How does the school system work?
 

Hi - we're a British couple with a 3 year old and a 4 year old moving to Houston next month. Really confused about schools and how it works. Do we choose a nice area to live in and then try and find a school? Or do we try and find a good school then choose a home? Not sure how it all works in terms of catchment areas etc?

We're thinking about the Sugarland/Katy areas.

Any advice will be much apprecaited. TIA. Fi

Re: How does the school system work?
 

School districts are rigidly fixed. Find a house and you will automatically know which school your children will attend. This is the main reason why superficially similar houses sell for dramatically different prices - houses in catchment areas for cräppy schools sell for substantially less.

The way many Americans look for houses is to first decide which schools they want their children to attend, then only look for houses in the relevant catchment area. Weird, but that's how it works here. :unsure:

Re: How does the school system work?
 

Can't be sure about Texas, but assume it's much the same everywhere.

Catchment areas are all, and usually hard and fast. Absolutely find your school first and your home second. If it's the same as Illinois, your four year old will have to be 5 by September 1 to start kindergarten - that may be different in your school district though. Prior to age 5, any schooling is done in a (usually private) "pre-school".

Re: How does the school system work?
 

50 states, 50 rules....but the gist is explained up in the wiki up top...

Some school districts are very strict on birth date for getting into kindergarten, others are more flexible.

The 3 year old will be expensive if you're not looking after yourself.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

Not sure about Texas, but in Colorado you can choose a school of choice, although you are given a default school based on your house location.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

Generally, as a newcomer outsider you will get the worst school in the school district where your house is located.
As others have said, school district first, then house.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

Probably a moot concern as there's often just the one school in the catchment area in the school district and they have to take you on.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

Not quite sure what you mean about that?

Our district will allow intradistrict transfers (in fact a lot of school districts do) but you would have to provide transportation to the chosen school and of course there has to be room at the school.

In fact, you can also choose to go out of your district here. But sometimes it's harder to get into a good district if the schools are at capacity or overflowing.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

As you can see it varies by school district.. that's a lot more than 50. Often you can request a school outside your school catchment area, but within the district. .However, if its a good school, there will probably be no places left for new comers, as those who have attended, but moved and those with siblings in the school, will probably get preference.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

I live in katy, Texas.

Where you live dictates the schools your children attend. Some communities have children attend 2 different schools depending on which street your home is on. Although my youngest won't be starting the education system here until he is 5 1/2, so at the moment I pay for him at part-time nursery.

IMHO i would suggest you pick the school and then find the house. I have nothing but good things to say about Katy ISD. My other boys attend Junior High (13) and High School (15).

Good luck x

Re: How does the school system work?
 

Our school district (and possibly the whole state of AZ?) is open enrolment, which means you can theoretically place your child in any school of your choice. Of course, in practise, the good schools won't have any places.

We took a rental house in the catchment of the best school in the district; they weren't even interested in making an appointment to show us round until we had a bit of paper with an address on it. They had zero places for anyone not in catchment and a waiting list already; it'd be pointless. But because we moved into their catchment - pop! my then 2nd grader and 6th grader were eligible to start the next day.

We've now moved out of their catchment because we bought a house in the next block over, but my now 4th grader is allowed to continue to go there. I have to fill in an out of boundary request form each year, and although they don't 100% guarantee she'll get a place - there could be a sudden in-catchment influx of 10 yr olds - the office staff tell me they've never booted out an existing student in 20 years.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

Usually HAR.com will include details of which catchment area a house falls into. Then you can check on greatschools.org to see how it ranks. KISD is all pretty high ranking.

It's a firm Kindergarden entry date here so it depends on your child's birthday as it if they will start in Kindergarden this summer or next.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

This is our primer on the education system and process of enrolling. It might answer some general questions.

What do I need to enroll the kids in school?

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Educat...s_in_school%3F

Re: How does the school system work?
 

As others have said, in Katy (can't talk for Sugarland, but assume similar) entry to school is pretty firmly age based ... Must be 5 on 9/1 (or possibly 8/31, not sure...check it out if that difference is critical!). I know a couple of kids that have managed to sway that by a few days, but they are very much the exception to the rule.

Catchment areas are also pretty rigid. I'm not aware of any flexibility to apply to go to a different campus unless 1) you work for the school district, in which case you can have your kids attend the same campus as you, or 2) you are accepted on the dual language immersion program, which is only run on certain campuses. Other than that, you will be going to the school that your house is zoned to.

