Anonymous wrote:if you have lot of $$$, go to Churchill ES/Cooper MS/Langley HS enclave. Not so much money, Kent Garden ES/Long Fellow MS/Mclean HS

Anonymous wrote:To me this is just a thinly veiled post to weed out the high achieving schools with fewer Asians.

Anonymous wrote:One of the WS posters here.

Hayfield and South County are fine. Haven't really heard much either way about them. Kingstowne is great and they have Wegmans.

The thing is, the default argument for the stressed school areas seems to be "...but TJ! You aren't sending as many kids to TJ!"

And when that is your go to argument in a thread asking for laid back schools, that just emphasizes that maybe your focus is a little to high pressure to give a valuable recommendation for this thread about laid back schools.

Anonymous wrote:One of the WS posters here.

Hayfield and South County are fine. Haven't really heard much either way about them. Kingstowne is great and they have Wegmans.

The thing is, the default argument for the stressed school areas seems to be "...but TJ! You aren't sending as many kids to TJ!"

And when that is your go to argument in a thread asking for laid back schools, that just emphasizes that maybe your focus is a little to high pressure to give a valuable recommendation for this thread about laid back schools.

Anonymous wrote:Looking to move to VA from DC and not exactly sure where to look. I'd like to buy a home in an area that has really good public schools that aren't cutthroat competitive and looking for recommendations. Thanks! Also interested in gifted and talented programs.

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Anonymous wrote:West Springfield/Lake Braddock/Robinson pyramids.

Why? Lake Braddock and Robinson are very large secondary schools. Lots of competition going on there, even if there are some other schools with higher test scores.

West Springfield, Lake Braddock, and Robinson are all schools that are basically uniformly middle class/upper middle class. There's a bit of racial/ethnic diversity, but economically the kids are all basically normal kids.

For the secondary schools, the size works in both ways. There's plenty for kids to do and it's big enough that there's no dominant "culture." It's much more kids finding their niches. Academically all three are strong enough schools without TJ craziness (note -- even though all three are close-ish to TJ, very few kids actually go to TJ because they are perfectly happy with their home schools. It's not a pressure cooker area.

It cuts both ways. Kids aren't going to be the tippy top. It's a place where people are fine with their kids going to Tech or JMU or VCU. It's not UVA or die around here (though plenty do attend UVA).

That's quite self-serving. Kids from families with more or less money - and those schools are about 10-16% low-income - are "normal," too.

Also, a large number of kids from Lake Braddock, which has the local AAP center, apply to TJ every year. They are just admitted at substantially lower rates than at some of the other middle school feeders to TJ. Perhaps that supports the notion that it's a lower-pressure area, but surely most of the kids who took the test would have gone to TJ if they'd been admitted.

Actually that's not true. In terms of demographics AAP students at lake Braddock pass on TJ at a much higher rate than Demographically similar schools.

+1. Our DD graduated from LB and was also in AAP in ES and MS. Quite a few of her friends took the TJ tests to placate their parents and several were admitted. Very few elected to go because they preferred the environment at LB. There were also quite a few that likely would have been admitted but chose not to take the tests because they knew they didn’t want to leave LB.

She also had several AAP friends from MS who went back to their base school for HS (WS, Robo) rather than pursue TJ for those same reasons.

This might be more convincing if you could show that a substantially smaller percentage of LB AAP kids apply to TJ than the kids from other AAP centers in the county.

Otherwise, such anecdotes ("oh, we never really wanted to go there anyway") aren't very persuasive. After all, if the area was as relaxed as you claim, kids wouldn't take the TJ tests to placate their parents, because their parents would happily keep them at their base schools.

OP this back and forth arguing by the TJ poster is an example.of the differences in focuses between the TO crazy areas and the more laid back pyramids where TJ craziness just really is not a focus/big deal.

It is great if kids get in there but also great if their interests are elsewhere.

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Anonymous wrote:Arlington, especially in the Yorktown pyramid. Amazing resources for kids, close to DC and families that nurture kids in a healthy environment. We do not see the competitiveness that you find nearby.

What a load of sh!t

Why do you say this? Do you feel the YTown pyramid does not have the resources or nurturing, or do you disagree that it is not competitive? Schools in the YTown pyramid are big, but not as large as the FCPS, for instance.

Anonymous wrote:My kids are still young but FWIW we live in the LBSS pyramid. My oldest is currently in AAP. The LBSS kids I interact with as babysitters, coaches, etc. are so awesome IMO! To me they seem smart, kind, well rounded, friendly, etc. I do not plan to suggest any of my kids apply to TJ.

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Anonymous wrote:Marshall Road/Mosby Woods (AAP) + THoreau + Madison/Oakton (if you are in the Mosby base zone).

