Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since SOLs test only the baseline, I think looking at other test scores would give us more information. SAT is one measure. How about PSAT? College placement? Comparing on some level AP test scores and IB test scores?

Over the past two years, the 12 top schools in FCPS in terms of total National Merit Semifinalists are:

TJ 292
McLean 28
Oakton 17
Langley 16
Madison 16
Woodson 14
Lake Braddock 10
Fairfax 6
Herndon 6
Chantilly 5
Marshall 5
South Lakes 5

What's the big surprise here. PSAT and SAT scores track with affluence.

Langley is wealthier than McLean and Oakton, but the former have more semifinalists. Marshall has more wealthy neighborhoods now than Woodson, but Woodson has more semifinalists. The relationship does not appear to be as linear as you suggest.

Does anyone have any other insight as to why the number of semifinalists at Marshall has been low recently compared to the neighboring schools with which OP recently went out of her way to compare Marshall?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since SOLs test only the baseline, I think looking at other test scores would give us more information. SAT is one measure. How about PSAT? College placement? Comparing on some level AP test scores and IB test scores?

Over the past two years, the 12 top schools in FCPS in terms of total National Merit Semifinalists are:

TJ 292
McLean 28
Oakton 17
Langley 16
Madison 16
Woodson 14
Lake Braddock 10
Fairfax 6
Herndon 6
Chantilly 5
Marshall 5
South Lakes 5

What's the big surprise here. PSAT and SAT scores track with affluence.

Anonymous wrote:Since SOLs test only the baseline, I think looking at other test scores would give us more information. SAT is one measure. How about PSAT? College placement? Comparing on some level AP test scores and IB test scores?

Over the past two years, the 12 top schools in FCPS in terms of total National Merit Semifinalists are:

TJ 292
McLean 28
Oakton 17
Langley 16
Madison 16
Woodson 14
Lake Braddock 10
Fairfax 6
Herndon 6
Chantilly 5
Marshall 5
South Lakes 5

Since SOLs test only the baseline, I think looking at other test scores would give us more information. SAT is one measure. How about PSAT? College placement? Comparing on some level AP test scores and IB test scores?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too bad Marshall has the lowest SATs for years (including TJ) vs. Langley, McLean, Woodson, Madison and Oakton. I know some schools don't require SATs any longer, but I don't think there's a college or university on the planet that cares about a student's SOL scores.

Too bad kids don't get into colleges based on the average SAT scores at their high schools. That would be a big boost to kids at Langley, McLean, Woodson, et. al. whose scores are so-so. My GCM kid had a near perfect score so school averages really mean nothing to us.

Good point, though to be fair there are more kids with so-so SAT scores at Marshall than at the other schools mentioned.

but how does this affect your kid or my kid? last I checked so-so scores weren't contagious. SAT scores are based on intelligence and for some people, preparation. Where you go to school seems irrelevant.

And SOL scores are based on mind-numbing standardized tests that matter even less and are quickly forgotten. Your observation, if true, proves too much.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Too bad Marshall has the lowest SATs for years (including TJ) vs. Langley, McLean, Woodson, Madison and Oakton. I know some schools don't require SATs any longer, but I don't think there's a college or university on the planet that cares about a student's SOL scores.

Too bad kids don't get into colleges based on the average SAT scores at their high schools. That would be a big boost to kids at Langley, McLean, Woodson, et. al. whose scores are so-so. My GCM kid had a near perfect score so school averages really mean nothing to us.

Good point, though to be fair there are more kids with so-so SAT scores at Marshall than at the other schools mentioned.

but how does this affect your kid or my kid? last I checked so-so scores weren't contagious. SAT scores are based on intelligence and for some people, preparation. Where you go to school seems irrelevant.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"And yet here you are on the VA schools forum? Haha. "

- PP you replied to. House-hunting in VA. All the bashing of OP feels a lot like an older sibling taunting a younger one who's proud of an accomplishment by saying "oh yeah, well i know you to x! and you don't even know Y!" believe me, OP is not the one who is coming across as obnoxious.

I've been following DCUM for years and the Marshall posters are the most insufferable touts on the forum. This thread is just the latest example. I'm sorry, but you are, at best, clueless.

I've been following DCUM for a few years as well. What I've noticed most where Marshall is concerned is how much it seems to bother posters in other districts (Langley, McLean, Madison, etc.) that Marshall has been becoming a better school. Why???