I think round here it goes hand in hand that a decent area has a reasonable school, and the reasonable schools are mainly in good areas. Again, there are exceptions, but they are rare. A teacher with a lot of years in the district once told me that there was a massive correlation between parent volunteer hours and standard of the school, and our campus is being asked to be a "big brother" campus to one in another part of the district by "sharing" our volunteers with them.

I would start with the school end, but don't limit yourself to just 1 campus as that would be massively limiting on houses. Whatever some of the more "snobby" campuses will tell you, there is actually very little to choose between a lot of the top elementaries. For example, we live in the Southwest corner of the district, and there are 8 or so elementaries within easy reach of us. I'd be happy for the kids to go to any of them, although one of them is in the "snobby" category, and while the standard of education would be comparable to the others, I don't think I could stand the atmosphere with some of the parents!! What I would be careful with is going into an area that still has a lot of development going on (think far west) as that increases the chances of your campus being rezoned.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

thanks so much to everyone who has posted a response - it's really helpful!

Re: How does the school system work?
 

....or pay an extra $10,000 and you can go to "another" SD - well, in Pa., you can apparently.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

As others have said, it can vary by individual school district. It looks like these might be the two you are interested in:

http://www.fortbendisd.com/
http://www.katyisd.org/Pages/default.aspx

Remember though that we're talking about what is generally known as the "public school" system here in the US. This is the regular school system that is funded by taxes and administered by a local government agency. (Note: the term "public school" can be confusing to people from the UK where it actually means "private school").

Usually the public school your kids attend is determined by where you live. However, even then there can be exceptions to this. Here are some exceptions I have seen from my own school district here in Maryland:

(1) Some school systems have "magnet" programs that are offered only at certain schools ("magnet" schools). Magnet schools offer a specialized curriculum and draw students from inside and outside its normal catchment area - normally through testing.
(2) Often a student will be allowed to finish their time at their current school even if their parents move outside the school's catchment area. For example, I know one student who spent 3 years at his high school before his parents moved out of the catchment area. This student is being allowed to stay at the same high school for his final year.
(3) Students who have been involved in bullying (as a perpetrator or victim) can be moved to another school.
(4) Catchment areas can be adjusted and some students are allowed to finish their time at their current school even if they now no longer live in its catchment area.

Also the number of schools your kids attend and when also varies by where you live. In my school district, kids would normally attend 3 schools as follows:

- Elementary School (grades K through 5)
- Middle School (grades 6 through 8)
- High School (grades 9 through 12)

Multiple elementary schools feed into a particular middle school and a smaller number of middle schools feed into a single high school. These are known as "high school clusters" or simply "clusters". When you consider a home, you will know what elementary, middle and high school your kids will attend. So if you are dead set against a particular school, stay away from homes in its catchment area. If you want your kids to attend a particular school, look at homes in its catchment area. Remember though that other parents (and prospective parents) will be doing the same thing so the quality of the school system is a major factor in rent & home prices.

Of course, you also have the choice (and expense) of bypassing the public school system completely by sending your kids to private schools.

Many people also choose to "home school" their kids. This can be done within the public school system who provide curricula to parents and allow students to take standard tests within the public school system.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

Add to the mix charter schools, religious and private schools!

Re: How does the school system work?
 

thanks MarylandNed and ScousePete! Just trying to determine if all the private schools are religious in Houston…seems that way to me! Cheers, Fi.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

You need to do your research esp. in Houston. Where will you be working and how big a commute do you want. Then look within that range for the nicest area with the best school district. When we first moved we knew that hubby would be dividing his time between his offices on the West and his workshop on the East so we picked somewhere in the middle, we didn't want to live downtown so we picked Pearland, good school district, 35 minute commute each way and then looked for a house there.

If you want to go to the private school you need to find a home that gives you a reasonable commute to work and the school unless you are on a bus route for the school.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

Very badly on the whole

Re: How does the school system work?
 

Ok, why?

Re: How does the school system work?
 

High School graduation rate USA 77% UK 91%

Average Class size USA 22 UK 19

Global Math Ranking USA 31st UK 29th

Global Science Ranking USA23rd UK 16th

Why? As usual politics and money.

There is a recent article below you may find of interest

In secondary school (high school) the differences become more pronounced. Here by most standards the average British child is indeed one year more advanced in mathematics and language than their US counterpart (based on national average statistics).

http://www.bisb.hu/essentials/educat...sh-curriculum/

Re: How does the school system work?
 

