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Old 02-15-2014, 03:49 PM
 
33 posts, read 50,791 times
Reputation: 28

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I've searched the forums pretty extensively for information about a few schools in Pearland I'm researching (Silverlake, Silvercrest, Massey Ranch, Challenger, and Mary Burks Marek). The first 4 are in PISD, the 5th in AISD.

The areas I'm concentrating my house hunt on are for these schools, and I'm mainly interested in Silverlake, Silvercrest, and Mary Burks Marek based on the locations that are more interesting for me.

I'm looking for info specifically about 1st grade, but general elementary school info is also good.

Here's one post where the OP is asking very much what I'm looking for but there wasn't much information in the resultant thread.

//www.city-data.com/forum/houst...alvin-isd.html

I've read various threads about school comparisons, overcrowding in PISD, etc, etc. Thought it'd benefit me to throw out some data I've found to you all and see how you may respond to it (maybe based on your own research or decisions).

=================================================

Curriculum (I arbitrarily picked science as a sample subject):

AISD vs PISD look, for the most part, very similar. AISD website lists an "at a glance" page:

http://www.alvinisd.net/cms/lib03/TX...3-14%20web.pdf

PISD references state standards (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills), which I would pretty easily assume is what standardized testing would be based on if 1st grade actually tested. It seems that doesn't start till 3rd grade.

19 TAC Chapter 112, Subchapter A

=================================================

Overcrowding:

I've read a post here stating that PISD schools are getting overcrowded. If that's the case with elementary schools, maybe it's due to the popularity of PISD, or maybe it's due to several schools (Silverlake, Challenger, Massey Ranch) allowing out of district transfers.

Here is some data collected from 2011-2012 Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System reports:

Student-Teacher Ratio

Silvercrest: 17
Silverlake: 18.2
Challenger: 16.8
Massey Ranch: 18.8
Mary Burks Marek: 18.1

As you can see, pretty much insignificant differences.

Avg. 1st grade class size could be more telling? Not really, to my mind anyway.

Silvercrest: 20.8
Silverlake: 20.8
Challenger: 19.6
Massey Ranch: 23.1
Mary Burks Marek: 21.3

First time for me to send a kid to school so have to say I don't really know what is "good" or "bad" but seems like 10-15 students per teacher is excellent, if not ideal, and anything higher just makes it a bit more challenging for the student to get extra attention/instruction. I'm thinking crowded is 30 students per teacher?

=================================================

Other data, some of which is vexing to me.

Attendance rate:

Silvercrest: 97.6
Silverlake: 97.8
Challenger: 97.4
Massey Ranch: 97.4
Mary Burks Marek: 97.5

So it seems like no matter what, families that send their 1st graders here do a pretty good job of making sure they don't miss out on schooling.

Economically disadvantaged by %:

Silvercrest: 7.3
Silverlake: 13.4
Challenger: 18.5
Massey Ranch: 22.3
Mary Burks Marek: 16.5

Again, not much difference here, to my mind.

At risk students by %:

Silvercrest: 14.8
Silverlake: 23.5
Challenger: 31.5
Massey Ranch: 19.3
Mary Burks Marek: 24.7

Curious about what drives these differences, granted I accept that the metric can be very subjective (i.e. how exactly do you label an "at risk" kid?)

What's going on with Silverlake? Such a highly touted school and yet drastic difference between neighbour Silvercrest and on par with the token AISD school.

What's happening at Challenger? Socio-economic strata of Challenger neighborhoods are that different that it might effect this metric so much? According to the previous data, shouldn't be so.

=================================================

Test scores:

The control here is obviously the state average: in 2011, 87% math and 89% reading.

All the schools I focus on here are comparable; 2010 and 2011 TAKS scoring anywhere from 6% to over 10% over the state average. The Mary Burks Marek numbers are almost IDENTICAL to Massey Ranch.

So I wonder why is it that everyone I ask warns me away from AISD and recommends PISD? Unfortunately, I haven't met anyone that knows anything about Mary Burks Marek to be able to make an informed comparison; mainly it's just between school districts that there seem to be a big difference in opinion.

=================================================

I looked at a host of other metrics to help guide my judgements, including % of students in ESL and GATE. Pretty much same numbers across the board for PISD schools and significantly higher for Mary Burks Mark, for both ESL and GATE.

DISCLAIMER: I'll also ignore that the evaluation methodology for which kid is "gifted" and which is "not gifted" is flawed. If it's flawed for "good" schools, it's likely flawed for "bad" schools so I'm disregarding for now.

Mary Burks Marek has nearly double the % of students in "gifted and talented" programs than the PISD schools here... and yet nearly everyone I have spoken to in person has warned me away from AISD and told me how great PISD is. Again, why?

=================================================

Finally, and this is where it gets sensitive, racial demographics by %:

I'm looking at the largest make ups here, so I apologize in advance for not re-reporting specific ethnicities. No offence meant.

