Best school pyramids in McLean/Vienna (Reston, Oakton: 2013, renting, townhomes)

[reggimelon]

Which school pyramids (ES, MS, HS) in McLean/Vienna would you buy a house in with a limit of $750k? If you know anything about potential rezoning, overcrowding, GT programs, or any insight to some schools (including schools you'd avoid), that'd be great. Thanks!

[JD984]

Originally Posted by reggimelon

Which school pyramids (ES, MS, HS) in McLean/Vienna would you buy a house in with a limit of $750k? If you know anything about potential rezoning, overcrowding, GT programs, or any insight to some schools (including schools you'd avoid), that'd be great. Thanks!

The schools that serve students from McLean and Vienna really are all fine, though some of CD's "school snobs" might claim otherwise. The McLean-area schools (and that includes schools like Longfellow MS in Falls Church, which has a large GT/AAP program and is a feeder to McLean HS) are perhaps a bit more intensely focused on academics than the Vienna-area schools, with both the positives and negatives that entails.

I wouldn't expect any redistricting any time soon in this part of the county, as FCPS has two other big redistricting studies underway in other parts of the county. It's possible that FCPS might consider some modest adjustments to the high school boundaries after the $90-100 million renovation to Marshall HS in Falls Church (which serves many Vienna students) is complete, but the renovation won't be finished for years and that's admittedly speculation on my part. And that might not happen, either, if the residential neighborhoods around Tysons Corner continue to be popular with families.

Some of the schools in McLean and Vienna are quite crowded, with many students in trailers, etc. Probably the best way to find out if a particular school is currently over-crowded or projected to be over-crowded is to go to the FCPS web site (www.fcps.edu) and search for the latest "Capital Improvement Plan" (or "CIP"). The CIP has information on both school capacities and projected enrollments.

http://www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/cip.htm

There's also a separate tool on the FCPS web site, called the "Capacity Dashboard" (or something similar), with that information.

[JD984]

Here's the link to the "Capacity Dashboard" - it hasn't yet been updated for 2010. However, FCPS has published the September 2010 enrollment numbers in a separate report.

falldash09v2.swf

FCPS - Student History Membership Reports

[claremarie]

$750K is at the lower end for many SFH neighborhoods in McLean, especially those that are part of the Langley pyramid. (I'll defer to JEB77 regarding Vienna neighborhoods in that price range.) The Haycock/Longfellow/McLean pyramid is good, and there are several neighborhoods near Haycock that would have homes in that range (plus several townhome communities, if you're willing to consider that option). Kent Gardens also will have homes in your range. The pickings will be slimmer in the Chesterbrook and Franklin Sherman districts.
Many families would want to avoid Timberlane, as it has a modified (i.e., year-round) calendar to improve the academic performance of its sizable immigrant/low-income population. Haycock has a highly-regarded GT program, but students in the "regular" program don't really benefit from its presence. Ditto for the Kent Gardens French immersion program.

There are more similarities than differences in these school pyramids. You can safely base your housing decision on commuting convenience and house style preference rather than trying to nail down the "best" elementary school.

[nancy707]

We are in the Westbriar/Kilmer/Marshall pyramids, in the Tyson's Green section,...you might be able to get a home for that price here depending on the size and age. Alot of the houses in this neighboorhood were build in the 60's-8-'s depending on the street ...But many have been updated on the inside.

As far as the GT program the younger students at Westbriar would go to Lousie Archer for GT, Kilmer has a GT and Marshall has an excellant IB program..of course there is always the option of TJ but you have to apply to get in there...

This is wonderful neighborhood walking distance to school, and the pool ( Cardinal Hills) although there is a long wait list but if a home you buy has a membership it can be transfered.

and in 2013 this will be a walkable neighborhood to the new silver line .

[JD984]

Originally Posted by claremarie

$750K is at the lower end for many SFH neighborhoods in McLean, especially those that are part of the Langley pyramid. (I'll defer to JEB77 regarding Vienna neighborhoods in that price range.) The Haycock/Longfellow/McLean pyramid is good, and there are several neighborhoods near Haycock that would have homes in that range (plus several townhome communities, if you're willing to consider that option). Kent Gardens also will have homes in your range. The pickings will be slimmer in the Chesterbrook and Franklin Sherman districts.
Many families would want to avoid Timberlane, as it has a modified (i.e., year-round) calendar to improve the academic performance of its sizable immigrant/low-income population. Haycock has a highly-regarded GT program, but students in the "regular" program don't really benefit from its presence. Ditto for the Kent Gardens French immersion program.

There are more similarities than differences in these school pyramids. You can safely base your housing decision on commuting convenience and house style preference rather than trying to nail down the "best" elementary school.

I'm not sure, but I thought the schools with modified calendars switched to the same calendar as other schools this fall as part of the purported belt-tightening in FCPS.