It's also worth noting that the US overall scores are influenced, heavily, by a large number of children in poverty scoring lower on the tests, whereas those living in more affluent communities are scoring well above other nations--basically the top of the charts worldwide.

Something to remember while house-hunting, sorry to say. Money generally flows to the schools from property taxes, which are influenced by the value of housing.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...olumn/3964529/

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/20...ebell.h31.html

"America does not have a general education crisis; we have a poverty crisis. Results of an international student assessment indicate that U.S. schools with fewer than 25 percent of their students living in poverty rank first in the world among advanced industrial countries. But when you add in the scores of students from schools with high poverty rates, the United States sinks to the middle of the pack."

Re: How does the school system work?
 

Also the US has a large number of people from third world countries (including illegals) who had limited education in their country and/or English is not their first language (about 25% of Americans).

My mother was from Yugoslavia and came to the US at age 15 during the early 1900s not speaking a word of English and didn't learn to read or write until she entered the US school system. Her mother remained illiterate all her life and never spoke English except for a few words. However my mother's brother who was born in the US got a college degree.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

Just to further paint the US school system in a bad light, critical thought and analysis were no where near the agenda of my high school's education plan, and I was taking what are called College Preparatory classes. But then my high school was in the ghetto.

I would imagine better public institutions teach better techniques, and make students write argumentatively and reason at an actually suitable level. It's something that will prepare them for university, especially should they want to get into the more prestigious or competitive institutions.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

Generalizations cannot possibly give you a true picture. It never will.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

That is a generalization in itself :rofl:

Re: How does the school system work?
 

No, but it shows statistically that they are both shit, but the US is marginally pipping the lead as a nation in the slide of education.

Now we all know there are going to be locations where some schools are going to be world class here, but just as many that aren't...but as there's no national set curriculum, someone living in a poorer neighbourhood is going to be massively more hindered in reaching their potential than a kid living with well off parents in a great part of town, just considering educational potential.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

I agree. According to that, US is lagging the UK in everything, but looking at what my 7th grader is learning, he is waaaay ahead of where I was at that age in everything (except handwriting:frown::unsure:). He is on the GT program, so is working ahead of his grade by up to 2 years in some cases, but even so, it's still advanced compared to when we were in school. In Math he is working on probability and statistics that we didn't hit till A level. In English he is working on grammar that we never covered, although I did drop Eng lang at O level. In science he has been working on genetics and STD transmission (:eek:) and so on. The regular academic stream is a lot less advanced, and I suspect is more on a par with what we would have been doing, or possibly below that level - a very large disparity within the same school. There are less than 40% of the kids on all Academic..over 60% are on pre-AP/GT....all too busy studying to get ahead rather than enjoying being kids.....bet their graduation is going to be a real barrel of laughs....:eek:

Re: How does the school system work?
 

No they aren't.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

I was in the trendy year at school where they stopped teaching grammar rules. It was the same year where they taught us to chant tables answers rather than tables (9,18,27). As a result I had to use google for the 5 year olds homework because I didn't know what the grammatical terms ment.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

And the years where phonics weren't taught but whole language.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

National curriculum is all well and good, but that does not mean a child is going to learn the same way another child learns. Poor social economic areas are usually going to do the worst.

Stats are all well and good, but they never tell the real story.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

And they always will. A large percentage of the lowest achievers don't even seem to understand why they are low achievers, and that without support and encouragement their children will also be low achievers. As often as not, both parents and children see education as pointless because any one item learned at school is likely irrelevant in adulthood (I enjoyed chemistry, but still haven't found a use for my knowledge of the Haber process! :rolleyes:), but that a broad K-12 education is the foundation for most successful careers and occupations. Without that you're probable sçrewed and you're another generation condemned to poverty. :unsure:,

Re: How does the school system work?
 

How do you define someone as having 'graduated' UK high school though? Stayed till 16? Stayed till 18? Got 5 GCSEs?

Re: How does the school system work?
 

....and something called ITA, which allegedly left kids with a southern (english) accent)

Re: How does the school system work?
 

Precisely. That, and teachers saying, "Oh they're poor, what do you expect ?" Bring back the grammar school system, the greatest tool for social mobility the UK ever invented.

Re: How does the school system work?
 

. :thumbsup:

Re: How does the school system work?
 

I understand the point you're trying to make, but honestly - when you have to illustrate it by showing that (irrespective of the US's positions) the UK is still only 29th in mathematics and 16th in science, honestly I'd not have bothered myself.

Utterly woeful for both countries, who should be in the top 3 (along with Germany) in both.