OP, we moved last summer from the Sandberg/West Potomac district. I looked into all the schools you listed and we chose Irving/WSHS. DD is in AAP, so she had the option to go to LBSS or Irving. She chose Irving and has loved it there.

Another good friend who moved from my old neighborhood at the same time we did ended up in the LB district and kid is happy there. I really don't think you can go wrong.

FWIW, I did focus less on Robinson because of IB. I have no issue with IB, but I know I can place her there if that's what she chooses.

I have DS at Woodson and DD at TJ. Both are doing great. Kids are all different but generally schools in theses area are all good.

Anonymous wrote:They are all fine. Woodson parent here. Choose based on commute and house

Agree on this. These schools are so interchangeable.

They are all fine. Woodson parent here. Choose based on commute and house

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a dog in this fight (no kid at any of these four high schools), but I've been a visitor at sports events at Woodson and West Springfield, and the Woodson parents were far nicer to guests and respectful of the officials than the West Springfield parents. Seriously, it wasn't even close. West Springfield seems to have a lot of military parents who expect their kids to win at all costs. I've seem several parents scream at the referees and get ejected from gyms. I've never witnessed anything similar at Woodson.

I think West Springfield also had an incident with a band director who was abusing children, if I'm recalling correctly.

The point, OP, is to take what you read here with a grain of salt. A lot of parents are very invested (or over invested) in promoting a particular image of their schools.

That is an absolutely incorrect stereotype of military parents.

I'm sharing what I've observed first-hand, so I don't know how that could be a "stereotype."

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a dog in this fight (no kid at any of these four high schools), but I've been a visitor at sports events at Woodson and West Springfield, and the Woodson parents were far nicer to guests and respectful of the officials than the West Springfield parents. Seriously, it wasn't even close. West Springfield seems to have a lot of military parents who expect their kids to win at all costs. I've seem several parents scream at the referees and get ejected from gyms. I've never witnessed anything similar at Woodson.

I think West Springfield also had an incident with a band director who was abusing children, if I'm recalling correctly.

The point, OP, is to take what you read here with a grain of salt. A lot of parents are very invested (or over invested) in promoting a particular image of their schools.

That is an absolutely incorrect stereotype of military parents.

I don't have a dog in this fight (no kid at any of these four high schools), but I've been a visitor at sports events at Woodson and West Springfield, and the Woodson parents were far nicer to guests and respectful of the officials than the West Springfield parents. Seriously, it wasn't even close. West Springfield seems to have a lot of military parents who expect their kids to win at all costs. I've seem several parents scream at the referees and get ejected from gyms. I've never witnessed anything similar at Woodson.

I think West Springfield also had an incident with a band director who was abusing children, if I'm recalling correctly.

The point, OP, is to take what you read here with a grain of salt. A lot of parents are very invested (or over invested) in promoting a particular image of their schools.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, how do the reputations of Lake Braddock, Robinson and WSHS differ from each other?

I feel like I'm getting a sense that for one reason or another Woodson has diff vibe (for better or worse) than the rest, but would also love to hear about how the other three stand out.

And while I'm at it, also curious about Oakton High -- thanks so much!

OP, we have a kid at WSHS.

Based off our experience, the culture at WS is very similar to the type of high school experience we had growing up in the 80s. There is rigor and challenges, but the school culture as a whole is very fun and supportive. There are groups for all kinds of kids there. My geek is having a wonderful time and the neighbor's jock is as well. The kids are academicqlly focused, but not consumed by achievement or competitiveness. One of my kid's friend had a sibling go through LB while his friend went through Irving and is now at WS. Tye kids are close in age and similar interests. Their parent told me that while LB and WS are very similar in terms of academic quality with more rigor at LB, Irving and WS have "more heart" and is better for kids emotionally. I woukd agree that Irving is more warm and fuzzy, and have been pleased by the low pressure culture of WSHS, especially when you compare it to their test scores,

Some people prefer the secondary model of LBSS and Robinson because of the continuity of kids between MS and HS. For us, we prefer the two separate schools. You still have mostly the same kids since Irving is the only middle school feeder for WS, but if you have a kid that needs or wants a social reset, the two separate campuses can't be beat. My kid, and most of the other kids in our neighborhood ended up expanding or changing their friend circles between middle and high school. My kid ended up with an entirely different circle of friends, all very nice kids. Most of our friends who have kids at LB kept the same general friend groups between middle and high school. That can be good or if your kid needs a new start, it could be negative.

Mostly, WSHS does not even remotely feel like a stereotypical fcps pressure cooker high school. It feeos like a fun and positive place to go to school, not unlike our high school experiences were back in the 80s.

Anonymous wrote:OP here, how do the reputations of Lake Braddock, Robinson and WSHS differ from each other?

