The District — with Arlington grouped in — is rated among the top 10 best cities for families by Parenting magazine, although D.C.’s ranking dropped from the previous year. The reason: The magazine placed more importance on the quality of public school education.
“While D.C. schools may not have ranked as high as Arlington’s did this year, the city’s rankings for charm and culture are particularly strong and higher than Arlington’s, which shines in education,” Ana Connery, brand content director for the magazine, told The Washington Examiner. “These two categories balanced out to once again keep the area in the top 10.”
The combined area of D.C./Arlington ranked sixth out of the 100 largest cities in the United States for the best places to raise children. Cities were judged based on education, health, community, charm and culture. Other Washington suburbs were not included in the report because they did not break into the 100 most populous cities.
| Top 10 | ||
| City | Last year’s rank | |
| 1. Boston | 3 | |
| 2. Burlington, Vt. | N/A | |
| 3. Portland, Maine | N/A | |
| 4. Austin, Texas | 2 | |
| 5. Cheyenne, Wy. | N/A | |
| 6. Washington/Arlington | 1 | |
| 7. Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn. | 4 | |
| 8. Madison, Wis. | 6 | |
| 9. Omaha, Neb. | 8 | |
| 10. Sioux Falls, S.D. | N/A | |
| Source: Parenting magazine | ||
“D.C. continuously excels on culture and charm, giving families in both the urban and suburban areas easy access to outstanding cultural institutions,” Connery said.
The District ranked No. 1 for the magazine’s 2011 Best Cities for Families list, but after what the magazine called “a lot of controversy,” the editors decided to include Arlington for the 2012 report. Parenting posted online that many critiqued D.C. snagging the No. 1 spot because of the District’s “reputation for crime and poor performing schools.” Arlington won the top spot for the 2010 version of the list.
“Readers told us [education] is often the top priority in deciding where to raise their families,” she said. “That meant placing less emphasis on culture and charm.”
District schools have been under the microscope in recent years as school leaders have fired hundreds of teachers, closed schools and focused on data in an effort to turn around the low-performing campuses, which typically have ranked among the nation’s worst. It remains to be seen how much improvement the schools see from reforms implemented by former Chancellor Michelle Rhee and continued by her deputy chancellor, Kaya Henderson, who succeeded her in office.
However, the city has seen success in its earliest grades by investing heavily in preschool and prekindergarten programs. Enrollment increased in DC Public Schools for the first time since 1969 in the 2010-2011 school year, with the most growth in preschool and pre-K.