Silvercrest: White 50.5/African American 13.9/Asian 20.4
Silverlake: 49.4/16.9/15.6
Challenger: 39.3/20.6/19.2
Massey Ranch: 46/17.3/10
Mary Burks Marek: 23.4/27.3/33.4

Okay, I'm American-born Chinese and my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when I saw the Asian population numbers from Mary Burks Marek. Why so big? What's the specific make up? East Asian? South Asian? SE Asian?

The 3 more "desirable" schools in PISD (and I could be wrong here about the "desirable" part) have roughly half of the student population as white. To be sure, not a matter of color but a matter of socio-economics.

=================================================

So... I've typed enough here to make you think at least several things:

1. I have way too much time on my hands.
2. I'm a dork.
3. I'm over-thinking a relatively simple problem.
4. I'm ignoring the fact that statistics can lie.
5. Shut up, levi415, and just go visit the schools already.

To address #5, have visited 2 schools so far, and goal is to visit at least 2 more. Unfortunately, I've found speaking to the registrars only slightly more helpful than just doing my own research.

Some other things I've considered already...

Maybe it doesn't matter that much at this early stage of education? Maybe a "decent" school is already good enough, and why stress over getting into a "good" or "great" school or trying to avoid a "bad" school? Life is too short.

The data exposes that for the most part, these schools are about the same. So just pick one based on where I want to live/can afford to live and move on.

Worse comes to worst, I can always apply for an out of zone transfer to Silverlake, regardless of where I live. Errr, HOPEFULLY... regardless of where I live.

ULTIMATELY... I want to hear what you all think/feel/thought/felt when you went through the same process of evaluating where to send your kid to school in Pearland, especially if you were considering the same schools. Whether it was a gut feeling or based on some solid info/recommendations/experience and what you realized after your kid was in that school for a while.

Did I mention... I'm willing to trade food/drink at Reef for your helpful information? Barter, not bribery.
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Old 02-15-2014, 05:28 PM
 
28 posts, read 64,015 times
Reputation: 39
Quote:
Originally Posted by levi415 View Post
I've searched the forums pretty extensively for information about a few schools in Pearland I'm researching (Silverlake, Silvercrest, Massey Ranch, Challenger, and Mary Burks Marek). The first 4 are in PISD, the 5th in AISD.

The areas I'm concentrating my house hunt on are for these schools, and I'm mainly interested in Silverlake, Silvercrest, and Mary Burks Marek based on the locations that are more interesting for me.

I'm looking for info specifically about 1st grade, but general elementary school info is also good.

Here's one post where the OP is asking very much what I'm looking for but there wasn't much information in the resultant thread.

//www.city-data.com/forum/houst...alvin-isd.html

I've read various threads about school comparisons, overcrowding in PISD, etc, etc. Thought it'd benefit me to throw out some data I've found to you all and see how you may respond to it (maybe based on your own research or decisions).

=================================================

Curriculum (I arbitrarily picked science as a sample subject):

AISD vs PISD look, for the most part, very similar. AISD website lists an "at a glance" page:

http://www.alvinisd.net/cms/lib03/TX...3-14%20web.pdf

PISD references state standards (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills), which I would pretty easily assume is what standardized testing would be based on if 1st grade actually tested. It seems that doesn't start till 3rd grade.

19 TAC Chapter 112, Subchapter A

=================================================

Overcrowding:

I've read a post here stating that PISD schools are getting overcrowded. If that's the case with elementary schools, maybe it's due to the popularity of PISD, or maybe it's due to several schools (Silverlake, Challenger, Massey Ranch) allowing out of district transfers.

Here is some data collected from 2011-2012 Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System reports:

Student-Teacher Ratio

Silvercrest: 17
Silverlake: 18.2
Challenger: 16.8
Massey Ranch: 18.8
Mary Burks Marek: 18.1

As you can see, pretty much insignificant differences.

Avg. 1st grade class size could be more telling? Not really, to my mind anyway.

Silvercrest: 20.8
Silverlake: 20.8
Challenger: 19.6
Massey Ranch: 23.1
Mary Burks Marek: 21.3

First time for me to send a kid to school so have to say I don't really know what is "good" or "bad" but seems like 10-15 students per teacher is excellent, if not ideal, and anything higher just makes it a bit more challenging for the student to get extra attention/instruction. I'm thinking crowded is 30 students per teacher?

=================================================

Other data, some of which is vexing to me.

Attendance rate:

Silvercrest: 97.6
Silverlake: 97.8
Challenger: 97.4
Massey Ranch: 97.4
Mary Burks Marek: 97.5

So it seems like no matter what, families that send their 1st graders here do a pretty good job of making sure they don't miss out on schooling.

Economically disadvantaged by %:

Silvercrest: 7.3
Silverlake: 13.4
Challenger: 18.5
Massey Ranch: 22.3
Mary Burks Marek: 16.5

Again, not much difference here, to my mind.

At risk students by %:

Silvercrest: 14.8
Silverlake: 23.5
Challenger: 31.5
Massey Ranch: 19.3
Mary Burks Marek: 24.7

Curious about what drives these differences, granted I accept that the metric can be very subjective (i.e. how exactly do you label an "at risk" kid?)

