Best elementry schools and commute

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by marie5v

I would forget greatschools. It's unreliable. In fcps all the information is on the county website - test scores, demographics, safety report, etc. It's all factual and reliable. I don't agree that all fcps schools are great. I think the best places to look are probably West Springfield and Burke. Affordable, commut-able, and almost all the schools are good. Kingstowne is kind of iffy - some good, some not so much, plus it's acps, not fcps.

www.fcps.edu
www.acps.edu

One more possibility - Annandale is an easy commute for you, but there is only one ES that probably meets your criteria - Canterbury Woods ES. Also Mason Crest ES is new, and might be good, but I don't know.

WRONG. Kingstowne is very clearly in the Fairfax County public school system. Good rule of thumb anything South of the Capital Beltway with an Alexandria address is Fairfax County Public Schools. North of the Capital Beltway is Alexandria City Public Schools. For what it is worth I have a lot of friends who have done their entire K-12 education in schools with Alexandria addresses in both Alexandria City Public Schools and Fairfax County Public Schools and have gotten solid educations.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by The Dissenter

WRONG. Kingstowne is very clearly in the Fairfax County public school system. Good rule of thumb anything South of the Capital Beltway with an Alexandria address is Fairfax County Public Schools. North of the Capital Beltway is Alexandria City Public Schools. For what it is worth I have a lot of friends who have done their entire K-12 education in schools with Alexandria addresses in both Alexandria City Public Schools and Fairfax County Public Schools and have gotten solid educations.

Yep - Kingstowne is in the Edison and Hayfield pyramids in FCPS, and a lot of kids there go to Lane ES, which C-D posters like slduvall have previously praised.

[marie5v]

Originally Posted by The Dissenter

WRONG. Kingstowne is very clearly in the Fairfax County public school system. Good rule of thumb anything South of the Capital Beltway with an Alexandria address is Fairfax County Public Schools. North of the Capital Beltway is Alexandria City Public Schools. For what it is worth I have a lot of friends who have done their entire K-12 education in schools with Alexandria addresses in both Alexandria City Public Schools and Fairfax County Public Schools and have gotten solid educations.

You're right, I don't know how I could have forgotten that, especially since not only did I live there but I also taught in an fcps school there. I think I must have gotten the Old Town metro station confused in my mind; King Street, Kingstowne....

Actually, three elementary schools come to mind that the OP would probably like: Waynewood, which is right down route 1 near Old Town and would be a very good commute (but the OP will need to look for private rentals there - I'm not sure there are any actual apartment buildings in that school district); and in the Kingstowne area, Lane, Hayfield, and Island Creek.

[marie5v]

Originally Posted by JEB77

Yep - Kingstowne is in the Edison and Hayfield pyramids in FCPS, and a lot of kids there go to Lane ES, which C-D posters like slduvall have previously praised.

Yes, I posted about Lane below (but Edison is another story....)

[stpickrell]

The NUMBER ratings on Greatschools are a reflection of the school's average SOL scores. Those are not subjective. Ignore the star ratings. Those are subjective and boil down to "Things are great!" or "My kid didn't get 100% of what I wanted."

With that said, a school that is a 6-7 could be just fine for a high-achieving child -- provided there is an administration that can balance the needs of at risk and not-at risk students. Sometimes, one or the other group gets ignored...