A few weeks ago, we identified the Top High Schools in Fairfax County VA based on US News’s State rankings.

This week, we’ve been inspired by Northern Virginia Magazine, with their Best Elementary Schools article.  Their article covers several Counties, and here, we are focusing on the best elementary schools in Fairfax County.

NoVa Magazine’s Best Elementary Schools

In Northern Virginia magazine’s article, their staff poured through the School Report cards available on the Virginia Department of Education to extract the following four elements to determine their “Best Elementary Schools” list:

Best Elementary Schools* Methodology

1. The 2010-2011 average SOL (Standards of Learning) tests pass rate –  This is the same calculation we use to help you compare schools.
2. The Percentage of students who performed above average on the 2010-2011 SOLs (shows average of advanced proficiency)
3. The 3 year 2008-2011 average SOL pass rate (shows long-term academic performance)
4. Free/Reduced Lunch (shows the socio-economic breakdown of the school)

The Top 25% Elementary Schools

The result of the Northern Virginia magazine article is a list of 35 elementary schools (which is the top 25% of a total of 139 elementary schools).   The list is chock-full of great info, however, three downsides of the alphabetically-ordered list are:

1. It’s hard to compare the schools side by side
2. It’s hard to get perspective as to how these schools fit into the bigger schema
3. Because it’s an alphabetical list, it’s hard to picture where they are in the County

1. It’s hard to compare the schools side-by-side

Because the schools are displayed on a long list, instead of using a table, it’s difficult to see how one school compares to another.    To be fair, it would be a veeeery long table and it would be difficult to digest.    To make the information easier to understand at a glance, the info must be broken down further – like, for example grouping the elementary schools which feed into the same high school.

This takes us onto the second downside of the list…

2. It’s hard to figure out where they fit within the bigger schema

With a list of 35 schools it’s hard to get the bigger picture as to how good their corresponding middle and high schools are.

This is where we got the idea of mixing and matching rankings.

So we mixed and matched rankings

The first thing we did was to take the US News Top High Schools list and grouped the Best Elementary Schools* by high school.   This way, we re-organized the once alphabetically-ordered list onto groups under each of the Top High Schools in Fairfax County.

The second thing we did was to add the 2010-2011 average SOL to the table so that it’s easier to compare the schools side-by-side.

Here is the result of our mix and match

The US News rankings for each of the corresponding 15 High Schools with Elementary Schools in Fairfax County listed as “Best” according to Northern Virginia Magazine:

US News Top High Schools & NoVa Magazine’s Best Elementary Schools

This table gives you good information as to how each of these Best Elementary Schools in Fairfax County* fit within the bigger schema of their High School pyramids (i.e. which High School does each Elementary School feed into).
But, if you are not very familiar with Fairfax County, picturing where each of these schools is will be your next challenge.

3. It’s hard to picture where the best elementary schools in Fairfax County are located

To get a better idea as to where these schools are within the County (are they in the Northern end, or in the Eastern side near DC, or further West, near Dulles Airport?), we mapped each of the Fairfax County High School boundaries and highlighted the ones mentioned on the table above on our Fairfax County School Boundaries map:

High School boundaries with Best Elementary Schools in Fairfax County

With this map, you can get an idea as to where each Fairfax County High School boundary is, and if it meets your criteria of where to live based on your desired commute or other location preferences (e.g. near water, near the airport, etc.).

Your Next Step

Now that you know where the Top High Schools and the Best Elementary Schools in Fairfax County* are, you will want to find out more about your favorite area to learn about transportation options, average home prices, and homes for sale.

An easy way to do this is to log into the Fairfax County School Boundaries Map, and select the boundary that interests you.

And don’t worry, if you need any help to refine your search, we’d be delighted to give you a hand.  Simply contact us via phone or email.

* Best Elementary Schools in Fairfax County refers to the schools selected within Northern Virginia Magazine’s article.

Map data (c) Google

Related Posts

Top High Schools in Fairfax County VA How to rank Fairfax County Schools How to choose an elementary school with gifted programs How does Fairfax County Public Schools compare with nearby districts?