School Question (Arlington, Williamsburg, Orange: apartment, renting, crime)

[irvine]

Originally Posted by Denton56

BCC hasn't been good for many years. They got stuck with an IB program that many affluent parents don't want. Fortunately there are many private schools nearby and many parents can afford to take advantage of those private schools.

I wouldn't say B-CC hasn't been good. It's a very good school academically, and one of the best in Montgomery County. While many wealthy families choose private schools, because there are so many good options (Bullis, Geo Day, St. Albans, Maret, Landon, WIS, Sidwell, etc, etc) they also demand excellent local public schools. The community was very involved with the reconstruction of its schools, B-CC High and Chevy chase Elem., a few years ago, and I doubt they would've cared all that much if the schools were mediocre.

Not everyone likes IB which is fine. If I'm not mistaken, B-CC actually has more AP courses than most suburban schools. Personally, I've never particularly liked the Newsweek rankings either. In fact, when I was in high school, all students had to apply to gain entrance into the AP classes. But I do think many local schools are doing a good job of maintaining high academic standards, while opening up these classes to more students.

But to put too much faith in either the Newsweek or US News rankings I believe is a mistake. New Trier township High School north of Chicago, which is in one of the most uniformly wealthy suburbs in the nation, only achieved a silver rating according to US News' ranking. What's interesting here again, is that the "disadvantaged student performance" scores are quite low. I commend JEB Stuart, an often unfairly maligned school, for doing a great job to narrow the achievement gap. Their disadvantaged "student performance scores" are roughly 20 pts higher than New Trier's.

My point is that schools in affluent suburbs, and often these are schools with excellent reputations, need to work harder at narrowing the achievement gap.

[ajzjmsmom]

[quote=JEB77;10034706]Both the US News and Newsweek rankings crunch numbers - just different numbers. They are somewhat useful, but the absence of Yorktown and W-L from the US News rankings is hardly a reason to conclude they aren't still strong schools.

Some parents and students like the IB program; others don't. Conservatives who dislike the notion that the curriculum for American students could be based on, or influenced by, decisions made by Europeans (other than the dead Europeans whose works of literature can be taught in AP English) seem to harbor a particular distaste for it. In any event, in Fairfax, more out-of-boundary students transfer into four of the eight IB schools (Marshall, Robinson, Edison and Stuart) than out of those schools. and more in-boundary students transfer out of the four other IB schools (Annandale, Mount Vernon, Lee and South Lakes) than into them.

In any event, I do think our OP moving to Arlington from New Mexico will be pleased with the local schools in Arlington, including Williamsburg and Yorktown.[/quote]


I have stayed out of the conversation as to whether Arlington schools were good or not since I don't know. However, I do think you are right in that we will be very pleased with the schools there as compared to here in NM. Even the schools in PWC would be a step up for us.

[ajzjmsmom]

I did find out yesterday that my youngest can't attend Key since we are not a bilingual family, nor has he been in a spanish immersion school. He will be attending Arlington Science Focus, but since he is a science loving kid he should be okay.

Someone else finally got back to hubby yesterday about an apartment in Crystal City and while it was newer than the one we will be in it would put my oldest in the Wakefield school district. I am happy with our choice, it seems like there will be plenty for us to do and it offered us the 3 bd's/3 baths we were looking for.

[normie]

Originally Posted by ajzjmsmom

However, I do think you are right in that we will be very pleased with the schools there as compared to here in NM. Even the schools in PWC would be a step up for us.

FWIW, I have relatives who moved here from Los Alamos, NM. The schools in Los Alamos were very good (which makes sense considering most of the people who live there are nuclear physicists). They were extremely pleased with the quality of the schools here. IMO all the schools here are good.

[JEB77]

Originally Posted by Denton56

I agree that McLean schools are better than Arlington schools. Less politics too.

