BTW, the on-line chinese program is a joke - very substandard. The county doesn't know quite where to take this program. You will otherwise do fine with this school.

Jefferson is in the process of expanding its foreign-language program as part of its IB recertification, so I think you will find the program at Jefferson superior to that offered at other middle schools in Arlington before long. Longfellow is not an IB school, so I'm not sure how its program would compare.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Arlington Heights and Alcova Heights neighborhoods are in a great location, between Route 50 and Columbia Pike (Arlington Heights on the east and Alcova Heights on the west). Super easy to get downtown and to north Arlington, already lots of new development along the Pike, and the potential streetcar (love it or hate it, it will increase neighboring property values). There is also the Penrose neighborhood, just east of Arlington Heights (bordered on the other side by Washington Blvd--quick access to 50 and 395) and Ft Myer. You should be able to find something for $700K in this area.

did you forget to tell her about HS?

No, it's Wakefield, one of three excellent comprehensive high schools in Arlington.

ha, but is it better than Wilson? that's all people from DC want to know.

When it comes time to buy a home, houses in the $700Ks aren't plentiful in the Jefferson/W-L overlap district, but definitely are there.

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2600-1st-Rd-N-Arlington-VA-22201/12086162_zpid/

Lots more options if you look at Wakefield (an excellent school) for high school, because Jefferson/Wakefield boundaries overlap more and because prices in Lyon Park are higher than Alcova Heights (also a terrific neighborhood) and Arlington Heights (I think it's good as well, but I personally know people in Alcova Heights who adore it).

Not the PP, but I've heard plenty of good things about Wakefield from parents I know with kids there, as well as on this forum.

But if the OP wants Jefferson middle school and W-L high school (since he or she mentioned W-L in the first post), look at Lyon Park (with the proviso that boundary-shifting may well happen since there are overcrowding issues throughout Arlington that the school board is trying to balance) and any other areas in the pocket where the Jefferson boundary and W-L boundaries overlap. And with the proviso that I think much of Jefferson middle school goes to Wakefield for high school, so you'd have an issue of splitting up from middle school friends.

http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/centricity/domain/168/highschools.pdf high school boundary map
http://www.apsva.us/cms/lib2/VA01000586/centricity/domain/168/middleschools.pdf middle school boundary map

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/74-N-Bedford-St-74B-Arlington-VA-22201/12086270_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2209-N-Pershing-Dr-76631-Arlington-VA-22201/2106155690_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/N-Cleveland-St-Arlington-VA-22201/2105748757_zpid/

http://www.zillow.com/b/Birchwood-Arlington-VA/38.876781,-77.106796_ll/

OP here, thanks everybody. You're very kind to spend time advising a perfect stranger. We will be sure to research any and all options suggested in the coming months.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Arlington Heights and Alcova Heights neighborhoods are in a great location, between Route 50 and Columbia Pike (Arlington Heights on the east and Alcova Heights on the west). Super easy to get downtown and to north Arlington, already lots of new development along the Pike, and the potential streetcar (love it or hate it, it will increase neighboring property values). There is also the Penrose neighborhood, just east of Arlington Heights (bordered on the other side by Washington Blvd--quick access to 50 and 395) and Ft Myer. You should be able to find something for $700K in this area.

did you forget to tell her about HS?

No, it's Wakefield, one of three excellent comprehensive high schools in Arlington.

Anonymous wrote:The Arlington Heights and Alcova Heights neighborhoods are in a great location, between Route 50 and Columbia Pike (Arlington Heights on the east and Alcova Heights on the west). Super easy to get downtown and to north Arlington, already lots of new development along the Pike, and the potential streetcar (love it or hate it, it will increase neighboring property values). There is also the Penrose neighborhood, just east of Arlington Heights (bordered on the other side by Washington Blvd--quick access to 50 and 395) and Ft Myer. You should be able to find something for $700K in this area.

did you forget to tell her about HS?

The Arlington Heights and Alcova Heights neighborhoods are in a great location, between Route 50 and Columbia Pike (Arlington Heights on the east and Alcova Heights on the west). Super easy to get downtown and to north Arlington, already lots of new development along the Pike, and the potential streetcar (love it or hate it, it will increase neighboring property values). There is also the Penrose neighborhood, just east of Arlington Heights (bordered on the other side by Washington Blvd--quick access to 50 and 395) and Ft Myer. You should be able to find something for $700K in this area.

Thanks for the nuggets of info.

We can manage the Chinese instruction at home pretty well at the MS level, so it's the bigger picture that we're more interested in: decent housing prospects (we can afford a house in the 700s), suitable humanities challenge, nice, diverse peer group, decent school facilities, promising high school feeder.

I will look at Longfellow MS, thanks.

I would look at Longfellow MS in Falls Church. I believe they teach Chinese at the MS level and you might be able to find housing in that price range.

Anonymous wrote:Why McClean and for which middle school?

You're going to get shit answers on here. for every 1 nugget you'll get 100 bad ones. If you can find a 2 bedroom in TJ boundary for $2,500 you'd be lucky. We are a private school family who is in one of the most sought after pyramids but chose private instead. For many reasons that I don't care to discuss here, you'd do great to send your kids to TJ. BTW, the on-line chinese program is a joke - very substandard. The county doesn't know quite where to take this program. You will otherwise do fine with this school.

Why McClean and for which middle school?

I would move to McLean

Jefferson is just fine. Our kid has learned a lot in Spanish and other IB MYP classes there for the last 2 years.

We're considering moving into the Jefferson middle school district within the next year, starting in a two-bedroom rental. Our sunny-spirited oldest will be entering 6th grade in 2015. She speaks and reads some Mandarin (we're an ethnic Chinese family) and has attended Johns Hopkins CTY for social studies (she's advanced in English, but not math). I see that Jefferson offers on-line Mandarin and Washington-Lee HS offers Mandarin classes.

What are posters impressions of the school and its International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program? We live in the District and don't know all that much about Arlington schools, other than what we're reading on the Arlington County Schools web site, School Digger.com, Great Schools.com etc. We don't expect the sun, the moon and the stars from public school - we supplement at home all we can.

Specifically, does Jefferson do any sort of meaningful ability grouping at the middle school level? Are there honors, remedial classes, ESL classes? What is the school culture like? Is there an active PTA we could get involved in?

If we like living in Arlington, we will buy a house locally. Where could we rent for the first year for no more than around $2,500? We would be glad of a pool for our younger child, and wouldn't mind a big townhouse complex with parking. Any information or advice on renting would be much appreciated. Thanks!