K-12

Fairfax County is an excellent environment in which to raise and educate children. The area has a diverse, cosmopolitan population base, as well as a remarkable wealth of cultural and recreational resources that provide abundant opportunities for children to learn and grow.

Fairfax County Public Schools

The Fairfax County Public School System is nationally recognized for its academic excellence. With a $2.2 billion budget, the school system offers a full range of secondary school options, including the well known Thomas Jefferson School for Science and Technology.

Among the school system's many achievements are:

• Nearly 95 percent of high school graduates go on to some form of post-secondary education;
• Expansion Management magazine named Fairfax County Public Schools system a "gold medal" district. Fairfax schools received the highest score of any large U.S. school system;
• In the 2008-2009 school year, 194 Fairfax County Public School students were National Merit Scholars.

The Fairfax County business community is very active in the public schools, providing technology assistance, grants, mentoring programs and a host of other activities. Annually, some 77,000 volunteers donate more than a million hours of their time and expertise to the school system.

The Fairfax County Public School system has a number of special programs designed to assist children and adults at all learning levels.

• Foreign Language Immersion Programs are available in French, Spanish, Japanese and German in select schools. Students spend half the day studying the regular grade-level curriculum in classes conducted in a foreign language (French, German, Japanese or Spanish). The other half of the day is conducted in English.
• Gifted and Talented Programs are available at all schools. Full-time learning centers for gifted and talented students are available at select schools for grades 3-8.
• Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology offers a comprehensive college preparatory program emphasizing science, mathematics and technology.
• All Fairfax County high school students can accelerate their studies through participation in International Baccalaureate or Advanced Placement programs. The International Baccalaureate (IB) Program is a rigorous pre-university course of study designed for highly motivated secondary school students. The IB diploma program is currently offered in 138 countries worldwide and students can transfer from one IB diploma school to another. In addition, three FCPS middle schools offer the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program, which provides a challenging academic framework for students in grades six through 10.
• The Advanced Placement (AP) Program gives students the chance to try college-level work in high school earning credit accepted at many U.S. colleges. Fairfax County Public Schools is one of 20 school districts nationwide approved to offer an AP diploma. Students can take standard and AP courses via distance learning or the Internet in topics such as statistics, biology, economics, psychology and history.
• Fairfax County Public Schools Office of Adult and Community Education provides programs to meet the educational and lifelong learning needs of the community, with a special emphasis on the adult population particularly in vocational skills, basic education skills, high school credit completion and English as a second language.

Private/Parochial Schools

In addition to Fairfax County’s excellent public school system, a number of private institutions, including four international schools, are in the area to give parents a full range of education options. Web sites providing information and links to schools in the area include the National Association of Independent Schools and the National Center for Education Statistics.

Select International Schools – Washington, D.C., Region

• Washington International School (Washington , D.C.)
• Lycee Rochambeau (Washington, D.C.; French international school)
• British School of Washington (Washington , D.C.)
• German School (Potomac, MD)