I wonder why you think there are less politics in "the McLean schools" (that is, Fairfax County) than in the Arlington system. Certainly the school boundaries in Arlington appear more rational than in Fairfax, where the boundaries frequently resemble gerry-mandered congressional districts.

My impression is that there is too much politics in the Fairfax schools - although it may be that McLean residents and schools typically are beneficiaries of the political process and have fewer grievances than, say, county residents in Alexandria or Herndon.

[JEB77]

Originally Posted by irvine

I commend JEB Stuart, an often unfairly maligned school, for doing a great job to narrow the achievement gap. Their disadvantaged "student performance scores" are roughly 20 pts higher than New Trier's.

My point is that schools in affluent suburbs, and often these are schools with excellent reputations, need to work harder at narrowing the achievement gap.

Stuart has a high percentage of moderate-income students and students for whom English is a second language. It also draws from some very affluent neighborhoods such as Lake Barcroft and the surrounding Sleepy Hollow areas.

At some point, people realized that, if the school wished to continue to attract the higher-performing students, it needed to do more to bring up the performance of the challenged students. They've been fairly successful over the years, and the school's demographics in recent years have been quite stable. I suspect that the efforts made to raise the performance of the lower-performing student populations, over time, did far more to preserve the school's reputation than lobbing in an IB program designed to appeal to the top achievers.

The situation at New Trier is quite different. As I understand it, it's a very affluent Midwestern suburb where traditionally challenged student populations comprise less than 5% of the student body.

[JEB77]

Originally Posted by live_strong28

Actually, Jay's methodology is more worthless than that.

He divides the total # of AP classes taken by the # of seniors. That's how he calculates his "challenge index."

That's how schools are able to easily inflate their rankings by forcing kids who don't qualify, to take the exam anyway.

That's how PG County was able to get some high schools on his list.

I don't think the "Challenge Index" is worthless, but the failure to take into account how well students actually perform on the exams seems like a significant flaw.

On the other hand, Newsweek probably wouldn't sell as many copies of that issue if it characterized the rankings as the "Local Self-Esteem Index" rather than the "Challenge Index."

[irvine]

Originally Posted by JEB77

The situation at New Trier is quite different. As I understand it, it's a very affluent Midwestern suburb where traditionally challenged student populations comprise less than 5% of the student body.

Good point. But while New Trier certainly has a high level of "privileged apathy," it's not nearly as bad as in the affluent areas a little further from Chicago. New Trier and Evanston Township High are very close to Northwestern U and Chicago, and most families, regardless of wealth, come from highly educated backgrounds with high expectations for the schools. While the AP participation rate may not be as high as schools in the DC area (it's about 60% at New Trier), I suppose the regular classes are still quite strong. New Trier is an extremely huge high school with two campuses, however, so I'm sure there are quite a few students who get lost in the crowd.

[irvine]

Originally Posted by ajzjmsmom

I did find out yesterday that my youngest can't attend Key since we are not a bilingual family, nor has he been in a spanish immersion school. He will be attending Arlington Science Focus, but since he is a science loving kid he should be okay.

Someone else finally got back to hubby yesterday about an apartment in Crystal City and while it was newer than the one we will be in it would put my oldest in the Wakefield school district. I am happy with our choice, it seems like there will be plenty for us to do and it offered us the 3 bd's/3 baths we were looking for.

So I assume your apt is still in Courthouse (which you prev mentioned). A very good, central location with schools in my opinion that can't be beat. You will be very pleased with Science focus and Yorktown HS!

[ajzjmsmom]

Originally Posted by irvine

So I assume your apt is still in Courthouse (which you prev mentioned). A very good, central location with schools in my opinion that can't be beat. You will be very pleased with Science focus and Yorktown HS!

Yes, we are still going to be in Courthouse. We thought it was real good location with lots to do and the apartment complex has quite a few amenities for both the kids and my hubby and I.

My youngest is excited about school and I like the idea the Arlington Science Focus is real hands on. He does well in a setting like that.