Daniels Run Elementary School

Daniels Run clearly does not care about test scores, as the ranking is far below average for Fairfax County. I'm not a stickler for test scores myself, but we need some focus on ensuring kids are learning at a reasonable pace, especially in Kindergarten. Kindergarten at this school is not ideal, and I wish I moved out beforehand.

Daniels Run cares about developing the whole child, not just test scores. The sense of community is strong and parents are active and welcome in the school. The school serves a diverse population of students and does it well. Highly recommend.

my daughter went to K for a half year her. during that time, she was punched in the eye by some autism bigger kid in the hallway, and get bite at. also we tried to switch teacher because the teacher she had has a newborn and was kind stressed out and will punish kids by having them stand alone and not participate or play. that's the worst punishment by k schoolers. tried to intervene by taking to principal but wasn't helpful. he just said wait and see. too bad i have to move just to have my daughter in a healthy supportive school environment. also one of the street crossing to school wasn't safe. i told the city council install a solar crosswalk light but they told me to wait for a neighborhood plan study. crosswalk light for kids is a no brainer to me.

Our son started in 2nd grade at this school and we are very happy with his experience. I relied a great deal on this website when looking for a house so I wanted to make sure to leave a positive review about Daniels Run. I don't believe the lower score properly reflects the school. Because of Fairfax County's gifted and talented program many of the brightest children in a particularly school may qualify to move to the nearest gifted & talented elementary school (for this area is it Mosby Woods). That pulls the tests scores up for Mosby Woods and down for Daniels Run. But that does not reflect the overall school and the education the children receive. We have been very happy with our son's experience. The principal is wonderful and the school offers many enriching classes in additions to the regular curriculum -- they have a wonderful art teacher, an Innovation Space (sort of like a Maker space where the children tinker and learn how to make things), Environmental education, and music. The school is very diverse and the faculty work hard to be welcoming to all cultures. We were please to learn that the 2nd grade teachers did not assign daily homework but instead asked parents to spend time reading with their children every night. We fill out a chart to track our reading hours. There is optional homework that parents can have their children do if they choose to. Daily homework in our son's previous school was challenging to finish since he was young and after the school day was over just wanted to play. I really recommend this school and encourage all parents who are looking at schools to 1) go to the school in person to check it out and 2) meet the principal. I've learned that it's ALL about the principal. A great principal is the leader that will really make for a great school environment.