OP, you said you needed quick advice. Make any decisions?

Anonymous wrote:We've lived in Reston for almost 20 years. My kids went to Lake Anne/Hughes/South Lakes. One goes to the University of Pennsylvania and the other is starting William & Mary in the Fall. They've had great groups of friends who also went on to good colleges. Both earned IB diplomas. It was interesting to find out through the college application process that IB graduates get accepted to colleges at higher rates than AP graduates. That was an added bonus that we never considered. Even if it that wasn't the case, we wouldn't have changed a thing because my kids had wonderful childhoods in Reston. The schools did have a wide range of people, but if your child is motivated to succeed, they'll get the support and peer group they need. There are plenty of positive, intelligent and motivated kids in Reston from good, educated families.

There is no "AP Diploma" as such, but kids who take plenty of AP courses fare just as well as IB diploma candidates in college admissions. There are several public high schools in NoVa that send more kids to Ivies every year than South Lakes. Apart from perhaps W-L, they are AP schools.

Working in DC, I'd never live in Reston. Way too far out.

We've lived in Reston for almost 20 years. My kids went to Lake Anne/Hughes/South Lakes. One goes to the University of Pennsylvania and the other is starting William & Mary in the Fall. They've had great groups of friends who also went on to good colleges. Both earned IB diplomas. It was interesting to find out through the college application process that IB graduates get accepted to colleges at higher rates than AP graduates. That was an added bonus that we never considered. Even if it that wasn't the case, we wouldn't have changed a thing because my kids had wonderful childhoods in Reston. The schools did have a wide range of people, but if your child is motivated to succeed, they'll get the support and peer group they need. There are plenty of positive, intelligent and motivated kids in Reston from good, educated families.

I agree with the previous comment about having everything in one place. We wanted to move a couple of years ago to Vienna or McLean because of the schools, but after getting to know each area, as well as others, I realized that it's really hard to find the combination of what Reston offers. We ended up staying in Reston and have no regrets. Other families I know had the same experience. There's a certain addictive quality of Reston.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of folks stuck Obama/Biden bumperstickers and then talked on and on about "school pyramids." It's a form of the typical not in my background, etc. Now back to the topic: Reston is indeed more interesting than a lot of places around here. But the Town Center transformed it--take that thing away and it would be hollow.

Shows how much you know about Reston. You're forgetting about Lake Anne plaza, North Village Center, South Lakes Center, Silver Line Metro town center (which is going to blow the RTC out of the water), Lifetime Fitness, YMCA, RCC, Centerstage, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Home Depot center, the future Fairfax County recreation center at Baron Cameron Park, library, hospital, medical offices, government center, Target, W&OD, nearby Herndon's ethnic food places, etc... Reston offers so much more than any other community, much more than just the town center.

Lake Anne Plaza was nice like....15 years ago? It's an ok place, though.

Lake Anne is going to get redeveloped in the next couple of years. The plans look really cool... http://lakeannedevelopmentpartners.com/vision/

Oakton HS has adopted Project Based Learning (PBL) across the entire curriculum It's not publicized, but it is present in every class. Oakton HS teachers are no longer teaching their students in any traditional sense of the word.

Students are given assignments and test due dates, placed in groups and that's essentially the limit of teacher instruction. The logic being if students know they have a due date they will work harder either alone or in groups to learn the material themselves without any meaningful teacher involvement.

If you research the origin of PBL you'll find it was first used decades ago to teach highly motivated medical students vast quantities medical jargon; more than what could be learned in traditional lecture based classrooms.

Contemporary data has proved high school students who are taught using PBL methodology have measurably lower levels of content mastery than students taught using traditional pedagogy.

If your high school aged children have the intelligence and self-discipline of medical school students, Oakton High School maybe a good fit for them.

However, if your child needs genuine curriculum instruction rather than just occasional curriculum supervision, you should consider other options instead of Oakton High School.

You don't want too many high-achieving Asian kids. There is a tipping point, trust me. The tiger parents are really annoying and pushy and contribute very little volunteering or PTA work.

