Elementary Schools - Herndon, Chantilly, Reston (Oakton, Fairfax: for sale, real estate, houses)

[ampiko]

Relocating to Herndon, VA. Could parents or informed individuals please recommend the top 5 elementary schools in the vicinity. For us, as parents, the schooling is the axis around which other things like home, commute, etc revolve.
Thank You

[marie5v]

There are no responses, probably because there are just too many elementary schools for anyone to answer this. The way we searched for a home was to first choose a couple of high school pyramids (there are fewer than elem schools) that we liked, and then look for homes within them. As we looked over the homes for sale, we checked which elementary school they went to and made sure we were happy with it. If the high school pyramid is good, then most of the elementary schools will also be good, but you still have to check. "Good" is relative and subjective. We did it by looking up all the schools on fcps.edu and checking demographics, special programs, and test scores.

[michgc]

I agree with Marie. There are just so many elementary schools around here and if you are picking one out of three towns, that is a lot of work. We found where we wanted to live based on location, high school rating, cost, and walkability. Once we narrowed it down to that one area, there were probably 5 elementary schools we could have fed into. We were personally okay with any of them, even though some were "better" than others. At that point, we just looked for a house we liked on a street we liked.

In Reston, there might be more variability between the higher-ranked elementary schools and the lower-ranked elementary schools, so you might not be happy with any of them. But if you are basically looking at schools as an important criteria of where to live I would use a top-down approach by looking at high school first and narrow it down that way. Once you pick that, you can then rule out 1 or 2 elementary schools out of a half-dozen or so that feed into a particular high school if you are not happy with them. Just my two cents.

[JEB77]

The opposite school of thought would be that motivated students do well at any high school in Fairfax County that students who live in Herndon or Reston (Herndon, South Lakes, Langley) or Chantilly (Chantilly, Westfield) attend, as well as their feeder middle schools, so that it makes at least as much sense to find some communities that you like and then decide if the local elementary schools are acceptable. In other words, while a "top-down" approach is easier, since there are fewer high schools than elementary schools, some may believe a "bottoms-up" approach is preferable.

Certainly in terms of demographics and test scores, you will find there is quite a range not only in the Reston elementary schools, but also those in Herndon and Chantilly. Just to toss out some names, if you did some research, you'd find that some of the elementary schools with good track records are Armstrong, Aldrin, Sunrise Valley, Floris, Fox Mill, Oak Hill, Crossfield, Powell, Navy and Greenbriar West (not intended to be exclusive list). You should also know that FCPS recently decided to change the boundaries for some of the Chantilly-area elementary schools, and that those changes will be phased in over the next few years.

Good luck.

[patriot201]

Originally Posted by JEB77

The opposite school of thought would be that motivated students do well at any high school in Fairfax County that students who live in Herndon or Reston (Herndon, South Lakes, Langley) or Chantilly (Chantilly, Westfield) attend

Some students in Herndon ("Oak Hill") also attend Oakton HS. I just wanted to add that one.

[JEB77]

Originally Posted by patriot201

Some students in Herndon ("Oak Hill") also attend Oakton HS. I just wanted to add that one.

I see that - it's the 20171 zip code, I think. The real estate site that I'd checked before posting earlier refers to everything in that zip code now as "Oak Hill," rather than "Herndon," but it's obviously the same general area. Thanks for clarifying.

[patriot201]

Originally Posted by JEB77

I see that - it's the 20171 zip code, I think. The real estate site that I'd checked before posting earlier refers to everything in that zip code now as "Oak Hill," rather than "Herndon," but it's obviously the same general area. Thanks for clarifying.

Yup! 20171. "Oak Hill" is really just a sub-post office of Herndon. It isn't really a different town; it is really still Herndon. In fact, most automated registries still attach "Herndon" to 20171, even though it has been about 15 years since 20171 got an "Oak Hill" designation. It seems like half the houses in 20171 use Oak Hill and half use Herndon. It also seems totally helter-skelter as to which use which. I guess it makes it interesting!

[ampiko]

Thanks JEB77 & others. We would like to take the bottom-up approach. After reviewing some information on other sites, specifically FCPS.edu and below, presently three schools come up smiling: Oak Hill, Greenbier W, Sunrise Valley.
Top 100 N.Va. Elementary School Scores on Standards of Learning

It is also apparent that a higher proportion of Asian & white ratios normally indicative of excellence.

[spleuchan]

Although I wouldn't suggest relying on them 100% there are some websites that rate schools and display those ratings on a map:

www.schooldigger.com

There is also greatschools.net, but I'm ont as impressed with it's mapping capability within that site. However, if you go to www.redfin.com, which is a real estate website, on their maps showing homes, it also has the greatschools.net ratings. If you are looking to buy a home too, I really like redfin's website, as it seems to be much more up to date than other websites (some other websites show homes for sale that really have contracts on them, whereas redfin is updated at least daily).

[novajs]

Originally Posted by ampiko

Thanks JEB77 & others. We would like to take the bottom-up approach. After reviewing some information on other sites, specifically FCPS.edu and below, presently three schools come up smiling: Oak Hill, Greenbier W, Sunrise Valley.
Top 100 N.Va. Elementary School Scores on Standards of Learning

It is also apparent that a higher proportion of Asian & white ratios normally indicative of excellence.

#8 Sunrise Valley (Reston)
#15 Hunter Woods (Reston)
#16 Oak Hill (Herndon)
#18 Floris (Herndon)
#19 Westbriar (Chantilly)

Keep in mind, they are all GT centers that draw students from other schools.