Cardinal Forest Elementary School

This school is one of the worst elementary schools not only in Fairfax county, but in the entire state. It does not measure up to the reputation that Fairfax County has for the quality of its schools and is consistently in the habit of treating education as an absolute joke. The curriculum is followed only superficially and there is absolutely no evidence that the teachers are invested in their students. Communication is at is absolute worst. If you have a child in this school, be prepared to teach your children any and all concepts that are supposed to be taught in school. Otherwise, your child will be disadvantaged. If you are planning to move to this area specifically for this school, please do yourself a favor and reconsider your options. You will be greatly disappointed. I am very much looking forward to have my child leave this school and hopefully catch up in middle school.

Our kids enjoy going to school every day and we have seen them progress here from being at or below grade level to performing well above grade level. One of the teachers we've seen was below average, but our children's other teachers have been fantastic!

We cannot say enough good things about this school! We're a military family and have had our children in four different elementary schools. This school stands out for a lot of good reasons and my kids are typically more excited about going to school and learning here than any of their other schools. I've heard a couple of reasons why this school receives a lower rating than other nearby schools (the primary being that some high-scoring students are pulled from this school to the nearby Keene Mill, which artificially inflates Keene Mill's test scores and deflates Cardinal Forest's scores, particularly with regard to minority students). Whatever the reason, I would strongly argue that the score for this school underrepresents the quality of the education here. Based on our experience with other schools, I would say this school should probably be a "7" or "8." All of my children have seen their test scores go up since coming to Cardinal Forest and are now reading well above grade level.

Our children have really enjoyed the school, and we have enjoyed how the school has helped us connect as a community and collectively assist with the education of our children. The test ratings don’t do it justice at all, as it’s a really great school with an incredible diversity that helps children learn more than just test taking strategies.