Living in Northern Virginia comes with many benefits: beautiful, seasonal weather, proximity to many great employers, thousands of beautiful homes in a variety of styles… and, perhaps most importantly to families, great schools. This area of the country is known for excellence in education, making it a fantastic bet for those homebuyers who have kids. Lately, the city of Herndon has distinguished itself as containing some of the state’s best elementary schools as determined by Niche.com.
News broke recently that the site had released its list of 2017’s best Virginian elementary schools, and four schools in Herndon made the top 100. Niche.com, which is a school rating site and directory, ranked Floris Elementary School at No. 28, Oak Hill Elementary School at No. 29, Crossfield Elementary School at No. 56, and Fox Mill Elementary School at No. 81. Wondering which school ran away with the top spot? It was Arlington Traditional Elementary School.
As per the Herndon Patch quoting Niche’s website, “The 2017 Best Public Elementary Schools ranking is based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using data from the U.S. Department of Education. Ranking factors include state test scores, student-teacher ratio, student diversity, teacher quality, grade school ratings, and the overall quality of the school district."
As makes sense, the top category in assessing the worthiness of each elementary school was academics. Obviously the caliber of education that a school provides is the most important factor, and that’s why academics count for 50 percent of the Niche score. Another 20 percent is dedicated to the district grade, which is a "rigorous analysis of academic and student life data along with millions of reviews from students and parents,” as per Niche’s own words. An additional 20 percent is based on grading the teachers. This is done through analysis of survey responses and parent interviews, absenteeism, salary, and state test results. The last 10 percent of the picture has to do with diversity, both racial and cultural, which is based on demographics as well as survey results.
Northern Virginia was well-represented in the Niche top elementary school results. Arlington swept the entire Top 10 results, with all NoVA schools rounding out the Top 19. Suffice it to say, parents moving to the region need not worry about the quality of education that their children will be receiving. The data doesn’t lie: Herndon - and the rest of the region in general - is a great place to raise a family, especially when it comes to schooling.
