Dranesville Elementary is located just outside the boundaries of the town of Herndon. The community is extremely supportive with thousands of volunteer hours logged each year as parents and educators work together in a nurturing community to provide a quality education for each student.

High expectations are held for student performance in all areas of the curriculum with an emphasis on developing thinking and problem-solving skills. Students are required to apply what they learn about basic reading, writing, and math to solve problems that they identify in the curriculum, the classroom, and the environment.

Modern technology, in the form of computers, is an important part of thoughtful analysis and problem solving. Each classroom has a minimum of three computers, but two computer labs are also available. As interactive Smart boards are added to classrooms, that tool is used to facilitate active student engagement. Beginning in third grade, all students are taught keyboarding skills. Students use the latest technology in the school library, and supervised Internet access is possible in each classroom. Although the school has a full-time technology resource, all teachers share in the technology instruction provided to all students.

Respect is a key term in understanding daily life at Dranesville. Students are due respect and they owe respect to adults and to each other. An emphasis on other widely accepted values, such as responsibility, trustworthiness, caring, fairness and citizenship is supported by Responsive Classroom strategies as outlined in our School Improvement Plan. The school has an active peer mediation and conflict resolution program. During the 2009-2010 school year, Dranesville is adding Positive Behavior Support to our programs in order to help all of our students make positive goals for the shared areas of the school.  Respect is a part of this program also, along with safety and responsibility. 

Physical education, art, and music are basic. Students participate each week in physical education and music classes taught by specialists. The art teacher works closely with classroom teachers to integrate art instruction. Each year, upper-level students seek out additional music instruction by enrolling band, strings, or chorus; membership usually tops 100 in each area!

The motto for Dranesville is "A World of Learning" which acknowledges the changing nature of the students, the community and the expectations for life in the 21 st century.