Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Around here it's tough because if you put your kid in a really good pyramid, they face incredible competition when it comes to college applications. So I'm not sure there is a right answer.

In terms of resale value, generally if you are buying in a lower pyramid and selling in a lower pyramid, yes, you'll get less for your house on resale but you'll also pay less. The trick there is to not buy in a pyramid that is going to get worse (or perceived) as worse during the time you hold it. (Think about the folks who were fighting being rezoned from Abingdon to Drew because they knew Drew was perceived as a lesser school.)

I've never understood that as a reason to avoid a good pyramid. There are many good colleges and universities, and what matters the most is how well prepared (in terms of subject-matter knowledge and study skills) the student is at the college they attend. The best pyramids give kids a leg up in both respects: they will have studied with a stronger peer group and they will have been surrounded during some of their most important formative years by other students who take academics seriously.

At least this is my take-away from having had kids in two FCPS pyramids. In the higher ranked pyramid, the courses (even if the same in name) were more challenging and the teachers had higher expectations. And the peer group challenged each other more to excel without, in our observation, spilling into cut-throat competitiveness.

I think these threads turn negative when they come across as if posters are suggesting that others are just flat-out screwed if they can only afford to buy in a small handful of pyramids. But it's very clear that the market assigns higher value to higher ranked pyramids, other things being equal, and there are reasons for that.

There is no evidence that students from any FCPS school enter college unprepared. All schools in Fairfax County offer differentiation, and good students at any school will have no problem finding a cohort of similarly intelligent and motivated peers. College choices are far more likely to impact a student’s job prospects/earning power than the high school they attend within a given NoVA district, and this is where students from schools like Justice will have a leg up.

Justice has a 20% dropout rate and sends most of its graduates to NVCC, George Mason and the outside work force. The cohort of high-achievers is small and not enough to sustain academic excellence across all subject areas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The real world bears very little resemblance to the population of most “preferred“ pyramids in northern Virginia. My personal opinion is that kids benefit more from exposure to those who are different (both racially/ethnically and socio-economically) than they do from exposure to those who are the same.

All the high schools have racial and ethnic diversity. It is hard to get economic diversity - as even in the poorer schools, the well off are sequestered together in the higher end neighborhoods. Also, all but one HS in FCPS have double digit or near double digit Free and Reduced Lunch students. (not counting TJ)

What benefit is there in economic diversity? No one has yet provided a clear answer. We live in a world that is becoming more and more stratified with every passing day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Around here it's tough because if you put your kid in a really good pyramid, they face incredible competition when it comes to college applications. So I'm not sure there is a right answer.

In terms of resale value, generally if you are buying in a lower pyramid and selling in a lower pyramid, yes, you'll get less for your house on resale but you'll also pay less. The trick there is to not buy in a pyramid that is going to get worse (or perceived) as worse during the time you hold it. (Think about the folks who were fighting being rezoned from Abingdon to Drew because they knew Drew was perceived as a lesser school.)

I've never understood that as a reason to avoid a good pyramid. There are many good colleges and universities, and what matters the most is how well prepared (in terms of subject-matter knowledge and study skills) the student is at the college they attend. The best pyramids give kids a leg up in both respects: they will have studied with a stronger peer group and they will have been surrounded during some of their most important formative years by other students who take academics seriously.

At least this is my take-away from having had kids in two FCPS pyramids. In the higher ranked pyramid, the courses (even if the same in name) were more challenging and the teachers had higher expectations. And the peer group challenged each other more to excel without, in our observation, spilling into cut-throat competitiveness.

I think these threads turn negative when they come across as if posters are suggesting that others are just flat-out screwed if they can only afford to buy in a small handful of pyramids. But it's very clear that the market assigns higher value to higher ranked pyramids, other things being equal, and there are reasons for that.

There is no evidence that students from any FCPS school enter college unprepared. All schools in Fairfax County offer differentiation, and good students at any school will have no problem finding a cohort of similarly intelligent and motivated peers. College choices are far more likely to impact a student’s job prospects/earning power than the high school they attend within a given NoVA district, and this is where students from schools like Justice will have a leg up.

why is it that in these posts it's always poor rated schools vs. highly rated ones? what about middle of the road schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still like this article:

Does it pay to obsess on where your kid goes to school?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/25/does-it-pay-to-obsess-on-where-your-kid-goes-to-college/%3foutputType=amp

Great article and I agree.

“ Whatever the rhetoric about a decline in public education, most schools are actually pretty good. How do we know? Just ask their clients. As polling data reveal, the vast majority of parents are very satisfied with the schools their children attend.”

Oh, OK, the measurement of school performance now is some poll where parents said they were satisfied.

LOL, the article was written by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school.

Nope. Look closer.

Correction: The article was highlighted by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school, and it agrees that schools matter (just not as much as parents).

The "equity" brigade isn't going to convince anyone to send their kids to bad pyramids. Senior Post reporters overwhelmingly send their kids to private schools, Walt Whitman, and B-CC.

There are no “bad” pyramids in FCPS.

