Last month, Money Magazine published an article on the Top 100 towns in America.  

To come up with their ranking, it's obvious to me that the researchers ploughed through the Census Data, crunch some numbers, and then come up with a ranking that might-or might not mean what they intended.

Don't get me wrong, Oakton, VA is a lovely place

Oakton, VA has a country feeling with rolling hills, tree-lined streets, and horse properties.  It's also centrally located in Fairfax County, VA (a suburb of Washington, DC).  

However, I wouldn't qualify Oakton as a "town".  There isn't a town center, it doesn't have its own schools, nor does it have a government. The only things that identify Oakton as an entity are its 22124 zip code and the "Oakton, VA" postal city.   

The good news is that Oakton does have great schools

Oakton belongs to the Fairfax County Public Schools District and is served primarily by three highly-ranked high schools:

• Oakton High School,
• Madison High School, and
• Fairfax High School

Fairfax County Schools have a good reputation - but how true is it?

Fairfax County Schools is considered one of the largest and best school districts in the US and in Virginia. Let's see how it stacks up against its neighbors.

School Districts in the Washington, D.C. area

Some of Fairfax County Public Schools' nearby school districts are the following:

Washington D.C.

Maryland:

• Montgomery County
• Prince George's County

Virginia:

• Alexandria City
• Arlington County
• Falls Church City
• Loudoun County
• Manassas City
• Prince William County

Below is a map with the location of school districts near Fairfax County

Now that we know where they are, let's compare school districts

To get an idea of how Fairfax County Schools compare with nearby school districts, let's look at 3 elements: Size, Cost per pupil, and High School graduation rate.

To look at each of these 3 elements in detail (with a supporting graph), keep reading on to the complete article:
How does Fairfax County Public Schools compare with nearby districts?

See you on the other side!

Last year, my friend Chelsea moved to a lovely home that was assigned to her favorite Fairfax County schools.  This summer, she called me frantically asking about what to do because she had been notified that the High School boundary was in a study to be re-organized and she wasn't sure about the new assignment.

 

She then told her friend, Becky, who was moving to the DC area that it was pointless to choose a home by school. After all, the boundaries change and the house she chose could be re-assigned to a different school than the one she wanted.

 

School boundary changes aren't as terrible as they seem

After I calmed each of them down, I explained to them that school boundaries in our County don't change as often as it seemed.  Plus, when there is a change, there's plenty of advance notice - many times there's a year or two (or more!) prior to the re-organization.  And, many of the kids who would be directly affected with a change in the middle of their school experience are grandfathered to finish their studies in the school where they started.

 

But, why are Chelsea and Becky so worried about changing school boundaries?

In Fairfax County, there is no open enrollment. Enrollment in a Fairfax County school is primarily done by school attendance area (or school boundary). There are some exceptions, of course, but the only way of ensuring that a child attends a specific school is to live within the boundary of that school.

However, even when one lives in the school boundary of choice, the boundaries can change.

To learn more about Fairfax County School boundaries, read on: Fairfax County Schools: How often do boundaries change?

See you on the other side. ;)

 

A few months ago, Alison and James were moving her family from Japan (Tokyo) to the Washington, DC area.   They chose schools in the Fairfax County Public School district for their kids, and even narrowed down their search to a couple of neighborhoods that belonged inside their desired school boundaries.  
Once Alison and James short-listed their favorite neighborhoods, they wanted to know how they would get to work.

So, I presented Alison and James with the following 7 commuting options (starting with riding the Metro into Washington, DC):

1. Ride the Metro

Metro is the subway system that connects DC with its suburbs.  

• The yellow line connects the southern part of DC with the South-East part of Fairfax County (Alexandria, VA).
• The blue line connects Washington, D.C. with Springfield, VA (more toward the South of Fairfax County)
• The orange line connects downtown DC with Vienna, Virginia (right around the center of Fairfax County).   
• The new "Silver" line will connect Tysons Corner (just north of Vienna, Virginia) and, eventually, the Dulles Airport (the western part of Fairfax County, VA) with Washington, DC via rail.

