Where to Live in Round Rock (Austin: school, floor, education)

[love roses]

I can't answer any of that without getting into a giant rant, so I'll keep my mouth shut. No it's not wrong to want the best for your kids, but for those of us who try our darned hardest, who don't get the chance to live in Steiner Ranch lakefront property it feels like a big giant insult when you talk about high achiever peer groups and if the school fell a few points justify why "almost" exemplary is so good seems very stuck up. And you may totally not mean it that way, but it really comes across that way. By the way, I saw a story on the news about the Ann Richards school for girls wiping the floor with every single school district in Texas.

And I am also not ashamed to use the system I have and make the best of it and try to do my part to make it better and make sure my daughter isn't hanging out with the riff raff and does good and makes good grades but I will also try and teach her to not look down her nose at people who have a harder time at it than her.

[newrrmom]

I honestly think we have to make peace with our choices, if you are not happy...then you fight to make where you live the 'place' to live.....we all need to find were we are happy with our current circumstances.
I bought where I will make money $$$ & schools are good and luckliy happiness followed.

[love roses]

You have a point there, although I actually am happy where I'm at. It's definitely not our be all, end all place. We chose happiness and close proximity to family first. $$$ are great, but wasn't our first thought. (although, I could poke fun at myself and say happiness and close proximity to family might be an oxymoron and maybe we should have thought with $$ signs instead).

My husband told me, sure we could have more house in a different part of town if we REALLY wanted, but we would have nothing left for the extras that we have now like surround sound, boat, yadda..yadda...yadda. And we'd be eating hamburger helper nearly every night. I'm not that into trying to be like the Joneses to do that to myself.

[traceyr13]

Originally Posted by FromCalitoSteinerRanch

Good points, nice insight into the inner workings. I did come across something today though that may illustrate my reasoning, as I'm not involved in the district at your depth.

“Exemplary” is the state’s highest rating and is defined as a school that meets 90 percent standard for each subject.

“Recognized” is the state’s second-highest rating and is defined as a school that meets 70 percent standard for each subject or meets 65 percent floor and required improvement.

So again, I point out I am not ashamed of using a system to determine if my kids have a chance for success, and further, I always strive to get my kids into a peer group that are achieving at least 90% vs. at least 70%. Is that so wrong? Now granted if our school loses Exemplary status because of an area with 88% or 89%, then I will rationalize why almost Exemplary is so good, but right now I don't have to.

Sigh. First, more goes into those ratings than just percentage points on the TAKS. A school can move up in the accountability ratings by significantly improving - meaning even if they don't actually achieve those percentages, if they have shown tremendous improvement in scores, that is added into the equation. Also, attendance plays a part - the elementary school that I worked at as a counselor this past spring dropped to "academically unacceptable" partly due to 5th grade science TAKS scores, but partly because of attendance issues.

Furthermore, having spent almost the first 10 years of my career as an educator in a New England state that did not believe in high stakes testing, I find it disheartening that you put so much stock in these TEA ratings that are so heavily based on scores on a standardized test. I realize that the Texas public education reliance on TAKS as an indicator of learning and performance is a separate debate altogether...but still, it's sad for me that this where a "good school"'s definition seems to begin and end for so many in this state.

Finally - listen, I have 3 degrees (2 that are Master's in Education) from fairly elite universities, so I completely agree in the importance of education, and the desire to give your kids the best possible learning environment...but I also know how easy it is to get sucked into that ivory tower mentality - that if you put your kids in the "best" school, you have given them some great "leg up" on others. As a parent of 3 and an educator, I really don't think putting your kids in an exemplary school over a recognized school (or EEK! even some "merely" academically acceptable schools) is the end all, be all. I'm sure you don't mean to come across the way you are, but really, stop and think about how you sound talking about this.

[newrrmom]

love roses-sure you have to do best what is for your family and put priorites first that are most important, like I stated property value and schools were most important for us, not what the Jone's are doing.

[shaxs]

Hum, I really liked East RR when I was out there. Our favorite place was Forest Creek by far and according to a map, that is east RR.

[jwb123]

Yep, it's E. Round Rock. We are straight up ghetto out here in our golf course community, with homes ranging in the mid $200's to 600's and even some million dollar lots... and watch out for our neighbors in Lake Forest!! They will bust a cap in your a** from their $500k++ custom homes. Our kids are taking graffiti classes in the currently recognized, but often exemplary, elementary schools.

[Rose Red]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Too Funny!!!

[newrrmom]

It's really sad all the grafitti happening around RR and Hutto....hmmm, maybe you are on to something Jenbar?

[love roses]

Not in my neighborhood in Hutto. We have cameras aimed at places that had been tagged once and it hasn't happened here in 2 years. I do know of one neigborhood thats being hit pretty hard but according to some there it's about to get REAL ugly for some lazy parents and destructive kids. Just a note, those bored kids live on the other side of the tracks from us (west) also. I've seen their tagging downtown, etc...