Confused about Schools in Houston (Fort Worth, Conroe: homes, school rankings, university)

[Texascrude]

I got some good help in another thread, but my wife came back with a new list of questions. We are looking to live within ~30 minutes of the new Exxon campus and schools are a top priority for us (we will have one in 3rd grade, one going into Kindergarten, and one staying at home with my wife). From the looks of it, that commute could put me in one of 7 or 8 ISDs and who knows how many different schools which may or may not correlate to the city they are actually located in. Very confusing.

Here in Fort Worth everyone just tries to get into Carroll or Grapevinr-Colleyville ISD and that's about the extent of it. Most people just point to the average SAT scores and call it a day.

How do all of the schools up there compare to one another? Do the ISDs differ that much from one another? I hear bad things about Conroe ISD, but TWHS is well regarded, and I hear great things about Klein but those schools don't seem to be as great as some of the others. Our budget goes up to about $600k, so we should be able to find something we'd be happy with at most of the schools in the area.

More specifically, we have found homes zoned to TWHS, College Park, Oak Ridge (and I've heard a new HS is being built in that area), Montgomery HS, Magnolia HS, Tomball HS, Klein Oak, Klein Collins, and Klein that we would be interested in, but it's really hard to get to the bottom of these school rankings. Any thoughts on the above schools or their feeders would be appreciated (especially if there are elementary / intermediate schools to avoid)

Thanks in advance, I appreciate the help. (Moving is stressful enough as it is!)

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by Texascrude

I got some good help in another thread, but my wife came back with a new list of questions. We are looking to live within ~30 minutes of the new Exxon campus and schools are a top priority for us (we will have one in 3rd grade, one going into Kindergarten, and one staying at home with my wife). From the looks of it, that commute could put me in one of 7 or 8 ISDs and who knows how many different schools which may or may not correlate to the city they are actually located in. Very confusing.

Here in Fort Worth everyone just tries to get into Carroll or Grapevinr-Colleyville ISD and that's about the extent of it. Most people just point to the average SAT scores and call it a day.

How do all of the schools up there compare to one another? Do the ISDs differ that much from one another? I hear bad things about Conroe ISD, but TWHS is well regarded, and I hear great things about Klein but those schools don't seem to be as great as some of the others. Our budget goes up to about $600k, so we should be able to find something we'd be happy with at most of the schools in the area.

More specifically, we have found homes zoned to TWHS, College Park, Oak Ridge (and I've heard a new HS is being built in that area), Montgomery HS, Magnolia HS, Tomball HS, Klein Oak, Klein Collins, and Klein that we would be interested in, but it's really hard to get to the bottom of these school rankings. Any thoughts on the above schools or their feeders would be appreciated (especially if there are elementary / intermediate schools to avoid)

Thanks in advance, I appreciate the help. (Moving is stressful enough as it is!)

From what I have been able to deduce from "school ratings" is that they can be distorted by the enrollment of what they call "economically disadvantaged" students. Two schools can have equally challenging curricula but one will be rated higher than another because of the enrollment of these students. I have heard at least on the High School level there may be advantages to lower rated schools because it will give a student a better chance of being in the top 10% of their class thus making acceptance into a state university guarantied ? Jus saying..

[Texascrude]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

From what I have been able to deduce from "school ratings" is that they can be distorted by the enrollment of what they call "economically disadvantaged" students. Two schools can have equally challenging curricula but one will be rated higher than another because of the enrollment of these students. I have heard at least on the High School level there may be advantages to lower rated schools because it will give a student a better chance of being in the top 10% of their class thus making acceptance into a state university guarantied ? Jus saying..

That's pretty much what I'm trying to find out -- the school ratings are based solely on the state testing, whereas I'd assume a better metric would be average SAT scores, # of AP courses offered, % of students going to college, number of different languages offered, etc. Without knowing anyone to ask specifically, I'm left seeking the advice on this board!

For example, I've heard nothing but good things about Klein ISD, but their Greatschools ratings aren't all that impressive, so I'm trying to reconcile those facts. Similar issue with Magnolia.

[colcat]

Klein Isd has great schools and some not so great schools. This could go for just about any school district in the greater Houston area with the exception of Friendswood ISD, which is quite small and is definitely not within a reasonable commute for you. My best advice for you is to not focus on the the school district itself, but to each individual school. A guide would be to look at the ratio of economically disadvantaged to the rest of the student population. Unfortunately, it is what it is. I will say, avoid Spring ISD overall.

[fnh]

Originally Posted by Texascrude

That's pretty much what I'm trying to find out -- the school ratings are based solely on the state testing, whereas I'd assume a better metric would be average SAT scores, # of AP courses offered, % of students going to college, number of different languages offered, etc. Without knowing anyone to ask specifically, I'm left seeking the advice on this board!

For example, I've heard nothing but good things about Klein ISD, but their Greatschools ratings aren't all that impressive, so I'm trying to reconcile those facts. Similar issue with Magnolia.

Although no rankings list will substitute for visiting a school yourself, Children at Risk does the most comprehensive analysis of the schools across Texas and within Texas major cities. They publish their complete methodology as well as their raw data files.

School Rankings | CHILDREN AT RISK

[Texascrude]

Originally Posted by colcat

Klein Isd has great schools and some not so great schools. This could go for just about any school district in the greater Houston area with the exception of Friendswood ISD, which is quite small and is definitely not within a reasonable commute for you. My best advice for you is to not focus on the the school district itself, but to each individual school. A guide would be to look at the ratio of economically disadvantaged to the rest of the student population. Unfortunately, it is what it is. I will say, avoid Spring ISD overall.

Any advice on the better of the Klein schools / Feeder patterns? As difficult as it is to find info at the HS level, it's even harder at the elementary / intermediate level. I know from my time living in Eagle Springs several of our friends were happy with the elementary school only to move once their kids were old enough for the intermediate school at Atascocita High.

[fnh]

Brill/Kleb/Klein

[Texascrude]

Originally Posted by fnh

Although no rankings list will substitute for visiting a school yourself, Children at Risk does the most comprehensive analysis of the schools across Texas and within Texas major cities. They publish their complete methodology as well as their raw data files.

School Rankings | CHILDREN AT RISK

Thanks for the resource -- I'll give this a look

[LocalPlanner]

Yes, in the Houston area the focus is very much on individual school zones, especially high school. Just know that posters in this forum tend to be very concentrated on recommending school zones with the least share of "economically disadvantaged" / "% reduced or free lunch" students because they believe a more affluent household's children would receive a quality of education that is inversely proportional to that share %. I don't know whether that's true or not (maybe it is), but it is a definite bias you'll see in this forum.

That said, Klein HS continues to be recommended in this forum despite having a relatively high share of ED/RFL students, making it a bit of an anomaly.

[ToyYot]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

That said, Klein HS continues to be recommended in this forum despite having a relatively high share of ED/RFL students, making it a bit of an anomaly.

Stratford has similar stats.