MOST schools in Northern VA are below average according to greatschools.org (Annandale: new home, public schools)

[selling home]

Greatschools.org is just one of many websites that rate schools using a variety of criteria. It rates schools on a one to ten scale, with five being average.

Now that I am in the final part of selling my home in Annandale Virginia we are looking for a new home in Northern VA and new schools for our three kids who are ages 7-16. Looking at the Greatschools.org and other school rating websites I was shocked how many below-average schools there are in Fairfax and Prince William Counties.

For example, if you take every school in Fairfax County and get a mean score for all of them, the average score is 4.2/10. In Prince William County the average score is 3.8/10. The mean scores for all our schools have gone down most years.

Yes, there are some great schools in Northern VA but not that many and fewer than they used to be. For example, in my community, Annandale VA, our High School has a rating of 3 out of 10. It used to be a good school but not anymore. If you want a great school in Northern VA you have to move to expensive Vienna, McLean or Great Falls. For an average school, you can move to Western Fairfax, West Springfield, or Chantilly.

I compared the ratings of our schools in comparison to other Metro areas I was offered a job. Raleigh NC and Minneapolis MN and the mean scores for their schools were much higher. In fact, many metro areas have much better schools on average than in Northern VA. Your thoughts?

https://www.greatschools.org/

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by selling home

If you want a great school in Northern VA you have to move to expensive Vienna, McLean or Great Falls.

Or, you can go and talk to real people whose children attend schools and the administration to see if it is a good fit for your children; instead of just relying on some number from a single website.

[selling home]

Originally Posted by spencgr

Or, you can go and talk to real people whose children attend schools and the administration to see if it is a good fit for your children; instead of just relying on some number from a single website.

Statistics can be more valid than gut feelings about schools. Many people will say they think their hometown or school is great when it is not because of pride and ego. They really don't know how great another community or school is in comparison because they don't know it.

[Old Guard]

Originally Posted by selling home

Statistics can be more valid than gut feelings about schools. Many people will say they think their hometown or school is great when it is not because of pride and ego. They really don't know how great another community or school is in comparison because they don't know it.

This seems like a weird campaign for someone trying to sell.

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by selling home

Statistics can be more valid than gut feelings about schools. Many people will say they think their hometown or school is great when it is not because of pride and ego. They really don't know how great another community or school is in comparison because they don't know it.

Or maybe that school was great because there was a great teacher that taught them to love math, or reading books or chemistry. A good education is about specific teacher-student connections and parent involvement; not statistics and numbers.

[nva06]

Yea and I don’t think these numbers are even true. I was looking at Stafford County Public Schools and it said we were a majority minority district. I mean we’re getting diverse but I don’t think we’re that far yet.

[nva06]

Yea and it says Stafford County has a 5 and Loudoun has a 6.2 after finding the mean

[NOVA_guy]

um

[Hal Roach]

One of the ratings methods I have seen is based graduation rates. Fine, let everyone graduate, without showing up, and your school is a 10. The school lunch numbers tell more about the culture at the school, and the quality of the area.

[jobber123rd]

Greatschools scores are not comparable across state lines. The comparisons used to compose the scores only take in consideration other schools in the same state. So higher scores in another state's metro could just come from the other state having weaker schools outside of that area.