How much do you trust GREATSCHOOLS.COM??? (Annandale, McLean: low income, buying a home)

[Dnjen]

Thank you for all of this info/opinions. Our son is starting Kindergarten, so we're new to all of this! Nice to know (and makes sense) that 10 or 20 ratings over several years doesn't determine the quality of the school. Hopefully we'll find a good home & school!!!

[michgc]

I agree with OrangeFish. As a local example to me, Mosby Woods used to have poor ratings on GreatSchools. Then they added a GT Center there several years ago, and now it gets an "8." Being new here and not knowing its history, I wouldn't hesitate to move into that school. Yet when I moved in 11 years ago, it was known as "the school with gangs." Schools with GT Centers will always have higher scores. Oftentimes, they put GT centers in low-performing schools to boost their scores.

[info781]

I know in Arlington many of the schools have low ratings, very low. Yet, parents love the schools, they are well funded, many people want to live in the area and very few parents in Arlington use private schools, so I am not sure what to make of it. For example Washington-Lee scores 5 out of 10, but everyone loves the school and it has lots of great programs. To me 5/10 is pretty low. Yorktown is 7/10, this is a pretty well-off school, 7 is kind of a average score.

[Lehuster]

Since you are renting and have a lot of flexibility, you might as well use greatschools as a way to inform your decisions. I would give the reviews less weight than the test scores and the statistics, but those test scores and statistics will tell you something about the general characteristics of the kids at the school.

The Fairfax County Public Schools website is also useful:

Fairfax County Public Schools - Schools and Centers Directory

[saganista]

As has been mentioned, the greatschools.com data are a crude and essentially meaningless statistic. They simply take all state public schools, rank them by their standardized test scores, and then break them into ten groups. This might be useful if there were only one factor that could possibly contribute to a school's test scores and that factor were the same for every school in the state. This is quite obviously not the case. Many factors contribute to a school's test scores, but none of them is visible or can be properly appreciated from the greatschools.com website. And keep in mind as well that for simple mathematical reasons, a school rated a low "6" can be improving steadily, yet still fall to a "5" simply because a few high "5" schools off in another city somewhere managed to improve even more rapidly.

Still, people are always going to be curious, so even those who know better will go look up greatsschools.com ratings, even if just to get it over with. Just know that there are much, much better sources out there. School system and local school websites have a plethora of useful information. This typically includes PTA contacts who can and typically will offer another parent's view free for the asking. And as also above, nothing beats actually visiting the school. Do that if at all possible. Call first and staff will be more than happy to arrange such a thing.

[Jen_OKC]

I agree with most, it's merely a starting point. I found it to be hit or miss to be honest. I was told that Fairfax County and Loudoun County both had top notch schools. However there are pockets within Fairfax that arent very good. Ultimately we moved out to Loudoun and havent been disappointed with the schools.

[Lehuster]

The greatschools data are not meaningless. How the students in any given school perform on standardized tests relative to other students most definitely has meaning. It may not be the only or most meaningful item of information, in your view, but it is not without meaning.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by Lehuster

The greatschools data are not meaningless. How the students in any given school perform on standardized tests relative to other students most definitely has meaning. It may not be the only or most meaningful item of information, in your view, but it is not without meaning.

I'm reminded of the old George Carlin TV news piece...

Sportscaster: And in baseball today, it was New York 5, St. Louis 4. Also Detroit 2, Boston 1. And here's a partial score...Cleveland 6.

[tgbwc]

I just looked and the elementary building in which I teach ranks high with a "9", so let's say it's a great indicator! lol Should I consider the reviews that are posted by children?


Seriously, I think the best way to get an idea about the school is to visit it if you can. As was mentioned earlier, another good way is to look at the school's profile on the district's website. The profile includes a ton of information.

[Lehuster]

A record of how the kids performed in each grade of the school for the past three years is not a "partial score".