I am an alumna -- class of 1999, although I did go back briefly for part of my student teaching in 2009. In that time, the basic ethos of the school seemed not to have changed.
In terms of academics, Langley is pretty high up there. I don't know them to do the IB (International Baccalaureate) program like South Lakes in Reston; but they were beginning to offer AP courses while I was a student, and I suspect that the rate of participation in those courses has gone up since my time. One of the biggest complaints I'd hear while at Langley was one of academic rigor to an extreme, typically from parents, although from students as well. In that regard, Langley has had a reputation for preparing young people for college and professional work. Some of my classmates went on to Ivy League schools and/or became doctors and attorneys. I myself have a graduate degree these days. Langley did a great job -- as did our Fairfax County feeder schools in Langley's pyramid -- of laying a good groundwork for us.
As for the teachers, it seemed to me that several had been teaching at Langley for more than a decade, if not multiple decades. The "bad" teachers I have known at Langley -- those who can't manage a class well -- in my day were a fluke and typically lasted only a year.
Langley can have a bit of a "sink or swim" mentality to academics. Teachers may generally expect students to turn to peers to get caught up when they're out sick, because they really don't have much time to reteach every kid every time someone's out for something. While this may not be the norm elsewhere, it actually taught us to be disciplined and gave us a taste of the real world. It was stressful, though, especially when we were out sick and fell behind. Still, most of us got it to work. For what it's worth, I did graduate with a GPA in excess of 3.5; but I had to bust my tail for it. It was probably similar for many of my classmates.
The students I went to school with were more interested in performing strongly academically and going on to college than in getting involved in gangs and strung out on drugs (although some of my classmates would do the underage drinking and tobacco smoking thing). Drugs and teenage pregnancy were so rare when I was there, that they were the subject of gossip, in the form of, "That was so stupid that So-and-so did X. What are they going to do now?" (Note: If a young lady gets pregnant, there is now an organization called Generation Hope that helps DC Metro region college students get through college while parenting. They also support single dads. I recommend reaching out to that organization if this situation arises and the student is otherwise able to go to college locally.)
Langley in my day was a fairly safe and stable school environment -- one conducive to learning. Yes, every once in a long while we had two young men fighting in the halls or on school grounds; but staff members would quickly break up those very infrequent fights and discipline the young men. From what I could tell, it tended to be over insults or personal reputation and tended not to involve weapons. Anyone who was good-natured and minded their own business didn't really have anything to worry about.
For the most part, my classmates were good-natured, respectful kids. Some of them were cliquish and snobbish; but those types also tended to be more insecure than the rest of us, so we would learn to ignore their attempts to feel superior to the rest of us. Many kids I went to school with were actually fairly down-to-earth, despite our parents' wealth.
With regards to diversity: Langley is not representative of most US communities: they have very few low-income students, and non-Caucasians are often Arab, Muslim and Asian.
Overall, I felt that I got a good education at Langley, and I liked a lot of my more down-to-earth classmates.
All USA
I am an alumna -- class of 1999, although I did go back briefly for part of my student teaching in 2009. In that time, the basic ethos of the school seemed not to have changed. In terms of academics, Langley is pretty high up there. I don't know them to do the IB (International Baccalaureate) program like South Lakes in Reston; but they were beginning to offer AP courses while I was a student, and I suspect that the rate of participation in those courses has gone up since my time. One of the biggest complaints I'd hear while at Langley was one of academic rigor to an extreme, typically from parents, although from students as well. In that regard, Langley has had a reputation for preparing young people for college and professional work. Some of my classmates went on to Ivy League schools and/or became doctors and attorneys. I myself have a graduate degree these days. Langley did a great job -- as did our Fairfax County feeder schools in Langley's pyramid -- of laying a good groundwork for us. As for the teachers, it seemed to me that several had been teaching at Langley for more than a decade, if not multiple decades. The "bad" teachers I have known at Langley -- those who can't manage a class well -- in my day were a fluke and typically lasted only a year. Langley can have a bit of a "sink or swim" mentality to academics. Teachers may generally expect students to turn to peers to get caught up when they're out sick, because they really don't have much time to reteach every kid every time someone's out for something. While this may not be the norm elsewhere, it actually taught us to be disciplined and gave us a taste of the real world. It was stressful, though, especially when we were out sick and fell behind. Still, most of us got it to work. For what it's worth, I did graduate with a GPA in excess of 3.5; but I had to bust my tail for it. It was probably similar for many of my classmates. The students I went to school with were more interested in performing strongly academically and going on to college than in getting involved in gangs and strung out on drugs (although some of my classmates would do the underage drinking and tobacco smoking thing). Drugs and teenage pregnancy were so rare when I was there, that they were the subject of gossip, in the form of, "That was so stupid that So-and-so did X. What are they going to do now?" (Note: If a young lady gets pregnant, there is now an organization called Generation Hope that helps DC Metro region college students get through college while parenting. They also support single dads. I recommend reaching out to that organization if this situation arises and the student is otherwise able to go to college locally.) Langley in my day was a fairly safe and stable school environment -- one conducive to learning. Yes, every once in a long while we had two young men fighting in the halls or on school grounds; but staff members would quickly break up those very infrequent fights and discipline the young men. From what I could tell, it tended to be over insults or personal reputation and tended not to involve weapons. Anyone who was good-natured and minded their own business didn't really have anything to worry about. For the most part, my classmates were good-natured, respectful kids. Some of them were cliquish and snobbish; but those types also tended to be more insecure than the rest of us, so we would learn to ignore their attempts to feel superior to the rest of us. Many kids I went to school with were actually fairly down-to-earth, despite our parents' wealth. With regards to diversity: Langley is not representative of most US communities: they have very few low-income students, and non-Caucasians are often Arab, Muslim and Asian. Overall, I felt that I got a good education at Langley, and I liked a lot of my more down-to-earth classmates.