Not too sure about elementary or middle schools but I would say that Langley or Oakton would be the top two public high schools in NOVA. Mclean is good too, but my girlfriend attended Mclean as well as Langley and she said Langley was much better in regards to teachers/faculty but also the overall attitude of the other students. If you're going to move into Mclean/Great Falls area you might as well move into the Langley district.

In MD, Potomac or Bethesda/Chevy Chase are all nice areas and their schools are good from what I've heard from friends, but then you're in MD lol...no offense MD people but I prefer VA.

 

Thanks for the rep. Which city are you located? I am just curious.
You have some time to look around. Personally, I'd put Oakton HS after McLean HS. From what I remember last year, Oakton>Westfield HS>Chantily>Centreville. It was on newspaper somewhere, which I can't remember. Also, not sure if this is true or not but not all college/universities in US accept IB. Correct me if I am wrong.

Personally, I am not a fan of isolated houses like the most of them in Great Falls (no community). If you don't mind that, you can buy the lot you like and build on your own (not actually building by yourself but you know what I mean. ). Some people do this and rent them to someone else and then, put your child's primary address there to be "legally" in whatever school districts you want. If you get caught, you pay thousands of dollars...

I knew someone who tried to do this while living in other county. They were fined 5 digit.

Bottomline, it's not worth cutting corners for school districts. Just wanted to share some info. Good luck!

 

not trying to be ignorant but all these "high ranked" districts are within wealthy community. it's all about money.

 

Never passed the test in middle school to make it to TJ. We always crushed them in every sport tho haha.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/educa...edal-list.html

 

I recall reading somewhere, W.T Woodson HS in Fairfax ranked like 3rd or 4th behing Langley and McLean HS. I was sorta shocked since I went to Woodson, way back when. Wasn't that great when I attended. Lots have changed in 20+ years I guess

Berk, bottom line, if you're wanting to stay in NOVA, want to send your kid to public school, Great Falls/McLean is gonna give you the best schools. While TJ is the best period, you have to be accepted and you can live anywhere in FFX Co to attend. Plus I wouldn't want to live around that area anyway, the schools aren't great in that area with the exception of 1 or 2 Elementary schools there.

 

Meant 3rd or 4th in the are, not the country.

 

Havin fun with those VA cops?

 

I was wondering if this would turn into a MD vs VA discussion.

 

We're located in MC and so far the education has been brilliant, Wootton high school is only 5 mins away from us so all-in-all an excellent school district and I've had zero complaints so far.

Goodluck with whichever area you decide on.

 

I live in FFX county and honestly I got more tickets from the one MD State Trooper in Montgomery off of 270 in my Cobra, than I have for my Z in FFX(car **** central). I've been pulled over a few times and let off in my loud, obnoxious, widebody Z, in Va by county cops, as well as state cops, but the MD cop wrote me like 7 tickets including not having my insurance card on me(never been asked for that in all of my interactions with a FFX Co cop/Va state trooper). I just give the FFX co/State cops a story about how it's a custom car that I'm figuring out how to put the front tag on, shop forgot to put on the silencers for the exhaust and they give me a warning, but I finally got a ticket for the front tag. I just bought one of those retractable tags, so I should be good this summer. http://www.ninosport.com/ProductDeta...oductCode=400U

Just my personal experience though, I've heard MD cops are a little more lenient than VA cops most of the time. VA has become a police state and honestly with the economy hurting, I feel like VA has decided to take a California approach to budget relief by using traffic fines to increase revenue. I'll still take my FFX Co/Va police and the Reston/Tysons area over MD, with the exception of maybe Potomac and Chevy Chase.

 

Mick I have an 11th grader at Wootton with another out the door and a daughter at Frost. What's your situation there?

 

here you go buddy... this is national rankings by reading math student to teacher ratio etc I used this to find out about the schools in areas I looked at a few years ago... I gave up on them when I decided to raise my daughter in horse country and visited Wakefield, Highland and Foxcroft. Real Estate is cheaper out here property taxes are nearly half, so I that was my offset for the private schools. Now that rt 66 has more lanes out to Gainesville, the commute has gotten a lot better so..... that's where I'm at. AnyWhoDat... here's the website:


http://www.schoolmatters.com/schools...st=VA/p=1/fp=1

 

John our twins are in first grade at Lakewood Elementary, so far I've been very pleased. It's actually astonishing how much h/w they get within the week but I like that, it keeps them focused from an early age.

Sharleen the younger by a min is already 3/4 way through 2nd grade material according to her recent report so it leads me to believe that the teachers are doing something right although I'm guessing she's a little more gifted :-)

All in all I think it's a brilliant school district.

 

I don't know MC very well but I've always heard Churchill and Whitman being the best in the county. Best is such a relative term...same applies to Langley. At the end of the day, it's really up the student. My kids attend private school, while there are pluses and minuses, I do feel the academics are a bit stronger than public. Maybe it has to do with teacher to student ratio. I think my sons' school is like 7:1. Downside, I don't think my kids are getting the diverse social interactions I would like them to have as you would get in public schools. What sux the most is the damn tuition cost so damn much, I need to weigh if it's worth it. Tough decision since my 1st grader is already doing fractions and reading 3rd grade equivalent material. Heck, he's been typing without looking at the keyboard since Kindergarten. While pretty cool, I thought it was a bit too early for that kind of skills.

 

Avus let me firstly commend you on having such an intelligent child. In my personal opinion it doesn't matter whether a child is enrolled in a public or private school, at the end of the day
if they wanna study and make something of themselves they will do....

I'm not coming across in the wrong manner but this is the way I was bought up but I personally think I did ok, even with an education from GB who moved out here several years ago with just a few g's.