2011 NoVa SAT Scores (Arlington, Chantilly, Fairfax: best neighborhood, apartment complexes, chapel)

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by JEB77

Just to be clear, the school Carlingtonian has expressed comfort with (W-L) is quite diverse, with over 30% of its students receiving subsidized lunches (that's just a percentage point or two lower than West Potomac).

Don't get me started with the subsidized lunch numbers.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

So instead, socio-economic segregation is important to you?

Being honest? To some extent, yes. That sounds harsh, but I guarantee you just about everyone else here feels the same way--or they wouldn't be paying more money for better school districts.

A handful of low-income kids is OK--hopefully they're of the education-obsessed-refugee background--but when you swamp a school with some huge percentage of kids who need more time and/or whose parents are not involved, it does mean less time and money for GT (and even regular) programs, and it changes the culture of the school.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Being honest? To some extent, yes. That sounds harsh, but I guarantee you just about everyone else here feels the same way--or they wouldn't be paying more money for better school districts.

A handful of low-income kids is OK--hopefully they're of the education-obsessed-refugee background--but when you swamp a school with some huge percentage of kids who need more time and/or whose parents are not involved, it does mean less time and money for GT (and even regular) programs, and it changes the culture of the school.

I appreciate your honesty.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by JEB77

Just to be clear, the school Carlingtonian has expressed comfort with (W-L) is quite diverse, with over 30% of its students receiving subsidized lunches (that's just a percentage point or two lower than West Potomac).

Gotta admit I didn't know that stat. Maybe we'll have to sell and get into the Yorktown or McLean district. Then again, our kids won't be in HS till at least 14 years from now.

And again, to reiterate what I said earlier: Ethnic diversity is great. But do I want our kid in a school that has to devote a huge chunk of its resources to ESL or gang problems? No.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

Gotta admit I didn't know that stat. Maybe we'll have to sell and get into the Yorktown or McLean district. Then again, our kids won't be in HS till at least 14 years from now.

And again, to reiterate what I said earlier: Ethnic diversity is great. But do I want our kid in a school that has to devote a huge chunk of its resources to ESL or gang problems? No.

Don't worry. By then, Central Arlington will probably consist of one giant condo building (the "OrangeLinetopus") and 10 McMansions (five on each side of Arlington Boulevard), each the size of the Spelling estate. Just kidding.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by JEB77

Don't worry. By then, Central Arlington will probably consist of one giant condo building (the "OrangeLinetopus") and 10 McMansions (five on each side of Arlington Boulevard), each the size of the Spelling estate.

Shudder. I fear you're right. It's already happening.

Re. W-L HS: Maybe the high percentage of free-lunch/ESL kids doesn't matter after all. The neighbors' kids who go there are all super kids, and some of them have gone on to great colleges.

[stpickrell]

I'm also going to posit that it might be better to live in the nice part of a bad school zone than in the bad part of a good school zone. Or, I think every one of us would rather live in Aurora Highlands along 23rd Road South in Crystal City (Wakefield) than in say the Vienna Park Apartments (Madison).

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by stpickrell

I'm also going to posit that it might be better to live in the nice part of a bad school zone than in the bad part of a good school zone.

I resemble that remark. I'm just thankful for my mental health that my kids graduated before I discovered C-D. They conned me into believing the schools here were pretty good. They furthered this ruse by going to decent colleges and even getting their friends in on it.

[hilsmom]

Of course those of us with means choose to live in the best neighborhoods/school districts we can afford. But it sounds to me like some people are OK with socioeconomic segregation, therefore overburdening certain schools in the poorer parts of town with the "undesirable" students.

Seriously, does it not bother anyone else that we have school districts with 70+% poverty in this county less than 5 miles from school districts with next to zero?

I love the concept of neighborhood schools, but these numbers make me incredibly sad.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

My unscientific gut sense is that people will pay more to be in a "good" district, but fewer are willing to pay more to live in a "super" district, based on SAT scores. Sure, there are some people who will pay another $200K just so their kid can go to Langley, but most of us can't afford to, and even if we could--it's not like Yorktown or W-L HS are bad schools. (I personally would not want our kid to go to Langley, because I think there are a lot of spoiled, entitled a-hole kids there. Their race-baiting chants at the game against McLean really disturbs me--and the non-reaction by their administration even moreso.)

(I know little about the Fairfax schools, but I'm sure there are analogous examples.)

So is the bigger motivation of NoVA parents keeping their children away from "bad kids" rather than having them mix with academic superstars? Would most be comfortable sending their kids to a school of children entirely from solidly middle class homes (parents of mid-level govt. employees) who all go on to mid-level state schools (Mason, JMU, Christopher Newport, etc.) but that sends no kids to the Ivies or UVA?

Clairemarie's crime/housing project analogy also seemed to point to this as a bigger motivation. Perhaps a reporting system that showed score distributions rather than just averages would be useful?