What's going on with Silverlake? Such a highly touted school and yet drastic difference between neighbour Silvercrest and on par with the token AISD school.

What's happening at Challenger? Socio-economic strata of Challenger neighborhoods are that different that it might effect this metric so much? According to the previous data, shouldn't be so.

=================================================

Test scores:

The control here is obviously the state average: in 2011, 87% math and 89% reading.

All the schools I focus on here are comparable; 2010 and 2011 TAKS scoring anywhere from 6% to over 10% over the state average. The Mary Burks Marek numbers are almost IDENTICAL to Massey Ranch.

So I wonder why is it that everyone I ask warns me away from AISD and recommends PISD? Unfortunately, I haven't met anyone that knows anything about Mary Burks Marek to be able to make an informed comparison; mainly it's just between school districts that there seem to be a big difference in opinion.

=================================================

I looked at a host of other metrics to help guide my judgements, including % of students in ESL and GATE. Pretty much same numbers across the board for PISD schools and significantly higher for Mary Burks Mark, for both ESL and GATE.

DISCLAIMER: I'll also ignore that the evaluation methodology for which kid is "gifted" and which is "not gifted" is flawed. If it's flawed for "good" schools, it's likely flawed for "bad" schools so I'm disregarding for now.

Mary Burks Marek has nearly double the % of students in "gifted and talented" programs than the PISD schools here... and yet nearly everyone I have spoken to in person has warned me away from AISD and told me how great PISD is. Again, why?

=================================================

Finally, and this is where it gets sensitive, racial demographics by %:

I'm looking at the largest make ups here, so I apologize in advance for not re-reporting specific ethnicities. No offence meant.

Silvercrest: White 50.5/African American 13.9/Asian 20.4
Silverlake: 49.4/16.9/15.6
Challenger: 39.3/20.6/19.2
Massey Ranch: 46/17.3/10
Mary Burks Marek: 23.4/27.3/33.4

Okay, I'm American-born Chinese and my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when I saw the Asian population numbers from Mary Burks Marek. Why so big? What's the specific make up? East Asian? South Asian? SE Asian?

The 3 more "desirable" schools in PISD (and I could be wrong here about the "desirable" part) have roughly half of the student population as white. To be sure, not a matter of color but a matter of socio-economics.

=================================================

So... I've typed enough here to make you think at least several things:

1. I have way too much time on my hands.
2. I'm a dork.
3. I'm over-thinking a relatively simple problem.
4. I'm ignoring the fact that statistics can lie.
5. Shut up, levi415, and just go visit the schools already.

To address #5, have visited 2 schools so far, and goal is to visit at least 2 more. Unfortunately, I've found speaking to the registrars only slightly more helpful than just doing my own research.

Some other things I've considered already...

Maybe it doesn't matter that much at this early stage of education? Maybe a "decent" school is already good enough, and why stress over getting into a "good" or "great" school or trying to avoid a "bad" school? Life is too short.

The data exposes that for the most part, these schools are about the same. So just pick one based on where I want to live/can afford to live and move on.

Worse comes to worst, I can always apply for an out of zone transfer to Silverlake, regardless of where I live. Errr, HOPEFULLY... regardless of where I live.

ULTIMATELY... I want to hear what you all think/feel/thought/felt when you went through the same process of evaluating where to send your kid to school in Pearland, especially if you were considering the same schools. Whether it was a gut feeling or based on some solid info/recommendations/experience and what you realized after your kid was in that school for a while.

Did I mention... I'm willing to trade food/drink at Reef for your helpful information? Barter, not bribery.
I'm in the same exact situation as you and have done the same exact research. I feel like the schools are more or less equal, including the AISD school. I would also say that the middle schools (Berry Miller/Rogers and Ryan) are more or less equal. The big difference is the high schools (Dawson is much better than Manvel). When the new Shadow Creek Ranch high school is built, my guess is that it will rival Dawson academically, but we won't know for at least another decade.

Most importantly, the differences between these schools is irrelevant when you factor in the motivation of the kid and the quality of parenting. My gut feeling is that none of these schools can automatically make Rhodes Scholars. Good luck!
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Old 02-15-2014, 06:16 PM
 
33 posts, read 50,791 times
Reputation: 28
Jorge Salizar, good luck to you too. Hopefully what we're learning/doing as parents will pay off in the end, more so than our geographic decisions.
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Old 02-18-2014, 09:53 AM
 
Location: Texas
1,029 posts, read 1,479,558 times
Reputation: 1994
I chose to settle in PISD instead of AISD. My oldest is in 2nd grade, but not at one of the schools you listed.

I didn't like the fact that AISD is SOOO large. It covers a significant geographical area and includes several towns. Since the Pearland parts of the district are "newer", the district is playing catch-up, and I worried about competing priorities later.

I have been pleased with all the contacts I have had with administrators and teachers at PISD.

PISD is at times overly good at communicating...I got an email and 3 automated calls in two days to remind me they had school on President's day.
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