Is South Lakes getting better? (Arlington, Reston: houses, transfer, to buy)

[KittyTwoShoes]

A bunch of co-workers of mine will be moving back to the NoVa area from overseas postings. While talking one of my co-workers mentioned they are looking at houses and everything in his price range is great in the Reston/Herndon corridor but was nervous to buy there because the high school listed for the house location is South Lakes.

Folks here know I'm not a huge fan of Reston, but I understand it's desirability (location, price, shopping). Several other co-workers who also grew up in the area even made faces at the mention of South Lakes.

I understand they have an IB program now, but South Lakes is not even ranked in the top 20 on the US News and World Report for FCPS. While I understand pretty much any school in FCPS is still overall better than most other schools in Virginia as a whole, I'd like to hear from parents of students in South Lakes what they think and feel about it.

My spouse has been talking about when we have to return to NoVa after our tour is over. While he enjoyed living in North Reston, even he's wary of South Lakes. Is the word of mouth reputation true?

[JD984]

I hear lots of good things about South Lakes these days.

The population had been declining in the mid-2000s. FCPS redistricted in 2008 and now the school has an enrollment of over 2400 students, so FCPS will be building an addition there. The school is diverse yet the demographics are stable.

The IB program is considered one of the three most successful in FCPS, along with Robinson and Marshall. There are quite a few students transferring there now from Herndon, Oakton, Westfield and Chantilly (all AP schools) for IB.

Average SATs last year were 1669, according to the College Board, higher than any high school in Loudoun County and well above state and national averages. The school may not have been among the 13 in FCPS that were rated by US News as among the top schools in the state (US News did not rank the other 12 high schools in the county), but the US News methodology is quirky. If a particular group at a school does not test as well as expected in a prior year, the school no longer qualifies for a US News ranking, regardless of how well most students at the school do. For example, a few years ago, Winston Churchill in Potomac and Yorktown in Arlington weren't ranked by US News for that reason, even though they are generally considered great schools.