Anonymous wrote:NP- I don’t think the Montana analogy is a stretch at all.
When we were looking to move out of state, I started comparing SAT scores and AP pass rates between Wakefield and the new “9” school to which we would be zoned in the Midwest.
The stats were very similar.
It was very eye opening about how much veiled racism plays a part in these discussions, and how much hand wringing I was doing over nothing. My kids would have been fine st Wakefield.
They would likeky have been fine at Langley as well, but I truly am weary of affluent teenagers. My husband went to an extremely wealthy high school. Pitfalls galore.
I’m not concerned that only 12 kids are going to UVA. THats a ridiculous concern.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP- I don’t think the Montana analogy is a stretch at all.
When we were looking to move out of state, I started comparing SAT scores and AP pass rates between Wakefield and the new “9” school to which we would be zoned in the Midwest.
The stats were very similar.
It was very eye opening about how much veiled racism plays a part in these discussions, and how much hand wringing I was doing over nothing. My kids would have been fine st Wakefield.
They would likeky have been fine at Langley as well, but I truly am weary of affluent teenagers. My husband went to an extremely wealthy high school. Pitfalls galore.
I’m not concerned that only 12 kids are going to UVA. THats a ridiculous concern.

Wakefield ranks 226th out of 290 high schools in Virginia based on SOL performance: https://www.schooldigger.com/go/VA/schools/0027000111/school.aspx

It has a Great Schools rating of 3. Average SAT scores were below the state average, and there were no National Merit Semifinalists in the Class of 2018.

There are many schools in the Midwest much better than this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP- I don’t think the Montana analogy is a stretch at all.
When we were looking to move out of state, I started comparing SAT scores and AP pass rates between Wakefield and the new “9” school to which we would be zoned in the Midwest.
The stats were very similar.
It was very eye opening about how much veiled racism plays a part in these discussions, and how much hand wringing I was doing over nothing. My kids would have been fine st Wakefield.
They would likeky have been fine at Langley as well, but I truly am weary of affluent teenagers. My husband went to an extremely wealthy high school. Pitfalls galore.
I’m not concerned that only 12 kids are going to UVA. THats a ridiculous concern.

Wakefield ranks 226th out of 290 high schools in Virginia based on SOL performance: https://www.schooldigger.com/go/VA/schools/0027000111/school.aspx

It has a Great Schools rating of 3. Average SAT scores were below the state average, and there were no National Merit Semifinalists in the Class of 2018.

There are many schools in the Midwest much better than this.

Anonymous wrote:Keep in mind that the cut-off score for NMSF is much higher in Virginia than in most states.

Anonymous wrote:NP- I don’t think the Montana analogy is a stretch at all.
When we were looking to move out of state, I started comparing SAT scores and AP pass rates between Wakefield and the new “9” school to which we would be zoned in the Midwest.
The stats were very similar.
It was very eye opening about how much veiled racism plays a part in these discussions, and how much hand wringing I was doing over nothing. My kids would have been fine st Wakefield.
They would likeky have been fine at Langley as well, but I truly am weary of affluent teenagers. My husband went to an extremely wealthy high school. Pitfalls galore.
I’m not concerned that only 12 kids are going to UVA. THats a ridiculous concern.

Anonymous wrote:We are at a highly rated elementary school. my children are average and my 9 year old feels like she's "not one of the smart kids." In hindsight, a lower rated school would have been better for us. I want my children to do their best, they don't have to be the best, and while average would horrify some of the parents in our school, we are perfectly fine with that. This is a great question OP. DH and I are conflicted about whether we should move.

Anonymous wrote:Working hard enough to be at the tippy-top academically has a lot to do with personality. Few students want to shine, to that degree, and be noticed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that Wilson HS in the district has similar Ivy admit rate to McLean HS. Not sure what to make of that.

You could always start with a source. In any event, Wilson isn't in NoVa. It's essentially the flagship public school in DCPS, with over 40% of the students transferring from their base schools.

If you want to post the full set of college destinations for Wilson students, I'll chase down McLean's.

Anonymous wrote:Highly rated is misleading. See this thread - http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/686371.page

And specifically this, re Great Schools-
"his is also why other schools in the area have dropped in the Great Schools ranking. They recently adjusted the ranking methodology to factor how minorities fair at the school. McLean HS is a good example - as the GS ranking is now 7/10. Funny how in US News and other rankings claim schools like these are among the top 1% of High School's in the NATION (that's out of roughly 32,000 PUBLIC High Schools) based on test scores etc and then Great Schools says "Meh, you're a 7/10" because a small portion of the student body under performs the majority (though I'm certain some will take offense to putting it that bluntly). Great Schools also ranks based on state/region which not everyone realizes - so they mistakenly think a 9/10 school in Montana is the same effectively as a 9/10 school in Northern Virginia. As someone who has taught at pubic schools in MD and VA I find the Great Schools rating rather misleading to the uninformed. "


and this: "All Arlington schools are quite good in a bigger sense. Compare, for example, Great Falls HS in Montana vs Wakefield. Great Falls has a 7 to Wakefield's 3. Wakefield students are 80ish% proficient on state tests, which is below the state average and therefore a negative to the overall score. Great Falls students are 48% proficient which is sadly, above the state average, so this boosts GS score. All down the list, GF students are above the state average (which is abysmal!) but this boosts the overall score. Students at Wakefield are doing far better overall by this measure, but bc they are slightly below the state average they get a bad score. Yes, Yorktown has better scores than Wakefield. But lets keep some perspective here."

Anonymous wrote:Highly rated is misleading. See this thread - http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/686371.page

And specifically this, re Great Schools-
"his is also why other schools in the area have dropped in the Great Schools ranking. They recently adjusted the ranking methodology to factor how minorities fair at the school. McLean HS is a good example - as the GS ranking is now 7/10. Funny how in US News and other rankings claim schools like these are among the top 1% of High School's in the NATION (that's out of roughly 32,000 PUBLIC High Schools) based on test scores etc and then Great Schools says "Meh, you're a 7/10" because a small portion of the student body under performs the majority (though I'm certain some will take offense to putting it that bluntly). Great Schools also ranks based on state/region which not everyone realizes - so they mistakenly think a 9/10 school in Montana is the same effectively as a 9/10 school in Northern Virginia. As someone who has taught at pubic schools in MD and VA I find the Great Schools rating rather misleading to the uninformed. "


and this: "All Arlington schools are quite good in a bigger sense. Compare, for example, Great Falls HS in Montana vs Wakefield. Great Falls has a 7 to Wakefield's 3. Wakefield students are 80ish% proficient on state tests, which is below the state average and therefore a negative to the overall score. Great Falls students are 48% proficient which is sadly, above the state average, so this boosts GS score. All down the list, GF students are above the state average (which is abysmal!) but this boosts the overall score. Students at Wakefield are doing far better overall by this measure, but bc they are slightly below the state average they get a bad score. Yes, Yorktown has better scores than Wakefield. But lets keep some perspective here."