Shopping by School District . . . Eanes, Lake Travis, Lago Vista . . . (Dallas: to rent, transfer)

[texastea]

Originally Posted by Philip T

Thanks texastea.

We see what you mean, it looks like Leander has some high scoring elementary, middle and one "good number" high school all towards the Southwest nearest the lake?

And then the rest sort of falls off across Cedar Park? What is up with that?

Pure economics. They don't have enough "economically disadvantaged" kids to affect the scores. If you look at each school's report card you'll see the percent of students in each group that passed the test.

[texastea]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

PhilipT

Please remember, so much can change before your kids are ready for high school. Small districts with small high schools now can grow exponentially and become big schools in big districts. Schools with great reps and test scores now can decline, schools that are struggling today can turn around, the entire demographics of a district can change, new administrators can come in, the State legislature could come up with an entire new funding formula for public education.

I'm not sure what the perfect answer is but it can be very hard to judge what a high school will be like 10 years in the future.

That said, in big districts like Austin look for a solid track from elementary to high school like Doss-Murchison-Anderson or Casis-OHenry-Austin). Looking at numbers only, many overlook Highland Park-Lamar-McCallum, and Gullet-Lamar-McCallum but those schools provide a great education from elementary to high school.
.

Good points.

I know I post this a lot, but its one thing I really appreciate about Leander. Its an open district which means parents can choose which school to send their kids to (with some exception).

[chentosh]

Have you thought about Leander?

Originally Posted by Philip T

Hi,

We are thinking about heading to Austin.

We are sort of shopping by school districts . . . we see that Eanes ISD, Lake Travis ISD and Lago Vista have good numbers.

Are there others we should consider, or downsides we should know about in those listed?

Thanks.

[Philip T]

Originally Posted by austin-steve

I think, since you are in the "thinking about moving to Austin" stage, the primary question is "will there be ample available candidate homes from which to choose, that attend very good school tracks?". The answer is "yes", you'll have plenty of options and choices no matter which area of Austin you choose to settle. (with some exceptions)

We hit craigslist and it looked like a good mix of rent houses across the high ranked ISD's. I figure I will pull off the highway (trip from Dallas to south of Austin this week) and see what things look like in real life.

At some point though, it becomes a very nuanced "Camry vs. Accord" type of choice, (to use an automobile analogy), where no matter what you decide, you're making a good choice.

hmmmm, interesting phrasing . . . but sadly enough sort of lost on me. I tend to drive pickups. But our realm has Ford v. Chevy, (which are pretty much the same cat with different stripes) In truth not really a dime's worth of difference, but guys seem to be brand loyal. And that is your point, huh?

The reason the scores fall as the kids move up is that the smart kids from specific elementary schools get mixed in with the other less motivated/capable kids once they hit middle school. The dilution increases at the high school level. At that point, I think most/all of the kids are receiving a good opportunity to learn, but it's almost impossible to fine tune the output of 1500-2600 students in a high school setting whereas it's easier to control the small populations in elementary schools.

Yeah, sounds as good as any other theory. My concern is that districts that cannot keep up the numbers on the high schools are slacker management, who are resting on the numbers of the elementary schools to keep their reputation up. And further down the range, we know to stay WAY AWAY from the districts that cannot even keep the elementary schools in good numbers.

[quote]
Westlake is the only 5A rated high school in Texas to receive the "Exemplary" rating. That said, I doubt that a really smart, motivate student graduates Round Rock, Westwood, Leander, Bowie, Dripping Springs, etc. high schools any less prepared for college. Westlake just manages to produce a higher concentration of better prepared students because of the demographics feeding in.

Up here we have (Dallas area) we have Highland Park and Southlake that crank out the high performance numbers, and from time-to-time are willing to cheat to maintain the status. (yeah, cheating is not a good thing, but at least we know they care )

Our problem is sort from the other end of things of whether the kid is ready for college. We have a 1st grader clocking at about 4th grade level. So we are now doing the private school thing, but she seems to be out-running that, as well. At this rate I figure we will have her in college by 16, anyway.

