Quite often real estate values are impacted by the quality of schools in the area.  One significant thing that attracts people to south Lake Travis area real estate is the Lake Travis Independent School District (LTISD).  At one time, each school was very well ranked by the Texas Education Agency.

However, the 2006 rating for the Lake Travis ISD dropped from Recognized to Academically Acceptable.  This is entirely because Lake Travis High School dropped.  Lake Travis schools have had such an awesome reputation, how could this have happened?

Some background first…  I can write about LTISD schools from personal experience as well as knowing many people with kids in the district.  I personally have had kids in the LTISD schools since 1995 with a daughter currently in Lake Travis Middle School (LTMS).  I have also substitute taught in all LTISD schools at all grade levels.  Currently I work with the Lake Travis High School (LTHS) Interact Club so I stay connected at the high school level.

Beyond that I can access Texas Education Agency information to look at the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) ratings.  The 2006 ratings showed the LTISD to have 3 schools with Exemplary ratings, 2 with Recognized and 2 as Academically Acceptable.  The latter 2 were LTHS and Lake Travis Elementary (LTE).  In 2005, LTHS was Recognized and there were no results for LTE as all students were moved to other schools while the school was rebuilt.

It was the high school that was responsible for the entire district being dropped to Academically Acceptable.  The reason for this, according to a former school official, is that the high school has a relatively high number of economically disadvantaged students.  Her explanation was that many economically disadvantaged students in the LTISD have been recent additions to our area from Mexico and many struggle with English.   In high school it is very difficult to function well in classes like Math and Science as the language barrier presents a serious challenge.   If the kids can not understand the terminology for what is being taught, how are they expected to test well?

LTHS had almost 84% of its students passing the TAKS tests during 2006.  LTHS also had over 10% of its population listed as economically disadvantaged and not enough of this student group passed TAKS.  This resulted in the school rating as Academically Acceptable.  Because of the significant population of this group of students at the high school, the entire district was rated as Academically Acceptable. 

I went to the Awards Ceremony at the high school a year ago to watch graduating seniors receive awards and scholarships.  I was amazed at the number of UIL awards, scholarships and National Merit Semi-Finalists and Finalists.  I was extremely impressed to see that two students were accepted to the U.S. Air Force Academy.  It was exciting to see all of these students who had achieved so much.

So what is to be done?  Can the high school be expected to help students with English language difficulties learn rapidly enough so a large enough percentage passes the TAKS exams?  Should this even be an issue?  My opinion is that the school should devote resources to these students, but not just to get a rating up.  That might take resources away from other areas.  The school should balance the needs of all students and split resources fairly.  If people coming into the area really want to see what a school or district is like, they should pay attention to more than TAKS ratings.  They should speak with administrators and parents in the area. 

From everything I have seen and heard, LTHS excels in many ways.  Academically, the school is very strong in most areas.  The music program is excellent in band, orchestra and choir.  Theater Arts programs are very good and athletics are outstanding in many sports.  Clubs and groups do many wonderful things both for students and for the community.  When you look at a school as large as LTHS, you simply need to be able to look past the numbers.