Austin public schools versus SF Bay Area public schools: which will leave our children behind less?

April 17, 2008 3:03 PM

I can't find a consistent way to compare public schools in two different states, but maybe someone here has personal experience that'll help. We're considering buying a home in either the SF bay area or in Austin. Is there a substantial difference in the quality of the public schools? Regardless of which way we go, we'd pick a neighborhood that has highly rated schools.

The definition of highly rated schools for us: In CA, that would be an API score of 850 or more (e.g., Cherry Chase in Sunnyvale); in Austin, it would be an "exemplary" school according to the Texas Accountability Rating System (e.g., almost any school in the Eanes district in Westlake).

posted by jewzilla to education (8 comments total)

I have not used it, but www.greatschools.net seems to offer this sort of information in one place.
posted by gyusan at 3:30 PM on April 17

Greatschools has parent reviews of schools which is very useful, and also lets you know a little bit about the educational background and experience of the schools' teachers. Scanning some parenting forums based in the areas you're looking at will also be a good source of candid opinion of local schools.

Watch out, because a lot of Bay Area school districts have lottery systems whereby your children don't just automatically go to the closest neighborhood school. San Francisco and most of the districts on the Peninsula are like this, and the South Bay may be no different. Meaning, you could move in across the street from the best school in town, but if you don't get into the lottery in time (cutoff in my district is February) you could be driving your kid across town to a low-ranked school. Real estate agents won't always get this, but individual district websites will have the information (although not always clearly--in the heart of Silicon Valley, the websites of the shoemakers' children are often unshod).

When we were considering moving to another state, I pretty much judged the school there completely on their own merits, not in comparison to the schools where we already lived. There were just too many different factors in play. On the other hand, we were considering a move from California to a state that gets high marks on the national level, and Texas and California are both kind of infamous for falling short on educational standards, so it might be more of a wash for you.

And please take into account that the API score is not the end-all be-all of how good a school is. California (and TX too) have vast populations of students who do not speak English as a first language and this affects test scores, which are all the states use to rank schools. But this is not always an accurate measure of how good the teachers are, how strong the parent organization is, or how well administrated the district is. And it of course speaks nothing of how much you involve yourselves in your child's education.
posted by padraigin at 3:44 PM on April 17

The School District Data System is a special tabulation of U.S. Census Bureau statistics and other information (schools, enrollment, teachers, revenue and expenditures). It's not an evaluation per se, but has an overwhelming amount of data with which you can make your own evaluations. Click "Compare School District Profiles" under the Table Viewer heading.
posted by Eldritch at 4:54 PM on April 17

D'oh! That should be School District Demographics System, which the Census Bureau calls the School Districts Data File. Stupid words.
posted by Eldritch at 4:56 PM on April 17

I grew up in the suburbs northwest of Austin and went to a top public high school.
There are several good school areas in the Austin-area, and not just Westlake/Eanes. Don't write off the Austin ISD and the Round Rock ISD. Both have some great schools with good teacher-student ratios and high state and US ratings.

Westlake has good schools, but they're not very diverse (Westlake High--the only high school in the district, is 86% white) and has a reputation among students in other areas for, lets say, poor sportsmanship, when it comes to dealing with students not from the same socioeconomic group as themselves. That's not to diss all kids from there, but I'll say I experienced it personally in UIL competitions.

I was going to suggest the Census Bureau stats site that was already listed above.

p.s. they still teach abstinence-only sex ed in Texas public schools and are going towards teaching ID, if they don't already since my day.
posted by fructose at 5:55 PM on April 17

WTF? The Census Bureau doesn't list Eanes ISD. Does it go by another name? Austin ISD probably pulls in a lot of sketchy parts of town I wouldn't live in.

Also, for reals about ID? Is that not something an individual district would have the option of opting out of?
posted by jewzilla at 7:04 PM on April 17

The SF Bay Area is a very big place, with multiple school districts. I would say there is a substantial difference in the school districts in the Bay Area itself. So it really depends on what town you are moving to.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:40 PM on April 17

It's not that they teach ID, it's that there are teachers (like my sister's) that openly say they don't believe in evolution as they teach it. I was in honors classes and had a teacher that actually testifies against ID in the legislature, so YMMV. This was at the same school. In smaller towns, it's worse. I'm not really sure what the law is on that right now since it's been quite a while since I was in school.

You really should be more open-minded about the Austin ISD. There are some "sketchy" parts, but you're throwing out the baby with the bathwater by discounting the whole district. Austin ISD is the ONLY school district for the actual city of Austin. Your options for schools that are located at Austin addresses, but not just ones in the city limits: Austin ISD, Eanes ISD, Round Rock ISD (only one high school and a handful of feeders are actually in Austin, though). AISD has a magnet and academy program, and there are several fine high schools in the district. Westlake does well, but it's not just that the school is good, it's that the parents can afford to get their kids the best in everything as far as help outside of school.

Also be aware that just because a school is in a wealthy area doesn't mean there won't be problems in the schools with drugs and crime. This applies to Eanes.

http://nces.ed.gov/globallocator/index.asp?search=1&State=TX&city=austin&zipcode=&miles=&itemname=westlake+h+s&sortby=name&School=1&CS=F68E0F97
posted by fructose at 11:32 PM on April 21