West Springfield High School

6100 Rolling Road

School District

Fairfax County Public Schools
Grade

9-12
Teacher/Student Ratio

1:17
Type

public

School Map for Fairfax County Public Schools

GreatSchools Rating

The school rating calculation is based on four ratings: the Student Progress Rating or Academic Progress Rating, College Readiness Rating, Equity Rating, and Test Score Rating each designed to show different facets of school success. Learn more about GreatSchools Ratings

Reviews

Submitted by parent on July 14, 2022

West Springfield is a big school, and the majority of the students and teachers here are nice. As a student with a 504 plan, for the most part it has been respected and implemented properly. The school is safe, and we have regular drills and very clear procedures. I will point out a few problems: This is an achievement-oriented school and there is a lot of pressure on us to take Honors, AP, DE, and get straight A's, be in honor societies, and be on a sport's team. They are trying to support student mental health and wellness, but the time where we did that was when we can work on assignments and study for tests. The teachers care about our mental health, but the student mental health lessons aren't helpful. This led to more stress because we had less time for our assignments, and we get a lot of them and I have had up to three tests in one day. Incidents where students use offensive humor (racist, sexist, homophobic, ablest "jokes") should be taken more seriously. On multiple accounts, I have heard my peers use the r-slur, racial slurs, racist jokes or say "special ed" as a derogatory term.
Submitted by other on February 08, 2022

I attended WSHS before and during its renovation, hence losing a star. The school is beautiful now, but had a lot of issues when I attended. I went to WSHS because of bullying issues at South County. The atmosphere at WSHS is very welcoming and pushes students, sometimes a bit much, to succeed. Nearly every person from my class went to and finished college. Many of us, including myself, also went to graduate schools. WSHS pushes students to succeed academically and puts a huge emphasis on AP courses. AP courses help the school, but not the students; always try for dual enrollment instead! WSHS is a fairly diverse school that celebrates differences. Being a new student, I struggled at first to make friends but joining clubs and athletic programs is the easiest way to meet people and “fit in” at WSHS. WSHS is like all high schools: there are popular kids, kids who do drugs, kids who do very well, and kids who slack off, but I found this school to have majority of its students really want to succeed. Looking back at my time as a student, I realize just how much my teachers cared and that the homework I thought was so difficult was actually fairly manageable (despite the AP courses). I enjoyed my time at WSHS and met many wonderful people there.
Submitted by parent on September 21, 2020

My experience is based on four sons who had different personalities and talents and their needs were met and more. One in foreign languages, one in music, one in history and one in drama. It might have helped that my wife and I were actively involved in school activities also.
Submitted by other on September 21, 2020

I was a former student at this school. Teachers are not effective and a lot of them seem inexperienced. They didn't really teach, just handed out packets to do. There were some good teachers, but most of them were mediocre and subpar. Teachers also favored certain students even if they were not worthy of a good grade. Especially the English department, they did not prepare me for college writing. They rewarded basic levels of writing that was below what advanced writing should be. A lot of teachers dumbed down the material and if you were to write above their basic standards, they would give you a lower grade. Multiple teachers I had got frustrated easily and did not take the time to teach. They seemed easily overwhelmed and did not do their job. Whenever I tried to meet them after school, they would ignore me and not show up at all. If they did meet me, it was only for a couple of minutes. Multiple teachers did this throughout my four years. When asked a question they would get frustrated and would not explain. Teachers rushed through material and didn't take the time to teach the new concepts. The counseling office didn't know how to help with the college process and did not give helpful information in regards to preparing us. Overall a below average experience.
Submitted by parent on April 26, 2019

We’ve been very pleased with the quality of the educators, the curriculum, and the overall atmosphere of the school. The newly updated facilities are also state of the art.
Submitted by parent on November 10, 2018

Excellent school! My husband and I are so glad we moved to this area when we were relocated to DC. My daughter can't say enough good things about it and feels right at home. The renovations are a nice bonus. It's gonna look incredible when finished. Two thumbs up
Submitted by parent on November 06, 2018

It looks good from the outside but grades are highly inflated. Students pass classes without any real knowledge of the subject and then move on to the next class, only to struggle and yet keep getting passed on. There are too many opportunities to pass in late work and retake tests, and this isn't preparing students for the real world and as such they are struggling in college. There are no consequences for student issues like tardies, cheating, disrespect, and leaving campus. The principal seems concerned with pushing his agenda through and doesn't seem to want feedback from parents, students, or teachers. And there is way too much emphasis on the state tests.
Submitted by parent on May 09, 2018

