OP, you shouldn't rule out Falls Church City either - The school system is great - I think ranks up there with the others that pps are raving about and the commute is mild.

Who was arguing that W-L is "like" Wakefield or Stuart? I think some of us were just pointing out that many schools have both supporters and boundaries that include wealthy areas. None of the inside-the-Beltway high schools have exactly the same demographics or social dynamics. Among the inside-the-Beltway schools, the only two schools that I really think of having a very similar feel are Yorktown and McLean.

W-L is somewhere in between Stuart and Yorktown. There are more wealthy kids at W-L than at Stuart. Stuart I'm sure is a fine school, but because there are more wealthy kids at W-L it has a better rep and perhaps better test scores.

Its athletic teams are also more successful for that same reason. Wakefield V Lacrosse hasn't won a game in a decade. If there were more affluent students, then sports would be stronger at Wakefield. It's that simple. I don't buy the W-L is like Wakefield or Stuart arguments, because the demographics are not the same.

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe the main difference between a school like Stuart and W-L is that the a large number of kids in Lake Barcroft go private. If they went public Stuart would be more demographically aligned with W-L.

I don't know if a large number of kids in the Sleepy Hollow/Lake Barcroft area go private, or if the area just has a lot of older residents who no longer have school-age children. There are still parents who live in that area that send their kids to Stuart and say positive things about the school, just as some Arlington residents have favorable things to say about W-L even though its demographics aren't as wealthy as Langley, George Mason, McLean, Yorktown or Marshall. There just aren't as many of them.

The middle school can pull down or boost the rep of a high school. That's my theory. There are enough upper income families in Alexandria to make TC lean upper income, but most go the private school route.

Swanson is a mostly affluent mid school, and most of those students go to W-L. Even TJ and Kenmore middle schools in South Arlington don't seem to have the problems of GW in Alexandria, while the demographics are similar.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If you want to go down this path, however, you should know that some of the other inside-the-Beltway schools that are being mentioned also have many wealthy areas within their boundaries. I don't know the neighborhoods that feed into Mount Vernon well, but the Sleepy Hollow/Lake Barcroft area that feeds into Stuart is as expensive as many North Arlington neighborhoods, and the City of Alexandria, of course, has many expensive areas as well, such as Del Ray and Rosemont. I think some Arlington posters may not know these areas well, as a result of which some of their comments suggest, perhaps inadvertently, that there's a double-standard at work where the Arlington schools are concerned.

Maybe the main difference between a school like Stuart and W-L is that the a large number of kids in Lake Barcroft go private. If they went public Stuart would be more demographically aligned with W-L.

The OP suggested that her family might get a nicer house in 22207 or 22101 than they'd get for the same amount of money in a close-in MoCo suburb. Is that a correct assumption? I don't know the answer to the question but, if one area is about as expensive as the other, it sounds like she's more familiar with MoCo.

We moved to 22101 a few years ago. Rush-hour commute from the house to office near downtown generally varies from 30-45 minutes; non-rush hour is 15-20 minutes. Since I had a longer commute previously, this seems like a breeze to me, and the WFC Metro is not far away when I decide I'd rather take the subway than drive. I think you'd have to be in Arlington if you want a rush-hour commute by car that is always under 30 minutes. We did look briefly at some homes in Arlington, but decided that we'd prefer a larger yard. We also wanted a new house and were a bit intimidated by some of the stories we'd heard about old-time Arlington residents who make no secret of their disdain for newcomers who have moved into newer homes. It may be that those stories are exaggerated, but it's a non-issue in our 22101 neighborhood, and I think the fact that the lots are somewhat larger makes people more relaxed about the houses that are built (some people would find our neighborhood a "mish-mash," but we like the variety). We don't have kids in ES any longer, but I think all the public schools in 22101 are good (not sure, though, that the kids will get the same amount of personal attention that they might get at a DC private). The school pyramids that are closest to DC in 22101 are:

Chesterbrook/Longfellow/McLean

Franklin Sherman/Longfellow or Cooper/McLean or Langley

Churchill Road/Cooper/Langley

Kent Gardens/Longfellow/McLean

Anonymous wrote:
W-L: 5 on GS, 30% poors, 42% White, 33% Hispanic, 14% Black, 12% Asian

South Lakes in Fairfax County is a fairly close match to W-L on many fronts.

Anonymous wrote:We are thinking about moving to NoVA from DC and pulling our kids out of private school. We live very close to the MD border, so I know a little bit about MoCo publics, but think we would probably get a nicer house in VA. We want to be close to DC for work (so we preliminary thought of looking in 22207 or 22101) but wanted to find great schools. What are the strong schools in close-to-dc neighborhoods? We have elementary school kids so want to consider the schools all the way through HS (yes, I've already heard of TJ and am not even thinking about that yet).

We bought our house in DC pre-kids, and we've had our kids in private since pre-K, so I really do not know anything about the NoVA public schools. I hope some of you can help. Thanks.

Thanks in advance.

