Woodbridge or McLean schools

[Novamom3]

Originally Posted by tgbwc

What are your criteria that makes a school a "good school", or a district "one of the best districts"? I know you mentioned that your current schools aren't rated very high. Which rating are you referencing?

What are you looking for in a school? Is it something your current schools can't provide?

The rating I'm referencing is greatschools.com, our current elem, middle and high is rated a 6, 5, and 2. My husband wants a 10,10,10. For high school we look at average SAT scores and college acceptances. The problem with most Woodbridge schools is that there are many misbehaved and unmotivated kids. We saw a big difference in our sons competitiveness when he left his private school for public. In private all the kids were working hard to be at the top which kept my son working hard. Now he's putting in minimal effort for straight As and is getting lazier. So what we want is a high rating, safe and well behaved children, classmates that come from families that really value education and truly want to get ahead and a somewhat competitive motivating atmosphere. Can I get this from where we live now? Absolutely not. Could we get this from other schools in prince William county? That's my question. Mclean is what everybody talks about in northern va when discussing best schools. Langley and McLean high school were rated one of the best in the country so naturally we looked at their feeder schools. Just doing a search on here brings up many many posts about McLean being the best. Is it really?? We won't really know unles we try it I guess...

[Forehead]

I grew up in the McLean area and then spent a decade post college in Lake Ridge. I moved back to McLean right as my kids were starting school. As some have said, there are good schools in the area, we were zoned for I think an 8-9-5, no idea why Woodbridge High drops so much as there are a number of quality schools feeding in.

Regardless, I'm glad we moved, I wanted them to be in a challenging academic environment, and I wanted to be closer to my job for commute purposes. There were other reasons as well. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my time in Lake Ridge, but this was the right move for our family.

[ffx rez]

I know it's always going to be anecdotal, but I grew up in a town and went to a high school regularly trashed on here and went to a great college and grad school. If your kids are driven, then they'll be in the honors and AP classes, and I think there is a huge value in going to a diverse school that is never going to be captured on greatschools or wherever.

[Novamom3]

Thank you for your responses! Our offer went through and we're moving next month! Still don't know if it's the right move but I guess we'll find out soon enough!

[JD984]

Originally Posted by Novamom3

Thank you for your responses! Our offer went through and we're moving next month! Still don't know if it's the right move but I guess we'll find out soon enough!

Good luck - if you're going to be in the Spring Hill/Cooper/Langley area, you might want to check out both the Spring Hill recreation center and the McLean Community Center. Both have some good programs for kids.

[Novamom3]

Originally Posted by JD984

Good luck - if you're going to be in the Spring Hill/Cooper/Langley area, you might want to check out both the Spring Hill recreation center and the McLean Community Center. Both have some good programs for kids.

Thank you! So I'm assuming you're familiar with the area?