Anonymous wrote:
Reston is fine. Those schools are fine. I have lived here since my son was 1. He just graduated from South Lakes. No school is perfect, but I have to say he had a great experience all the way through, was in AAP (was GT back then). Going to a good college, as are all his friends.

But yes, Reston is diverse. Forest Edge (and all the elementaries in South Reston) have wide socio economic and racial mix. If you want your kids to go to school with all white kids or all super high achieving Asians, then it is not going to be the place for you. if you want a safe community (I cover news here; the crime rate is quite low), where your kids can walk pretty much everywhere on a path (including in my son's case, to school), take advantage of great programs and summer camps at pools and parks, play outside with the neighborhood kids, etc. etc. then you will like it a lot.

I also would not start comparing schools on Great Schools and other sites. The poster who said the percentages are due to socioeconomics is correct. What makes a "good school" anyway? If it good for your kid, then it is a good school.

I'm OK if the schools are a mix of white kids and high-achieving Asian kids. It doesn't have to be all one or the other.

Reston is fine. Those schools are fine. I have lived here since my son was 1. He just graduated from South Lakes. No school is perfect, but I have to say he had a great experience all the way through, was in AAP (was GT back then). Going to a good college, as are all his friends.

But yes, Reston is diverse. Forest Edge (and all the elementaries in South Reston) have wide socio economic and racial mix. If you want your kids to go to school with all white kids or all super high achieving Asians, then it is not going to be the place for you. if you want a safe community (I cover news here; the crime rate is quite low), where your kids can walk pretty much everywhere on a path (including in my son's case, to school), take advantage of great programs and summer camps at pools and parks, play outside with the neighborhood kids, etc. etc. then you will like it a lot.

I also would not start comparing schools on Great Schools and other sites. The poster who said the percentages are due to socioeconomics is correct. What makes a "good school" anyway? If it good for your kid, then it is a good school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of folks stuck Obama/Biden bumperstickers and then talked on and on about "school pyramids." It's a form of the typical not in my background, etc. Now back to the topic: Reston is indeed more interesting than a lot of places around here. But the Town Center transformed it--take that thing away and it would be hollow.

Shows how much you know about Reston. You're forgetting about Lake Anne plaza, North Village Center, South Lakes Center, Silver Line Metro town center (which is going to blow the RTC out of the water), Lifetime Fitness, YMCA, RCC, Centerstage, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Home Depot center, the future Fairfax County recreation center at Baron Cameron Park, library, hospital, medical offices, government center, Target, W&OD, nearby Herndon's ethnic food places, etc... Reston offers so much more than any other community, much more than just the town center.

Lake Anne Plaza was nice like....15 years ago? It's an ok place, though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of folks stuck Obama/Biden bumperstickers and then talked on and on about "school pyramids." It's a form of the typical not in my background, etc. Now back to the topic: Reston is indeed more interesting than a lot of places around here. But the Town Center transformed it--take that thing away and it would be hollow.

Shows how much you know about Reston. You're forgetting about Lake Anne plaza, North Village Center, South Lakes Center, Silver Line Metro town center (which is going to blow the RTC out of the water), Lifetime Fitness, YMCA, RCC, Centerstage, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Home Depot center, the future Fairfax County recreation center at Baron Cameron Park, library, hospital, medical offices, government center, Target, W&OD, nearby Herndon's ethnic food places, etc... Reston offers so much more than any other community, much more than just the town center.

Well, the main thing is that it's still way out there, and many people would consider the HOA a nuisance.

Lake Anne Plaza doesn't have much going on. Some people won't go there at all now for fear of crime and loitering. Some of the other shopping areas are generic suburban retail. You can find Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, and rec centers, all over the region.

I think it's nice, but not nearly as special as you try to make it sound. It's almost like you're trying to convince yourself it's something more than it is.

Yes, we went to Lake Anne as a "fun" New Years day outing two years ago to walk along the lake with our two young kids. There is a sculpture for kids to climb on, but "Spanish gentlemen" kept sitting on it smoking cigarettes and throwing their trash on the ground. My dh asked them to sit in another location since it is clearly marked as a children's play structure, and the "gentlemen" were not at all gentlemenly. Too bad it has gone to seed around there, and we won't go there any more due to safety concerns.