Cedar Park Schools (Austin, Canyon, Leander: environment, apartments, trip)

[skpatel73]

Our daughters are going to be in Pre-K/elementary school, and we've heard a lot of good things about Cedar Park schools.

But then when we looked into them, there seems to be only one elementary school in CP that is rated "exemplary" (Ada Mae) and the rest go down from there. There's even a "Academically Acceptable" elementary school in the mix.

This is our first time doing a school search like this, so we're probably missing something (or a lot). Can anyone help us understand the schools in CP in particular, and doing a school search in general?

[Rae']

Exemplary Elementary schools in Leander ISD are Faubion, Deer Creek, and Laura Bush.
Higher percentage of the schools are exemplary and recognized than acceptable (LISD overall) and no unacceptable ratings. This is one reason that makes LISD so desirable.
IMO, the rankings can be misleading because of the way they divide the subgroups. Sometimes a school can be ranked high if there isn't a certain number of students in a subgroup because then their scores don't count toward the school's ranking. I would be careful basing your decision on if a school is exemplary and eliminated recognized and acceptable, because there can be so many reasons this happens. Acceptable and recognized schools often are also known for great teaching and a nurturing environment, possibly more diversity. I would avoid unacceptable schools, obviously, but realize that acceptable and above mean that the school is meeting or exceeding state expectations and would not consider these as bad schools.
I don't know off of the top of my head which (if any) LISD schools offer Pre-K, but just in case you didn't know, children must qualify to attend public school Pre-K in Texas based on language or income.
In searching, I recommend checking out the schools websites, visiting the campuses and nearby neighborhoods. These things should give a better indication of the school atmosphere.

[neddy]

I work as support staff at Ade Mae Faubion and agree with the other posted and look at the test scores also. One may have missed getting the better rating because of one or two points. In general though all the schools in LISD are very good and so far they seem to be handling the growth well. My 8 yr old goes to Pleasant Hill and has had a better school year than any other year so day and this was the first year in LISD. Need a reason to go to prek here so we went with private pre k for the other one but next year he will join his brother.

[texastea]

Schools in the town of Cedar Park are part of Leander ISD. There are more than one exemplary schools. But I wouldn't put too much emphasis on the ratings because LISD does not. They go way above and beyond the TAKS test when planning curriculum. Look at their learning model on the LISD website (Leander Independent School District)

Also lots of school districts go out of their way to get exemptions for students that can't pass...the % of students NOT taking the TAKS in LISD is really low. They use the TAKS scores for self-improvement (how well are we educating each group of kids and how can we do better.)

Another comment about ratings: LISD schools with lower ratings are either brand new or have more diversity, economically or racially.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by skpatel73

Our daughters are going to be in Pre-K/elementary school, and we've heard a lot of good things about Cedar Park schools.

But then when we looked into them, there seems to be only one elementary school in CP that is rated "exemplary" (Ada Mae) and the rest go down from there. There's even a "Academically Acceptable" elementary school in the mix.

This is our first time doing a school search like this, so we're probably missing something (or a lot). Can anyone help us understand the schools in CP in particular, and doing a school search in general?

As the others mentioned, Cedar Park is the town (area), & Leander (LISD) is the school district. LISD is a HUGE geographic area with MANY ES & subdivisions. Some are more desirable than others.

If i remember you had posted before.... mentioning working near 183 & Mopac (i think). I will mention this because of your screenname....(Patel?) My son attends Canyon Creek (the western most RRISD ES) which has a VERY diverse population...over 20% of Asian decent.... & probably half of those are Indian (fwiw).

It's also much closer to 183 & Mopac than Cedar Park.

(& statistically has the highest TAKS scores of any ES in Travis or Williamson Co., if that is a consideration.)

[skpatel73]

Thanks for all the help!! Hound is correct, we are the family who is moving to Austin as a job transfer, so I know I'll be working near 183 and Mopac. We're going to be making a scouting trip in the next 6 weeks or so, and are trying to narrow down the areas to consider ahead of time.

We're pretty much coming up with a list of target schools and then looking at the areas that surround them. Canyon Creek is one of them. Unfortunately, internet listings for rentals don't list the specific schools that they go to, just the school district. At this point, we're kind of assuming good schools are going to be in good neighborhoods (low crime, family-oriented, etc). Is that a bad assumption?

Based on your advice, we'll look at the combination of acceptable or above along with economic diversity and other factors. We'll also plan on visiting our target schools to try to get a feel for them. Breadth is important, especially at this age.

We're not going to qualify for "free" pre-K, but can we pay a tuition to get them into the pre-K at the public schools, or will be have to find those on our own? Any recommendations on pre-K?

[gigi927]

You can't pay to be in the pre-K program at the public schools as far as I know. You'll have to find private programs on your own. There are plenty of good options in the areas you are looking. If you do a search on this forum for pre-K or preschool you'll see a lot of good threads

[jhwest]

Pre-K is for kids who are ESL or -reduced/free school lunches. Don't know if you'd fit in with them. There are lots of preschools, etc. in that area, so finding one of those would probably be a better idea.

[gigi927]

Originally Posted by jhwest

Pre-K is for kids who are ESL or -reduced/free school lunches. Don't know if you'd fit in with them. There are lots of preschools, etc. in that area, so finding one of those would probably be a better idea.

or the child has to have developmental delays or other special needs.

[Rae']

ditto to gigi on the PK stuff

To find out where the apartments feed into go to the district's website, each site should have a transfinder link. You can put an address in there to see which school it feeds to and bus route info, if applicable. I think it is transfinderi.com if you want to try to access it directly, or from the district sites it usually under something like attendance zones.