It’s no secret that Arlington is a great place to live and work, and now a public elementary School is also getting noticed in a big way. The website Niche.com just ranked Arlington Traditional Elementary School at the top of the list when it comes to public elementary schools in Virginia. Niche takes in public data, and then adds in input from parents and students, before coming up with a ranking system to determine the nation’s best schools and neighborhoods. For 2017 that means Arlington Traditional gains the number one spot. Niche gives the elementary school an overall “A+” grade, with the highest marks for the school’s academics and its teachers. The lowest grade the school received was for diversity, but for that the school still garnered an “A-”. Taking a closer look at the findings, the elementary school ranked as number one in a category of more than 1,100 elementary schools across the state. It also came in at the number six spot when it comes to the state’s best teachers. The Niche website notes an impressive 98-percent of students at Arlington Traditional are proficient in reading, while an equally impressive 97-percent of them are proficient in math. With about 500 students, the student-teacher ratio is a manageable 17 to one. The magnet school relies on a lottery to get in, with students represented from across the county. Parents must apply before kindergarten, though, and there are often many more applicants than there are spaces for students. It is the school’s continuous marked success, however, that has new parents each year clamoring to enroll. It’s strong program praises educational success, with an emphasis on core subjects and traditional teaching methods, giving students a solid foundation for the future. Located near Ballston in the Bluemont neighborhood, Arlington Traditional takes in students from pre-K through the fifth grade.