Ask Adam: Real Estate & Elementary Schools

This periodic sponsored Q&A column is written by Adam Gallegos of Arlington-based real estate firm Arbour Realty, voted one of Arlington Magazine’s Best Realtors of 2013. Please submit follow-up questions in the comments section or via email.

Question: We are going to be moving from Maryland to Northern Virginia with our 6 and 9 year old.  We are not familiar with Arlington yet and I am wondering if you can point us in the direction of any tools that will help us find the right elementary school district for our future home. 

First of all, welcome to Northern Virginia.  It seems all too rare an occasion that someone makes a move from one side of the Potomac River to the other.

In regards to researching elementary schools in Arlington, you may want to explore GreatSchools.org.  Each school gets a 1-10 rating based on a comparison of test results within the state.  Of course, they also recommend factoring in other information, including the quality of each school’s teachers, the school culture, special programs, etc.. You may want to start that process by reading the reviews on GreatSchools.org.  This is where parents, teachers and students can post reviews.

Since receiving your question, I spent some time creating a list of all the elementary schools in Arlington. I included in the list, the GreatSchool.org rating, median home sales price in the school’s district and a link to listings in that district.  Below is a sample of the list.

Abingdon

• GreatSchools.org Rating = 4
• Median home sale price (1/2013) = $398,000
• Listings in Abingdon school district

Ashlawn

• GreatSchools.org Rating = 9
• Median home sale price (1/2013) = $496,500
• Listings in Ashlawn school district

Barcroft

• GreatSchools.org Rating = 6
• Median home sale price (1/2013) = $525,000
• Listings in Barcroft school district

Barrett

• GreatSchools.org Rating = 6
• Median home sale price (1/2013) = $200,000
• Listings in Barrett school district

If you find this guide helpful, you can click the following link and bookmark the full list of Arlington public elementary schools.  It’s only meant to give you a very high level view of your options, but I think it can be a great place to start.

I’m hoping that some of our readers will provide additional advice, tips and tools in the comments.

The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.