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Louise Archer Elementary School

Vienna, VA 22180

Phone: (703) 937-6200
District: Fairfax County Public Schools

School Review
GreatSchools Reviews
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GreatSchools Rating

public • Grades PK,KG,1,2,3,4,5,6 • 545 students

Louise Archer Elementary School, a public school located in Vienna, VA, serves grades PK-6 in the Fairfax County Public Schools.It has received a GreatSchools Rating of 10 out of 10, based on a variety of school quality measures.

Louise Archer Elementary School is a public school located in Vienna, VA. 545 students attend Louise Archer Elementary School.

School Ratings

Category	Rating	Details
Test Scores	9/10	The Test Score Rating examines how students at this school performed on standardized tests compared with other schools in the state. The Test Rating was created using 2025 Virginia Standards of Learning data from Virginia Department of Education, and using 2025 Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) End-of-Course data from Virginia Department of Education.
Student Growth	10/10	The Student Progress Rating measures whether students at this school are making academic progress over time based on student growth data provided by the Department of Education. Specifically, this rating looks at how much progress individual students have made on state assessments during the past year or more, how this performance aligns with expected progress based on a student growth model established by the state Department of Education, and how this school's growth data compares to other schools in the state. The Growth Rating was created using 2025 Student growth data from Virginia Department of Education.

Posted: August 24, 2026

Some of the administrator team and teachers are not friendly and professional.

Posted: August 24, 2026

Posted: May 29, 2026

LAES is a great school. Please visit.

Posted: May 29, 2026

Posted: September 15, 2024

Louise Archer has been an amazing school for our family.

Following their start at a Montessori school, our kids tested into the AAP program for their third grade. Despite the fact that we live only a few blocks from the school, our base school was Flint Hill. All of them joined Louise Archer as it is a magnet AAP school.

When the kids joined the school, we attended the school open house. We were inspired by the Principal's welcome and reading list for parents and we decided we wanted to support their mission. As parents, we got involved with a variety of school activities and programs including as coaches for the Odyssey of the Mind competitions, the Science Olympiad competitions, the Math competitions, chaperones for multiple school field trips and camps and we helped out with the many events at the school such as the field days, the music concerts and the sock hops. As a family we participated in the fun runs and 5ks. Consequently we got to know many of the teachers, administrative staff and Principal as well as other parents. The willingness of the school to encourage our participation not only connected us to the school and the community, it also strengthened the bond between the school and our kids as well as between us and our kids.

Our overall impression of Louise Archer is that the school provides an educationally challenging, fostering, caring environment for kids to pursue their varied interests. The school provided support and advice for our kids' challenges. The breadth of the teachers' mastery in their subjects and their interests translated into a cacophony of educational stimuli that have enriched our child's lives.

Two of our children went on to TJ and have now just started college, one is pre-med and the other in computer and data science and the third is close behind.

Even though the kids have left the school we are in touch with the teachers and our youngest, who is now in high school, decided to become a mentor to kids in Louise Archer. In their spare time, both of our older college kids are now tutoring younger kids in Math and English.

We believe that school is what you make of it and you should only expect to get the benefit of something commensurate with what you put in. For us we received so much more than we gave.

Posted: September 15, 2024

Posted: August 12, 2023

Louise Archer Elementary School has proven to be an unfortunate choice for my children's education. The school's unwelcoming atmosphere and lackluster approach to fostering a positive learning environment have left us deeply disappointed. Despite having experienced other great schools in Vienna, our time at Louise Archer has been marked by disinterest from the administration, unengaging teaching methods, and a dearth of extracurricular opportunities. Regrettably, I caution Vienna parents against enrolling their children here, especially if they value a supportive and enriching educational experience.

Having experienced other exceptional schools in Vienna, Louise Archer Elementary stands out as the worst my children have attended. The school's apparent lack of concern for fostering a welcoming community has made the transition challenging for my kids. The academic experience has been lackluster, with disengaged teachers and a curriculum that fails to cater to individual learning needs. I urge parents to explore alternatives that offer a more positive and nurturing environment for their children's education.

Posted: August 12, 2023

Posted: April 16, 2021

We have had a wonderful experience here - two kids, one in AAP. The teachers have been caring, dynamic, and communicative. The curriculum incorporates the Positivity Project to teach virtues like tolerance, integrity, perseverance, kindness, and optimism. My kids classes have been diverse and have celebrated cultural differences. This is a small school with a small community where kids can feel save, thrive, and learn.