Mix of kids. Thoreau will benefit from the diversity that Mosby Woods brings when it is re-zoned. It is very chill and nurturing.

No rezoning has been approved and, hopefully, the School Board will take a hard look at the impact that moving Mosby Woods to Thoreau would have on both Jackson MS and, indirectly, Falls Church HS.

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Anonymous wrote:West Springfield/Lake Braddock/Robinson pyramids.

Why? Lake Braddock and Robinson are very large secondary schools. Lots of competition going on there, even if there are some other schools with higher test scores.

West Springfield, Lake Braddock, and Robinson are all schools that are basically uniformly middle class/upper middle class. There's a bit of racial/ethnic diversity, but economically the kids are all basically normal kids.

For the secondary schools, the size works in both ways. There's plenty for kids to do and it's big enough that there's no dominant "culture." It's much more kids finding their niches. Academically all three are strong enough schools without TJ craziness (note -- even though all three are close-ish to TJ, very few kids actually go to TJ because they are perfectly happy with their home schools. It's not a pressure cooker area.

It cuts both ways. Kids aren't going to be the tippy top. It's a place where people are fine with their kids going to Tech or JMU or VCU. It's not UVA or die around here (though plenty do attend UVA).

That's quite self-serving. Kids from families with more or less money - and those schools are about 10-16% low-income - are "normal," too.

Also, a large number of kids from Lake Braddock, which has the local AAP center, apply to TJ every year. They are just admitted at substantially lower rates than at some of the other middle school feeders to TJ. Perhaps that supports the notion that it's a lower-pressure area, but surely most of the kids who took the test would have gone to TJ if they'd been admitted.

Actually that's not true. In terms of demographics AAP students at lake Braddock pass on TJ at a much higher rate than Demographically similar schools.

+1. Our DD graduated from LB and was also in AAP in ES and MS. Quite a few of her friends took the TJ tests to placate their parents and several were admitted. Very few elected to go because they preferred the environment at LB. There were also quite a few that likely would have been admitted but chose not to take the tests because they knew they didn’t want to leave LB.

She also had several AAP friends from MS who went back to their base school for HS (WS, Robo) rather than pursue TJ for those same reasons.

This might be more convincing if you could show that a substantially smaller percentage of LB AAP kids apply to TJ than the kids from other AAP centers in the county.

Otherwise, such anecdotes ("oh, we never really wanted to go there anyway") aren't very persuasive. After all, if the area was as relaxed as you claim, kids wouldn't take the TJ tests to placate their parents, because their parents would happily keep them at their base schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:West Springfield/Lake Braddock/Robinson pyramids.

Why? Lake Braddock and Robinson are very large secondary schools. Lots of competition going on there, even if there are some other schools with higher test scores.

West Springfield, Lake Braddock, and Robinson are all schools that are basically uniformly middle class/upper middle class. There's a bit of racial/ethnic diversity, but economically the kids are all basically normal kids.

For the secondary schools, the size works in both ways. There's plenty for kids to do and it's big enough that there's no dominant "culture." It's much more kids finding their niches. Academically all three are strong enough schools without TJ craziness (note -- even though all three are close-ish to TJ, very few kids actually go to TJ because they are perfectly happy with their home schools. It's not a pressure cooker area.

It cuts both ways. Kids aren't going to be the tippy top. It's a place where people are fine with their kids going to Tech or JMU or VCU. It's not UVA or die around here (though plenty do attend UVA).

That's quite self-serving. Kids from families with more or less money - and those schools are about 10-16% low-income - are "normal," too.

Also, a large number of kids from Lake Braddock, which has the local AAP center, apply to TJ every year. They are just admitted at substantially lower rates than at some of the other middle school feeders to TJ. Perhaps that supports the notion that it's a lower-pressure area, but surely most of the kids who took the test would have gone to TJ if they'd been admitted.

Actually that's not true. In terms of demographics AAP students at lake Braddock pass on TJ at a much higher rate than Demographically similar schools.

+1. Our DD graduated from LB and was also in AAP in ES and MS. Quite a few of her friends took the TJ tests to placate their parents and several were admitted. Very few elected to go because they preferred the environment at LB. There were also quite a few that likely would have been admitted but chose not to take the tests because they knew they didn’t want to leave LB.

She also had several AAP friends from MS who went back to their base school for HS (WS, Robo) rather than pursue TJ for those same reasons.

This might be more convincing if you could show that a substantially smaller percentage of LB AAP kids apply to TJ than the kids from other AAP centers in the county.

Otherwise, such anecdotes ("oh, we never really wanted to go there anyway") aren't very persuasive. After all, if the area was as relaxed as you claim, kids wouldn't take the TJ tests to placate their parents, because their parents would happily keep them at their base schools.