Honest Comparison of Schools in Loudoun Vs. Prince William (Chantilly: school district, living in)

[reiliz]

Hello all, I am a regular in the Fort Lauderdale forum. I want some honest opinions on the school district of Loudoun Vs. Prince William? Thank you.

[ChristineVA]

Not knowing anything about Loudon but living in Prince William. My impression is that Loudon is a better county for schools. Very unscientific though.

[reiliz]

Would you then say that Prince William is better in other ways?

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by reiliz

Would you then say that Prince William is better in other ways?

For schools: No. But again, I don't know much about Loudon schools. I would not move to Loudon because of the commute and lack of commuting options.

[JD984]

I don't think you are going to get too much feedback unless you are bit more specific as to what areas in each county you may be considering. With a few exceptions, given the diversity within the counties, it's hard to generalize as to whether schools in a particular metro DC jurisdiction are better than those in a neighboring jurisdiction.

Having said that, I can say that both Loudoun and Prince William have grown rapidly over the past 15 years, and that Loudoun in general is one of the more affluent jurisdictions in the entire country. There are areas around Sterling in Loudoun with large numbers of students for whom English is not their primary language, and test scores at these schools are lower than those at other Loudoun schools, as you might expect. Test scores elsewhere in Loudoun generally are well above national norms.

The only other observation I can make is that, at least at the high school level, most of the Loudoun schools are what I personally would consider reasonably sized (that is, below 2200 students). My understanding is that at least half of the Prince William high schools have over 2400 students, which seems like an awful lot of students in one location.

I should add that, in Fairfax, there are many parents that are quite happy with some of the larger high schools, such as Chantilly, Lake Braddock, Robinson and Westfield. All I am really saying is that, if I were looking at areas in Prince William that fed into the larger schools and expected to send my kids to the public schools, I would want to make sure that students don't get lost in the shuffle.

[ChristineVA]

Originally Posted by JEB77

The only other observation I can make is that, at least at the high school level, most of the schools are what I personally would consider reasonably sized (that is, below 2200 students). My understanding is that at least half of the Prince William high schools have over 2400 students, which seems like an awful lot of students in one area.

This is true. With the exception of Potomac High School (which when I last checked was around 900 students), the population at the other Prince William high schools was at least 2300. I think Woodbridge High School had the largest population.