Also, while some people may have issues with Timber Lane, I didn't mention it because no students with either Vienna or McLean addresses attend it. As far as I know, every student who is assigned to Timber Lane has a Falls Church mailing address. But maybe you mentioned it because 1/2 of Timber Lane feeds into McLean HS (the other half goes to Falls Church HS).

There are a lot of houses in Vienna in the $750K price range, and also some in McLean. It's 2010! There may be more in the Kent Gardens ES district in McLean than others, but there are some in other districts as well, including Sherman and Churchill Road.

[claremarie]

You may be right about Timber Lane's calendar. But some neighborhoods with a Falls Church mailing address are considered (perhaps only by their residents) to be part of the greater McLean area -- maybe because of the McLean HS pyramid. The line between McLean and Falls Church is often fuzzy.

I forgot about the King's Manor neighborhood in McLean. It's a mix of townhomes and small SFH homes on smallish lots, and is great for commuting to downtown DC (between 193 and 123 near Chain Bridge Road). Probably the most affordable larger neighborhood in the Churchill Road/Cooper/Langley pyramid.

[reggimelon]

Thanks for everyone's comments - when you're new to the area and you have many good schools to choose from, it can seem a bit overwhelming at times.

JEB77, that capacity dashboard is awesome. Thank you! I read a report a while ago about certain schools being over capacity and this now gives me a really good picture about what was in the article.

One thing I'm learning is that not all elementary schools feed into the same MS and HS - like Colvin Run and I think Oakton. Seems strange to me.

I know Vienna better as we're renting here while we look for a house. Already ruled out Langley since we generally can't afford anything in that school district.

Would you say Marshall HS is improving its scores and could potentially rival McLean/Madison HSs?

Thanks everyone for your help. You all have a wealth of knowledge that is greatly appreciated for us new to the area.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by reggimelon

Thanks for everyone's comments - when you're new to the area and you have many good schools to choose from, it can seem a bit overwhelming at times.

JEB77, that capacity dashboard is awesome. Thank you! I read a report a while ago about certain schools being over capacity and this now gives me a really good picture about what was in the article.

One thing I'm learning is that not all elementary schools feed into the same MS and HS - like Colvin Run and I think Oakton. Seems strange to me.

I know Vienna better as we're renting here while we look for a house. Already ruled out Langley since we generally can't afford anything in that school district.

Would you say Marshall HS is improving its scores and could potentially rival McLean/Madison HSs?

Thanks everyone for your help. You all have a wealth of knowledge that is greatly appreciated for us new to the area.

Here's another site you may find useful (at least with respect to test results):

School Ranks ( Schoolranks ): The Best Schools Of Fairfax County.

As to Marshall, yes, its test scores have been improving and it's been in the top 1/3 or 1/4 of FCPS neighborhood high schools for the past several years (generally behind Langley, McLean, Woodson, Madison and Oakton). Its SAT scores were higher than Madison's in 2008, but not in the past two years. Just to put this in perspective, if Marshall were in Loudoun County, its SAT scores would be the best in the county.

From my perspective, it's already a "rival" of McLean and Madison, in the sense that it's already a school that families looking in the Vienna/Falls Church area seriously consider. In recent years, its enrollment has increased quite a bit, and that happened without any intervention by the School Board to redistrict (as was the case over at South Lakes in Reston). It also has an IB program, which neither McLean nor Madison has; some folks like that, and others (who prefer AP courses) dislike IB intensely. However, Marshall has more lower-income students than McLean and Madison and test scores generally are correlated with income levels. As a result, I wouldn't really expect the test scores there to be quite as high as those at McLean or Madison on a consistent basis.

I wouldn't base a decision on test scores alone, at least not when the differences are as small as those between McLean and Madison or Madison and Marshall. I'd think about whether you think your child would prefer AP or IB advanced classes; whether you prefer a smaller school (none of these schools is particularly big by FCPS standards, but Marshall is smaller) to a larger school; and whether you want your kids to be surrounded by a very large group of peers who aspire to admission to top colleges (which is particularly the case at McLean and its neighbor, Langley). I'm not trying to stack the deck in favor of any particular school here, but there are some subtle differences that may or may not matter to you.

Another factor might be how soon you'll have kids in high school. Both Madison and McLean were renovated within the last decade and are currently in good shape. Marshall is going to get an expensive renovation in the next few years, but it will be a big construction site fairly soon (on the other hand, Longfellow MS, which feeds into McLean HS, is a giant construction site right now).

One other point - there are lots of elementary schools in both McLean and Vienna that feed into different middle and high schools. They are called "split feeders." You really have to check a particular address to find out the school assignments. About the only exception to that rule is that all students in the Town of Vienna are assigned to Madison HS.

Hope this helps.

[DC Oldtimer]

I am a broken record on this topic. I dont believe that there is a dime's worth of difference in the quality of faculty from one Fairfax school to another. Test score differences are a function of student characteristics, not faculty quality.

My advice is to find a house you love in your price range.