your kids spend a lot of time in elementary school and it can have lasting impacts if the school fails to help with reading issues or other learning disabilities.

Frost and Woodson are great but I would totally avoid Olde Creek and Little Run.

Pay attention to high school pyramid before you narrow down the elementary school. It doesn't pay if your elementary school is great but you ends up in a mediocre high school where the college application matters the most.

Second, school quality is usually decided by the family background the students came from. In a "good" school, many students have academic enrichment programs that makes the test score go up. So don't think if your child get into a "good" elementary school he/she will be automatically better off.

I think the goal is to enter into a "good-enough" elementary school so that your child won't have distractions in class and the school community is supportive and teachers are happy. The outcome of being in the "best" elementary school or a good-enough one probably would be the same.

Do not obsessed with the "best", is what I am trying to say.

The outcome is still going to be different because of the level of teaching and the students being taught to. Teachers have to teach to the lowest denominator and the lowest denominator is a lot higher at a low FARMS rate school. So this only works at your school if your child is in the AAP class, but if you compare Gen Ed to Gen Ed, there is a markable difference, even for the white and asian kids. That said, an average white or asian kid is probably more likely to get into AAP at your school than at a high SES school, so maybe that makes up the difference.

This is not true. It is true that the common denominator may be lower, but that does not mean that is where the teacher "teaches."

Do you really think that elementary teachers teach to the "whole class" all day? That they do not provide leveled instruction at all?

I was a first grade teacher in a school with a very wide span of abilities. Except for the morning discussion and some other activities, there was plenty of leveled teaching. I had at least three reading groups (and as many as five), as an example. With math, everyone was taught together, but then additional work was given to kids.
Social studies and science were generally group taught.

And, FWIW, while it is true that the FARMS is an indicator, there are always exceptions. I also taught in a Title I school for several years where almost all the kids were very poor. Even there, I taught some kids who were highly gifted--yes, even poor people can have gifted children.

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford Langley HS, Churchill Road or Spring Hill, those two have great test scores and almost no FARMS.

Avoid Forestville as it will likely be redistributed to Herndon High School.

If using those criteria, the OP could find similar or lower FARMS rates than Spring Hill at some other HS feeders (Braddock HS, West Springfield HS) which might save some $ in housing costs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford Langley HS, Churchill Road or Spring Hill, those two have great test scores and almost no FARMS.

Avoid Forestville as it will likely be redistributed to Herndon High School.

I think you would be doing your children a great disservice if you send them to a no FARMS elementary school. There is something to be said for diversity. And diversity means more than "oh but we have a large asian population".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much everyone for your advise! So much to think about and consider. This has been super helpful

We’ve identified a couple of houses in NOVA that work for us with commute and budget in mind. What do you think of the following elementary schools? Your feedback can help us make a decision -

- Oakton elementary school
- what about in Arlington? Is Cardinal elementary school good?
- we really like some houses in Vienna with Cunningham park elementary or Marshall road elementary as the schools. These aren’t “well rated” but what do you all think?

Thanks so so much!!

Oakton, Cunningham, and Marshall Road are fine schools. The latter two get dinged because of the gap in test scores between certain demographics.

Marshal Rd and Cunningham are great schools.

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford Langley HS, Churchill Road or Spring Hill, those two have great test scores and almost no FARMS.

Avoid Forestville as it will likely be redistributed to Herndon High School.

I think you would be doing your children a great disservice if you send them to a no FARMS elementary school. There is something to be said for diversity. And diversity means more than "oh but we have a large asian population".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is terrible but the truth is to buy into a school with a low FARMS rate. School performance and SES are highly correlated.

Great Schools rating and FARMS are correlated, but whether that impacts a particular student is questionable.

Our ES is a 3 because of Great Schools' equity score. But if you give it any more than a passing glance, you see that white and asian kids are testing at a 9/10 rate and hispanic kids are 1/10. So, if you are not an English learner, the school is working out very well for you.

The outcome is still going to be different because of the level of teaching and the students being taught to. Teachers have to teach to the lowest denominator and the lowest denominator is a lot higher at a low FARMS rate school. So this only works at your school if your child is in the AAP class, but if you compare Gen Ed to Gen Ed, there is a markable difference, even for the white and asian kids. That said, an average white or asian kid is probably more likely to get into AAP at your school than at a high SES school, so maybe that makes up the difference.

If you can afford Langley HS, Churchill Road or Spring Hill, those two have great test scores and almost no FARMS.

Avoid Forestville as it will likely be redistributed to Herndon High School.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks so much everyone for your advise! So much to think about and consider. This has been super helpful

We’ve identified a couple of houses in NOVA that work for us with commute and budget in mind. What do you think of the following elementary schools? Your feedback can help us make a decision -

- Oakton elementary school
- what about in Arlington? Is Cardinal elementary school good?
- we really like some houses in Vienna with Cunningham park elementary or Marshall road elementary as the schools. These aren’t “well rated” but what do you all think?

Thanks so so much!!

Oakton, Cunningham, and Marshall Road are fine schools. The latter two get dinged because of the gap in test scores between certain demographics.

Find a good private school nearby that you can afford if FCPS doesn't work out.

Also Mantua elementary school?

Thanks so much everyone for your advise! So much to think about and consider. This has been super helpful

We’ve identified a couple of houses in NOVA that work for us with commute and budget in mind. What do you think of the following elementary schools? Your feedback can help us make a decision -

- Oakton elementary school
- what about in Arlington? Is Cardinal elementary school good?
- we really like some houses in Vienna with Cunningham park elementary or Marshall road elementary as the schools. These aren’t “well rated” but what do you all think?

Thanks so so much!!

McLean schools.

Anonymous wrote:My kids have gone to four ES In ffx county. I would try to target an es in the Langley, McLean, oakton, Marshall, Madison, West Springfield, Woodson, or Robinson pyramids.

Chantilly.