Seven Lakes High School in KISD going to be next top school in area? (Houston: low income, fit in)

[americaforall]

I've been reading up on schools around Houston. Here are some schools that showed up that we are considering and what we found out about them:

1. Clements High School - seemed like it was Asian propelled (seriously!). Is it really a good school?
2. Austin High School - looks like it is next to Clements in FBISD. Is it good?
3. Cinco Ranch High School - Pretty much seemed like it was Clements in KISD.
4. Taylor High School - I guess this school was doing better a couple of years ago because TAKS scores and NewsWeek rankings are inching downwards...
5. Seven Lakes High School - This is the school I really wanted to know more about. I read up on Greatschools about this school (old demographics/info by about 2 years, but anyways...) and found that the TAKS scores and all are coming out great for this year. Wikipedia article with TAKS scores for this year:

Seven Lakes High School - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What do y'all think about SLHS, as it seems to be a really good school in a great area with wealthy (mostly) students and a great campus.

Clements also looks really good, but could the TAKS scores and high scores be only because of the Asian and uppermiddle class population of the school? And will the school "die" soon?

KISD seems to be better with more better schools than KISD. Is my reasoning accurate? And will Katy become a "trash heap" sooner or later maybe because of lower income people moving into South Katy and going to SLHS?

Which will be better in the future in your opinion, Cinco Ranch or Seven Lakes?

Did we miss any good schools? What are your opinions about the schools we listed?

Note: We are looking to move only into west Houston, specifically Sugar Land or Katy with house around 300K.

Thanks all!

[pacman777]

Got my vote for Seven Lakes High School! The neighborhood I currently live in (Seven Meadows) and the new house we're building in Kelliwood Park are both zoned to it. The school is nice and huge and looks like a college campus. Its obviously the students that make-up the demographics of the school that make it great and not the school (structure) itself. I would say the demographics are middle to upper-middle class kids with a few very wealthy class kids mixed in (i.e. Avalon where homes go beyond $1 mill.). There aren't very many apartment complexes in the area (if any) that might be zoned to Seven Lakes. I'm not implying that kids that live in apartments are not capable of being great students, but just making an observation regarding geography around the school.

[icon7]

I just do not think Clements or Austin will go down hill. Zoning in Sugar Land prevents cheap apartment slums from being built to take advantage of the good schools.

There are a lot of Asians in the zone for Clements HS because many of them work in the area. Many of them are professionals (engineers, doctors, pharmacists, etc.) The Areas Zoned to Clements HS are some of the most expensive in the Greater Houston Area. I crunched some numbers and the average home zoned to Clements today has a tax appraised value of $405K. The Only HS with a higher Average Home cost is Memorial HS where it is $680K

Seven Lakes plan looks like it will prevent the lesser quality dwelling to be built with in the zone.

[americaforall]

Originally Posted by icon7

I just do not think Clements or Austin will go down hill. Zoning in Sugar Land prevents cheap apartment slums from being built to take advantage of the good schools.

There are a lot of Asians in the zone for Clements HS because many of them work in the area. Many of them are professionals (engineers, doctors, pharmacists, etc.) The Areas Zoned to Clements HS are some of the most expensive in the Greater Houston Area. I crunched some numbers and the average home zoned to Clements today has a tax appraised value of $405K. The Only HS with a higher Average Home cost is Memorial HS where it is $680K

Seven Lakes plan looks like it will prevent the lesser quality dwelling to be built with in the zone.

(OP here)

We actually live in Sugar Land right now and my son went to Clements this last year. And believe it or not, there is a huge apartment complex zoned to Clements with MANY lower class people living here. It's called "Gables Austin Colony" located right in front of First Colony Mall Read more about it here:
http://www.gables.com/gablesliving/community.aspx?Region=29&CommunityId=16

So you can live here and pay a rent of $980 a month and go to Clements... (there are quite a few low income families who have lived here for years only for the schools!)

I also did some more research and found that there is 1 apartment complex currently zoned to Seven Lakes called "Willow Lakes Apartments" Anyone know anything about it?

And if you go to http://www.katyisd.org/AZ/index.asp and look at what subdivisions Seven Lakes is zoned to and google them, you will find that it is difficult for you to go to Seven Lakes without buying a minimum 170 K to 200 K house. Is that minimum low enough for low income people to start moving in and ruining the school? PS: I also heard that Seven Lakes may qualify for "Exemplary" status this year (maybe!) and definetely "Recognized".

Finally, do you think that SLHS will become atleast as good as Cinco Ranch High School? And will the superb TAKS results that came out this year last?
Will property values of houses zoned to Seven Lakes go up due to the school's performance? (this is how houses zoned to Clements work...)