Right. That must be why Corbett Sanders is making sure West Potomac is being expanded to 3000 seats so her constituents won’t have to go to under-enrolled Mount Vernon, or why they built an addition at West Springfield when Lee sits next door below capacity. The people in charge don’t believe this so why should the rest of us?

It would make more sense to you to shrink schools when they're being renovated than to increase capacity, the way APS did...

It would make more sense to use capacity where it is available and add capacity where it is needed than to shrink a school's capacity during a renovation or add capacity where it's not needed.

I assume you're saying APS has made bad decisions, but so has FCPS.

Anonymous wrote:Around here it's tough because if you put your kid in a really good pyramid, they face incredible competition when it comes to college applications. So I'm not sure there is a right answer.

In terms of resale value, generally if you are buying in a lower pyramid and selling in a lower pyramid, yes, you'll get less for your house on resale but you'll also pay less. The trick there is to not buy in a pyramid that is going to get worse (or perceived) as worse during the time you hold it. (Think about the folks who were fighting being rezoned from Abingdon to Drew because they knew Drew was perceived as a lesser school.)

I've never understood that as a reason to avoid a good pyramid. There are many good colleges and universities, and what matters the most is how well prepared (in terms of subject-matter knowledge and study skills) the student is at the college they attend. The best pyramids give kids a leg up in both respects: they will have studied with a stronger peer group and they will have been surrounded during some of their most important formative years by other students who take academics seriously.

At least this is my take-away from having had kids in two FCPS pyramids. In the higher ranked pyramid, the courses (even if the same in name) were more challenging and the teachers had higher expectations. And the peer group challenged each other more to excel without, in our observation, spilling into cut-throat competitiveness.

I think these threads turn negative when they come across as if posters are suggesting that others are just flat-out screwed if they can only afford to buy in a small handful of pyramids. But it's very clear that the market assigns higher value to higher ranked pyramids, other things being equal, and there are reasons for that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still like this article:

Does it pay to obsess on where your kid goes to school?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/25/does-it-pay-to-obsess-on-where-your-kid-goes-to-college/%3foutputType=amp

Great article and I agree.

“ Whatever the rhetoric about a decline in public education, most schools are actually pretty good. How do we know? Just ask their clients. As polling data reveal, the vast majority of parents are very satisfied with the schools their children attend.”

Oh, OK, the measurement of school performance now is some poll where parents said they were satisfied.

LOL, the article was written by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school.

Nope. Look closer.

Correction: The article was highlighted by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school, and it agrees that schools matter (just not as much as parents).

The "equity" brigade isn't going to convince anyone to send their kids to bad pyramids. Senior Post reporters overwhelmingly send their kids to private schools, Walt Whitman, and B-CC.

There are no “bad” pyramids in FCPS.

Right. That must be why Corbett Sanders is making sure West Potomac is being expanded to 3000 seats so her constituents won’t have to go to under-enrolled Mount Vernon, or why they built an addition at West Springfield when Lee sits next door below capacity. The people in charge don’t believe this so why should the rest of us?

It would make more sense to you to shrink schools when they're being renovated than to increase capacity, the way APS did...

Around here it's tough because if you put your kid in a really good pyramid, they face incredible competition when it comes to college applications. So I'm not sure there is a right answer.

In terms of resale value, generally if you are buying in a lower pyramid and selling in a lower pyramid, yes, you'll get less for your house on resale but you'll also pay less. The trick there is to not buy in a pyramid that is going to get worse (or perceived) as worse during the time you hold it. (Think about the folks who were fighting being rezoned from Abingdon to Drew because they knew Drew was perceived as a lesser school.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still like this article:

Does it pay to obsess on where your kid goes to school?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/25/does-it-pay-to-obsess-on-where-your-kid-goes-to-college/%3foutputType=amp

Great article and I agree.

“ Whatever the rhetoric about a decline in public education, most schools are actually pretty good. How do we know? Just ask their clients. As polling data reveal, the vast majority of parents are very satisfied with the schools their children attend.”

Oh, OK, the measurement of school performance now is some poll where parents said they were satisfied.

LOL, the article was written by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school.

Nope. Look closer.

Correction: The article was highlighted by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school, and it agrees that schools matter (just not as much as parents).

The "equity" brigade isn't going to convince anyone to send their kids to bad pyramids. Senior Post reporters overwhelmingly send their kids to private schools, Walt Whitman, and B-CC.

There are no “bad” pyramids in FCPS.

Right. That must be why Corbett Sanders is making sure West Potomac is being expanded to 3000 seats so her constituents won’t have to go to under-enrolled Mount Vernon, or why they built an addition at West Springfield when Lee sits next door below capacity. The people in charge don’t believe this so why should the rest of us?

Or why they want to expand McLean, when nearby Langley is under enrolled.

FCPS has no plans to expand McLean. Which proves the point.

