Top Nova Elementary schools

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by hilsmom

Sunrise Valley draws from a VERY high income area. The part of Reston that is almost in Vienna. Up until this year, they were one of the half-day districts in FCPS. It is not the ghetto by any stretch of the imagination.

I didn't think it was ghetto by any means--just upper-middle-class as opposed to Ashton Heights/Lyon Park, where houses start at around 650K and go up to $1.5 million or so.

[irvine]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

It's interesting to me that the schools in the very most expensive parts of N. Arlington (e.g., no. 24, Jamestown, and no. 28, Nottingham, both in 22207) didn't do as well as no.1-ranked McKinley (in comfortable-to-affluent but not obscenely wealthy 22205). Clearly, income is not the sole determinant here--though education might still be, because the super-high incomes might be from lobbyists or pharma sales people (long on money but short on education), who probably let their kids vedge in front of the TV or Internet all day and night.

Also, I'm guessing Sunrise Valley Elementary is in Reston. It too would disprove the income-equals-academics theorem, given that it came in at no. 8, well above Ashlawn Elementary, which is no. 29 (and is a stone's throw from McKinley), or (astoundingly) Long Branch Elementary (no. 67), in very tony Lyon Park (N. Arlington).

McKinley's boundary is huge, and it includes very affluent areas of Tara and Bluemont, in addition to the more modest, but still pricey, colonials of Madison Manor and Dominion Hills. Most of the neighborhoods that used to be zoned to Walter Reed and Stonewall Jackson elementary schools are part of the McKinely attendance area. While it's not the consistently wealthiest corner of N Arlington, the parents in that part of the county are very well educated (as you pointed out), and that often translates into high performing schools.

Long Branch receives many lower-income students from the eastern part of South Arlington, who are bused in. But with all the new families in Ashton Heights and Lyon Park who comprise a much wealthier demographic than that of my generation back in the 90s, the lower income kids are shrinking as a proportion of the school population.

btw, the list is three years old.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

I didn't think it was ghetto by any means--just upper-middle-class as opposed to Ashton Heights/Lyon Park, where houses start at around 650K and go up to $1.5 million or so.

Sunrise Valley draws from North Reston and parts of the 22181 and 22182 zip codes in Vienna. There are a few condos/townhouses, but for the most parts the houses start around $500K and go up to $1.7 million or so (in, for example, the Victoria Farms and Hunters Crest sections of Vienna). For the most part, it's very similar to Ashton Heights/Lyon Park, with many houses selling recently for between $800-950K. New construction, of course, is more expensive.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by irvine

McKinley's boundary is huge, and it includes very affluent areas of Tara and Bluemont, in addition to the more modest, but still pricey, colonials of Madison Manor and Dominion Hills. Most of the neighborhoods that used to be zoned to Walter Reed and Stonewall Jackson elementary schools are part of the McKinely attendance area. While it's not the consistently wealthiest corner of N Arlington, the parents in that part of the county are very well educated (as you pointed out), and that often translates into high performing schools.

Long Branch receives many lower-income students from the eastern part of South Arlington, who are bused in. But with all the new families in Ashton Heights and Lyon Park who comprise a much wealthier demographic than that of my generation back in the 90s, the lower income kids are shrinking as a proportion of the school population.

btw, the list is three years old.

The latter was news to me. Wonder why the OP posted it then.

Also didn't realize some South Arl. kids went to Long Branch.

Originally Posted by JEB77

Sunrise Valley draws from North Reston and parts of the 22181 and 22182 zip codes in Vienna. There are a few condos/townhouses, but for the most parts the houses start around $500K and go up to $1.7 million or so (in, for example, the Victoria Farms and Hunters Crest sections of Vienna). For the most part, it's very similar to Ashton Heights/Lyon Park, with many houses selling recently for between $800-950K. New construction, of course, is more expensive.

And this was news to me as well. (Must admit my knowledge of Reston entails Sprint and something called Reston Town Center--which I have read about but never laid eyes on.) Wow. I guess it makes sense if you work in Tysons.