High schools Big/Small Good/Bad (Austin, Spring: fit in, transfer to, school district)

[Momof3OK]

Hi


I want to hear your thoughts good or bad about sending your kids to a large High School or why you'd want a small High School. What do you see are the pros and cons of each size. Size less than 1600 students for smaller greater than 1600 students larger. We are thinking about relocating to Austin area we are trying to decide where we want to live and good schools are a high priority. We can't decide if we want to live close to job and send kids to a larger High school than they attend now or live farther out, commute in, and send kids to a smaller High school then they attend now.

Thanks for you thoughts/opinions on this subject.

[centralaustinite]

Public only?

There is a lot research that emphasizes smaller learning communities with 400 students as ideal. You should be aware that even among high schools larger than 1600 students (and where do you draw the line, that further out school grows from 1600 to 2100 during the next four years while a close in school, draws down from 1600 to 1300!) Very hard to predict.

Back on point, many larger high schools do have the kids in smaller learning groups -- 9th grade center in Eanes and RRISD, for example, then you have the Fine Arts Academy in McCallum (AISD) which is about 500 kids, LASA, the liberal arts and science magnet in AISD is about 800 kids, Global Academy at Austin High also creates a smaller learning environment, as does the IB program at Anderson (AISD) and Westwood (RRISD). Then there New Tech school in Manor, and a similar program at Akins.

Do your research carefully and if you can visit schools with your child and have them shadow a student.

I too would like a smaller high school environment for my kids, we will look at magnet/academy programs and private schools.

good luck!

It is a hard process and very difficult to do from afar.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Momof3OK

Hi


I want to hear your thoughts good or bad about sending your kids to a large High School or why you'd want a small High School. What do you see are the pros and cons of each size. Size less than 1600 students for smaller greater than 1600 students larger. We are thinking about relocating to Austin area we are trying to decide where we want to live and good schools are a high priority. We can't decide if we want to live close to job and send kids to a larger High school than they attend now or live farther out, commute in, and send kids to a smaller High school then they attend now.

Thanks for you thoughts/opinions on this subject.

If I could choose - I would choose a campus between 1000 and 2000 students. Smaller than that and the school will often not have enough students to hold certain kinds of classes.

I researched school size when I worked on school bond issues for a local school district. Most of the research shows smaller schools have less violence, better retention, etc. But larger schools unquestionably can offer greater variety of curriculum and extracurricular. But larger schools can also be overwhelming for some kinds and makes it harder for the school administration to connect to the kids.

In most larger communities though it becomes a financial issue. It is much less expensive to build and run 1 3000 student campus than 2 1500 student campuses.

There is plenty of evidence that somewhat large schools can offer very high quality environments and kids do well. Westlake is an example. My kids go/have gone to Lake Travis HS (~1900 students) and I have been very happy overall with their experience there.

[texastea]

We live in an area district that will let you choose to attend a school outside of your assigned attendance zone (with some exceptions ie. the school you want to transfer to is full or the school you want to transfer from is new). Next year, it'll have one 5A school (over 2065) and four 4A schools, all excellent but all different. I'd love to answer any questions about the schools my kids have gone to and what we liked about them--feel free to send me a dm if you'd like!

[iceshots]

We let our daughter do her own research (she was 14) when we down here. We did our own as well, and discussed everything with her, but allowed her to make the final decision on what high school to pick.

She was coming from a private school in Ontario, Canada that had a total JK-12 enrollment of just under 500 kids. She had been at this school since grade 1 and was afraid of being swallowed up by a large school. She was looking for a school with a strong academic program, strong course selection, a good student attitude and a drill team to replace her figure skating and dance.

Lake Travis, Bowie and Dripping Springs were in the final three. Bowie was dropped because she felt it was just too large. After school tours, Dripping Springs won out mainly from how she was received for the orientation. She ended up spending a whole day at the school accompanying one of the senior ambassadors. She got to meet students, teachers and other staff, and get the real student dirt on the school since the seniors had been through it all.

In retrospect she made a great decision. The school has all the programs and facilities we want, they have a strong academic mindset yet also have good extra curricular activities. The student body is large enough to populate all the classes and activities, yet small enough that almost anyone who is interested in an activity can participate. In some of the larger schools, the manageable enrollment is reached fairly quickly so only the best get to participate. Gives you a stronger end product, but may end up shutting out others.

One on our main concerns was how she would fit into the school and make friends. She made the drill team and this provided the spring board and group acceptance that made the transition go smoother. I am not sure how well she would have fit in had she not made the team due to stronger competition in a larger school.

There are pros and cons to everything, but to me 1200 students seems to be a good balancing point.

[Momof3OK]

Thanks for all the great advise. We have alot to think about.