Excellent teachers, principal is really on it. Under renovation but it's going to be gorgeous!
Submitted by parent on May 01, 2017

Fantastic school located in an involved community!
Submitted by student on November 29, 2016

Alright, so I've been here for three years. I'm a junior and I will say that this school has it's ups and downs. We're in the middle of construction, yes. However, to address the young person that commented saying this school is terrible, the teachers work hard and their methods may not work but they care about the students as they are. I myself take my time and get to know the teachers. Honors classes are a breeze and should be taken into account that the teachers will pile on more homework because you believe you are up to the challenge since you decided on what classes you would take. AP classes are a lot of by yourself work. Do not take them lightly and be prepared to, sadly, loose sleep. Now, students may complain and say that they feel like everything is unfair, but isn't that everyone? This school is probably better than most right now. I mean, we're stuck outside in trailers half the time while freshmen are coddled inside. I will only say that no one deserves to be disrespected the way people do it online. I will not stand to have children of all things say that about teachers they barely know. I have my opinions, you have your's, but do not hate the teacher. Figure it out how you work and make your path because this school has the tools where you can do it.
Submitted by student on October 19, 2015

I am currently a freshman at West Springfield, I honestly can say it is awful! To start off this is the last school to be renovated in fairfax county and lets just say it not a lovely sight, most classrooms are to cheap to even have white boards and they still have old fashioned chalk blackboards! But looking past the building it is still horrible! I took three honors classes and had to switch out of all but one because it is way to much to handle on top of all my other classes! I have been taking advanced placement classes for a very long time with no issue, but here the honors program is just a lot of extra work and nothing but work! Each honors teacher at West Springfield treats you like their class is your only class and loads you with on a average at least an hour of homework for each class a night! The regular classes are not much better with I would say an average of 30 minutes or more each night! Add that all together with seven classes! THATS A LOT OF HOMEWORK! That does not even count for the many projects they assign you! Also THE TEACHERS DON'T TEACH! I just moved here from out of the area and in a 55 minute class I feel like we got more done than in their 1 hour and 30 minute long classes here! The teachers barley teach for example they will say something once and never repeat it and if you did not happen to hear it then you are screwed for your next test because that thing they mentioned ever so briefly will certainly be on there! Moving on from the horrible teachers, you would think since Springfield gets a lot of military families moving in and out frequently they would be used to getting new students set up with all of there online programs, but NO THEY ACTED LIKE THEY HAD NEVER HAD A STUDENT THAT WAS NOT FROM FCPS ATTEND THEIR SCHOOL! It took me forever to be able to log on to the school computers and I still have no idea what my school e-mail is! ON TOP OF ALL OF THIS I AM A STUDENT ATHLETE, there is no possible way to mange practice for 2 hours everyday after school and for 2 hours from 8 am to 10 am on Saturdays with all of the HOMEWORK! We just had a for day weekend and my family and I could not enjoy it because I was doing homework the whole time! Furthermore, I have also not felt welcomed at all by students or staff, this is my 7th move and I can easily say its been the WORST! In conclusion, DON"T SEND YOUR CHILD HERE!
Submitted by student on January 13, 2014

Whatever you do, do not have your child take French. When you start a foreign language, you are saddled with it, and as a result I am now stuck with a teacher who never teaches us anything and expects us to know what we're doing 100% of the time. Honors classes are not as scary as they sound do not be afraid to take them. They are a great alternative to AP courses.
Submitted by parent on August 24, 2013

My son graduated from West Springfield High School. It is a good high school. We moved from Michigan to Virginia. My son found the school officials friendly
Submitted by parent on October 12, 2012

WSHS is on the safest HS in the county. We moved from Lake Braddock school because there were entirely too many students there 4500+. My daughter loves WSHS and the administration does a great job of keeping the parents informed, especially when something unforeseen happens. The school DOES NOT try to hide incidents that occur at or around the school to make the school look better. Student safety is WSHS #1 priority and I have the emails from the school to prove it. Anyone who thinks WSHS does not keep the parents informed must not have an email account. I have countless emails from WSHS. One could actually become annoyed from being too informed by the administration. Anytime something happens at our school or anywhere else, we receive an email from our school and the FCPS.