Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did my research before we bought. I refused to pay top dollar for any unranked school. We decided between McLean and Oakton. I’m sorry, actually I am, if you overpaid to be in “Madison Country.”

Yipee! Good for us! Welcome to Oakton's overcrowded High School!

It looks like Madison has eight National Merit Semifinalists this year and Oakton only had six. That plus the higher SATs takes the sting out of being an "unranked school" by one publication.

Anonymous wrote:I did my research before we bought. I refused to pay top dollar for any unranked school. We decided between McLean and Oakton. I’m sorry, actually I am, if you overpaid to be in “Madison Country.”

Yipee! Good for us! Welcome to Oakton's overcrowded High School!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did my research before we bought. I refused to pay top dollar for any unranked school. We decided between McLean and Oakton. I’m sorry, actually I am, if you overpaid to be in “Madison Country.”

That has to be one of the dumbest statements ever. There are plenty of other rankings besides US News. And if you’re so beholden to rankings, it must have been especially distressing to see the slide in Oakton’s SAT scores. Are you a kid just looking for an excuse not to finish your homework?

If you look at Madison, they had an influx of non-english speakers. The non-english speakers did not do as well on the SOL's. There were not many of them, but enough to define a cohort. The cohort scored 30 points lower than the school as a whole and 25 points lower than any other defined cohort. (35 point below Asians/whites.). The rules of ranking eliminated madison because of the difference in the cohorts.

If you look at the numbers, overall Madison would have been the second or third place school if they were not excluded because of the new rule.

So basically, if you exclude all the low scoring kids at your school, your scores are RIGHT there at the top

DP. What PP was saying was that, if the US News methodology was only based on a "college readiness" score based on the percentage of students taking and passing AP exams, Madison would have ranked second in the state in the latest US News rankings (with a 78.1% college readiness index vs. 78.0% for McLean).

The US News methodology has an additional filter based on how low-income and minority students at various schools perform. It's a non-issue for TJ and Langley, which have virtually no low-income students. Every other high school in the county runs the risk of getting kicked out of the US News ratings if its low-income or minority students fall below the state average. That was an issue for Madison in the latest US News rankings. It was not an issue for McLean, Oakton or Woodson. At a PP mentioned, the latest US News ratings didn't include most IB schools because they had a problem getting access to the IB scores. Schools like W-L that offer both AP and IB were ranked, but IB-only schools like Marshall and South Lakes were not.

FARMS percentages 2016-2017:

TJ (1.8%)
Langley (1.4%)
McLean (8.5%)

George Mason (7.5%)
Madison (9.2%)
Woodson (10.9%)
Marshall (17.3%)
Chantilly (17.1%)
Oakton (11.7%)
South Lakes (27.9%)
Robinson (9.2%)
Lake Braddock (13.8%)
West Springfield (10.8%)
Herndon (38.1%)

I do not doubt that Oakton is a good school, as is Madison. Just seens like Pp whi thought she was buying in a better district was a fool.

If it is based on the gap, then a school that has more middling white kids and some low performing ____ (fill in the blank) kids, would not be excluded. But a school with very high performing kids in one group and low performing kids in another group (but on par with the same group in other schools)...would be eliminated.

Seems odd. A school with very divergent populations gets eliminated while homogeneous or less divergent schools stay in (even if they are more mediocre).

I work for FCPS IT Department and my kids are attending Mclean HS. My cousins also have kids attending James Madison HS.

Both schools are excellent schools. I think back in 2015, according to US News, TJ was #1, Mclean #2 and Madison #3, Woodson #4, Oakton #5 and Langley #7. I am not sure why Madison is not on the list starting in 2016.

Anyway, Madison is a great HS. It is just as good as Mclean. The Asians students at Madison HS are just as smart as Mclean Asians students.

Houses in Vienna may be a bit cheaper than Mclean and I think there might be more apartments in Vienna than Mclean.

You can't go wrong with either Madison or Mclean HS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just curious.... re: Madison and the process.

Is it the GAP b/t the two groups that is the disqualifying issue or just the scoring of the lower group?

i.e. if another school that was more "average" had the same scores for the lower performing population, would that school be eliminated as well?

For US News, they look at the gap. And agree. Every HS in the county has lower performing kids. Langley, McLean, Woodson, Chantilly, Marshall, Oakton LBSS, W. Springfield... I know this is not a comprehensive list before you get upset I missed your school). All manage to get it done without the gap.

Woodson and Chantilly stay up there with lower overall SES.

Plus, since Madison is not ranked, what is the basis of your assertion they would be in the top 5 if the were? You can’t know that. You can look at the pieces. But the fact is Madison, Oakton, Marshall and Chantilly are all very close on most metrics, and are usually cluped together.

If you read the methodology, they take the schools that we’re not excluded, and rank based on college readiness. In va, tj is close or 100, Madison is 75.1’, followed by MCLEAN and Langley