I consult greatschool all the time. Yes, we all know that greatschools is not the authority, so why repeat it again.
Still, wouldn't buy anywhere near a school rated lower than 7 and would be weary of 10. I don't know too many 10s and we are not rich enough to live in these neighborhoods that have schools rated 10.
One kids goes to school rated 8 in DC. I love the school and so does DS.
Our younger DC is entering one rated 9. I'm a little worried about that one because neighbor said the parents there are " too much".
We do live in DC right now, but are planning to move out in 5 years or so since DH works in Va and we'd like to shorten his commute. I'm looking at houses in Burke, W.Springfield, Oakton, Vienna, Fairfax, Annandale and Falls Church.
After looking at the house, I scroll down to the IB schools. Low rated schools and I'm done looking at the house. We put schools ahead of the house.
We are uncomfortable with diversity. Well, at least with the one where kids talk trash. I grew up talking trash and I don't want that for my children. Hasn't served me well at all.
Not afraid of the Spanish speaking children at all since our child speaks Spanish (his father is from SA, I'm from EE). We have actually found that many lower income children with whom we have come in contact are losing their Spanish kills or hiding them just to fit in.
Because of the schools, we are not ready to buy our forever home. We'd rather be ready to move for the best fit and will enjoy our forever home when kids are in college.

Op,
We bought a bigger ( not updated) home in south Arlington. We'll figure elementary school out when the time comes. APS is a good school system, so I'm not really concerned. I can't live in dysfunction. I wanted to raise my kid in a clean, orderly home. I wanted room for visiting family ( which we have often). I wanted a genuinely short commute, because I believe time with family trumps all else. Our neighborhood is safe, and our home checked all the boxes.
We have a huge backyard and big(ish) livable home. No regrets!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stay away from the poorly rated schools in Falls Church (Fairfax County). We bought our house before kids and aren't afraid of "diversity" so stayed. It hasn't been a great experience. A majority of the kids are behind academically, and as you get into middle school, there are physical fights etc. Many of our neighbors with kids have moved. We're planning on moving next spring. My opinion is based on experience, not great schools rating. There are a lot of issues faced by ESOL/low SES kids, and unfortunately it impacts other kids in the school when the ESOL/low SES kids are the majority. Also, buying for elementary and then moving is hard on kids, so I'd avoid doing that. Good luck with making your decision.

If you think higher SES schools don't have fights or bullying, you are in for a rude awakening.

Higher SES schools likely do not have groups of kids speaking in Spanish speaking badly ("talking trash") about the white non-Spanish speaking kids, who are a small minority of the school.

Well, welcome to life. White non-Spanish speaking individuals are going to be a minority in this country within a generation or less. Best to get used to it and accept the reality rather than futilely rage against it. Maybe start brushing up on your Spanish, and make sure your kids are learning it early and that they become accustomed to being a racial/ethnic minority.

Why should they have to do that, when they can afford to self segregate?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stay away from the poorly rated schools in Falls Church (Fairfax County). We bought our house before kids and aren't afraid of "diversity" so stayed. It hasn't been a great experience. A majority of the kids are behind academically, and as you get into middle school, there are physical fights etc. Many of our neighbors with kids have moved. We're planning on moving next spring. My opinion is based on experience, not great schools rating. There are a lot of issues faced by ESOL/low SES kids, and unfortunately it impacts other kids in the school when the ESOL/low SES kids are the majority. Also, buying for elementary and then moving is hard on kids, so I'd avoid doing that. Good luck with making your decision.

If you think higher SES schools don't have fights or bullying, you are in for a rude awakening.

Higher SES schools likely do not have groups of kids speaking in Spanish speaking badly ("talking trash") about the white non-Spanish speaking kids, who are a small minority of the school.

Well, welcome to life. White non-Spanish speaking individuals are going to be a minority in this country within a generation or less. Best to get used to it and accept the reality rather than futilely rage against it. Maybe start brushing up on your Spanish, and make sure your kids are learning it early and that they become accustomed to being a racial/ethnic minority.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stay away from the poorly rated schools in Falls Church (Fairfax County). We bought our house before kids and aren't afraid of "diversity" so stayed. It hasn't been a great experience. A majority of the kids are behind academically, and as you get into middle school, there are physical fights etc. Many of our neighbors with kids have moved. We're planning on moving next spring. My opinion is based on experience, not great schools rating. There are a lot of issues faced by ESOL/low SES kids, and unfortunately it impacts other kids in the school when the ESOL/low SES kids are the majority. Also, buying for elementary and then moving is hard on kids, so I'd avoid doing that. Good luck with making your decision.

If you think higher SES schools don't have fights or bullying, you are in for a rude awakening.

Higher SES schools likely do not have groups of kids speaking in Spanish speaking badly ("talking trash") about the white non-Spanish speaking kids, who are a small minority of the school.

This might be the best pearl-clutching I've ever seen on DCUM. Some middle schoolers are "talking trash" about other middle schoolers....in Spanish!

