We're thinking about moving from Houston to Austin and I was wondering if anyone can give me some info on the Austin area school districts. Which ones are good/terrible, etc...
Eanes ISD-- Westlake, Late Travis ISD-- Lakeway, Spicewood, and Bee Caves, and parts of West Austin are very good. A lot of the Leander ISD-- Cedar Park, Schools are very good as well. You have to be careful w/ Austin ISD. Some of the schools are fantastic, and some of them are terrible. Some of the terrible ones have a reputation for being good. Manor, Elgin, and Dell Valle are terrible. W/ Round Rock and Pfugerville, parts of it are very good and parts of it are pretty bad.
Thanks! Is there a map out there that shows the district lines? As for Pflugerville and Round Rock, any specific areas that are bad/good? GreatSchools.net wasn't much help as I don't know what to look for.
Round Rock ISD School Ratings: The Link I don't hear a lot of good things about Stoney Point High School. Austin ISD TEA Ratings: The Link A side note: Do not use the frequently touted "Blue Ribbon School" designation as an accurate assessment of a school's quality. Case in point: Crockett HS has been designated a "Blue Ribbon School", yet is rated as academically "unacceptable" by the TEA.
We live in Austin ISD on the Doss, Murchison and Anderson track. Granted, our oldest two kids are only in first grade, but we love it so far and have heard mostly good things about the future schools (I'm not sure any middle school is great).
Round Rock ISD can be good in the right areas. You can't go to Stony Point for sure. McNeil and RR high can be good depending on how you get there though the Elementary and Middle Schools. Westwood is good and especially if you go through the Caraway (Elem) and Canyon Vista (Middle school)) tract. My son is currently in Caraway Elementary. Lake Travis and Eanes have great records and stats but all of the experience I have had with them are tainted by the classist/elitest attitudes of the parents and student. My experience with Westlake is only in going to games and being around the area. I graduated from Lake Travis quite few years back and spend a lot of time out there and know quite few people out there. As far as AISD goes, stick with Austin High or Anderson High. Of course there are also financial aspects to look at. Lake Travis and Eanes will typically call for a premium in home costs. The 78759 zip code will probably be along the lines of 25 - 50% cost difference over Eanes and LT. A little less than for Anderson High.
We live in Southwest Austin off Brodie Lane and our son went the Menchaca, Bailey, Bowie track. The elementary school in this track is now Baranoff. All good schools.
"I live in Oak Hill and just put a kid through Mills, Small/Bailey and Bowie. All were excellent schools. " This.
Im looking for similar information for the Dallas area. I have a 18 month old daughter and I dont want to have her go to DISD schools and Im looking to relocate. Does anyone have a link to a list of school rankings in that area?
in Round Rock - anything that isn't Stony Point is good. basically look west of I35. I think everyone east of 35 goes to Stony Point.
78759 - Caraway Elem in the house! Windermere Mdws. The only downside is that the houses are smallish compared to the 2700 sq ft monsters you could get in leander.
I taught in Austin for 30 years, and McCallum would be my first choice for a HS. Fine Arts Academy, lots of UT people there, good teachers, a good mix of kids. I'd pick Anderson 2nd and then Austin High. Austin High is a great school, but there is a huge difference between the kids with lots of money and those that don't have much, and I don't think you have that as much aat McCallum or Anderson. (I worked with kids at all the high schools.) There are some really great elementary schools, and most of them feed into these three high schools. Bowie is good, too, but it is so big that some kids can get really lost.
Round Rock is about to open up a new high school off Gattis School Rd. in 2010 that will take half of the people east of 35. Stony Point will get the other half plus start to grab some of the people west of 35. People exaggerate how bad Stony Point is. It has problems but what hurts its ratings is mainly with a high drop out rate from the poor/minority students. The well to do white kids have no problems there and it is actually doing better then RRHS lately, which is why they just canned the principal at RR. If you live east of 35 in Round Rock just make sure your kids go to Blackland Prairie/Forest Creek elementary, Ridgeview Middle School, and then the new high school.
I'm going to disagree about McCallum. Many of the teachers have very antiquated teaching methods. The fine arts academy is top-notch, however. Since NCLB allows transfers from the low-performing schools, a lot of the kids who would go to Reagan, LBJ or Johnston come to McCallum since it's the closest. They brought with them the problems those schools have. McCallum has a good reputation for Special Ed, too-- but the sped department is terrible. Now-- the student culture is really cool. Lots of artsie kids, and they're all kinds of creative and interesting.