I feel like I'm getting a sense that for one reason or another Woodson has diff vibe (for better or worse) than the rest, but would also love to hear about how the other three stand out.

And while I'm at it, also curious about Oakton High -- thanks so much!

Lake Braddock and Robinson are large 7-12 schools. West Springfield has Irving as a middle, which some people like more. All three of the schools are fairly interchangeable socially and academically and are seen as stable good schools and people commute into the Pentagon, Tysons, and DC (via VRE and Metro) fairly easily).

Oakton is a different animal. It's not near these schools and it's boundaries run up into Herndon. A home shopper wouldn't likely to shopping in this school zone. It's also pricier.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know Woodson is supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but worried about its high-pressure reputation. West Springfield, Lake Braddock and Robinson all do well on their GS ratings -- do students seem happier, less-stressed at these schools than a Woodson or a McLean high?

Our kids are very young so things may have changed by the time they're in high school but wondering if one of these schools may be a happy medium. We're selling our house (zoned for West Potomac) and feel like while we're happy here, we take the opportunity to pick a new home in area with more highly rated high school.

How do you expect people to know unless they've had kids at all these schools? All you're going to get is people touting these three schools.

We have had kids at two of the schools and would avoid Woodson.

Interesting phrasing. So you had kids at Lake Braddock and Robinson?

Woodson and LBSS.

Woodson was not good for our student. We then pupil placed to LBSS.

The vast majority of Woodson parents and students are happy with the school, and the school's "reputation" for being overly competitive is largely perpetuated by some parents in neighboring districts and a handful of parents with kids there years ago who had bad experiences.

When FCPS decided to move a Woodson attendance island in Fairfax Station from Woodson to Robinson a few years ago, the Fairfax Station parents were virtually unanimous in asking that they be allowed to remain at Woodson. They didn't all have super Type A kids, but they really liked the school and didn't want to be moved to a primarily IB school.

OP here, how do the reputations of Lake Braddock, Robinson and WSHS differ from each other?

I feel like I'm getting a sense that for one reason or another Woodson has diff vibe (for better or worse) than the rest, but would also love to hear about how the other three stand out.

And while I'm at it, also curious about Oakton High -- thanks so much!

Anonymous wrote:NP. Schools get reputations for a reason. As time goes on, unless action is taken to change the culture of the school and its reputation, they become self-reinforcing. Woodson has a reputation of being a very competitive school, academically, with some unhappy kids. When the school and the community works to change that reputation, it will change. That hasn't happened yet.

Mom with a son who went to Woodson who posted upthread. I agree with this. I don't think the school -- from admin to teachers -- really has embraced the issue. During my son's time, there was A LOT of talk but very little concrete changes to how students are emotionally supported and how to walk back some of the crazy intensity and competitiveness.

Some people want this for their kids, so they seek it out. Others don't, so they avoid it.

NP. Schools get reputations for a reason. As time goes on, unless action is taken to change the culture of the school and its reputation, they become self-reinforcing. Woodson has a reputation of being a very competitive school, academically, with some unhappy kids. When the school and the community works to change that reputation, it will change. That hasn't happened yet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't go wrong with West Springfield, Lake Braddock, or Robinson. All three are great schools - excellent academics, low pressure, enough diversity (ethnic, social, economic, personality) that your kids will find their place.

Woodson has a rep of being a pressure cooker of overscheduled kids, hyper-involved parents, and suicides. I'm sure type-A, super driven, competitive types are very very happy there. If your kid doesn't fall into that category, probably not the best environment.

Meh. You trade in crude stereotypes.

You could just as easily claim that West Springfield, Lake Braddock and Robinson are second-tier schools where middle-brow types who can't afford homes in the top school districts, but are scared of majority-minority schools with too much (as opposed to "enough") diversity, congregate to pat each other on the back and compare notes on Virginia Tech and JMU.

I went to an Ivy League college from a public school and live in the Robinson / LBSS / WSHS area. I think we consider ourselves to be down to earth and people who are professional like doctors and lawyers but for work life balance reason chose to work for the government or work part time. I think we think our schools are awesome. My kids are only in ES and I think the older kids I see at our local HS are awesome and going to great colleges so much so that I don't see a reason to think it would be "better" if my kids went to TJ.

Well said. Count us and many of our friends in that category as well. Our kids attended and graduated from those "second-tier" schools and were accepted into schools even elitist DCUMers aspire to. Also, plenty of us can afford to live in whichever neighborhood we want but actually CHOOSE to live here. PP's snobbish post confirms that we have made a good choice by staying out of the judgmental snooty "top school district" locations.

You have zero self-awareness, do you? Do you really need a tour guide to point out when this thread became gratuitously mean-spirited?