Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can never quite understand what people really mean when they ask for cultural diversity. My kid is mixed race. His girlfriend is black. His best friends are Asian, Hispanic, white, Indian, black, and many mixes. Many of them went to Rocky Run MS in the AAP center. I love this area because it feels pretty diverse--not diverse as code for a lot of one minority, but a great mixture. The kids have first-hand experiences with each others' cultures, ethnicities, and religions. Are there a lot of black kids at Rocky Run? No, certainly less than 10 percent, but the principal is black and the outstanding orchestra teacher is black, and there are other excellent admins and teachers who are black, as well as other ethnicities, so maybe that would work out, if OP doesn't want to land in some lily-white school.

I'm guessing you are not a racial minority although your child is. Why not ask your DH or the child's other parent why it would matter. It seems you would have a good resource close to you to explain this to you. Having other minorities around is not the same as having other black students around.

I'm hoping the PP meant to say that having other minorities is *not* the same as other black students? AA students. Asian students. Hispanic students. Definitely not interchangeable.

Yes, that is what I meant. sorry!

Anonymous wrote:What about South County MS? Correct me if I am wrong but Lake Braddock, West Springfield & Robinson are secondary schools (7-12)--really big. South County has AAP & there are areas around South County that you could afford a SFH.

Demographics:
Asian 21%
Black 19%
Hispanic 12%
White 42%
Other 5%

LB & Robinson are secondary schools.

West Springfield/Irving are separate 9th-12th & 7th-8th.

Separate campuses a few blocks apart.

Irving is small for Fairfax County and under capacity. It has an African American principal. It has a new, small LLIV that is very, very good. The school is a lower homework middle school, with an emphasis on loving learning and being well rounded, positive community members. The students are similar economically and with families who place a priority on education (typical fc upper middle class community) Their test scores are similar to the other area middle schools.

What about South County MS? Correct me if I am wrong but Lake Braddock, West Springfield & Robinson are secondary schools (7-12)--really big. South County has AAP & there are areas around South County that you could afford a SFH.

Demographics:
Asian 21%
Black 19%
Hispanic 12%
White 42%
Other 5%

Anonymous wrote:PP from earlier. I was trying to ask if someone asking if a school was "diverse" was code for asking if there were a good number of black kids, versus diverse as I think of it, as having a broad range of ethnicities and cultures represented. I didn't grow up in this country, and I think of diversity as a more international thing than a black/white thing.

That is a good question. I am not the original poster.

Rocky Run Rated 9
White 43% 54%
Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander 35% 6%
Hispanic 12% 12%
Two or more races 5% 4%
Black 4% 24%
American Indian/Alaska Native 0% 0%
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander 0% 0%

Cooper MS
Label Value
White 72
Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander 15
Hispanic 6
Two or more races 6
Black 1
American Indian/Alaska Native 0
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander 0


Luther Jackson This school State average Rated 8
White 32% 54%
Hispanic 29% 12%
Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander 26% 6%
Black 8% 24%
Two or more races 5% 4%
American Indian/Alaska Native 0% 0%
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander 0% 0%

Carson Middle Rated 10
White 44% 54%
Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander 35% 6%
Black 8% 24%
Hispanic 7% 12%
Two or more races 5% 4%
American Indian/Alaska Native 0% 0%
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander 0% 0%

Holmes Middle School Rated 7
Hispanic 33% 12%
White 25% 54%
Black 23% 24%
Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander 17% 6%
Two or more races 3% 4%
American Indian/Alaska Native 0% 0%
Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander 0% 0%

I guess it depends on the mix of diversity someone is going for ...

PP from earlier. I was trying to ask if someone asking if a school was "diverse" was code for asking if there were a good number of black kids, versus diverse as I think of it, as having a broad range of ethnicities and cultures represented. I didn't grow up in this country, and I think of diversity as a more international thing than a black/white thing.

Mark Twain -- great school and very diverse

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can never quite understand what people really mean when they ask for cultural diversity. My kid is mixed race. His girlfriend is black. His best friends are Asian, Hispanic, white, Indian, black, and many mixes. Many of them went to Rocky Run MS in the AAP center. I love this area because it feels pretty diverse--not diverse as code for a lot of one minority, but a great mixture. The kids have first-hand experiences with each others' cultures, ethnicities, and religions. Are there a lot of black kids at Rocky Run? No, certainly less than 10 percent, but the principal is black and the outstanding orchestra teacher is black, and there are other excellent admins and teachers who are black, as well as other ethnicities, so maybe that would work out, if OP doesn't want to land in some lily-white school.

I'm guessing you are not a racial minority although your child is. Why not ask your DH or the child's other parent why it would matter. It seems you would have a good resource close to you to explain this to you. Having other minorities around is it the same as having other black students around.

I'm hoping the PP meant to say that having other minorities is *not* the same as other black students? AA students. Asian students. Hispanic students. Definitely not interchangeable.

Anonymous wrote:I can never quite understand what people really mean when they ask for cultural diversity. My kid is mixed race. His girlfriend is black. His best friends are Asian, Hispanic, white, Indian, black, and many mixes. Many of them went to Rocky Run MS in the AAP center. I love this area because it feels pretty diverse--not diverse as code for a lot of one minority, but a great mixture. The kids have first-hand experiences with each others' cultures, ethnicities, and religions. Are there a lot of black kids at Rocky Run? No, certainly less than 10 percent, but the principal is black and the outstanding orchestra teacher is black, and there are other excellent admins and teachers who are black, as well as other ethnicities, so maybe that would work out, if OP doesn't want to land in some lily-white school.

I'm guessing you are not a racial minority although your child is. Why not ask your DH or the child's other parent why it would matter. It seems you would have a good resource close to you to explain this to you. Having other minorities around is it the same as having other black students around.

If you aren't AAP at Rocky Run, you might as well be invisible. Worst balance of AAP and GenEd of any MS in the county.

I can never quite understand what people really mean when they ask for cultural diversity. My kid is mixed race. His girlfriend is black. His best friends are Asian, Hispanic, white, Indian, black, and many mixes. Many of them went to Rocky Run MS in the AAP center. I love this area because it feels pretty diverse--not diverse as code for a lot of one minority, but a great mixture. The kids have first-hand experiences with each others' cultures, ethnicities, and religions. Are there a lot of black kids at Rocky Run? No, certainly less than 10 percent, but the principal is black and the outstanding orchestra teacher is black, and there are other excellent admins and teachers who are black, as well as other ethnicities, so maybe that would work out, if OP doesn't want to land in some lily-white school.

No it won't. A lot of aap kids there feed there for base, too.

Once they get rid of centers Jackson will be performing poorly

Anonymous wrote:We are an African-American highly educated family and seeking advice on middle schools. We are house shopping ($750k budget) and looking for schools that are culturally diverse and high performing. Thanks in advance!

I looked at nearly EVERY SCHOOL in fairfax and arlington and loudon for the stated diversity numbers. The deal is that there are 2 types of diversity. Cultural Diversity and um Monetary Diversity. In almost all areas, the level of school is really about the monetary type. Based on pure numbers, I would go for the best school /neighborhood. Ethnic diversity for africans is relatively low at all schools from what I saw.

rachel carson or luther jackson

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, we chose West Springfield because AAs do well and it's fairly diverse. We've been very happy so far. I did an extensive analysis of all FCPS Schools on diversity and AA test scores.

West Springfield is not a middle school.

Everyone, all schools in Fairfax County are fairly "diverse" if you count diversity as percentage of white people. Time to move on from that definition.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you are not AA.