Jason and his family are moving to Fairfax County this coming school year, and Jason’s parents want to make sure that he attends the best schools in Fairfax County and is as challenged as possible throughout his school experience.
Virginia Schools also earn Academic Performance Awards
Jason is currently in elementary school, so his parents want to make sure that he has the opportunity to go to a top elementary school, in a couple of years attend a top middle school, and further down the road a top high school.
For this, they would like to know which are the best schools in Fairfax County, VA. And they figured that the Virginia Department of Education would have a list of its best schools, and specifically for their needs, the best ones in Fairfax County.
Which are the best schools in Virginia?
According to the Virginia Department of Education, the schools who earned a Virginia Index of Performance (VIP) award are the schools who exceeded minimum standards and achieved excellence goals.
To determine which are the award-winning schools, the Department assigns points to the different kinds of SOL (Standard of Learning) tests that the students pass in each of the schools.
For example:
100 points x each Advanced Proficient test passed, plus
80 points x each Proficient test passed, plus
25 points x each Basic test passed
These points get added up and divided by the total number of tests administered per content area (English, Math, etc.) in each school.
Extra points may be added for Nutrition and Physical Activity and foreign language programs, and each school’s full accreditation status is also considered for each of the awards[1].
What are the Virginia Index of Performance (VIP) awards
The VIP awards are earned by a few schools in Virginia who meet high standards of learning (as measured by the passing rates of standardized tests) and who achieve excellence goals established by the Governor and the Board of Education.
There are three levels of VIP awards:
- The Governor’s Award for Educational Excellence,
- The Board of Education Excellence Award, and
- The Board of Education Distinguished Achievement Award.
The Virginia Index of Performance (VIP) Awards – 2014
The top award in Virginia is the Governor’s Award for Educational Excellence, and this year (2014), out of 5 schools in Virginia who earned the award, 3 of them are in Fairfax County:
The Governor’s Award for Educational Excellence – 2014
- Rocky Run Middle School*
- Carson Middle School
- Longfellow Middle School
* Rocky Run Middle School has earned this top award for 5 years in a row.
Fairfax County Schools that earned a VIP Award in 2014
This year, the schools in Fairfax County that won awards based on last year’s performance indicators (school year 2012-2013) include 52 schools (the year before only 36 Fairfax County schools earned awards).
The Board of Education Excellence & Distinguished Achievement Awards (Fairfax County Schools)
| High School Pyramid |
VIP Award-winning School |
2013 Award |
2014 Award |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chantilly | |||
| Greenbriar West ES | Excellence | Excellence | |
| Oak Hill ES | Excellence | Excellence | |
| Poplar Tree ES | – | Distinguished | |
| Franklin MS | Distinguished | Distinguished | |
| Rocky Run MS | Governor’s | Governor’s | |
| Fairfax | |||
| Fairfax Villa ES | – | Distinguished | |
| Willow Springs ES | Distinguished | Distinguished | |
| Falls Church City Public Schools | |||
| Thomas Jefferson ES | Distinguished | Excellence | |
| Mount Daniel School | Distinguished | Excellence | |
| George Mason HS | – | Excellence | |
| Lake Braddock | |||
| Lake Braddock SS | – | Distinguished | |
| White Oaks ES | – | Distinguished | |
| Langley | |||
| Great Falls ES | Excellence | Distinguished | |
| Churchill Road ES | – | Excellence | |
| Spring Hill ES | – | Excellence | |
| Cooper MS | Excellence | Excellence | |
| Langley HS | – | Excellence | |
| Lee | |||
| Springfield Estates ES | Distinguished | Distinguished | |
| Madison | |||
| Archer ES | Excellence | Excellence | |
| Flint Hill ES | – | Distinguished | |