As you can see, the Metro reaches far into Fairfax County, but the County is very large, and sometimes riding the a bus is a better choice.

2. Ride the bus  

Metrobus, Fairfax Connector, Fairfax Cue, etc., etc.: There are plenty of bus options in Fairfax County.  One way to plan the best route is to use the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) Trip Planner.  WMATA's trip planner can also include Metro rail as an option for part or all of the trip.

And speaking of rail options, there is an alternative rail in Virginia to get to downtown Washington: the Virginia Railway Express (VRE)

3. Ride the VRE

The Virginia Railway Express (VRE) is another way to commuting by rail to and from Washington, D.C.. The VRE has two lines:

• The Fredericksburg line leaves from Union Station and links the southern part of Fairfax County all the way to Lorton,VA going through Springfield, VA (still within Fairfax County, VA).  This line continues south to Fredericksburg, VA (not in Fairfax County).
• The Manassas line also leaves from Union Station, and it links some of the western parts of Fairfax County (Burke, VA and Springfield,VA); and it continues west toward Manassas, VA (outside of Fairfax County - in Prince William County, VA).

If rail and bus aren't the best options for commuting, there are other good options such as:


4. Driving a car
5. Carpooling (including "slugging")
6. Biking to work, and
7. Mix n' match

As you can see, there are plenty of options for getting to work when you live in Fairfax County, VA.

Next Step

Click on The 7 tips on transportation (from Fairfax County to DC) for an extended explanation of the last 4 tips for commuting - plus, you can download a FREE PDF of the 7 Tips on Transportation (from Fairfax County, VA to Washington, DC) WITH links to external resources about each of the tips mentioned.


Metro Map

The first two reasons to love Reston, VA could very well be the two elementary schools named after two of the most famous astronauts in the world:  Neil Armstrong (Armstrong Elementary School) and Buzz Aldrin (Aldrin Elementary School).  But let's leave those aside for a moment.  

Aside from these two lovely facts, there are at least three more reasons to love Reston which deserve the spotlight:

• Lifestyle
• Lots of Housing options
• Wonderful Schools

 

1. Lifestyle

Reston was originally conceived in the 1960's by Robert E. Simon. His idea was to create a planned community where people could live, play, and work without having to go too far. 

Reston's inhabitants can enjoy all kinds of activities just a few short minutes from home:

• From going to work, to high-end shopping, plus lots of wooded areas, trails, parks, streams and several lakes.  
• There are also over a dozen swimming pools, dozens of tennis courts, and even a community center with a theater.  
• Reston Town Center offers restaurants, shops, as well as a Pavillion that hosts summer concerts and even a winter skating rink.  

As you see, in Reston, there is no need to go very far from home or work to find something fun to do. And if you live in Reston, you will find that there are plenty of housing options from you to choose from:

 

2. Lots of housing options

Reston has some of the newest homes in Fairfax Virginia - Reston Town Center has several high-rises with luxury condos. There are also established communities with homes ranging from condos, through townhomes, a few duplexes, and plenty of single family homes.  The price ranges of housing in Reston also offer something from everyone.  

And, since in Fairfax County, public schools are assigned based on a home address, it's important to know that schools in Reston are highly rated.

 

3. Wonderful Fairfax County Schools

In general, Fairfax County Schools have been consistently ranked among the top 6% in the US by Newsweek. But their rankings aren't all; parents, teachers and students all work together to make their schools a great place to learn.

Specifically, in Reston, kids attend up to 3 different high schools: The majority of the children go to either South Lakes High School (and its feeder schools), or to Herndon High School (and its feeder schools). A few homes closer to the northern side of Reston are assigned to the Langley High School Pyramid.

 

Summary

As you can see, Reston does have a little bit of everything for everyone: highly rated schools, all kinds of housing options, and a lifestyle hard to find anywhere else.

 

Next step

If you'd like to find out about Jobs and Transporation options in Reston, read the expanded article:

5 Reasons to Love Reston, VA

 

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If you are planning on moving to the Washington, D.C metro area, you'll want to save yourself 97 hours of research.  Download The FREE No-Tears Guide to Moving to Fairfax, VA
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Image by Joshua Davis