Washingtonians! A little help here! TIA

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I'm going to be moving to Washington DC in the not-to-distant future, but I'll only be there for a few months. Since my daughter will have to finish 8th grade there, my top criterion for choosing a neighborhood will be where the schools are best; the only other criterion is that the neighborhood we're in be near a metro line. So: in your opinion, which are the best public middle schools/school districts in the DC area? TIA

[Shi Huangdi]

Montgomery County, MD has an excellent school system. If you can afford it, you could move to Potomac, whose local schools are excellent.

[Kuciwalker]

Fairfax county. Wonderful school system. I'm in it

[DanS]

Here's WaPo Online's schools guide.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/education/schoolguide/

I think that Falls Church is generally thought to have the best schools, but I don't have an opinion of my own about it.

Good luck!

[lord of the mark]

we're in fairfax - but if youre looking for a good school system in a more urban environment, Arlington county has some very good schools too.


And in fairfax - check if you can the individual school - they do differ, with the approach and philosophy of the principal. Also Fairfax has GT (gifted and talented) centers, which presents a different set of options, if thats an issue for you.

[Kuciwalker]

Actually, I think I'm technically not in a Fairfax county school - I'm at TJ

[Adam Smith]

We did a lot of school research when we moved within the DC area three years ago. Montgomery County (MD), Fairfax County (VA), and Arlington County (VA) are all good. We live in Montgomery County. Walt Whitman, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, Walter Johnson, Winston Churchill, and Thomas Wootton (where we live) are probably the best high school districts in Montgomery County, and their middle schools would be correspondingly good. All of these school districts are strung out along the western end of Metro's Red Line.

Walt Whitman consistently rates as one of the best public high schools in the country. Thomas Pyle and Cabin John (I think) Middle Schools feed into Whitman. Real estate ads will never fail to mention that a house is in the Whitman / Pyle school district, and there are a fair number of diplomats in the area who rent houses, so Thomas Pyle Middle School might be a real good place to start looking.

If you wind up staying longer, there is also Montgomery Blair High School (the gifted / talented school for Montgomery County), and Richard Montgomery High School, which offers the IB program.

Fell free to post here or PM me with any questions, and I would be happy to meet if you are in town.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by skywalker
Actually, I think I'm technically not in a Fairfax county school - I'm at TJ

the Stuyvesant of the South?

[Kuciwalker]

Huh? What's Stuyvesant?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Thanks everybody! Especially DanS for the Post guide and Adam Smith for the extended info on Montgomery County and the offer to answer more questions (I don't have a preference with regard to location, but my wife is strongly advocating Maryland over Virginia, so that really helps).

[Kuciwalker]

NOOOOO!!!!

Maryland is full of heathens

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by skywalker
Huh? What's Stuyvesant?

Selective science-math high school in New York City. Of which yours truely is an alum.

[Kuciwalker]

Oh, in that case the answer is yes