| Wolftrap ES | Excellence | Excellence | |
| Vienna ES | Distinguished | Distinguished | |
| Thoreau MS | Excellence | Excellence | |
| Madison HS | – | Excellence | |
| Marshall | |||
| Westbriar ES | Excellence | Distinguished | |
| Kilmer MS | – | Excellence | |
| McLean | |||
| Chesterbrook ES | Excellence | Excellence | |
| Colvin Run ES | Excellence | Excellence | |
| Forestville ES | – | Distinguished | |
| Haycock ES | Excellence | Excellence | |
| Kent Gardens ES | Distinguished | Distinguished | |
| Sherman ES | Distinguished | Distinguished | |
| Longfellow MS | Excellence | Governor’s | |
| Mclean HS | – | Distinguished | |
| Oakton | |||
| Mosby Woods ES | – | Distinguished | |
| Oakton ES | Distinguished | Excellence | |
| Carson MS | – | Governor’s | |
| Oakton HS | – | Distinguished | |
| Robinson | |||
| Robinson SS | – | Distinguished | |
| South County | |||
| South County HS | – | Distinguished | |
| South Lakes | |||
| Hunters Woods ES | – | Excellence | |
| West Potomac | |||
| Stratford Landing ES | Distinguished | Distinguished | |
| West Springfield | |||
| Hunt Valley ES | Excellence | Distinguished | |
| Keene Mill ES | – | Excellence | |
| Sangster ES | – | Excellence | |
| West Springfield ES | Excellence | Distinguished | |
| Irving MS | – | Distinguished | |
| West Springfield HS | – | Distinguished | |
| Westfield | |||
| Floris ES | Excellence | Excellence | |
| Woodson | |||
| Canterbury Woods ES | Excellence | Excellence | |
| Mantua ES | Distinguished | Distinguished | |
| Wakefield Forest ES | – | Distinguished | |
| Frost MS | Distinguished | Excellence | |
| Woodson HS | – | Distinguished | |
| Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology | |||
| Thomas Jefferson HSST | – | Excellence | |
Jason’s parents used this information to find the right mix of Fairfax County schools
When Jason’s parents reviewed the table above, they had a good picture of which school pyramids had won the most VIP awards.
They could also correlate each of the award-winning schools with their corresponding High Schools. Correlating schools helped them identify the exact combination of Elementary, Middle, and High schools that they wanted to focus on for their home search.
Once they selected a few school boundaries to learn more about, they turned to the Fairfax County Map to access those boundaries.
Learn more about these Fairfax County School boundaries
If you are like Jason’s parents, and would like to learn more about these award-winning schools and their boundaries, log into our Fairfax County Map.
Once you’re on the Fairfax County Map, select the high school boundary of your choice and compare SOL scores, see average home prices, and find homes for sale by boundary:
Click for the Fairfax County Map of High School Boundaries
-
Click to access the Fairfax County Map (with UP-TO-DATE high school boundaries)
Access the Fairfax County Map of School Boundaries to see the location of each of the most UP-TO-DATE boundaries within Fairfax County and to choose your ideal boundary.
When you access the Fairfax County Map of School Boundaries, you will find:
- UP-TO-DATE High School boundaries
- School scores for elementary, middle and high schools in each boundary
- Photos and videos
- Highlights of the area covered by each boundary
- Statistics about housing
- Transportation options
If you haven’t subscribed yet, why wait?
-
The FREE No-Tears Guide to Moving to Fairfax, VA
- The FREE No-Tears Guide to Moving to Fairfax, VA
Downloading The No-Tears Guide to Moving to Fairfax, VA is free, and you’ll get access to our unique home-search (by school boundary).
Plus, you get the Fairfax County Real Estate Affordability Map, AND access to detailed information about each Fairfax County School boundary.
* Image by Hugo y Charli on Flickr
[1] http://www.doe.virginia.gov/statistics_reports/va_index_performance_awards/criteria.shtml
Everybody is welcome to find a home by school boundary. A school boundary
is simply a geographical area, just like a zip code or a postal city.
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