Grisham Middle School (Austin, Canyon, West: how much, home, neighborhood)

[dclboro]

Can anyone tell me what they know about Grisham Middle School from experience or from what they have heard? A parent's perspective or a teacher's perspective are welcome. I know it's an IB school and I've looked at ratings on different sites, but I'm looking for more opinions. Thanks.

[hound 109]

Originally Posted by dclboro

Can anyone tell me what they know about Grisham Middle School from experience or from what they have heard? A parent's perspective or a teacher's perspective are welcome. I know it's an IB school and I've looked at ratings on different sites, but I'm looking for more opinions. Thanks.

I was hoping someone else would have commented. I live in a neighborhood that feeds into Grisham, & my kid will likely attend there in 2 years.

I've observed & heard the following:

- It's improved it's ratings/scores the past 3 years & will likely continue to improve.
- The HS it feeds into has the highest rating in Greater Austin.
- 1 of the 3 ES that feed into it has the highest rating in Greater Austin.
- The 2 others are middle of the road. This is primarily because several large APT complexes feed into these ESs.
- I ask the middle schoolers often (like every time i see them) how they like it & all say they like it & have no "problems" (drugs/gangs/bullying etc.)
- Parents I talk to indicate that their kids haven't had problems & that any "problem children" would be kids who typically wouldn't pass the TAKs (i think the number was 89/11 last year) & would be in a more remedial environment at the school.
- I've heard the band is the best in the city & many of the kids I see are involved in athletics. Also in our neighborhood we have many Indian & Asian children so i suspect the school is also very diverse. (i need to check greatschools.net)
- The other major MS nearby is the higher rated RRISD MS. (Canyon Vista). Just as diverse (i think)....I believe the fact the scores are higher is because they don't have as many (if any) apt. complexes feeding into it. In other words the top 50% - 70% of students in both schools score similarly....it's that Grisham has a larger number of lower income apts. dwellers.

I'm watching closely & will have a decision to make if the situation worsens....but am hopeful it will remain a good school & will likely continue to improve. Hopefully others will offer opinions.

Good luck.

[TimeIsntLinear]

I went to Canyon Vista Middle School, and I have moved into the Grisham MS area just this year. Adults and teachers don't know what happens in the halls, classrooms, and outside of the school. I know that both canyon vista and grisham have had drug problems, but canyon vista's is just recently. A lot of Westwood's athletes have come from Grisham (so I have heard from my older brother). Canyon Vista is very diverse and children come from all different home enviroments.
It doesn't matter how much money your family makes to determine how well you learn things or how smart you will be. Saying things like that are prejudice and will only make this world worse. Adults teach kids things like that; children have to learn it from somewhere.
Grisham is better in fine arts,athletics and other things than CVMS is. CVMS is better in acedemics by majority. I know that there is a lot of bullying in Canyon Vista. I don't know about Grisham, but I will be finding out soon. I have moved quite a bit and know from experience that the more diverse a school is the more bullying there tends to be.
Grisham isn't in the top five school but the kids there are very talented, and I suspect that that influences others.
Hopefully this helps