Seriously, OP, if you want to live around real people, consider avoiding the schools that feed into Yorktown, because that is where the craziest people live. Normal people live south of Lee Highway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stay away from the poorly rated schools in Falls Church (Fairfax County). We bought our house before kids and aren't afraid of "diversity" so stayed. It hasn't been a great experience. A majority of the kids are behind academically, and as you get into middle school, there are physical fights etc. Many of our neighbors with kids have moved. We're planning on moving next spring. My opinion is based on experience, not great schools rating. There are a lot of issues faced by ESOL/low SES kids, and unfortunately it impacts other kids in the school when the ESOL/low SES kids are the majority. Also, buying for elementary and then moving is hard on kids, so I'd avoid doing that. Good luck with making your decision.

If you think higher SES schools don't have fights or bullying, you are in for a rude awakening.

Higher SES schools likely do not have groups of kids speaking in Spanish speaking badly ("talking trash") about the white non-Spanish speaking kids, who are a small minority of the school.

Also remember these low ses will be what your neighborhood will be like yuck

Anonymous wrote:Stay away from the poorly rated schools in Falls Church (Fairfax County). We bought our house before kids and aren't afraid of "diversity" so stayed. It hasn't been a great experience. A majority of the kids are behind academically, and as you get into middle school, there are physical fights etc. Many of our neighbors with kids have moved. We're planning on moving next spring. My opinion is based on experience, not great schools rating. There are a lot of issues faced by ESOL/low SES kids, and unfortunately it impacts other kids in the school when the ESOL/low SES kids are the majority. Also, buying for elementary and then moving is hard on kids, so I'd avoid doing that. Good luck with making your decision.

If you think higher SES schools don't have fights or bullying, you are in for a rude awakening.

Stay away from the poorly rated schools in Falls Church (Fairfax County). We bought our house before kids and aren't afraid of "diversity" so stayed. It hasn't been a great experience. A majority of the kids are behind academically, and as you get into middle school, there are physical fights etc. Many of our neighbors with kids have moved. We're planning on moving next spring. My opinion is based on experience, not great schools rating. There are a lot of issues faced by ESOL/low SES kids, and unfortunately it impacts other kids in the school when the ESOL/low SES kids are the majority. Also, buying for elementary and then moving is hard on kids, so I'd avoid doing that. Good luck with making your decision.

Anonymous wrote:19:02- I used to live right by that house. The commute wasn't terrible via metro, and the schools are very good.

"Wasn't terrible"= not good

19:02- I used to live right by that house. The commute wasn't terrible via metro, and the schools are very good.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The idea that attending a school with some economic diversity might irreparably harm your child is ridiculous. I get it, you require a more palatable way to justify your fear and racism. Massive Resistance is so gauche. PP, you are unhinged. You must be the dummy who bought the tiny old house we passed on in a "good" school zone that was in a terrible location, on a busy street near environmental hazards, for full ask. Sorry you can't unload that dump to the next sucker.

NP. Buying a house in n Arlington is never a losing bet.

Unless you're in a terrible location. Access to a "great" school isn't going to fix that. The house I was referencing was sold for $7,000 less in 2015 than in 2012. Because no schools, not even the Taylor pyramid in APS, can make up for a house being so near a busy road and multiple gas stations. This is a fundamental of real estate. Location, location, location.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The idea that attending a school with some economic diversity might irreparably harm your child is ridiculous. I get it, you require a more palatable way to justify your fear and racism. Massive Resistance is so gauche. PP, you are unhinged. You must be the dummy who bought the tiny old house we passed on in a "good" school zone that was in a terrible location, on a busy street near environmental hazards, for full ask. Sorry you can't unload that dump to the next sucker.

NP. Buying a house in n Arlington is never a losing bet.

Unless you're in a terrible location. Access to a "great" school isn't going to fix that. The house I was referencing was sold for $7,000 less in 2015 than in 2012. Because no schools, not even the Taylor pyramid in APS, can make up for a house being so near a busy road and multiple gas stations. This is a fundamental of real estate. Location, location, location.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The idea that attending a school with some economic diversity might irreparably harm your child is ridiculous. I get it, you require a more palatable way to justify your fear and racism. Massive Resistance is so gauche. PP, you are unhinged. You must be the dummy who bought the tiny old house we passed on in a "good" school zone that was in a terrible location, on a busy street near environmental hazards, for full ask. Sorry you can't unload that dump to the next sucker.

NP. Buying a house in n Arlington is never a losing bet.

Unless you're in a terrible location. Access to a "great" school isn't going to fix that. The house I was referencing was sold for $7,000 less in 2015 than in 2012. Because no schools, not even the Taylor pyramid in APS, can make up for a house being so near a busy road and multiple gas stations. This is a fundamental of real estate. Location, location, location.

You read many of the awful comments on these threads, many/ most posted by parents at "10" schools. Do you really want your kid around that? You have to think their children are picking up this way of thinking.
We'll happily stay in our low rated school.
The earlier posters aren't wrong necessarily. Even if more people with young kids move in, there is an overwhelming amount of low income housing zoned to a few schools in South Arlington. Even if every middle class, single family home sent their kids to those schools, it's unlikely to reach a critical mass. Those scores aren't likely to budge unless some of the huge swaths of cheap, older housing is demolished. Please understand that the county is fighting tooth and nail to keep that from happening. It will be seen as an abject failure on the county board's part if apartment buildings like filmore and Barcroft were to be bulldozed to make way for new upscale housing. Don't move to south Arlington expecting that to happen. There are only plans to bring more affordable housing in, not less.
We have great teachers and a caring community, but I don't think we'll be seeing high test scores anytime soon.