Just to second what the previous PP said, the neighboring schools are all much higher income. You're comparing Jackson with Thoreau (and this is where you hear a lot of negative comments, from people who didn't want to send their AAP kids there), Kilmer, etc. Same with FCHS. If you are ok with the fact that there will be some poor kids at the school and English isn't their first language, it's fine. There are still AP classes, extra curriculars, etc. I went to a HS similar in demographics, and opportunities were there for those who wanted to make use of them. It didn't really impact the high fliers that some kids were going to community college or not even. It's not like FCHS is dangerous, and once you get to the high school level, classes are pretty segregated in terms of the ambitions of students anyways (i.e., kids with college plans are on the same track, so to speak). I don't see any big negative impact, and it only seems good to be comfortable in diverse environments. It's not like this area is getting any less diverse.

Falls Church HS gets a bad rap because it's diverse, the test scores aren't as high as some of the neighboring schools like Madison, Woodson and Marshall, and it doesn't have as many wealthy neighborhoods (and people who will go out of their way to speak up for the school) as Stuart. Combine that with an older building that needs renovation and you end up with a lot of parents who will pupil place their kids to other public schools or go private, rather than have to tell a neighbor or colleague that they send their kids to FCHS.

Once you get past this - if you can get past this - it's a good school where people want to help your kids learn and succeed. You might find these videos interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yjR1MzXRUI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk_6H2vaSBs&context=C4f76c5fADvjVQa1PpcFOl9gp_ER1qQPBYPPLDuuU9cUk_XUnaHSk=

Thx for the insight. The house is on the other side of gallows across from Woodburn. I'm not sure their is a development name.

We live in this district. I have heard good things about Woodburn, and all of our neighbors who send their kids there and are happy. For middle school, I think Jackson just gets a bad rap because it is really diverse, with a large immigrant population. I have volunteered there, and it seemed like a great school. I have not heard as good things about FCHS, and our neighbors seem to send their HS kids to private. Of course, again, I'm not sure it's just not something people are doing because they don't like the demographics of the school. All Fairfax schools are decent.

Our kids are still pre-school age, but they will go to Woodburn soon.


Where's the house you're looking at?

We're thinking of buying a house that feeds into these schools. Oldest will start K next year. Thoughts on the schools? I hear that people say Jackson is bad, but I haven't been able to figure out what makes it bad.