Op - we just moved from Vienna to Arlington (22207) - we have one preK kiddo and both of us work in DC (right over the TR bridge). the commute to DC is 12 minutes, ok maybe 15-20 during the crush of rush hour - it's one traffic light to get to DC. school-wise, you can't go wrong with any of the elementary schools serving 22207 (taylor, jamestown, nottingham, glebe), 22213 (tuckahoe) - I know there are others but the names escape me at the moment. we have friends in 22205 - and there are some absolutely great schools serving that zip code (Mckinely, Glebe), but there are a couple of others that, relative to the ones I've mentioned, are just so-so. what we love about the schools here in Arlington (most of our friends' kids are already in K-5) is the parental/community involvement, smaller classes, plethora of programs offered for before/after school (you pay for these), guaranteed before/after school care (as long as you register in time and you pay for this), the proximity of schools to the neighborhood it serves (most are generally within walking distance), and the list goes on and on. besides, love being in Arlington for a host of other reasons (the sheer number of parks and playgrounds) and proximity to DC for evening on the town/dinners, etc.

good luck!

Anonymous wrote:The demographics between W-L and Wakefield couldn't be more different. Unlike Wakefield, W-L has the support of the the wealthy neighborhoods that surround it. And some of the best elementary schools in Northern Va are in the W-L zone. I would hardly put W-L in the same category as Mount Vernon, Stuart, TC Williams, and Wakefield, etc. Trust me, the families at W-L are not urban pioneers hoping for the best. I've never heard anyone characterize the school as such until now. Whether or not the data supports the perception, W-L has always had a strong academic reputation, and people do in fact move to the neighborhoods for the high school. SAT scores are well above the state and national averages and the W-L rivals Yorktown for the number for natl merit semifinalists and finalist every year.

I'm not the poster who started parsing the demographics of these schools, but the point the other poster was making was that, in some respects, the demographics of W-L and Wakefield are more closely aligned than the demographics of W-L and Yorktown. That's clearly correct, as is the observation that one thing that differentiates W-L from Wakefield is the large number of "wealthy neighborhoods" in Arlington that feed into W-L, compared to only a few pockets of South Arlington, such as Arlington Ridge, that currently fall in that category.

If you want to go down this path, however, you should know that some of the other inside-the-Beltway schools that are being mentioned also have many wealthy areas within their boundaries. I don't know the neighborhoods that feed into Mount Vernon well, but the Sleepy Hollow/Lake Barcroft area that feeds into Stuart is as expensive as many North Arlington neighborhoods, and the City of Alexandria, of course, has many expensive areas as well, such as Del Ray and Rosemont. I think some Arlington posters may not know these areas well, as a result of which some of their comments suggest, perhaps inadvertently, that there's a double-standard at work where the Arlington schools are concerned.

I didn't finish my sentence, I meant to say there's more difference between Yorktown and W-L than between W-L and Wakefield. The test scores and demographics seem to support my assertion.

15:37, The number for Greatschools is the actual test scores. Not the star ratings which opponents of GS cite as evidence of the site's horribleness and unsuitability for civilized discussion. I'm not sure why you call them "unreliable," as they are also broken down by groups (and are often used by ACPS defenders as evidence of that school's suitability for not-at-risk kids.)

The percentages are collated from the schools themselves, and GS is a great way to avoid having to go to 500 different spots on the APS/ACPS/FCPS/LCPS/PWCS/MCPS/PGCPS/whatever webpage.

Of course, if GS isn't "reliable" what info is? Anecdotes?

21:41, Arlington Ridge is pretty pricey, but I'll concede the point, there's not as many posh neighborhoods in the Wakefield zone as in the W-L zone.

22:18, not sure. I could argue that Yorktown is either punching below its weight with regard to its percentage of poors (Marshall is about equivalent) or the poors are getting terrible service from Yorktown and dragging everyone else down.

Yorktown: 7 on GS, 14% poors, 67% White, 14% Hispanic, 11% Asian, 8% Black
Marshall: 9 on GS, 17% poors, 57% white, 22% Asian, 15% Hispanic, 7% Black

22:41, I am simply challenging the perception. Let's take a look at Stuart, Falls Church, Mount Vernon, and West Potomac.

W-L: 5 on GS, 30% poors, 42% White, 33% Hispanic, 14% Black, 12% Asian
Stuart: 4 on GS, 49% poors, 44% Hispanic, 28% White, 18% Asian, 10% Black
Falls Church: 5 on GS, 38% poors, 39% Hispanic, 30% White, 24% Asian, 8% Black
Mount Vernon: 4 on GS, 39% poors, 37% Black, 29% White, 27% Hispanic, 6% Asian
West Potomac: 4 on GS, 31% poors, 44% White, 25% Black, 22% Hispanic, 8% Asian

OTOH, school snobbery against Marshall has largely disappeared in the past few years.

The demographics and test scores between West Potomac and W-L seem similar. Yet one is praised to the skies and the other is (relatively) shunned. It seems either W-L underserves its high achievers or terribly underserves its at-risk students.

As for the # of high achievers, isn't that what the ACPS defenders do whenever TC Williams' reputation is attacked?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were in the exact same situation a few years ago. We ended up in McLean Hamlet (22102). Have an awesome house, great neighborhood, fun pool club for the summer, and Spring Hill elementary is first rate. About half of the kids (grades 3 and up) are in AAP and the school has a real community feel.

Outside the Beltway

True enough but a portion of this neighborhood has the Beltway sound wall in its backyard. The entire neighborhood is adjacent 495 and 267/Dulles Toll Road.