Posted: June 23, 2020

Great neighborhood school with excellent staff and teachers, with strong support and stable leadership from the same principal for many years. My kids have met many teachers that are both loving and properly strict to better shape both their academic learning and character developments. The school also has excellent extra-curriculum programs as well, such as music and art. My family simply love the school as is.

Posted: June 23, 2020

Posted: March 10, 2019

Homework loads are wildly inconsistent across teachers and tracks ("AAP" and "Base"). Weeks can go by with only negligible assignments, followed by a 2-3 day deluge of in-depth project work.

Posted: March 10, 2019

There are some outstanding teachers, here. There are also quite a few that in my untrained opinion require medical assistance. But such is the state of teaching in America, these days.

Posted: March 10, 2019

Self-confident kids will be fine. Quieter kids, especially those who do not test well (and thus get tracked into AAP) will easily get lost.

Posted: March 10, 2019

School leadership seems content to rest on LAES's laurels for being an AAP Magnet school. Information parents receive is only as good as the volunteer currently running the PTA

Posted: March 10, 2019

Accommodations are made in proportion to the amount parents badger the school leadership. The resources are there; they are just not proactively deployed.

Posted: March 10, 2019

Bullying did not seem to be a major issue at LAES. While it exists, to be sure, teachers and parents tend to work to minimize it. LAES is not perfect, but it is at least a little better than most other elementary schools, on this front.

Posted: March 10, 2019

My parental experience with LAES is best described as "OK." I had one kid in the AAP program, and another kid who is clearly smart enough for AAP (that's not parental bias, that's observing the non-AAP sibling doing the AAP sibling's homework with ease), but who is also hyperactive and does not test well. The school put the hyper kid in "Base," and thus ensured three years (4th - 6th grades) of abject boredom. The AAP courses were generally challenging. Like all elementary schools in Fairfax County, foreign language education is purely on an elective (before or after school) basis. This is the best America has to offer, apparently, and it is very much an underwhelming, middle-of-the-road experience. Teacher quality varies widely, especially in the "Base" program. But don't worry, your property taxes will still increase year-after-year, to keep it all humming along.

Posted: August 12, 2018

Agree. Caution. I am a parent of a two gifted kids at LAES. Like the other reviews, I agree that this school is inconsistent in it's distribution of resources (including kindness) across the "Base" and AAP programs. With a gifted kid in each program, I can see how unable the school is to deal with learning differences. These kids are treated like second class citizens by staff and other students who quickly pick up on the culture. Our previous neighborhood school had no AAP program so this has been great, except that part and parcel of the education is conceit and lack of responsibility to a community, to help your neighbor, to treat everyone with respect, regardless of which 3rd grade class they are in. The administration institutionalizes looking the other way while "mean" and "shaming" teachers vent their frustrations on other people's children. "You'll never amount to anything," was a nice phrase my kid brought home. Awesome. The school wanted to provide me with an explanation.

Posted: April 1, 2018

This school is excellent academically - it is an AAP center with a prestigious name, teachers who consistently live up to that name, and students who challenge themselves and each other to be the best. The new Greatschools rating system appears to penalize any school which has a low-income population. Notice that schools without low-income populations are consistently ranked higher in the DC area. The Equity information is inappropriately and unfairly weighted into the overall rating of the school. Greatschools needs to rethink this policy - unless it is trying to signal to people that they should not attend schools with low-income children!

Posted: April 1, 2018

Posted: March 18, 2018

great neighborhood school. With all the building it is getting more crowded but the school is doing what they can. involved parents and staff.

Posted: March 13, 2018

best school ive ever been too. highly recommend. great teachers and had a great time.

Posted: October 26, 2015

Our Daughter attended the Advanced academic Program (AAP fromerly called GT program) in LAES from 2011 to 2104 and now our son is also starting the program in 2015.
The administration and teacher are excellent, the school have excellent resources and the PTA is very well organized. The building is not the newest in town but has a nice history and tradition and is well maintained.
The focus of the school is on mutual respect and kindness, and of course academic excellence.
My recommendation is to not put your children in training or special activities to get them in the APP program. If you children is not genuinely gifted it will be difficult to keep the pace of the program, but if they are this place will given them the opportunity to explore his talents at the proper pace and surrounded by similar minds.