Steve

Thanks, Steve. Might be looking you up for some bidness.

[Philip T]

Originally Posted by centralaustinite

PhilipT

Please remember, so much can change before your kids are ready for high school. Small districts with small high schools now can grow exponentially and become big schools in big districts. Schools with great reps and test scores now can decline, schools that are struggling today can turn around, the entire demographics of a district can change, new administrators can come in, the State legislature could come up with an entire new funding formula for public education.

I'm not sure what the perfect answer is but it can be very hard to judge what a high school will be like 10 years in the future.

That said, in big districts like Austin look for a solid track from elementary to high school like Doss-Murchison-Anderson or Casis-OHenry-Austin). Looking at numbers only, many overlook Highland Park-Lamar-McCallum, and Gullet-Lamar-McCallum but those schools provide a great education from elementary to high school.

Fast-growing districts like LISD, Lake Travis and Dripping Springs are changing so fast and growing so quickly, that it is very hard to say what they will be like when your kids are in high school.

Sure enough, it is a very fluid world on this topic. A major reason we are sticking with rent-only for at least a while.

We are sorting on some real basic things to start with.

1. Safety.
2. Security.
3. Education.

Somewhere down the list folks keep telling us that schools exist for "socialization" of the kids. We tend to view that as bs. Sort of like hmmm, yeah right, gangs and frats do that, too.

I guess maybe I am sort of harsh, but I figure that since Texas overall tends to track near the bottom of US education, you really want to stay near the top of Texas.

[Philip T]

Originally Posted by chentosh

Have you thought about Leander?

Yeah, I think we covered that with texastea on the first page.

[TexasHorseLady]

Originally Posted by Philip T

hmmmm, interesting phrasing . . . but sadly enough sort of lost on me. I tend to drive pickups. But our realm has Ford v. Chevy, (which are pretty much the same cat with different stripes) In truth not really a dime's worth of difference, but guys seem to be brand loyal. And that is your point, huh?

I hear you! I tend to be extremely loyal to Dodge diesels, myself, though (300,000+ miles and counting).

One thing to consider is that a school that is ideal for one kid isn't necessarily ideal for another. I ran into this in our own family, even, where the school that was perfect for our son would have been a disaster for our daughter, and vice versa. So once you've narrowed things down a bit, you might want to visit the schools and look at them with your own particular kid in mind.

[chickenfry]

In Travis co. you can now homeschool via a charter program. K12 is the curriculum/charter school. It is virtual online, it is free until they have reached whatever the state/co has set as their enrollment number. if you financially qualify, you even get a computer. a virtual homeschool public school if you will. if your daughter is way ahead, it may be the perfect option for her/u!

[Philip T]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

I hear you! I tend to be extremely loyal to Dodge diesels, myself, though (300,000+ miles and counting).

Now think back how many dollars of diesel fuel that is at today's price, and the truck itself seems cheap by comparison, huh?

In my case around 200K on a gas Ford, and 175K on the prior one.

One thing to consider is that a school that is ideal for one kid isn't necessarily ideal for another. I ran into this in our own family, even, where the school that was perfect for our son would have been a disaster for our daughter, and vice versa. So once you've narrowed things down a bit, you might want to visit the schools and look at them with your own particular kid in mind.

Yeah, we have thought that, too. I am ready to send them to kiddie college or something and just route around the whole school mess.

[Philip T]

Originally Posted by chickenfry

In Travis co. you can now homeschool via a charter program. K12 is the curriculum/charter school. It is virtual online, it is free until they have reached whatever the state/co has set as their enrollment number. if you financially qualify, you even get a computer. a virtual homeschool public school if you will. if your daughter is way ahead, it may be the perfect option for her/u!

THAT sounds pretty interesting. I guess that would be good for traveling, as well.

We read about a school like that in Salem, Oregon.

Sorry to be lazy, but I hit a search and did not see anything in particular . . . would you happen to know a link for the Travis Co. one you are talking about?