[icon7]

Rents are only going to go up. I know where that is. However, at a certain amount low income folks won't be able to afford to live there. $980 for a studio/1BR are high. You can't avoid every Appt. Complex. but compared to others areas, sugar Land is much better. Plus the "elements" in the apartments can't survive in a school like clements Academically where 30% or so of the students are considered gifted & talented!

Originally Posted by americaforall

(OP here)

So you can live here and pay a rent of $980 a month and go to Clements....

[Seaglass]

Seven Lakes High School is a good school, but it's also only as good as its raw materials, i.e. students. I say this because my son was a transfer student there in late spring of this year; he was made to take all the much-squawked-about TAKS exams despite being at SLHS for barely 5 weeks, and yet he got 'Commended' scores on all of them. Judging by the student body, I suspect many of those TAKS results were from kids not educated in Texas! We found this very interesting as his guidance counselor, who by her own admission will have five hundred students to be responsible for this September, was condescending about him coming from a small school elsewhere, and went so far as to suggest that he attend summer school to "catch up" to Texas' exacting standards despite being an honor roll student. (His English teacher at home, who holds a Ph.D from Stanford, laughed out loud when we relayed that bit of info.) My son also had one really lousy young teacher at SLHS who, in addition to telling the kids all about her party weekends (!) could barely spell; her homework assignments contained gems like 'Explain: the Battle Of Brittan.' So, yes, the school is attractive, and it's new, but for us right now the jury is still out.

[cla]

SLHS TAKS scores this year

Math
9th 93*
10th 90
11th 95
*Highest in KISD

ELA
9th 99*
10th 99*
11th 98**
*Highest in KISD
**Tied for highest in KISD

Science
10th 93*
11th 97**
*Highest in KISD
**Tied

Social Studies
10th 99*
11th 100*
*Highest in KISD

That being said, my daughter says the TAKS is very easy.

Additionally, the academic decathlon team won the State 4A championship breaking 3 records - 1. First time in which a school other than Friendswood won the 4A since the creation of the competion 15 years ago, 2. they recorded the highest score ever by a 4A school, and 3. one of the team members finished as highest scorer in the entire state of Texas.

[americaforall]

cla: Do you live in the Seven Lakes zoning area? Specifically, where? Just curious!

So how does Seven Lakes compare to Cinco Ranch?

And which is better OVERALL, FBISD or KISD?

Thanks!

[cla]

When I first came here, I looked at every school district in the metro area and identifed the best middle and high schools in each district. KISD not only had one top-notch high school, but several. That's why I settled on KISD - it would give me more options as to where to live. We were renting in Cinco High's zone, but most of my daughters friends were zoned to SLHS, so I specifically bought a home within the SLHS boundaries for that reason (in Cinco Ranch in Highland Park Village). I wouldn't choose a school over another because of a few points difference on TAKS scores or ACT scores, etc, but rather which one is best for my daughter, and in this case it was SLHS because during middle school she had a total of 4 school changes (evacuated to Ft Worth after Katrina, registered in school up there, after already spending several weeks in school back home - I came down here and settled in to Houston, then put her in Beckendorf for the remainder of 7th grade, then we moved and she went to Beck in 8th grade - where she finally settled in and made friends - I wasn't going to take that away from her and have her start all over again - so we bought near SLHS. I was actually waiting to buy a home until we knew where she would be attending high school).

Seven Lakes vs Cinco Ranch - again both schools are great schools (they are made up of the same demographics - the first SLHS students were students who were zoned to CRHS as well as Katy High), so choosing one over the other for academic reasons doesn't make much sense - a child who is a good student is going to continue to be a good student no matter which school they go to. Every school has a personality - if you were choosing a private school you would visit that school and evaluate whether or not your child would fit in - you should do the same for public schools as well - pick several schools that you like on paper - then visit the schools to make a decision. I would have been equally happy with Cinco, Seven Lakes or Taylor.

Overall, I think KISD has a larger selection of great schools - you can live anywhere in south Katy and your child will go to an excellent school (I am not familiar enough with north Katy to say one way or the other). With every other district I looked at, there was only one or two schools I would consider sending my child to, so for that reason, IMHO, KISD is better.

On a side note, my daughter took some summer courses this year at Cinco, and says she prefers the SLHS campus to Cinco.

[americaforall]

(OP here)

I just have some more general questions about high schools in Houston:

Exactly why is it that the demographics of the school population determine the test scores? Where has the idea teachers actually teaching the students gone? I read some reviews on Clements High School at Parent Reviews of Clements High School - Sugar Land, Texas - TX
and people have been saying that there is very little teaching going on at Clements, but the students are smart themselves. Also, at Clements only White and Asian students are taken care of (from what I hear) and black and hispanic students are shunned simply because they lower the school's test scores. Is this true? This goes against my idea of schooling... Is Seven Lakes/ Cinco Ranch High School like this? Are lower class students and minority given the same treatment as other students?