Loudoun vs. Fairfax County Schools?

[car54]

I think saganista's question was addressing your statement: "The amount of Hispanics has nothing to do with it".

Of course a high percentage of ESL students is going to affect a school's performance...that's just common sense!

[novanative75]

Originally Posted by car54

I think saganista's question was addressing your statement: "The amount of Hispanics has nothing to do with it".

Of course a high percentage of ESL students is going to affect a school's performance...that's just common sense!

Yes and no. I certainly see that point and you will see that the schools that do not perform as well are generally the ones with the high ESL population. Trust me, I know all about ESL, am currently the ESOL contact at my schoo. However, ESL is more than only Hispanics. Also, you can look at a school like Marshall that has both sides of the spectrum, high ESL and IB program all at the same time. I do think Marshall is a good school, despite the less than great areas it pulls some of its kids from.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by car54

I think saganista's question was addressing your statement: "The amount of Hispanics has nothing to do with it".

Yes, it was. Even per now-out-of-date 2000 Census data, Herndon had close to a 30% Hispanic population, while Chantilly and Centreville were each below 10%. I would suggest that if we took two-thirds of the Hispanic kids out of Herndon schools and beamed them over into the Chantilly or Centreville schools, you'd see the test results and general impressions of the respective schools shift accordingly, even though the quality of the staff, facilities, and instruction wouldn't have changed at all.

[saganista]

Originally Posted by novanative75

Yes and no. I certainly see that point and you will see that the schools that do not perform as well are generally the ones with the high ESL population. Trust me, I know all about ESL, am currently the ESOL contact at my school. However, ESL is more than only Hispanics. Also, you can look at a school like Marshall that has both sides of the spectrum, high ESL and IB program all at the same time. I do think Marshall is a good school, despite the less than great areas it pulls some of its kids from.

Yes, probably three-fourths of the Marshall pyramid would look like it's in trouble on paper, and even with the inclusion of the IB program, Marshall's numbers and reputation are no match for those at either McLean or Madison. There are plenty of parents who could move across the street to get their kids out of Marshall and into one of those other two. Would that be a worthwhile thing for them to do, or is it the case that their kids will get just as good an education at Marshall, as the only real difference between it and more highly thought of schools is that Marshall happens to serve, in addition to many upscale, highly-motivated, native kids, a significant number of low to moderate income kids who are from other countries or from less advantaged backgrounds...

[cardinal2007]

To be quite honest I attended FCPS from elementary to high school graduation, and I found most of the schools to be quite lacking in education and advancement opportunities. My family moved there near the end of 1992 and when we started out classes the math courses seemed to be 6 months behind those of the school I had transferred from, the other subjects weren't as far behind though. When I got to middle school the schools had trouble putting me in classes because I needed to be in Algebra I in 7th grade, which apparently is a big issue if the middle school has no GT center. In 8th grade I had to go every morning to West Springfield HS to start off the day, and even though I was taking GT geometry for 9th graders most people aside from the 3 8th graders in the course seemed very uninterested.

The only school I thought did a good job teaching was TJ, if your kids don't get into TJ I would seriously consider paying for private school, most public schools do a very poor job preparing students for college even in FCPS. If they end up at a good university like Stanford, MIT or Harvard or even just Carnegie Mellon they might find the work overwhelming if they went to public school, some students rise to the challenge, and others can get very overwhelmed and lose self-confidence.

Overall though from what people have told me some school you should definitely avoid are Lee HS, Hayfield, and South Lakes. I would personally avoid West Springfield, and Braddock. Cardinal Forest Elementary was a pretty poor school, much worse than the one I attended in PA, Irving Middle School was so-so. In fact it would probably be best to just stick to McLean or Langley, people I've talked to said those schools were good. Perhaps it is just Springfield that is sub-par in the county. I know my friends who lived up in the northern parts of the county seemed to think the schools were good, though I knew no one in Herndon. Loudon Co. was seen the the boondocks back in the '90s I know they have all new subdivisions now though so I don't know how it is.

[saganista]

Elite kids will have challenge problems in almost any public school setting, and in truth, within most private school settings as well. The exceptions are the truly elite private schools (almost by definition), but those come with a tuition that's about equivalent to that of Harvard as well, and most families just can't hack that, financial aid notwithstanding. Public schools are like public hospitals...they are obligated to take in and work with all those who show up at their doors. For FCPS, that amounts to some 165,000 students per year, with TJ (which truly is elite) taking in fewer than 500 of those whose talents and aptitudes lie in science and technology. With the various AP, IB, and GT programs that the system has in place across the board however, I think that they do a pretty good job of making sure that they don't sell out to the lowest common denominator. There are opportunities to enroll directly in college courses as well where warranted. It is always tough to be an outlier, and elite kids are just that, just as much as are the kids with physical or emotional problems. If you can't get into TJ (or aren't interested in it anyway) and Mom and Dad can't come up with the $20K+ per year to go top drawer private, then the lack of challenge becomes part of the challenge. I'm sure you know the drill. And it isn't like there aren't absolutely first-rate off-campus resources available in this area for the taking. There are at least a dozen top-flight secondary and high schools within the FCPS system. I would not myself hesitate to send an elite kid through any of them...

[gypsylawyer]

NOT SURE IF IT'S ON HERE ELSWHERE, BUT ALSO SEE WEB AT: schoolmatters.com