Posted: August 12, 2014

This school should be approached with caution as it is not a typical elementary school. Although it is meant to be a community school, it functions as a "gifted magnet" for a large percentage of the student population. Any parent would be prudent to ponder the divisiveness of this arrangement for not only the student population but the teaching staff as well. It would be wise to think about the impact this arrangement has on school-wide extracurriculars particularly those with limited enrollment opportunity--science olympiad, lego robotics, math clubs, chess club. In the absence of its own positive identity, the "base population" is unjustifiably cast in the roll of academic "have-nots." Prospective parents should know that there are safeguards in place to ensure the needs of the gifted are met, unfortunately this leads to an unevenness in resource distribution, and an actual skewing of data and ratios at a numbers level.

Posted: July 10, 2013

We have two kids at Louise Archer. This is our second year. We had very good experience so far. While it is at over capacity, the teachers and the administrators do a great job in creating a nurturing environment. We look forward to having many great years at this school.

Posted: June 21, 2013

Louise Archer Elementary school has amazing mix of excellent teachers and enthusiastic parents. Students do not get pressured but at the same time they learn so many things..AAP center is wonderfull here.

Posted: June 3, 2013

It is a great school. Strong academic and friendly, wonderful environment. Excellent staff and teachers.

Reviews provided by GreatSchools^™

#	Name	Type	City	State	Distance
1	Stonehurst	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Fairfax	VA	2.3 mi
2	Barkley	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Fairfax	VA	2.4 mi
3	Shreevewood	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Falls Church	VA	3.6 mi
4	Willow Woods	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Annandale	VA	5.4 mi
5	Broyhill Crest	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Annandale	VA	5.4 mi
6	Falls Church City	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Falls Church	VA	5.9 mi
7	Kings Park West	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Fairfax	VA	6.1 mi
8	Long Branch	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Annandale	VA	6.1 mi
9	Fox Mill Estates	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Herndon	VA	6.2 mi
10	The Elms	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Burke	VA	6.2 mi
11	Franklin Glen	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Fairfax	VA	6.8 mi
12	Middleridge	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Fairfax	VA	6.9 mi
13	Leeway Overlee - N Arlington	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Arlington	VA	7.4 mi
14	Burke Station Square	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Burke	VA	7.4 mi
15	Lewis Park	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Fairfax	VA	7.6 mi
16	North Springfield	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Springfield	VA	7.9 mi
17	Cardinal Forest	Neighborhood/Subdivision	West Springfield	VA	8.1 mi
18	Burke Conservancy	Neighborhood/Subdivision	Burke	VA	8.2 mi

#	Name	City	State	Distance
1	Vienna	Vienna	VA	0.7 mi
2	West Falls Church	Falls Church	VA	3.6 mi
3	Falls Church	Falls Church	VA	4.5 mi
4	Annandale	Annandale	VA	6.4 mi
5	Burke	Burke	VA	7.5 mi
6	Burke Centre	Burke	VA	7.5 mi
7	Chantilly	Chantilly	VA	8.2 mi

Base	Distance
Defense Health Headquarters Falls Church	4.3 mi.
NRO Chantilly	9.4 mi.
Mark Center Alexandria	9.9 mi.
Fort Myer	10.7 mi.
Henderson Hall	11.2 mi.
Pentagon	12.1 mi.
Walter Reed Medical Center	12.2 mi.
Fort McNair	14.2 mi.
Coast Guard Headquarters DC	14.4 mi.
Bolling AFB Joint Base Anacostia	14.6 mi.
Fort Belvoir	14.8 mi.
Washington Navy Yard	15.2 mi.
Marine Barracks Washington	15.3 mi.
Andrews AFB	21.9 mi.
Indian Head Naval Base	22.1 mi.
Quantico Marine Base	26.7 mi.
Fort Meade NSA	32 mi.
Fort Detrick	38.1 mi.
Dahlgren NSWC	40.7 mi.
US Naval Academy	42.9 mi.
Coast Guard Curtis Bay	43.3 mi.
Annapolis Naval Station	43.8 mi.

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Louise Archer Elementary School

Vienna, VA 22180

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