They think people will go along with moving to Langley, but don't have the guts to move anyone from West Springfield to Lee or from West Potomac to Mount Vernon.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still like this article:

Does it pay to obsess on where your kid goes to school?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/25/does-it-pay-to-obsess-on-where-your-kid-goes-to-college/%3foutputType=amp

Great article and I agree.

“ Whatever the rhetoric about a decline in public education, most schools are actually pretty good. How do we know? Just ask their clients. As polling data reveal, the vast majority of parents are very satisfied with the schools their children attend.”

Oh, OK, the measurement of school performance now is some poll where parents said they were satisfied.

LOL, the article was written by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school.

Nope. Look closer.

Correction: The article was highlighted by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school, and it agrees that schools matter (just not as much as parents).

The "equity" brigade isn't going to convince anyone to send their kids to bad pyramids. Senior Post reporters overwhelmingly send their kids to private schools, Walt Whitman, and B-CC.

There are no “bad” pyramids in FCPS.

Right. That must be why Corbett Sanders is making sure West Potomac is being expanded to 3000 seats so her constituents won’t have to go to under-enrolled Mount Vernon, or why they built an addition at West Springfield when Lee sits next door below capacity. The people in charge don’t believe this so why should the rest of us?

Or why they want to expand McLean, when nearby Langley is under enrolled.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still like this article:

Does it pay to obsess on where your kid goes to school?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/25/does-it-pay-to-obsess-on-where-your-kid-goes-to-college/%3foutputType=amp

Great article and I agree.

“ Whatever the rhetoric about a decline in public education, most schools are actually pretty good. How do we know? Just ask their clients. As polling data reveal, the vast majority of parents are very satisfied with the schools their children attend.”

Oh, OK, the measurement of school performance now is some poll where parents said they were satisfied.

LOL, the article was written by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school.

Nope. Look closer.

Correction: The article was highlighted by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school, and it agrees that schools matter (just not as much as parents).

The "equity" brigade isn't going to convince anyone to send their kids to bad pyramids. Senior Post reporters overwhelmingly send their kids to private schools, Walt Whitman, and B-CC.

There are no “bad” pyramids in FCPS.

Right. That must be why Corbett Sanders is making sure West Potomac is being expanded to 3000 seats so her constituents won’t have to go to under-enrolled Mount Vernon, or why they built an addition at West Springfield when Lee sits next door below capacity. The people in charge don’t believe this so why should the rest of us?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still like this article:

Does it pay to obsess on where your kid goes to school?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/25/does-it-pay-to-obsess-on-where-your-kid-goes-to-college/%3foutputType=amp

Great article and I agree.

“ Whatever the rhetoric about a decline in public education, most schools are actually pretty good. How do we know? Just ask their clients. As polling data reveal, the vast majority of parents are very satisfied with the schools their children attend.”

Oh, OK, the measurement of school performance now is some poll where parents said they were satisfied.

LOL, the article was written by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school.

Nope. Look closer.

Correction: The article was highlighted by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school, and it agrees that schools matter (just not as much as parents).

The "equity" brigade isn't going to convince anyone to send their kids to bad pyramids. Senior Post reporters overwhelmingly send their kids to private schools, Walt Whitman, and B-CC.

There are no “bad” pyramids in FCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still like this article:

Does it pay to obsess on where your kid goes to school?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/25/does-it-pay-to-obsess-on-where-your-kid-goes-to-college/%3foutputType=amp

Great article and I agree.

“ Whatever the rhetoric about a decline in public education, most schools are actually pretty good. How do we know? Just ask their clients. As polling data reveal, the vast majority of parents are very satisfied with the schools their children attend.”

Oh, OK, the measurement of school performance now is some poll where parents said they were satisfied.

LOL, the article was written by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school.

Nope. Look closer.

A public school in a very white UMC area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still like this article:

Does it pay to obsess on where your kid goes to school?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/25/does-it-pay-to-obsess-on-where-your-kid-goes-to-college/%3foutputType=amp

Great article and I agree.

“ Whatever the rhetoric about a decline in public education, most schools are actually pretty good. How do we know? Just ask their clients. As polling data reveal, the vast majority of parents are very satisfied with the schools their children attend.”

Oh, OK, the measurement of school performance now is some poll where parents said they were satisfied.

LOL, the article was written by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school.

Nope. Look closer.

Correction: The article was highlighted by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school, and it agrees that schools matter (just not as much as parents).

The "equity" brigade isn't going to convince anyone to send their kids to bad pyramids. Senior Post reporters overwhelmingly send their kids to private schools, Walt Whitman, and B-CC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still like this article:

Does it pay to obsess on where your kid goes to school?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/04/25/does-it-pay-to-obsess-on-where-your-kid-goes-to-college/%3foutputType=amp

Great article and I agree.

“ Whatever the rhetoric about a decline in public education, most schools are actually pretty good. How do we know? Just ask their clients. As polling data reveal, the vast majority of parents are very satisfied with the schools their children attend.”

Oh, OK, the measurement of school performance now is some poll where parents said they were satisfied.

LOL, the article was written by a Post reporter who sent her kid to private school.

Nope. Look closer.