Anonymous wrote:So you're pointing out that rich kids who have opportunity rammed down their throats from the day they are born have higher test scores?

Anonymous wrote:Our oldest child is enrolled at Hayfield Secondary. Middle schooler, taking all-honors courses, getting As. Smart kid who is thriving at Hayfield alongside other smart kids. Loves most of her teachers (nobody ever loves all of their teachers). Don't listen to the snobby haters. It's a fine secondary school.

My spouse jokes that he graduated from one of "the worst" high school in northern California according to some rankings. He was surrounded by ESOL students there. He went on to turn down Yale and Stanford for a state school PhD. program in the hard sciences. He's a professor who teaches college-level courses and he's totally fine with our kids going to Hayfield. He's been impressed with the school. So am I, and I have a masters of science degree.

Good students rise to the top no matter where they go to school. Let's stop all the McLean-Arlington pyramid nonsense. It doesn't mean the kids are any smarter.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, our DKs attend one of the schools on this lower tier list and I just looked at the email from FCPS yesterday and 2 kids they grew up with (1 at TJ now, other at "terrible" HS) won some sort of Natl Merit scholarships so as others have said, there are plenty of bright kids/opportunities available at all FCPS high schools. There are lots of AP classes for kids who want/need them. Many kids are headed to UVA/WM next year.

Our kids love the crazy mix of socio-econ and international diversity. And they've learned to deal with all types of people and situations - more so than DH and I who had very UMC experiences at our lily white mid-western schools.

One thing that irks me is that all the families fleeing IB at the other low performing HS nearby end up in our schools, making them terribly overcrowded. It starts in elementary with families sneaking in to our pyramid via foreign language, then AAP in 3rd grade and so on. It's led to overcrowding in middle and high school. FCPS refuses to shut the door at any level and it's very dysfunctional.

My guess is you're talking about the schools my children attend. DS is at the IB school that everyone is fleeing from (Mount Vernon) and I totally agree. There are more families in my neighborhood that send their kids to the local Catholic school and Ft Hunt for Spanish immersion, than our local elementary (although it is getting better with a new principal.) Almost 100% of the neighborhood goes to Sandburg Middle as opposed to Whitman for AAP and the continuation of the Spanish immersion. Because of the similarity of names (AAP and AP) most elementary school families that I know seem to assume that you automatically go to West Po for the continuation of the AAP program, which is what has happened. Again, I know more children in my neighborhood at West Po than at Mount Vernon. I'm hopeful that whoever is hired at West Po will absolutely close the school to new transfers, forcing families to either move, pay for private or go to MV. My DS is a junior, so we'll see how his college acceptances go. He is a full IB candidate and has a good group of friends who are all college bound. And all the kids DS knew through sports or band, who are now college freshmen or seniors, are all headed to good schools.

Anonymous wrote:Well, our DKs attend one of the schools on this lower tier list and I just looked at the email from FCPS yesterday and 2 kids they grew up with (1 at TJ now, other at "terrible" HS) won some sort of Natl Merit scholarships so as others have said, there are plenty of bright kids/opportunities available at all FCPS high schools. There are lots of AP classes for kids who want/need them. Many kids are headed to UVA/WM next year.

Our kids love the crazy mix of socio-econ and international diversity. And they've learned to deal with all types of people and situations - more so than DH and I who had very UMC experiences at our lily white mid-western schools.

One thing that irks me is that all the families fleeing IB at the other low performing HS nearby end up in our schools, making them terribly overcrowded. It starts in elementary with families sneaking in to our pyramid via foreign language, then AAP in 3rd grade and so on. It's led to overcrowding in middle and high school. FCPS refuses to shut the door at any level and it's very dysfunctional.

Anonymous wrote:So many snobs on here. There is nothing wrong with any of the school mentioned. They're all so large and diverse now, your kid will find their pack. So much coddling these days. What's going to happen when they get to college or real life. Geez. Both my sisters and I went to one of the above mentioned schools. Our parents barely broke 30k. We were those kids that were low income but never got any free and reduced lunch. Both of us are in the 1%. Sister and family will take a year off to travel the world and she's only in her 30's. Where you go to school when you were in your teens isn't going to matter that much in the long haul. Be close to your job so you can spend more time with your loved ones is most logical. Not everything is learned at school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Simple. Stay away from Lee, Stuart, and Mount Vernon. Hayfield, West Potomac, and Edison are a touch better, but not much. Best to stay away if you can. That's all you really need to know. Move west or north my dear friend, just not into Alexandria city or south Arlington.

I'll send my kid to one of the lower schools. She can be valedictorian, student council president, head cheerleader, and get into UVA because of less competition. ?

Sounds great but people don't really like to play on losing teams (or the other "big fish, small pond" scenarios).

Np- I wouldn't know about that. I graduated from the biggest high school in the area and made always made the ( usually winning) team and was always lead of the school play.

Another Robinson alum??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Simple. Stay away from Lee, Stuart, and Mount Vernon. Hayfield, West Potomac, and Edison are a touch better, but not much. Best to stay away if you can. That's all you really need to know. Move west or north my dear friend, just not into Alexandria city or south Arlington.

I'll send my kid to one of the lower schools. She can be valedictorian, student council president, head cheerleader, and get into UVA because of less competition. ?

Sounds great but people don't really like to play on losing teams (or the other "big fish, small pond" scenarios).

Np- I wouldn't know about that. I graduated from the biggest high school in the area and made always made the ( usually winning) team and was always lead of the school play.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Simple. Stay away from Lee, Stuart, and Mount Vernon. Hayfield, West Potomac, and Edison are a touch better, but not much. Best to stay away if you can. That's all you really need to know. Move west or north my dear friend, just not into Alexandria city or south Arlington.

I'll send my kid to one of the lower schools. She can be valedictorian, student council president, head cheerleader, and get into UVA because of less competition. ?

Sounds great but people don't really like to play on losing teams (or the other "big fish, small pond" scenarios).

Anonymous wrote:We're at West Potomac, and content (one in 10th grade, one in college). I did some thought experiments along the way, considering alternatives of moving and private. We stayed. Why?

1. We never had any real problems. There were plenty of 'maybe this will be a problem in the future'. I worried about those, but when I really paused and thought about it, I realized I was borrowing trouble. YMMV.
1b. My kids have had appropriate peer groups all along. Not huge but hey, family of introverts here. They certainly weren't with the same 20 kids all day in a set of advanced classes, and had plenty of classes to chose from.
2. We live in an area zoned for West Potomac because of commutes, which are short and predictable. The places I considered moving would be longer and more variable commutes. I decided that I placed considerable value on having that time at home with my kids (or at their activities) and my lower stress associated with extra time.
3. Private would have been doable, but a stretch that would have impacted college savings and family activities.

So basically ... I was never doing a pure school vs school comparison. I was comparing WestPo + life factors to Other Schools + life factors, which is what most of us are doing most of the time.